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Chapter start:

His cry echoed in the silence that followed her interference. It ripped from him as it ripped everything out of him. His mind was lost in the moment, thrown into past memories. Yuki watched them all in shock, Kasumi, here, alive.

The first thought that popped in her mind was anger, truthfully, the traitor lived and Sereo had lied. He lied to the villages and Hayate sama, he claimed a kill he didn't make and left a danger to the village alive and well. Sereo, for his part, didn't seem the least bit guilty; he looked proud, almost confident as he silently stood observing the group in the center. The second, relief, she saved Hayate sama and Hayabusa sama, maybe there was some use for this pathetic life after all. Lastly, panic. The Shogun's law was just broken; Kasumi had fought for the Mugen Tenshin. A neishin could only cause her village harm after all. The new appearance was unheard of. They all stood, frozen, as time flew by.

Ayane was the first to break the silence, very nosily entering the clearing, squelching mud and leaves and breaking twigs in a display that truly showed how injured she could be, how, despite what everyone said about her she cared; she cared enough to be careless for him. Yuki threw her arm out to the side, not to hit her, but to prevent her from moving further in. She hadn't been noticed yet, everyone heard her, but no one looked away from her. Ayane turned to her and Yuki jerked her head to a tree. Ayane hid behind it with no protest, but her heart was racing, it was heavy; her skin tingling. Kasumi, her sister…

She was alive.

As if awoken from a trance from the noise it was assumed Yuki made, the two yanked themselves free from Kasumi's wrist and backed up a few steps raising their weapons as well as another ninja from the Tsube. Kasumi took a step forward from the force and then a step back in slight shock and confusion but neither Ryu nor Hayate were still there, they too had backed off leaving her alone in the middle.

She feared it was only right; she now was an enemy of both sides.

"You've broken the rules!" Was seemingly a childish argument, especially coming from Gobei, but the punishment would be anything but. Haruka had made no attempt to draw a weapon and studied the girl. Kasumi, the name had sounded familiar, a name that had been associated with the legendary immortal so many times she didn't want to risk any wrath being incurred. Still, if this was not her, if she was not the one her father told her legends about, she would be the first to kill the girl, and she would send the boy to the mountains with words of their treachery.

She was so scared, but she wouldn't show even a hint of anything other than confidence to anyone. She kept her hands open and to the side before taking a deep breath. She had the authority here; She was the one on a mission that was not a pointless war. First was first, the elder accused her of breaking the rules, and she didn't. She may have helped the Mugen Tenshin, but she was not from there, or recognized, or any less likely to receive a sword in the back.

"I am not of the village;" because from would have been a lie "my mission has nothing to do with you or your petty war, so your rules were not broken." She stopped talking, shocked with the words that had come out of her mouth but had come from another. She was confused, but the blonde woman of the other tribe only had wide eyes after her little speech.

Hayate was furious.

Saved by a traitor. He would rather have died a thousand deaths next to his best friend and in front of the eyes of his half-sister to the hands of the Tsube than to have blinked up to see the familiar figure of his sister holding the attackers off. She had been better, but he was supposed to be the only one of them remaining. He was stronger, he was the heir, she was weak, compassionate, outcast and dead. Now she was in front of them and strong, in control, not frail and frightened and in the process of running away like a traitor should be. She had come to them, not afraid and rested, not hunted.

How dare she?

How dare she stand there and call their war pathetic, standing in all black and composed like she was a gift and not a curse; like she was wanted and not shunned. She had abandoned them, so what made her think she could come back and help them? What made her think they could possibly want her help? He didn't want anything but her death.

"You're her aren't you?" Haruka said, in a slow cautious tone, stepping closer. "You're Kasumi." The Tsube all knew what Haruka was asking, but the Mugen Tenshin had no idea; they didn't keep up with useless myths. Most of them didn't anyway. This Kalona knew. What Haruka was asking was if she really was her, not the daughter of Shiden and Ayame, but the one Kalona had predicted as he stood over the body of Nura many, many years ago in a place far from the reaches of shinobi. Kasumi could say either yes or no to the question, but she could tell the truth. Haruka was still moving the smallest bit closer at the slowest pace, as if Kasumi herself was a mythical creature or an immortal.

"I am Kasumi."

