Kids Will Be Kids by kingfishers_game

Chapter 13: Sibling Rivalry Is All Fun and Games Until Someone...

Loses an Eye [pt.i]

Kamui's eyes narrowed into slits. A Yato who had lost control of their coherent thought wouldn't be able to speak at all, much less taunt him. He'd assumed she'd been totally awakened, but it looked like he hadn't gone far enough. "Still haven't given in?"

Her steps left cracks in the rocky ground as she sprang toward him. They were both going for speed now, and the air between them hissed with energy from the force of their attacks.

"This wild blood is mine...it knows better than to disobey me." Kagura's words came out in a lazy drawl, but she was far from distracted. Her umbrella swung through the air like a hammer of god to meet Kamui's and he dug his feet into the rock to stop himself going over the edge of the cliff as the shock wave from the strike forced them apart.

Kagura's back hit a beam on the wooden scaffolding, jarring the ribs that had been broken before. She lowered into a crouch on another beam. Kamui shot forward, and Kagura rose to meet him.

"But you're a little different, aren't you? You weren't fighting like this before," Kamui said as they clashed. He could almost feel the miasma of her killing intent sparking against his...and was it his imagination, or had she discarded her little speech tic with the 'uh-huh's?

"I know how to beat you now," Kagura said, blocking a kick with her bare hand by slamming her palm against his leg.

"Really? How are you going to do that?" Kamui asked, swiping his umbrella down into her thigh hard enough to produce a deep gash that bloomed crimson into her dress. It was almost unbelievable that she could stand against him without totally awakening. But actually winning?

Kagura hissed in pain but didn't let her confidence waver. In that dark dream world where she'd encountered her other selves, the older version of her had promised that the battle experience she'd accumulated over the past few years would help, and she was right. It wasn't just her Yato blood making her stronger—the muscle memory of countless battles fought and won was ingrained in her body. It was like she was seeing through Kamui. She could feel the patterns of his movement and predict his next attacks far more clearly than she could before.

"You're so strong you're predictable, Aniki... You switched hands on your umbrella, so your wrist is injured from earlier." A heavy blow to Kamui's umbrella punctuated Kagura's observation, and she could see his tendons stiffen from the strain on his broken wrist.

Kamui's next kick made contact with Kagura's shoulder and she flew back away from the mountainside, landing hard on her back. Kamui stalked forward and moved to stomp on her unguarded torso, but before he could finish his movement the side of Kagura's arm collided with his leg hard enough to bruise bone. Her eyes were taunting him. "And you really enjoy fighting. Every time you get a hit in, you let your guard down a little and give me an opening."

Kamui pulled back into the shadows created by the wooden scaffolding. His little sister... He was actually struggling against her. And the sunlight wasn't helping things. He couldn't remember the last time he'd fought so long against a single opponent, and his stamina was wearing thin under the light of the sun. "Anything else?"

Kagura laughed and sat up. "You're making this too easy." A running jump—barely hindered by the wound in her leg—sent her flying into the space above him. Her umbrella swept through the air, smashing most of the wooden frame—and the carved area of mountain behind it—to bits. "So proud of your Yato blood, but it's a weakness too... You've been avoiding the sun. Are you getting tired, Aniki?"

Kamui returned Kagura's laugh mirthlessly. "You're as much a Yato as I am. You don't belong in the light either."

She landed on one of the broken beams sticking out of the crags and looked out over the rising sun. "A faithful night rabbit like you should stay in the darkness, but I've been struggling, all this time, to show my face in the light of day. As long as the dawn is my battlefield, I won't lose."