Black & White

Chapter Seven: Nightmare

Rain pelted against the stone walls of the castle, making a *tick* like sound. Armed guards patrolled the perimeters, their chain-mail connecting with the armor plating. The horse stables were quiet, besides the whining that the animals had made seemed have to go to unbothered by the gathering storm. Inside, maids hurried through the halls, behind them were three children. One seventeen year's of age, a male with silver colored hair. A girl who appeared to be a year older than him was eighteen years of age. While the last one, a boy, who had just turned thirteen.

Their boots clicked against the marble floors as they scrabbled up the stair's. The boy could already hear shouting from the throne room, making him tense up as it had gotten serious.

"Brother! My son is sick, at any rate, he won't be able to take over the throne!"

"...Shu, there's nothing we can do... The royal physician said that he is infected by it, and there isn't anything we can do about it!"

"That's nothing but a pious lie, Arashi, and you know it!"

The children's father, Arashi Kiyomizu, and his uncle, Crayne. The two had quarreled over the next rule of Irà for almost thirteen years. Since Arashi was in his mid thirty's, Crayne had desperately did his best to get his eldest son, Devin onto the throne. But the boy had caught a bad disease. No one knew what it's origins were, but the name struck horror to the minds and souls of nobles and Royal's. The disease was called Reign.

The boy had remembered seeing his cousin sweat non stop, drenching the entire bed until it was soaked. The horrible coughs that spewed out dark red blood liked is mind. He even heard that there was no cure for it.

'...So if I get infected with it, there's no hope for me...?'

This scared him, but not as much as the thought of his siblings getting infected. A bead of swear dripped down his face, he was afraid of his uncles reaction. He heard the throne room doors opening, followed by the sound of boots clicking again the marble floors.

"Little brother, there's no time to dawdle, we have to get to fathers room!"

His sister, Emily had urged him. Her violet eyes gleamed with fear, she had witnessed their uncles violent actions and was afraid of what the man might do to her younger brother. The boy looked at her, and hurried behind them. The door ahead of them was wide open, and the person who held it open was his older brother, Haku, who looked had a angered look on her face.

"Come on, go, hurry!"

The urgency in his voice made the boy rush past him, trying to avoid his brother's gaze. But the young prince couldn't help but to look up, finding the same fear in his eldest brother's eyes. This brought a sharp pang of fear into his heart....

[Morning; 7:35 AM]

The sun had risen, leering into the window's of the academy. Since it was an "Off Day", students could leave the grounds or stay and chat with their friends. While some go into town to meet up with some friends or go off into the forest to distance themselves from the school. Hikari swung the wooden sword in her hand, a *whoosh* sound was made, followed by a *clanking* sound of the practice dummy in the training room.

Since she had only arrived the academy a three days ago, feeling the strange new atmosphere had made her feel uneasy. Even with her dark haired partner, Kira Akashi. Only to have met him, she felt rather curious about his past. A cloud of mystery had began to cloud her mind, she narrowed her eyes and struck downwards, hitting the dummy in the head with a ferocious strike.

It rattled by the impact, making the strange shuddering sound, as if it was going to fall apart. Hikari panted lightly, she had been practicing all morning, while he laid asleep.

'...And he complains that I sleep in too much? Bah!'

She thought bitterly and continued to hit the practice dummy. Her left foot moved forwards, giving her a more extended reach. Her left arm, where the wooden sword laid in her grip was moved back. In her mind, she began to count the seconds in her head, like the sands of time at their last seconds. Hikari's heart slowed down, her breathing became shallow. She narrowed in on the practice dummy as she had reached the last three seconds.

'...Here it goes!'

Moving her left foot an inch forward, gaining a bit of initial speed, she flung herself toward's it. She had counted the distance between her and her target. She raised the neatly polished sword, bringing it up over her head.

Hikari rapidly closed in the gap between the dummy and her, she gritted her teeth, and let out a low shout.

"...HAH!"

*Clank!*

The loud strange sound filled the room, echoing through her ear's. She moved from her attacking stance, and re-sheathed the wooden sword into the leather sheath that hung at her waist. She let out light exhausted breath's, and closed her eyes, a thought rubbed the outer walls of her mind, as if they were telling her something.

'...Just... Who is... Kira Akashi?'

A sound of the metallic door's unlatching disrupted her thoughts, making her turn towards the cause of the sound. Her blue eyes locked onto a pair of dark ones who leaned against the upper railing.

...These eyes belonged to her partner.