A Fate Worse than Death Ch. 3
By Elaine

"So when's my next fight?" Nanase asked, busily filing her fingernails.

"Woah gerl, you's getting rested first," Dee Jay laughed in reply. The girl had just won him a lot of money and he was happy as all get out. "You's gotta wait a while before goin' on again, part of da grand ol' marketing scheme, yeah!"

"What?"

"Marketing scheme!" He repeated, holding up a fist full of bills for emphasis. "You be media darling, you win big bucks. But if you fight more times now, you is expected to be a'fightin' two times every time..."

"So?"

"Listen, gerl... you in da big leagues now, right? Well, dos big leaguers ain't no nothing like da crapola you fight just now," Dee Jay explained. "An' besides, is bad for publicity, make you look like a blood-thirsty fool, mon."

Nanase sighed in slight annoyance. "But I'm not looking for publicity, I'm looking for my sister and brother," She gripped her staff tightly, as if holding onto it for comfort. "I don't have time for this publicity stuff..."

"But it is good for-"

"No," It wasn't said impolitely, for Nanase had been very thankful for his help. "No, I'm very sorry but I really have to do this first. I'm afraid that where ever my siblings are, they aren't liking it very much. I have to get to them as quickly as possible...or..." She trailed off and looked away, clearly indicating that she probably shouldn't say anything else.

"Alright alright," Dee Jay sighed, thumbing the green bills in regret. "I sign you up for next fight, kay? Dee Jay be makin' you happy..."

"Thanks Dee Jay," She gave him a quick smile and watched him walk away, still playing with his money. And for the moment she was alone.

She sat down in one of the stools next to a bar and ordered a glass of water. God. She wondered what she would do after the fight. It had finally hit her that she had run away from her only home with one incredibly desperate mission but no clear way to accomplish it. What was she supposed to do now? Keep fighting until luck chanced her by? Comb through every alleyway in the world, looking for information on the dissapearance of Hokuto? D*mn, she didn't even know how they had dissapeared...and only had a rough estimate of when.

She downed the glass and asked for something more tasty. A Fruit punch maybe. No Alcohol. She had a fight coming up and she didn't want to be drunk for it. Resting her head in her arms, she wondered what on Earth she was going to do. This mission had turned out to be bigger than she had previously thought. It wasn't just a game of hide and seek. It was a lifetime's journey...perhaps a search with no end...and what if Hokuto and Kairi were dead already? What if that 'psionic' power had engulfed them and left their bodies rotting in whatever gutter they had been thrown in? What the h*ll was psionic power anyway? And why did the world have to be so d*mn big? She picked up the newly delivered Fruit punch and sipped away. She had nearly gotten lost in Tokyo alone. And something told her that she'd have to visit a bunch more places before anything surfaced. What a nightmare.

"Okay gerl. You on in thirty five minutes, yeah?" Dee Jay cheerfully called from behind her, startling her out of her reverie. "Betta gettin' ready. You be fightin' some skilled peoples next..."

"Thank you, Dee Jay..." She offered him another smile and hastily gulped down the rest of the punch. "Who is it?"

"Hmmm...next you's fightin' some new boy. Name is Hayate or somethin'. Kid widda sword,"

"Here?"

"Oh no," Dee Jay replied, almost shocked at the question. "As I said, dis is only fo da dumb brawler ones. Da good stuff is even more inside!"

"Well...lead me on..." She hopped nimbly off the bar stool and followed the huge Jamaican, idly wondering what she was getting herself into...

*~*~ "My next opponent is female?"

"Hai, a girl," Tenshin, his 'older brother' answered.

"Why?"

Tenshin shrugged and stared at the TV screen in a sudden burst of interest for whatever was on.

"I can't fight a girl," Hayate said, grimly holding his bokken in one hand.

"You're not in a position to make demands, little brother..." The way he said it, 'little brother' sounded so poisonous, so full of hidden venom that Hayate shuddered inwardly.

"But it's unfair..."

"We are the Yakuza. We tell you what's fair and what's not, do you understand?" Tenshin glared at him omniously.

"I can't fight a girl," Hayate repeated stubbornly.

Tenshin growled. "You will fight whoever I want you to fight. Father wants to know exactly how good you are so you will go out there and show him,"

Hayate shook his head. "Not with a girl, it's against my code of honor," He gripped his sword even more firmly.

