A/C - HELLO! I've watched this series for some time and have always loved it! I've FINALLY decided to dabble in the fandom with a little story that has been nagging to be written!

Let me start by saying this story is a AU so no GUNDAM's (I KNOWWW) or technology, or coordinators/naturals, etc. I'm simply using the characters, which I do not own. I hope you give this story a chance and please let me know what you think!

Review, rate and FAV!

Chapter 1 - The Deal

^.^

Kira could hear the crowd roaring, the sound was being amplified by the tunnels. It did not shake him or set him hopping from foot to foot. Kira only rolled his shoulders - once, twice.

And he waited.

The sound continued to barrel down the grimy halls into the prep room. This underground gaming warren was run by Gilbert Durandal, a mob-boss who forced men, women and children to fight in these underground pits for cash flow.

It didn't matter who his opponent was tonight because Kira intended to win. His challengers were all the same: people who liked the underground scene, or those like him who were brought here to pay off their debts.

The problem isn't the fighting so much as the atmosphere. Inside the cage everything...changed. The only rules were that there were no rules. They could bring any weapons into the ring with the intention to kill. Kira had no use for such weapons but he had seen the same ones before: swords, daggers, axes.

When Gilbert gave Kira a fight, he never objected. It was a fine line that he walked with the dark haired mobster. Kira fought and did everything to stop the questioning about his loyalty so he could pay off his debt and be free. He only had one rule: never risk Cagalli's life.

These fights were for her after all. Every one of them.

It had been three years since Kira joined the underground organization known as The Destiny League of Assassins. That was the same time he 'proved' himself worthy to Gilbert Durandal. He and Cagalli were fifteen when their parents were murdered in Orb. In an attempt to escape to the streets Kira led them away, protecting his sister viciously.

She was sick and wounded though and Kira needed to desperately seek help. But, before he could get them out of those damp ally's Gilbert found them. He was impressed by Kira and promised him and Cagalli refuge.

Only, that refuge came at a price Kira didn't know he was about to pay.

In order to pay for Cagalli's medical aid, Kira took the debt from Durandal. But, with no money to pay it off, the deal was that Kira would fight in the ring until his debt was paid. And, until then he couldn't see Cagalli.

Kira heard the match emcee declaring the fight about to begin, introducing both opponents as Kira began to walk down the hall.

The titles didn't matter to Kira. Neither did the marks inked on his back - the tattooed strikes down his shoulder blades. At only eighteen he had twenty-seven in total.

Undefeated.

The guard opened the door, unfiltering the roaring of the crowd. Kira let out a long, deep breath as he lifted his chin and stepped out into the ring.

Let the bloodying begin.

^.^

He limped back to his quarters after the fight. It kept every lingering amount of concentration to keep his hands steady as he pulled out his keys and slide them into the door.

With three sentries escorting him he could not show weakness. Not until the damned door was closed and he had a moment to breath.

The fight went on for some time. Too long, in fact. The man he faced was a good fighter. Not well trained, but big. Twice his weight. In the ring, when desperation set in, his opponents blows landed hard. Not to mention the sword wound Kira endured halfway through the fight, slicing through skin and muscle. He had barely given the wound itself much thought until now.

But, he'd won. Not by brute strength but because he was smarter. When the injuries began to pile up and the sword got caught in his leg, he used simpler physics against him.

Kira was flexible and agile, where larger, pure physical opponents relied solely on their weapons or strength advantage. One of his biggest tactics was that Kira had never killed any of his opponents. He usually resorted to beating them badly enough that they could no longer attack him.

That was not always the same for him because his opponents meant to kill. Because to kill in the ring meant you could leave debt free.

The offer was tempting but he knew with Gilbert there would be a catch. So, he kept accepting the fights as they came without fully becoming a murderer that the League was going to turn him into. At least he had that, if nothing at all: that they couldn't use him as an assassin.