Sereo watched. He watched Kasumi talk but he didn't hear a word. He could not focus on her; he could only focus on him. Kalona stood in the shadows of the tree next to him and he swore he could feel the immortal's power tickling the edge of his skin. He knew Kasumi had found his base, but Kalona had not found her, interesting. The immortal was amused at Kasumi, and proud? How many brave beings had Kalona helped along this path? What could Kasumi be doing to feel so special? Sereo could not tell, all he knew was that Kasumi was diffusing the situation, asking questions about the Shogun, about Chokaku and getting much more information from them than he could have gotten her. Oddly enough, it was the Tsube that came to Kasumi, Everyone from the Mugen Tenshin just stared.

Maybe he was wrong, maybe her faking her death wouldn't convince people they hadn't wanted her dead, but it didn't matter anymore, he wouldn't let her die, and neither would Kalona. Once Kalona stepped out he doubted the Tsube would let her die. The Mugen Tenshin did not pay much attention to myth, but myth always came from legend, legend always came from history, and that history was standing right beside him right now.

The myth of Ryubi the Water Bender, Nura the Invincible, Samson the Great and countless others were not myths at all, but history. History that Kasumi would now become a part of, she would stand with them, and years from now someone will hear of the Kunoichi of Destiny and know it was Kasumi and he will have done his part to get her there.

"We will continue this another time." Haruka said loudly to the members of the Mugen Tenshin as she took a step back and widely swung her hands in a circle around her before bringing them in to meet each other in a sign Sereo couldn't see in front of her chest. She turned into sand and fell to the Earth, disappearing as did the others from the Tsube. Sereo felt Kalona vanish behind him as well, satisfied that the imminent danger had passed. Kalona knew he didn't need to remind Sereo to send Kasumi to him; his very presence was enough for Sereo to know his impatience.

Ayane moved from behind the tree, and walked up to Kasumi as fast as she could before throwing her arms around her sister and letting out a choked sob. Kasumi was nothing short of shocked, but she brought her arms up to wrap around her sister to accept the hug she never thought she'd ever receive. She felt the need to say something but no idea what.

What do you say to someone who has always hated you, who hunted you and sent people to kill you when she couldn't hunt herself? The very woman who had saved her from going into a burning building only to claim it was so she could kill her herself. For honor. This was the woman who always put the clan before everything else and should have rejoiced at her death. The person that was a friend so harmful one would wonder if they even needed enemies. She didn't even have a weapon on her to draw and stab Kasumi in the back with. Kasumi feels guilty that that was her first thought, but that is the relationship the two sisters always shared. What does she say when that person throws herself in her arms upon seeing her alive?

"Aya-"

"I am so glad you're alive." This stunned the brunette into silence. That was the reaction she expected the least from Ayane, unless followed by 'so I can kill you myself' or some response to the like. She smiled and hugged the girl tighter, more than aware enough of her injuries to harm her. When Ayane pulled back Kasumi thought of all the times Ayane had been responsible for people trying to kill her, Ayane must have too because guilt was plastered all over her face. She wanted her sister to feel regret, not guilt, but she knew enough about them to know they were completely different people and Ayane would regret nothing, even if she really was dead. She would feel guilt, but if it was for the sake of the village she would never have regret, and in that sense she will always be "better" than Kasumi.

Ryu stood; shocked and rooted into place, for all his bearings he was stuck. He couldn't move, couldn't act, he could do nothing but stare. He stared as Ayane embraced her, then as Hayate and Yuki came closer, threats in their stares. Sereo too, rushed forward, but his intent was to protect. Still, he could not move. He could only watch her, alive and smiling and not dead. He hadn't failed her after all.

"How dare you!" Hayate had yelled as he came closer and Ayane pulled herself from her sister's grip.

"How dare the both of you." His tone shifted from fury to ice in a word as Sereo stepped in-between the siblings. Anger was his reaction, not guilt, and certainly not regret. Sereo was right about one thing, about dying, she found out what people thought of her, who would miss her and who wouldn't. Hayate locked eyes with his sister. "First you leave the village on some journey to gain you honor and become a traitor." She feels the anger settle in and lets herself calm and slip into a different part of herself.

