LadyBugOut AU (Snippets)

Coming Off the Fence

Summary:
Kagami has a fencing match with Adrien.

Chapter Text
Kagami was thankful that Armand didn’t ask any questions when she insisted that she wanted to stay behind with Adrien - fencing gear and all - for just a few minutes. She didn’t care to waste her time answering pointless questions, and with the stern look she’d given him upon her insistence, he would’ve been a fool to ask anyway.

Adrien was sitting patiently in the locker room, glancing up at her as she entered. “Hey, so what’d you want a match for?”

A decisive match, Kagami corrected in her head. Still, she said nothing, her eyes encouraging Adrien to follow as she went into the standard fencing area of the school.

She pulled out her saber, tracing her fingers along the length of it. Adrien walked up to face her at a distance, seeming confused but ready to go against her. They performed the standard beat to signify that the fight was about to start.

“You have the first move,” Kagami told him, getting into her usual stance and flipping her mask down with her free hand. It was certainly unorthodox to fence without someone there to judge, but she suspected that she wouldn’t need one.

Adrien looked at her strangely, but nevertheless flipped his mask down and got into stance as well.

A few seconds passed with Adrien doing nothing. It was very predictable of him, really, so when he finally did lunge at her, it was easy to dodge.

Kagami spoke. “Who is that Lila girl?”

“W-what?”

Adrien staggered, then immediately pulled back, his posture implying that half of his focus had been lost. Kagami sliced the open air in warning, stunning Adrien back into action as they re-engaged.

“The Lila girl,” Kagami repeated. “Who is she?”

She couldn’t see his expression through his helmet, but the fact that he didn’t answer at first said everything all on its own.

“She—she’s a girl in my class?”

As he lunged, she parried him. “Don’t take me for a fool, Adrien.”

Kagami knew there was more than that. She remembered the face of the girl as she was de-akumatized. She remembered the tense atmosphere between her and Ladybug. She remembered what she’d heard the girl lie about on the Ladyblog, along with what Ladybug’s response was.

She remembered what Marinette had said.

“I’m not!” Adrien replied. “She really is in my class!”

Kagami gave him a look underneath her helmet. Feinting against him, she countered, “Marinette told me everything.”

“Everything?” The apparent hurt in his voice was evident. “But—I thought we…”

“I asked her,” she clarified. She advanced on him, causing him to retreat. It was all too similar to their first meeting. “I’d heard more than enough about her and I wanted the facts.” She nearly hissed her next words. “You supported a liar, Agreste.”

“No! I—I didn’t want her to get hurt!”

“So you defended a liar,” Kagami stated. “You protected one.”

“You saw what happened! She got akumatized when everything came out!” Adrien reminded her as he tried to strike back. “Now everyone is against her!”

There were nerves in his voice, perhaps due to him sensing the buzzing fury Kagami had that was unknown to him.

“And you consider that an excuse?” Performing a quick, short series of strikes to force him back, essentially to wherever she wanted, she continued, “Hawk Moth will seek out anyone he deems a target. Delaying justice for the sake of sparing someone’s feelings is pathetic.”