Welcome to Gaia! ::

*Helena ~nightime~

She closed the door slowly and quietly after entering her room. When she saw her piano in front of her she stared and fluttered her eyes slowly for a brief moment, sighed "Why must my memories haunt me?" Suddenly, she began to remember something of when she was little, Papa, mama! Come over here, I want to show you something...as she went to her piano and played a song. She remembered the laughs, smiles and praises her parents gave her that day. Finally she took steps and went to her piano to play the song of that very day just a more complicated version though. As she began to play, her fingers moved gracefully creating beautiful music and not only that she sang quietly with her smooth elegant voice.

After the ending note her dog came to her making responding noises and she bended over to play and pet it. Then Helena approached the opened window and marveled at the soothing starlit sky. She leaned on the window sill and whispered, "Why, must I lead an unfortunate life?" She turned around and continued "If only times remained simple and happy as when I was young. If only....."she hesitated "if only that day never occurred," she clutched the locket of her mother " Mother...."
Later, the blonde undressed herself and went to take a bath to ease her thoughts.

Still floating he felt more at ease with life and eveything else. This was the break he needed while on assignment. But a soft riple in the water stirred him from this "happy place". He looked out of the corner of his eye to see that Christie returned wearing a new bathing suit and was going for a sip into the pool now.
Once more he closed his eyes and relaxing everything. He could feel the movement of the water as she swam underneath him and came up on the otherside of the pool.
Though not a large one or even close to being "Lympic sized" it was a decent sized pool with a bar, some lights for the night time swimers, and heated water.
Sometimes this feels like a dead-end...like she's intentionally doing nothing to throw me off track from finding Helena or any of the ninjas...
A gentle touch on his left shoulder snapped him back as Christie was wading next to him and whispered "Don't go near her....don't get involved with any of this."
He whispered back "Unless you have proof that you killed my contractor then I will but otherwise I will find her."
she shook her head. Her wet white hair dripping as she smiled and put something on his chest before going back under. He picked the the small card up and saw it was a keycard to gain entry to her room.
"What's your game plan..."

*Ayane

Finally Kasumi stopped as did Ayane "Why? Why must you do this Ayane-chan?"Kasumi pleaded. "Why, you ask? You really disappoint me Kasumi, you should know the answer already, my dear sister," Ayane replied saying the last three words slowly coldly, " You really shouldn't be asking why for what we do Kasumi, afterall, it is YOU that had chosen this forbidden path forcing the burden upon yourself." Ayane had lunged at her with fierce force and thrusted her with her weapon. Kasumi desperately blocked every attack. "How long do you plan on running Kasumi? You do know Hayate will be involved with this issue as well as this mission assisting me don't you? I believe you have already met him in battle as your wish came true to see him," Ayane said smirking. She continued as did their fight, Ayane used all her skills in combat, merciless "How does it feel Kasumi? How does it feel to have thought the one who would love you will turn against you?

Seeing how she continuously blocked Ayane said angrily, "You are lacking the strength, this is pathethic, is this how all the Mugen Tenjinmon ninjas fight? You know, at this rate seeing how you fight, you bring no honor to the family, it should be you people who should serve the Hajinmon!" That did it and Kasumi used her sakura matoi when the oppurtunity came and disappeared leaving the words "Why don't you understand? I do not wish to fight you." Ayane in dismay, shouted knowing she is still out there somewhere running "Keep running Kasumi, keep running. You are my prey, you can not hide from me forever! I will seek you out until I complete my mission no matter what, you just watch. Your fate has already been determined, you can never escape from me, you will have a slow painful death and I'll be sure of it," She said ending with a cold tone. After a moment standing ending her pursuit for the day she decided to return to the village.

Night had fallen and Nowhere had already cleaned up from the swim and rechecked his right arm making sure it still worked properly. He didn't want to have a fight but he knew that Christie might lead him into a trap of some kind. So he came witht he best weapon he could find.
Confidence.
He would have to be sure of everything to be able to go in there and he knew it. After throwing on a decent suit and sliding the latex "skin" over his arm he took a breath and felt the rush he got whenever he felt like he was going into something dangerous.

