Chapter 1

The air was freezing, and the clear sky allowed the stars to lean towards the ground, lightening the scenery. In the distance, branches cracked, as if someone was stamping them without caring about breaking the peaceful silence. Akali paid attention to the noise. Her pursuer wasn't far away. They were moving fast, but made enough noise to wake up all the fish in the lake. Akali smiled: although she was unarmed, she was perfectly able to take her opponent out. For the moment, she was toying with them, running around to exhaust them. She leaned against a tree, listening to the approaching footsteps behind her. As a figure ran by, she moved behind it, using the shadows to remain unseen. The silhouette was that of a women. She stopped after a minutes, spinning around, obviously looking for her prey. Akali stood behind her back, ready to strike. As if a sixth sense lived within her opponent, the latter dodged by bouncing aside. She immediately counterattacked and kicked Akali's knee. The ninja leaped and landed on her enemy. Before the woman could make a move, Akali had twisted her arm behind her back and was holding her throat. "Gotcha!" she smiled before releasing her prey who stared at her, smirking too. "You know I'm not good at this game," Irelia said "so why do you keep forcing me to play?"

"I never forced you." Akali laughed "As far as I can remember, you've always been in when I offer you to play."

Irelia sighed "One day, I swear, I'll beat you, and you won't be laughing anymore."

"I can't wait to see this." Akali replied, looking at the stars "We should go back, it's been lasting a bit too long, and Karma's gonna be pissed if we're late."

"She can wait a bit." Ireila shrugged. She walked towards the shore of the lake and leaned forward.

"What are you looking at?"

Irelia took a few seconds before answering Akali's question "A wet cat."

"Cat?" Akali frowned and look at the water, looking for the animal. Irelia suddenly grabbed her waist and tried to push her into the cold water. Akali manged to keep her balance and tripped Irelia over. The latter fell headfirst in the lake while Akali burst out laughing "I can see your wet cat now!". Irelia shot her at sight before laughing too "Alright, I give up for today. We should go." Akali helped her out trying to contain her sarcastic comments.

Since Irelia had to change her outfit, they reached Karma's room in the Institute of War almost an hour late. The Enlightened One wouldn't be happy at all. It was actually worse than "not happy at all": Karma stared at the girls with a dark look, which made them uncomfortable. "Sorry if we're a bit late" Irelia tried out.

"What took you so long?" Karma asked, raising her voice "I've been waiting for an hour."

Akali and Irelia exchanged looks. "Irelia fell into the lake and had to change" Akali said before her companion could speak. Irelia glared at her and added "She pushed me in the lake."

"Are you kidding me? You're late because you two were too busy behaving like kids?"

"So, what do we do? Going out for a drink?" Akali asked, ignoring the question.

"How about growing up?" Karma coldly replied.

"Who's got time for that?" Irelia laughed. "Maybe we could hit the tavern next to the alchemy shop. Jhin told me they had good food."

Karma rolled up her eyes, exasperated by their behavior. It wasn't the first time Irelia and Akali spent hours playing some fighting games, and she couldn't stop thinking it childish. "I should've left without you."

"And end up drinking alone? That's kind of sad, isn't it."

Akali smiled hearing the comment, and Karma retorted "It's still better than babysitting you for the evening."

"We're sorry mom." Irelia said with a fake guilty voice while Akali laughed.

After they ate, they all went back to their dorms. It was late, and Akali fell asleep as soon as she laid her head on her pillow. The next morning, she was called to the Fields of Justice for an important match. She teleported on the platform in the base along with Braum, Varus, Rammus and Riven. She headed down the dirt track, ready to kick the hell out of her opponent. Birds were singing in the trees, and a squirrel was standing on the stone wall along the path. Akali waited for her enemy to appear, and her blood froze in her veins when she saw the Sinister Blade who had a large smile on her face. Despite herself, all her optimism suddenly vanished. She had managed to defeat Katarina several times, but the assassin had always had the upper hand. The Fist of Shadow was a prodigiously quick fighter whose agility was legendary, but Katarina was on a whole other level. She was a ruthless killing machine, driven by violence and a terrifying thirst for blood. To Akali, the worst in the assassin's behavior was the indifference and sometimes the joy displayed on her face when she killed. Akali decided to be extremely careful, not averting her eyes from her opponent. Katarina wasn't moving, but the smirk on her face made the ninja even more wary.

As soon as the first wave of minions came, Katarina darted forward and Akali barely had enough time to dodge. She spun around, trying to strike her enemy, but the latter was no more there. Akali felt an explosion of pain in her back and fell on the ground. Katarina put a foot on her shoulder before leaning over "Is it over yet?". Akali rolled aside and stood up, shaking. Of all her fights, she had never been taken out this quickly. Katarina was laughing, and she seized this instant of distraction to dash at her. She moved to the left to hit her flank and changed course at the last second. The Sinister Blade managed to dodge, but lost her balance for half a second. Akali dived once again and sliced through Katarina's abdomen. The assassin doubled up, growling in anger. The ninja jumped forward a third time in order to off her enemy. She hit nothing but the air. She twisted, sure that Katarina was behind her. Nothing. Her heart was beating hard enough to get out of her chest, Akali scrutinized her surroundings. The assassin had vanished. She carefully stepped back towards her tower. "I'm still here" a voice said on her left. Akali startled and was too slow to block the attack that struck her leg. Katarina swung her blades and stabbed her in the chest before she could make a move.

The rest of the match was a real nightmare, as the assassin grew more and more confident. Akali's body and outfit were soaked in blood, and her teammates' anger was rising at her. It ended with a defeat for Akali's team, and when they teloported back to the Institute, Braum, Varus, Riven and Rammus walked away without a word. Akali noticed that Katarina was staring at her, a mocking smile on her lips. The ninja shot her at sight and went back to her room, her whole body stiff. She collapsed on her bed, and closed her eyes, too tired to shower, but sleep seemed to be avoiding her.

Note: Here's the first chapter of my new story. After a few unsatisfying attempts, I finally have a plot around the characters. As you've probably noticed, English is not my first language. Any review and advice are therefore more than welcome.

See you for chapter 2!