Heir Apparent

Summary: Ryu offers Kasumi an alternative to her constant running from her clan's assassins. She accepts refuge with him in the mountains. Ryu is pressured to find a suitable wife by his clan. His dragon bloodline must be preserved. A mission will unite the two with Hayate and Ayane. They must put aside past grudges to save the world from an ancient threat.

Takes place after DOA 4, then later after DOA 5. Cross-references with Ninja Gaiden and Warriors Orochi.

Chapter One:

Kasumi felt faint, her vision was going gray and she knew she was running out of time. The shinobi that had chased after her had gotten too close this time. She managed to knock the four-man squad unconscious, but not before one had managed to slice a long gash into her right thigh with his blade. She managed to use her tanto blade to keep his sword from opening up her femoral artery, but just barely. The cut didn't seem so deep as to lacerate her muscles, but it was more than her typical flesh wound.

It broke her heart, because once again she recognized the ninja that had come after her with the intention of ending her life. She used to play hide and seek with the young man that had wounded her leg. His name was Suzaku. He had married his long-time girlfriend two years ago and they had a baby.

She didn't have time to dwell on the identities of the assassins. She needed to bind her leg before she lost too much blood. She was already leaving a trail of blood that even a novice ninja could track. Her clothing was in tatters. She found a tree that wasn't too difficult to climb and ripped off the pants leg from the knee down on her injured leg. She wrapped the strip around her injury and tried to bind the wound as best she could.

Kasumi's mouth felt dry and she realized that it had been two days since she'd had any water. She took her blade and slammed it into the trunk of the tree. Maybe she'd be able to find some water from the tree's veins.

She managed to salvage a few drops by licking the water she pulled out with her blade. It would have to do for now. Automatically, her hand fell to the satchel bag she had strapped over her shoulders. Within it were her most precious items. One of the most important was the journal she wrote in almost daily- at least until she ran out of ink. The entries were written as letters addressed to her brother Hayate, occasionally to her sister Ayane, and rarely Hayabusa. She knew that one day she wouldn't be able to keep up with the endless stream of assassins her former clan sent after her. One day she would fall and this journal would be presented to her brother, her leader, the man behind these assassination attempts. One day he would read the ink on the pages and realize that she didn't blame him. In spite of his and Ayane's efforts to kill her, she understood their motives.

They chose honor.

She chose love and vengeance.

And there were consequences to every decision. Her life was forfeit, but her siblings would have to live with the stain of her blood on their hands. She wasn't sure who had the worse deal.

Kasumi leaned her forehead against the rough bark of the tree. She would just rest for a few moments, catch her breath, and then she'd be off again. Maybe she'd be able to muster enough energy to use her ninpo cherry blossom teleportation technique. It had saved her life before; maybe it could do so again.

OoO

For four years Ryu Hayabusa had kept a close eye on Kasumi and she'd constantly been able to evade her assassins. However, that night, she'd been gravely injured. Her leg had been cut deep and she'd been leaving a blood trail that even a child could follow. She had managed to render her would-be assassins unconscious, but they would soon awaken and put her to sleep forever if he didn't intervene.

Ryu had found her binding her leg with a strip of her pants' leg. It was a crude bandage, but she'd already suffered severe blood loss. Ryu had just made it to the base of her tree when she fell off her branch. He caught her with ease and picked up the short sword that fell moments after her. She was ridiculously light and it was easy to forget how small she actually was when he watched her fight. He looked down at her sweat drenched forehead and brushed aside her coppery hair. Her skin was smudged with dirt, her lips parched in dehydration, and her hair was full of leaves. She'd certainly seen better days.

If he wanted for her to live he knew that he couldn't allow her to continue her constant running. He couldn't always be there to shadow her. What if he had been on a mission? What would he have done if she had died and he hadn't been there for her? There had been no conscious decision on his part. It was the only decision. He held Kasumi close to his chest with one arm under her back and the other under her knees and strapped her satchel across his own shoulders.

He'd carried her back to his village using teleportation as much as possible to make it difficult for others to track them. He trusted the Hayabusa clan, but he didn't want to involve them in a possible war that offering Kasumi sanctuary from the Mugen Tenshin would cause. So, he brought her to the home of the one person he trusted to keep her presence an absolute secret. A man who wasn't technically a member of the clan.

"What brings you here, Ryu?" Muramasa asked. The old man was a retired weapons' maker. He only wanted to live in peace and quiet, but he had assisted Ryu many times with his wisdom and experience on his quests. "Is this the girl? Quickly, enter," he said ushering them inside his home.

"I need to clean her wound," Ryu explained. "And I need to keep her presence a secret."