After walking through the halls he found the room and slide the card through the slot and watched the light go from red to green signifying it is now unlocked. He twisted the handle down aloswly not to make too much noise. Not a crack of light broke through on the other side of the door which made his mind run with paranoid thoughts. Christie's known for pulling weird traps on those who follow her and I knew she was going to find me sooner or later...
He slid in quietlyusing the light from the hal to check for any wires and looked sharply for any infrared sensors. He also shecked the hinges and top/bottom of the door for sensors as well fearing she might use a bomb to kill him.
After seeing it was all clear he closed the door and heard the door lock itself. A security precaution by the hotel designers so it takes the rpessure off of closing a door and not worrying about whether it locked or not.
After a few seconds of deep silence and letting his eyes adjust he could see her sitting at a table near the back of the room. A new moon casting no light into the room save the stars of the night. But it was her. Her trimmed hair was easily seen in the outline of her darkened figure.
He croushed down low and moved slowly as so checking his surroundings constantly. But a bright flash of light blinded him mometarily.
Upon reopening his eyes Chirstie had a remote in her hands which controlled the lighting in the room.
Christie smiled brightly and held up a bottle of champagne which she pulled out of a bucket filled with ice. Covering the cork with a towel she pulled and twisted until a slgiht "pop" sound came.
"Would you care for a drink?"
"Maybe, but first I have a few questions-"
"Well, a drink first. To our new partnership."

~question, who exactly is Hayate's rp'er? Cause I looked up the person's named you listed Kiroku but that person does not exist in the guild or on gaia that I have researched and I'm going to need him for Ayane's story soon. sweatdrop

*Ayane

The redish/pinkish eyes of the lavender hair kunoichi narrowed with anger, hate and seriousness as she gripped and clutched tightly the weapon of Genra, "I will get you Kasumi, that I promise for sure as I forever follow in your shadow." She then started back to the village. As she arrived heads of the villagers turned for a brief moment and returned back quickly to what they were focusing on frightened of the fierce Hajinmon kunoichi knowing she was mostly nothing like Kasumi.

Ayane, despite the reaction of the villagers she continued her path without responding to the remarks given to her as she grew accustomed to her contact with others at a very young age. It was nothing new to her, she was always frightened or looked down upon by others because of her birth but Ayane no longer cared about it for she was to look on for the future, to do what Genra would want her to do, to repay for his kindness for treating her as if his own daughter, which was like the only kindness she ever knew from this village. And to rid her pain that she suffered which was convinced was caused by Kasumi always being compared to her. She stopped by her residence for a quick moment. Father, Genra... Then she decided to contact Hayate and went to approach the Hokage's residence.

(( sorry... yeah, you both may rp as hayate and christie. sorry i havent been around, i have to sneak around using the comp.))

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well, luckily i have long hair, so i can hide my ears... ill keep my hands covered, but as far as my feet go... *puts on shoes not familiar to japanese fashion, covering the entire foot, but very slender, with a reinforced heel. then, puts on ryu's mask. noticing the look from ryu at his shoes he says* oh, i had these made in a land far from here, slender so my toes can squeeze together, and the heel is so i can still walk without falling. so, anyway... ryu, where is kasumi?Young eyed Kiroku's shoes, "Wow! They Bruno Meglis? Very nice shoes indeed!", declared Young.

Ryu just saw these two interact and thought to himself,'Sigh... I'm going to bring these two Gaijin to my village? The last time Gaijin came to the village in number, it was nearly destroyed.I guess I need to wait for the others to pull through.' And he pushed his worries out of his mind just like that.

And the group traversed forward for just two minutes in complete silence. Their eyes were met by a sight that was completely new to Young, familiar to Kiroku (there have been some changes), and vexing to Ryu. They now switched from their near-marching pace to a much more relaxed pace as they neared the gates.