He finally unlocked the damned door and limped into his room. It was a single bedroom in the slums of the underground. His prison. All he really needed was a stove, fridge, bathroom and a bed. At least this place had all of those. There was a first aid kit that he had acquired at some point, adding random material he picked up. Sometimes it was things he found on his defeated opponents such as clothe for tourniquets. Sometimes it was alcohol in flasks.

That's exactly what he found, stashed away under a missing piece of floorboard. Slowly he pulled his cut up pants off, and with shaking hands he doused his thigh with the alcohol. Air hissed through his teeth as he suppressed the blinding pain. The cut was dangerously deep - he knew he should get stitches but he couldn't afford to add another debt to his bill.

Thankfully, Kira did have some makeshift materials for sutures. They wouldn't be very well done, but at least it would hold together the deepest parts of the cut.

Methodically, Kira sterilized a needle, found some thread and began the pain-staking procedure of stitches. Without sedatives the process was gruelling and he had to stop his hands from shaking so badly in order to work efficiently. He tried controlling his breathing, piercing the needle through the skin on his exhale.

When it was finally done, Kira tied off the stitches with a piece of cloth. The sharp pain cut through Kira and he yelped as he tied the cloth tightly around his leg, then changed into clean shorts. He hoped that the alcohol would disinfect anything in the wound and, by morning, he would still have his leg.

Groaning through the pain he looked up at the figure standing in the door. He didn't know how long Gilbert Durandal was standing there.

"I see you have suffered an injury," Gilbert said as he let himself in. "Looks pretty bad."

"It's not," Kira gritted his teeth. "What do you want? I won the fight tonight."

The golden-eyed man smiled. "Yes, you most certainly did. I'm not surprised though. You bludgeoned him with the hilt of the sword so badly he may never fully heal."

It was true, but it wasn't Kira's problem anymore.

Gilbert said, "I have a new assignment for you. And, I think you'll be quite intrigued by it."

"I'm not killing anyone." Kira warned even though he was in no position to make such statements.

Gilbert chuckled at this, "Oh, I have a feeling once you find out the terms you might very well want to kill your target. I'm even willing to barter your freedom, and your sister's, if you do."

Kira paled as he looked up at the grinning man. There was no way he would be offering that. Not when having Kira fight brought so much money to the ring.

"Yes, you heard me correct. Isn't that what you've been fighting for all this time? I'm willing to give it to you if you succeed."

"And if I don't?" Kira said, carefully.

"Well, it's simple. You'll be executed and that pretty little sister of yours will have a new home at Madam Kullinae's brothel -"

"No," Kira could feel the blood leave his face. "Y-You can't. She's just a kid!"

Gilbert lifted his hand, silencing Kira.

"I won't go to those measures unless you fail," Gilbert kept his dark, golden stare on Kira. "There is a catch, though."

Of course there was a catch. There was always a catch.

Gilbert continued, "You are to leave for this mission tonight and enlist in the ZAFT Military Academy."

For a moment, Kira didn't hear the words, or the hum of the underground scene.

"Military Academy?" Kira said, not completely understanding the logic behind going to the Military. Least of all, to ZAFT's Military.

"Yes," Gilbert eyed him. "Because after you have finished there, you must ascend into the Prince's Guard."

The Prince's Guard at the PLANTS. Kira had known little about the Princes and Princesses of the continents. He did, however, know of the Zala's in the PLANTS. Orb and the PLANTS shared a northern border and seldom did they ever have mutual dealings. Kira had remembered being sent to the border with his father during the tail end of the last war when Kira was just twelve years old. He was too young to have been on that battlefield at all - it was his duty, Kira was told. The Zala's were, supposedly, there but Kira had never set eyes on the eyes on the family. Not when there had been a whole battlefield of commotion between him and the royal family of the PLANTS.

He thought of the only person it was possible to get close to in such a position - the Prince's Guard.

The mob-boss answered his thoughts. "The man you have been hired to kill is the Crown Prince, Athrun Zala. Do that, and you have your freedom."

^.^