"You're code of honor?" Tenshin laughed at this. "You? You have no code of honor. You are the b*st*rd son of Akiri-sama...a nothing," He paused, letting it sink in. "A nothing. This is your one chance to prove to Father that can you earn your keep. Are you willing to let it slip through your grimy, little b*st*rd fingers?"

"Iie," he replied, chastened. Tenshin was the son of the Yakuza lord Akiri...basically the owner of Eastern Japan. And Tenshin was right. He was nothing. A result of the promise Akiri had made to his 2nd wife before he had slaughtered her for adultery.

He remembered his childhood, a monotony of running around with the riff raff. His 'father' had not wanted him. After all, Hayate was a just a reminder of his wife's love for another man. So, he spent the first thirteen or so years of his life on the streets. He had showed a remarkable ability of fighting from the beginning and would often pick brawls with some of the older boys. Never Tenshin though, no matter how bad Tenshin was to him. To fight Tenshin and win would mean to throw himself over the edge of the world. It would have given Akiri a reason to kill him. He chuckled, even now amazed at his patience in dealing with the Yakuza's son.

"What are you laughing at?" Tenshin demanded from the corner.

"Nothing, I'm just easing some muscles," Hayate replied cooly, feeling a small spark of satisfaction as Tenshin hmmphed and turned away.

When he was 14, he had met an old man in one of the alleyways. Some of his friends had decided to attack the man and Hayate was about to join them when the old man whipped out a wooden sword and proceeded to beat his friends senseless with it. Hayate could still remember the amazement of seeing someone that old, someone that frail with almost no more meat left on his bones, break his friends with unnerving ease. Only when the man had returned the bokken to his waist did Hayate step out to meet him. In a flash, the bokken went to his neck and he yelped in pain as it contacted with the arm he had instinctivly put up to block himself. The old man had then returned the bokken to his side, studying him earnestly.

"What are you looking at," He remembered asking, a little sour and bruising.

"You. You don't belong here," The old man had replied after a pause.

"What do you mean I don't belong?" Hayate had shot back. "I've lived here all my life,"

"And yet...and yet this isn't your place in life.

"You're senile,"

"Perhaps," The old man had shrugged. "But I know you feel it to. Everybody has a calling in life and this isn't yours, is it,"

"This is my home," He had answered, jutting out his chin indignantly.

"It won't be soon. Come with me,"

"What? Why?"

The old man had chuckled. "Because you need to learn what I will teach you and because I want a disciple,"

He remembered wanting to say a thousand things in reply. To call the old man crazy and just walk away. But for some odd reason he decided to follow. As if the person had already put a noose around his soul and was tugging him forward. So, in almost no time, Hayate found himself following a stranger into who knew where. Hayate still hadn't stopped thanking the Gods for his choice. The man had been the blessing Hayate had been waiting for.

Sometimes, sometimes when he found himself with nothing left to do, he wondered who his father was. Who in the world could have made his mother so eager to throw all caution to the wind and chance the anger of the most powerful man in Tokyo? From what he had picked up on the streets, his mom had not been a stupid woman. Not even a flighty one. And under normal circumstances she would have remained loyal to her Yakuza lord forever. But she hadn't, and the circumstances weren't normal, and so she was dead while her son lived on.

"What are you doing?" Tenshin asked as he took a sip of some expensive drink.

"Excuse me?"

"What are you doing? You've been staring at that wall for a long time,"

"Meditating,"

"Well stop then, go practice with your sword thing. I don't want you to lose this fight,"

"Hai," He loosely fingered his bokken and decided to go through one of his more complicated katas.

Doing the katas always seemed to trigger the memory of the old man. The man who's name he never learned but whom he had studied under for four short years. The old man who had taken him in one fateful day and trained him in the art of the samurai. The old man who had oneday disapeared off the face of the earth, leaving him alone once again in such a sprawling metropolitan, but this time with the power and will to fight.

Tenshin had one day come across his b*st*rd brother's newfound abilities and had decided to profit from them. He had pushed him into various small Street Fights. Always betting on him and reaping in the huge profits.

"Are you ready? The match is in ten minutes, you know?"

"Yes, I'm ready," Hayate bowed to his 'older brother' and picked up his small belongings.

"Good, then let's get going. And remember, if you lose..." He slid his finger over his throat.

"I won't lose," He replied. Sighing, he wandered into the main room...where his next fight was going to take place.