"Coming to my door in the middle of the night will certainly help keep a low profile. I will fill a bowl with warm water and bring you some clean rags and healing herbs," Muramasa said. "Set her in the bedroom. I hardly ever go in there with my arthritic back I usually sleep in my rocking chair in the sitting room."

Ryu did as instructed and set Kasumi on Muramasa's unused bed. He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. She had a fever. He would at least nurse her back to health before he allowed her to run away again. Or maybe, maybe this time he might convince her to rest.

Her clothes were a mess. He opened her satchel to see if she might have a change of clothing. She had at least two outfits inside that were relatively clean. She must have cleaned them by hand using the spring waters and the rocks within the rivers. However, they were both very revealing. He also noticed several weapons, a set of tarot cards wrapped in a silk cloth, cleaning tools for weapons and a book inside. He placed the items back inside the bag.

He hurried to Muramasa. "I'll be back. I'm going to grab a change of clothes for her from my place. She needs something loose fitting that will cover her up. She seems to have quite a fever."

"Okay, Master Hayabusa," Muramasa said. "Just return before she awakens. I don't want a panicked kunoichi on my hands."

Ryu nodded before he set off at a run from the old man's home and hurried to the small house that served as his dwelling whenever he was in the village. He pulled out a pair of old blue ninja robes that he hadn't worn in years because he'd outgrown them. Perhaps they would be a better fit for Kasumi. They'd still be too big, but at least they would be clean and warm.

He hurried back to find Kasumi moaning. Muramasa stood over her and was unbinding her leg. He glanced over his shoulder at Ryu. "Good, make yourself useful. I want you to clean her wound. And after we address that you should clean the rest of her. She'd probably appreciate you doing it more than a lecherous old man."

Ryu nodded and took the bowl of warm water and the clean rags from the old man. He dipped the rag into the mix of warm water and antiseptic herbs and gently cleansed Kasumi's leg. "Do you think it needs stitches?" Ryu asked.

"Your eyes are better than mine. What do you think?" Muramasa asked.

"I think you had best get me the needle and thread," Ryu said with a sigh. If the old man was lamenting his poor eye sight then that meant Ryu would have to suture Kasumi. He wasn't the best at stitches, but he was decent.

"What's going on?" Kasumi asked lifting her head from the bed with her weight on her elbows. Her eyes blinked open and she stared up at Ryu with a tired expression. She had dark circles under her eyes. "Hayabusa? Did you take me somewhere?"

"You fell out of a tree and so I thought it might be time you accepted some help."

"Okay," Kasumi said falling back to the bed. "Suzaku sliced me good on my thigh."

"That he did," Ryu agreed. He didn't want to ask how she knew the assassin's name. He couldn't even imagine what it might be like to have your childhood friends ordered out to kill you. "You need stitches."

Kasumi smiled weakly. "Feeling squeamish, Hayabusa? I can do the sutures. I've done them before. I have a kit in the bottom of my bag."

"No need," Ryu said holding up the needle and thread. "I have some right here. I don't have anything for pain. I'm sorry." He chewed the inside of his mouth as he felt the dread rise up in his gut. Kasumi needed the sutures, but he didn't want to inflict pain upon her.

Kasumi sat up and grasped hold of Ryu's wrists. "I'll do it. Like I said, I've done it before and I didn't have anything for pain then either."

Ryu relinquished the needle and thread and watched as Kasumi sutured her laceration. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and while he knew that it had to hurt she didn't cry out. Ten stitches later she tied off the end of the suture and handed the tools back to Ryu.

"I have some clean water for you to wash yourself and a clean outfit of mine for you to use for the time being," Ryu said.

Kasumi sat up in the bed and pulled off her shirt and what remained of her pants, she wore bindings over her chest and a pair of small underwear. Ryu knew he should look away, but he was afraid he couldn't. He could see the evidence of healed suture wounds on her abdomen and back. How she managed to reach some of the areas was a testament to her flexibility. With trembling arms, Kasumi reached for the rag on the side table next to the bed and dipped it into the water.

"Let me help," Ryu said taking the rag from her. He sat on the edge of the bed and Kasumi relaxed against him, clearly exhausted. He gently ran the cloth over her back to clean off the grime. She was relatively clean all things considered. "For someone living in the forest you're not too dirty," he commented.

"Hot springs. They're the only pleasure in my life these days," Kasumi said sighing deeply.

He ran the cloth over one particularly long scar on her back. "How did you manage to suture this one?"

"I couldn't. I had to use mud from one of the hot springs to try and keep it sealed," Kasumi answered.

"You should have found me. I would have helped you," Ryu said.