'Wow!' Young thought to himself, 'A real, live, ninja-sheltering village!' Immediately childhood thoughts began to race across his mind, childish, naive dreams, of being a real Ninja.'Cool! I would love to be like Naruto or something, maybe the dude from Ninja Scroll. These Ninjas are totally sweet, but I am kinda scared of Ryu. If he wanted to, he could have probably killed me back in the woods, and my life would be over. A fitting end for a b*****d like me.' Dark memories began to creep back into the top of his mind. He had to try hard to stop them. He was losing! The hatred and deppression began to gnaw at his heart, the pain was growing! The fury was increasing!

"YAME!!!"

The loud command echoed in his ears, as his heart and mind slowly became one again. Young saw the face of a Japanese man, he then noticed a long, strange-looking spear point, at his throat. 'It seems everybody who first sees me wants to kill me, hmph, serves me right.'

"Young! Where is your mind at?" demands Ryu, "You just cannot walk in through the gate without completing the customs. Even I must do this even if I am the champion of my village. Now apoligize and bow to the watchman. Say 'Gomenassai'!" ordered Ryu.

Young looked at the "watchman", an older looking asian man with determined eyes, wearing a dark blue Gi with black chain mail over his torso. "Go-me-na-sai" , Young tried his best to speak Japanese as he could (Young had studied Japanese a bit, watched countless "animes", and old samurai and Ninja films. Studying a language in a class was way different than actually being with the peopl who invented it. All this translates the fact that Young had a Japanese vocabulary of about twenty words, the majority of them being Sushi recipes) He saw the "watchman" lower his "spear", Young bowed deeply and calmly, the "watchman" simply nodded.

Ryu said something to the "watchman" in Japanese, he couldn't understand it. The "watchman" made a strange sound, almost like a bird call, that echoed throughout the village and the guards that were hidden throughout the tree trunks and grass patches around the gate stood. They all bowed deeply to Ryu, making sure to face Ryu only. Ryu nodded. And the guards slipped back into their hidden positions, all around the gate area.

'Sweet Jesus!' Young thought, 'These men were all around us and I never even saw them!' Young felt himself being taken for a ride, a ride into a whole new world. Young turned, to see how Kiroku was doing, he couldn't see his expressions and couldn't tell how he felt.

"Young-san, Kiroku-san" Ryu whispered as they passed the "watchman", "Kiroku I want you to go to my home in the North-Eastern corner of the village, knock on the door three times in intervals of five, and ask for Ryo, he will know what to do with you, since the villagers have become... troublesome lately. Young, keep following me and keep your mouth shut, only speak when spoken to, smile when another smiles to you and such, and whatever you do, do NOT look at a woman in the eyes. They know you are a Gaijin and they are xenophobic, after all that happened."Ryu sighed, "So please try to keep yourself out of trouble, and I will find a way to take care of you, deal?"

Young looked shocked, intimidated, and offended all at once. "Yes Hayabusa-Sama, I will do as you ask." Young actually sounded genuinely loyal. Much to Ryu's surprise, and it was hard to surprise Ryu.

Young saw Kiroku walking off to the right and left the group. All around Young saw nothing but small buildings. To his left he could see several small fields past the walls, people were planting things, rice probably. To his right, he saw an endless, mountaineous, forest range. Looking at that made him think of those men that were killed when he first met Ryu. He put those thoughts away as his danger-sense was beginning to flicker. There was a small group of people in their way. They were all wearing black Shinobi Shozokus and were seeming to stand in their way. Ryu whispered to Young, "Just keep walking with me and don't look them in the eyes"

Young nodded and Ryu and him kept walking ever closer to this band. He now saw that this group was composed of some serious looking faces, these men were paying too much attention to be simple curious villagers. Ryu and him had finally come face to face with them. Young kept walking straight and felt their eyes shooting bullets at him, they were practically examining him. Looking at his face, arms, clothes. Some of them spat at the ground that we was walking over. One got him in the face. He didn't care, he wasn't going to start s**t with these many guys, especially since Ryu had told him not to. Wait! what about Ryu? He had been so busy minding his business that he didn't notice Ryu was no longer next to him!

