KagaKuro AU Collection

Day 1: Shadow and light - New beginning

Kagami breathed heavily through his nose, lowering his sword as the enemy footman dropped. His blade dripped fresh blood on the already stained ground. No new opponent stepped forward to challenge him, so he took a moment to survey the atmosphere of the battlefield.

The sounds of battle rang all around him, metal shrieking against metal, hoarse shouts of the soldiers, gurgled screams as the dead fell. His comrades were standing strong against the Imperial Army, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the Emperor's personal guard came forward. When that happened, he knew they would fall almost immediately.

He had to get inside the palace walls.

Charging through the wall of bodies, he slashed and parried, fending off any attacks to his person. He had almost reached his destination when he caught the eye of his captain. Kagami jerked his head towards the gilded gate, thumping a fist against his breastplate. Hyuuga nodded sharply before spinning round to lop off the head of an enemy.

Encouraged by the permission he had been granted, Kagami barrelled forward. The gates were almost within arm's reach, just beyond the grove of bamboo–

He sensed more than felt the dagger flying towards his neck, and ducked quickly. His katana shot up from beside him, clanging loudly against the blade headed for his stomach. Before he could push it away, however, a cold sharp point came to rest against his collarbone.

He froze in place, glancing down at his attacker in shock. No one in his squad had bested him before.

The man was sparsely armoured, clad only in a skintight black suit. Tendrils of his sky blue hair were plastered to the sides of his head with sweat, and his aquamarine eyes burned with passion. He was wielding two blades - a pair consisting of a katana and a wakizashi. The wakizashi was blocked by Kagami's blade, while the katana touched his jugular.

Kagami swallowed slowly, his eyes fixed on the sharp metal prodding his neck. As much as he wanted to, he could not waste time wondering why the man did not complete his attack.

Two heartbeats passed, the sounds of battle muffled as if they were in their own private bubble. Without warning, Kagami swung upwards, pushing the katana away from him. He jumped backwards, trying to put some distance between himself and his attacker.

The man followed him closely, stabbing with one sword even as the other slashed across his body.

Kagami gasped as the wakizashi glanced off his armour, barely bringing his katana up in time to block the other sword. He bumped into the bamboo, and a glint caught his eye. His free hand flashed up to snatch the dagger, pushing the other man away with his sword.

They were evenly matched now, Kagami armed with the short dagger and his katana, and the other man with his dual blades.

Kagami threw the first blow, slicing at the man's face with the katana. The smaller man leapt out of the way, spinning his blades in a deadly dance. Sparks flew as their swords clashed, Kagami meeting his attacker blow for blow.

The closely packed bamboo made it difficult to manoeuvre, and Kagami soon sported a variety of small cuts in spite of his protective armour. He was breathing heavily, but the other man more so. His opponent looked ready to collapse, yet he still pulled his weapons up into an offensive stance.

They circled each other, and Kagami found himself suddenly blabbing. "Why don't you just give up? You're obviously tired."

"A true warrior never allows an enemy to walk away with his life in battle." The man panted, dashing forward to jab Kagami.