"You know why I left, to avenge you by killing Raidou, make nothing more or less of it." Sereo almost turned at the tone and edge her voice took; he was so glad he taught her this, otherwise she might have been in tears, begging them to understand and professing her love and trying to convince them to just let her back home. He was proud. She was confident, and matured, and it shocked him to realize how much someone could change in such little time. Then again, he used to be the most trusted shinobi in his village, and in a day he became a neishin himself by hiding Kasumi and lying to Hayate, though this would not be addressed until tonight.

"Did you realize," Hayate continues as if she hadn't spoken, and Yuki's face becomes red in anger as she stands by his side. Ayane puts a hand on Ryu's shoulder to try and get a reaction out of him but he is still stuck, still in shock, still can't believe she is there and alive and breathing. "That you left our father without an heir, our village without a future. Overnight we became the laughingstock of the other villages, our princess had run away instead of stepping up. This, in the time when we could have used you for once, for appearance at least, until I recovered."

"My killing of Raidou earned our village honor, despite taking all of mine," all of her honor, all of her hopes, her dreams, family, friends, and chances of happiness and normalcy "mother would have been a perfect leader, still could be, and you would never have gotten better on your own."

Epsilon.

He heard the word as if she said it and in those few seconds his memories flashed in front of him, of Hitomi, of Ein. The man he had been and almost lost himself too, the woman who saved his life. The company that took him hostage; she was part of the team that saved him. The silence assaulted his ears and he realized she never did say it aloud and he was glad she didn't. She wasn't stupid then.

Yuki and Sereo were the only ones there who had no idea what Epsilon meant, Shiden had ordered it to be dismissed, for Kasumi to run again and for them to chase her again. For the village's sake they could never know the neishin had saved their new leader or that their old leader had been so negligent as to let his son get kidnapped in the middle of the night. Yuki and Sereo could not know. She still was looking out for them.

"You ran away." It seemed everything would fall to that one argument, it didn't matter why she left, or that she had been trying to get back or that her leaving helped them in the end. It only mattered that she left.

"The only honor you could give the village now would be gained by throwing yourself at my feet and killing yourself with your own blade." He looked at her as if he expected her to do it now, maybe while begging for him to understand why she had to leave.

"You came back to try to save us, against the will of the Shogun, you neishin." the word was spat with fury and only caused Kasumi's eyes to narrow. She had heard the word too many times to be hurt by it, but from his mouth it angered her. Sereo stepped to the side when Kasumi stepped forward looking up at her brother, but not intimidated in the slightest. She hadn't been intimidated by him in the slightest for the longest time. If she wanted to remind her of what she was she would remind him of what he was.

"You'd be dead if I didn't, brother." The word was said coldly and he smacked her. He was not her brother anymore.

Kasumi had watched one of Shiden's friends slap her mother once, when they thought she had been out of line for a woman. She had taken the slap and told Shiden, and the next day Shiden had beaten the man. The next week the man was sent on some retrieval mission and never returned. Once, Ayane had been slapped by Hayate, but he was her clan leader and that type of discipline was enforced, encouraged. Ayane had gotten him back in other ways, Kasumi knew, but she wouldn't hit him back because of who they were. As Hayate had clearly shown and said, she was nothing to him, and he therefore was nothing to her. So logically she should treat him as she would any other man who would dare to strike her.

He let out a curse as her fist connected with the side of his face. He didn't stumble back, not like she had, but she knew he'd have a bruise and her red mark would dissapear in a few moments, already the warmth and the sting were fading. Sereo grabbed Yuki quickly, before her hands could reach her pouch and Ayane met Sereo's eyes. He promised not to hurt her, and she promised pain if he did. He wanted to hit her again, he wanted to strike her so hard that she would fall to the ground. He didn't. He can't figure out why. The siblings glared at each other with fury in their eyes.

"Leave Kasumi, before I kill you." Sereo offered to protect her with his body when he stepped in-between, he risked his life helping her. Hayate threatened to harm her with his actions and words and he wants to take her life from her. She once thought Sereo could replace Hayate, but relating them would be an insult to Sereo. She was glad to have a real niisan now, and she would be his neechan as soon as she got away from this boy.

"Do you think you can Hayate?" He voice was sickly sweet, as if she was asking if he could hit a target like she did when he was a kid. He grit his teeth.

"How long have you failed?" Now, she sounded like their father when Hayate saw him talking to the worst of the classes that never made an attempt to get better.