Kasumi sat up and took the cloth from him and began to scrub her arms and legs. "You aren't always around. I'm glad you were there today though."

There was a knock on the door. Ryu stood to answer it and Muramasa stood with a tray with a jug of water, wooden cup, bowl of rice, and a couple of strips of grilled fish. "Make sure she hydrates and make sure she eats."

"Who was that?" Kasumi asked. In the time that Ryu went to answer the door she'd finished bathing and had slipped on his old robes. The clothing was too big for her, but it would keep her warm. "That was the kind old man that has given you refuge this night. I'll introduce you to each other in the morning. Drink and eat," he said holding the tray in front of her.

Kasumi picked up the wooden cup, then placed it back and lifted the jar. She drank straight out of the water vessel before putting it down. "I know I shouldn't drink so much so fast, but I'm just so thirsty," she said. She took a rice ball and began to nibble on it slowly.

"Kasumi, I want you to stay with me for a while," Ryu said.

"Oh, Hayabusa, I don't want to impose," Kasumi said with a fatigued smile.

"You don't have to be so formal with me, Kasumi. I did just wash your back," he said with a teasing smile.

She stared at him for a moment. She then reached out and touched him with her fingertips brushing one of his eyebrows. "Your eyes light up like fireflies at night when you smile. You should try it more often, Ryu."

Ryu shrugged. "I would smile more often if there was more to smile about."

"I' m so tired," Kasumi said setting the half-eaten rice ball back on her tray. Ryu took the tray and placed it on the side table.

"Sleep. I'll keep watch over you tonight. You'll be safe with me."

"Thank you," Kasumi said. She closed her eyes and within seconds she was sound asleep.

Ryu reached over and brushed her forehead and was glad to see that the fever while still present was less severe. He took a piece of the fish Muramasa provided and popped it into his mouth. He turned down the lantern at the side of the bed, but kept a soft light about the room.

Curiously got the better of him and he pulled the book from Kasumi's bag. He opened it and started to read it by the light of the lantern. Half of the books' pages were full of Kasumi's neat, cursive writing.

Hayate,

I have decided to start a record of my days. Being a runaway shinobi is a very lonely way to live. At least this way, I know that when I die you'll be able to know what was happening to your little sister. Maybe it will make my loss easier to accept when the time comes. Today is my eighteenth birthday. I wish I could celebrate it with you. I'm glad that you're okay. I made a wish that I could see my family and I saw Ayane. Of course, she was trying to kill me, but I'm glad that she looks healthy. Maybe the clan is treating her better now that they can focus their hatred on me. It's funny; I won the DOA tournament last year and lost my entire family in the process. I guess winning isn't all it's cracked up to be, but the prize money has made it easier to survive. At least I stopped our uncle. Maybe both you and Ayane will have peace now that he's gone. I've had to take up fishing. I imagine Hayabusa will be amused to learn that all his lessons when we were kids have been put to good use. Give Ayane a hug for me, please.

K

Ryu placed his hand inside the book to mark the place and looked over at Kasumi. Was this her journal? He looked back to the book and flipped through the pages. It was a collection of letters addressed to Hayate, Ayane, and him. Ryu opened the book to the first entry that was addressed to him.

Ryu,

I know you are often annoyed by me. I appreciate how many times you've helped protect me and saved my life. I really enjoyed working alongside you in the team battles in the DOA tournaments. You're the best partner I've ever had. I hope I didn't hold you back too much. However, there will be one day that you won't be there – and that's okay. I don't want you to blame yourself when it happens. I chose this life. Being a ninja is never easy, but it's certainly harder on the run. I look forward to the next DOA tournament because it's the only time I can see you or my siblings without worrying for assassins – I just have to worry about evil scientists!

Sorry to be rambling, if you're reading this that means I've already left this world. I just wanted to say that I'll watch over you now. I'll be that star shining bright in the sky on those particularly dark nights. Thank you, for being there for me. You are the only friend I have in this world and I love you for it.

K

Ryu shut the journal and could feel his eyes mist over as he read the entry addressed to him. He wondered what the other entries might have said, but he didn't feel right reading them. He placed the book back inside Kasumi's satchel. He stood to the side of Kasumi's bed and pressed his hand against her forehead once more, still warm, but getting better. He took the chair next to her bed and leaned it against the wall that gave him the perfect vantage point of Kasumi's sleeping figure, the window, and the doorway.

In the morning, he'd have a very serious talk with Kasumi about her future because he couldn't allow her to keep on living as she had been. Ryu made a promise to protect her and he would see to it that she wasn't needlessly endangered. If she'd been living off the land for the past three years she'd probably appreciate the idea he had in mind.