Young had exited the mob and turned. He could not believe what he saw. Ryu had stayed in the group and Young saw as the group, roughly twelve men formed a crude circle around him, Ryu stood firmly, head held high, feet on the ground, as a man left the group and entered the circle. Ryu calmly, but firmly began saying something in Japanese. The man interrupted him and made some hand gestures while yelling at him in Japanese. He seemed to be damanding something. Young saw as this man came closer and began hissing something to Ryu in Japanese. Young began to wish he knew Japanese, He couldn't bear watching this go on. Ryu simply stood and looked at the man in the eyes as he said things to him. Ryu finally lifted his hand and pointed to this man, he began saying something in Japanese and was motioning his pointing finger to the rest of the group. He ended finally by pointing to himself. Young heard cheering. He hadn't noticed that many villagers had come closer to see the event take place, they began cheering and clapping as soon as Ryu finished what seemed to be his statement.

The man looked at the crowd, the group around him and finally, Ryu. He took his thumb, pointed it downward and spat at Ryu's feet, barely missing them. Ryu didn't flinch. The man said something and the whole group followed him. The man began making his way towards Young now. He kept glaring at him as he stepped closer. He was right at Young's face now and he said to him in Japanese something that chilled Young to the bone. He didn't care what he was saying, it couldn't have been good. As he pondered this he saw the man look at something behind him, and Young was perplexed. Young didn't see it, but he felt it. A sharp blow was delivered to his rib. He took the hit and was to frightened to even move or yell. The whole group spat on him and surrounded him. Young saw Ryu standing, his fists were clenched so tightly that they bacame white and stood out from his normally tanned arms. The man gave one final look at Young and spat on his face, saying many curses at him. The group stopped and walked away after Young finally fell to his knees, from the pain in his rib.

Ryu walked to Young and helped him up, "I'm very sorry, Young, I didn't think they would go that far." There was genuine compassion in Ryu's voice.

"What was that all about? And don't tell me its a local custom too." Young's aching voice asked.

"That man who challenged me and struck you is called, Sanzo, those who follow him are called the "Duelists". Before I tell you why they did what they did, I will impart to you some of our secret history as a Ninja Village." Ryu said this as he helped and supported Young on their way. "You see, I am Ryu Hayabusa, this is Hayabusa village, it has been this way for a century. It wasn't always this way, It was once "Kogami" village, then "Suzaku" village, and many other names of course. It is so because we have a strict code in our village, "Everything is Earned", do you understand this? It is the code we live by in our village. You are not one of us until you prove yourself, you are not a man until you prove yourself, and... you are not the champion, until you prove yourself. I am the champion of the village because my ancestors, a century ago, proved themselves. My great-great-grandfather Ryu Hayabusa, who stopped the evil Vagoor Empire and quite possibly saved the world, had proven himself before. Because he earned this position and title, the Hayabusa name had become legendary throughout the village. He "earned" it, and because he earned it, and I earned it after defeating the Tengu of destruction, someone else can too. Sanzo and his group will stop at nothing to "earn" this title and power. That is what Sanzo's agenda is, he wants to be the champion of the village. And that is why he has been challenging me for months now. He cares more about his glory than the safety of the world, and it ANGERS me that this selfish b*****d was willing to use you to tempt me into fighting, that... and he is a racist.

'WOW!' Young thought, 'I guess stupidity, ignorance and hatred exist even in the Ninja world. I'm glad that Ryu sent Kiroku straight home, I would hate to see what would have happened if that Sanzo a*****e would have seen him.' Young pondered, as his ribs ached and ached, gnawing at his chest. "Ryu-San, why am I here? Why do I have to do this and where does Kasumi fit into all of this?" Young asked in a serious and determined manner.

"Please, hold on a little longer, I will reveal all in good time. Right now I must try to get a hold of Kasumi, keep Sanzo busy, and," he saw Young's arm guarding his ribs, "take you to a doctor."

Young simply nodded and hoped that things wouldn't get any worse, that he would one day see Hitomi again, hear her innocent laugh as he jogged and she bicycled together near the riverwalks in Germany, with the cool breezes and bright blue sky with the sun smiling down on them.

But deep inside, he felt darkness and light fighting within him, that this was but a taste, the worse was yet to come... and the darkness was winning.