"How easily were you deceived?" This part, she asked genuinely and this question struck him the hardest. He had trusted Sereo, he trusted him to kill her and, at the very least, not lie to him and help the traitor. He had trusted Ryu's judgment on whether or not she was truly dead. He had trusted Ayane to be firm and not run into her sister's embrace. He trusted his father to protect him, and then himself to defeat Raidou without having his best move stolen from him.

How easily was he deceived? Indeed, that was the question.

He was furious, at himself, her, Sereo, Ayane, Ryu, Raidou, everyone, and lost his voice. Yuki however found hers and let out an enraged yell as she flipped Sereo over her shoulder in one smooth practiced motion and he almost found it funny that she was probably going to kill him right now. He blinked as the shadow fell on him but it wasn't Yuki's, as Yuki was sprawled out on the floor next to him. How did that happen? Pausing for only a second he looked up to see Kasumi standing over him, she turned and reached for a blade she didn't have before diving into a roll to avoid the shurriken thrown at her.

"Leave Sereo, now." She said with a low steady voice to her true brother as she pulled him up. "No matter the status of the war do not come back. Trust my experience, they will never forgive you and they will always hunt you." She stepped away from him, yelling a taunt to her blood brother, Hayate, and Yuki. They immediately shifted their focus away from Sereo and to her, she was the one they wanted dead above all else. They were not paying attention, but what about the other two? He turned to Ayane whose red eyes were conflicted. Her shoulders fell with what looked like resignation and she mouthed the word 'go.' Guilt. Not regret. She'd feel guilty letting him go, but she might regret killing him.

Just like she would regret killing her sister if she really had to right now.

Ayane stood back from the fight as her first hard step reminded her that she was injured. Her hand immediately went to the area of the wound, feeling the heat rolling off of her in waves. It served to remind her of a few things, she was useless; she was alive; she didn't have to fight. She clenched her hand, not even wincing at the pain it caused her as she stressed her wound. She would have to sit and watch her sister's fate, but at least, this time, there would be no animosity on her part. This time, her hands wouldn't be as red. No regret and no guilt.

Kasumi was not faring well against the two of them, as she would only dodge. She didn't want to hurt her brother any more than the punch in the face she had given him earlier. It was odd how she could hate someone's actions and think little of them and still wholeheartedly love the evil creature. She glanced over to the other side of the field. Sereo was gone, safe. Hayabusa still had not moved and there was her tanto blade, almost calling out to her. Ayane was a good distance away from Hayabusa and from here. She planted her back foot and jumped up onto their shoulders to their shock. She had planted a foot on each of their shoulders before she jumped even higher and spun feeling the weightlessness wash over her. It was sweet. It was fast. Bliss. She had to focus.

She disappeared into petals, appearing before Ryu and ripping her holster from his chest in one smooth fluid motion, as if she had practiced all her life for this very moment. He was still shocked, still frozen, but less shocked, almost held in place. She started to spin then and he knew he'd lost her again. Something broke, as if he was recently freed from someone else's control he found his, so he lunged. He grabbed for Kasumi as she vanished.

He didn't know if it would work, he had teleported with others, but he had never joined at the very instant of teleportation, never against the other's will. Still, for Kasumi, he had to try. He grabbed nothing. She wasn't solid, yet he felt her as one would feel water from a stream. Then he was drowning in it. He held on, not caring the result, and in a moment of clarity, he knew he went with her.

.

He would feel the dragon call him, which was odd, because the dragon usually only pointed him in a direction and to a person, and then left him once he got the dragon where it wanted to be. For the first time in thousands upon thousands of years he was reminded that yes, this pendant did have its own being. Kalona ran with the pull from the beast like he had the first time, when it was his own-no. He swore to never think of such times again, not for as long as he may live. He was doomed to live forever, so he would never think of it again.

He held the dragon in his hand as he ran because he couldn't risk it falling out of his pocket. It pulled and pulled and pulled until he found them all again. He stood straight as he spotted her. Of all the ones he had had before, none looked so much like her. The skin and hair isn't what caught him, but her grace. She appeared in the middle of a field, scattering cherry blossoms and saving two lives, not all shinobi were alike at all. The last one he met that was like that was his own.

They jumped back, and one, the super ninja, was just a toss away from him. With an understanding he didn't have before he heard the dragon growl out. Kalona opened his palm to look down at the dragon in his hand expecting it to move or fly away and when neither happened he was slightly disappointed. He knew it had something to do with the ninja in front of him.

He had been alive for longer than he could remember, for longer than people had counted, and if there was one thing that was universal, whether in age, culture or time, it was the look on a man's face when he loved a woman. With this man, he didn't even have to look at his face to know. To his surprise Kalona knew that the dragon was angered at that, which was odd, because he had gone after women who were married. Ryubi was pregnant when he took her. He could see no reason unless Hayabusa would interfere with Kasumi's destiny because of this love.

He understood in the way that immortals did. No matter the life, it was disposable when it came to the lives of the others, of all the others. He held the dragon in his thumb and pointer and tossed it so that it landed behind Ryu. The dragon temporarily took him and Kalona backed away to sprint around and watch from somewhere else. He made his presence known to Sereo as Kasumi spoke to them and he could only be reminded of a time and a place far from here. When Haruka disappeared he did too, but he didn't leave.

She was not in danger anymore, or rather she shouldn't be so he could have left, but he wanted to see more of her. He was far too curious, and not many things interest him anymore. He watches her spin and feels the connection the dragon had to the ninja snap as he lunges towards her. That was strange. He kneeled in front of where he dropped the pendant He picked the dragon back up as he watched the others in the clearing. He placed it in his pocket and could feel its weight as if it was heavier than he could handle. He had to give it to the girl soon.

"Useless!" Kalona's eyes narrowed at the man who called himself a leader. He yelled at the women with him, calling them weak, useless and cowards. He screamed in Ayane's face about her hugging her sister and breaking Shinobi code and to Yuki for not being strong enough to take on the neishin. Kalona almost laughed at the man. Hayate was clearly furious, and obviously blinded by his anger. He whipped his head around looking for Sereo and Ryu and punched a tree when he discovered those two members of his team were missing. Kalona was not surprised, who would choose Hayate over his sister?

His eyes darken as Hayate goes on and on but he does nothing but watch. From experience he knew his actions would do nothing good in the long run and he had a job to do that didn't concern any of them. He knows the man's time is coming and that alone is enough to satisfy him for now.

The pendant seemed to gain 100 pounds in an instant. Ah yes, he should get to Kasumi. He tried to think to where Sereo or Kasumi would have gone as he turned and walked away. His feet made the barest of sounds against the grass. The pendant pulled right and he turned to its direction yielding to it as he had from his time as a mortal. The pendant needn't worry. He always found them and he always found them early.

This one may be different than his recent ones. He had been able to train Ryubi, he had guided William, and he had supported Nura years before their time came, but now, with the Shogun and this war, he fears all he may be able to do is give her to the Dragon and watch. He should have trained her before this. He should have done it long ago, that same night that he had been in her room as a teen after learning she wouldn't be allowed to leave to avenge her brother and reclaim their honor. Instead he had just leaned in so his words could bounce inside her cranium and said.

"Run."

.

He knew the feel of teleportation. The first time he teleported was as a young boy, his sensei made sure he knew everything when he was young so he wouldn't think anything was impossible as a man. He was a very cruel sensei, even in the eyes of other ninja, but Ryu could never deny the man was wise or that he'd be anywhere near the skill he had now without him.

For an instant, pain disappeared, the Earth disappeared. He was in bliss, weightless. Colors dance around his eyes as they always did and he felt the wind as if he was running as fast as he could without the burn in his legs or lungs. The smell was sweet, but lighter than when it was him alone. But it was only for an instant. As soon as it starts it ends and he stood like he always did when he landed, though at first he would fall to his knees as everything rushed back, senses feeling attacked and overloaded.

He was overwhelmed now in a different way.

She stared at him, confused on how he managed to follow her and her eyes were the only thing that gave away that the precious encounter left her frazzled. For all his activity before, with the lunging at her, he didn't move now because he didn't know what to do, could not fathom what to say. He thought she was dead. She plagued his thoughts, haunted his dreams. She must have seen him that night in the dojo; held him in the forest. She ignored him on the roof.

"I told you not to die on me." Was the only thing he said, it was the only thing he could think to say after all this. She blinked, as shocked at his voice as she was to his words, but her open honest eyes met him for a second.

"I didn't." She said back, her voice sweet and tender and everything else he remembered about her.

No. She didn't. She was here, with him, right now, alive.

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