Gasp! Could it be?! A new story in Knightverse?! I know, I know, it's been over a year since I updated this series, but since I'm on one-week break from school, I'm trying to make a dent in my list of unfinished stories. Most of the ones I'm working on are not even near the top of the priority list on my profile, but since it's only one week that I've got, I'm focusing on the ones that are nearly finished. This includes 'Bishop'. I decided that I wasn't going to wait until I'd finished 'King' before posting the two of them and 'The Bachelor Party' all together. So here we are!

Daichi's profile:

Full Name: Daichi Kuroda
Birthdate: Oct 8, 1990
Fangire Type: Eel (Aqua Class)
Dreamcast: Dōri Sakurada

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kamen Rider Kiva or any of its characters.

WORD COUNT: 3714

Thursday, November 13th, 2008 – Monday, November 16th, 2009

Everyone knew Kuroda Daichi was incredibly clever. It wasn't just his test scores; he could argue and reason to get his way with ease, and managed the chaos that was the social politics of high school with deft skill. He wasn't one of the popular students, nor did he want to be, but his diplomatic skills meant he had very few enemies.

It was during his third and final year of high school, shortly after his eighteenth birthday, that his life took on an interesting turn. The young Fangire received the Mark of the Bishop. He was stunned, at first, and who wouldn't be? This didn't happen to just anyone.

Then he got to actually thinking. The role of the Bishop was a heavy responsibility. He needed to keep archival records updated and organised, ensure the laws and procedures were being enforced, and co-ordinate with the Fangire Enclaves outside of the country.

Their kind existed all over the world, and it was only in the last century that quick, easy communication between continents became readily available. So Fangires that lived outside the King's immediate sphere of influence formed their own leaderships, but they still had to submit to their sovereign. That was where the Bishop came in. He was the one who received foreign reports and delivered the King's orders. That on its own was a big job.

But he was good at adapting to difficult situations. So as soon as he graduated, Daichi got on a plane and flew to the Enclave in Shanghai. After a few weeks there, he traveled to the other thirteen Enclaves around the world, covering every continent except Antarctica. He even visited New York City, which many Fangires refused to count as a proper Enclave, as it was a haven for those who'd fallen in love with humans. He did this for about eight months, gathering information about what was going on in the broader Fangire world. After returning to Japan in late November, he began to sort through the variety of rumours and tales of what the King had been up to in the past year.

Three things became clear. Firstly, the King was, in fact, collaborating with humans to punish Fangires who were feeding excessively, almost always resulting in brutal executions. Secondly, he'd married a new Queen mere months after the mystery-shrouded death of his first, and they were already expecting their first child, though the Queen was being hidden away for her and the child's own safety. And thirdly, the King had, in fact, re-established the Royal Army, under the leadership of the new Rook, who'd stepped up to the position last August.

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

It didn't take that much research to find out where the King worked. He was established as the young president of a funding company called Development and Pioneer (or D&P). Daichi approached it on a calm Saturday afternoon, knowing through careful surveillance that the King would be stopping by to check in on things, but wouldn't have any meetings scheduled. He told the receptionist he was waiting for an employee he was friends with, and sat down in the lobby.

As it was, Daichi didn't have to wait long. The front doors opened, and in came the young man he knew to be the King, followed by his half-brother, Kurenai Wataru, who'd been appointed as the first Knight since the betrayal of the Knight Yori in 1458. This one had caused quite a stir as well. Half-humans were practically unheard of in this part of the world, and the fact that one had achieved such a high position in Fangire society had the traditionalists' heads spinning.

Daichi stood, approaching the pair calmly. "Excuse me," he said politely, "I was hoping I might have a moment of your time."

The King stared at him. "I beg your pardon?" A hint of wariness coloured his tone. Daichi didn't blame him; there were a lot of threats to the King's life right now. Whether or not Daichi was one would depend on how their conversation went.

He was led up to a private meeting room, after showing them the Mark on his hand and thereby proving himself worthy of their time. They were very interested in him after that revelation. Daichi was fully aware of their suspicious stares throughout the trip. He wouldn't expect anything less; in fact, he'd be mildly offended if they dismissed his potential to be a threat. Though he knew he was easily underestimated. He was young, slim, and a bit delicate-looking. It wasn't something he could help, so Daichi used it to his advantage as often as he could.

The King stared him down as they sat across from each other. Knight remained standing defensively at his brother's shoulder. "What is it that you want?" King asked warily.

Daichi merely smiled politely. "I'll be perfectly honest with you, and say that I haven't decided yet. I know you've been facing resistance to your reforms, and it's only a matter of time before they get organised. I always choose whichever path benefits me the most, so perhaps what I want at the moment is for you to present your argument in favour of my joining you?"

But the King could play this game as well, it appeared. "You speak as though you'd be highly valuable to whichever side you choose. What do you have that we would want you on our side, or at least off our enemies' side?"

Luckily, Daichi had prepared for such a question. "In the past eight months, I've traveled to all fourteen Enclaves, to assess their situations in terms of human-Fangire relations. The Lord of the New York Enclave, as I'm sure you've heard from the Rook, will back you one hundred percent, as will the Australians. The Mexicans and the Brazilians aren't quite so eager to get involved in conflict, but if they must, they will probably take your side. The Israelis are, like myself, waiting to see what happens; they'll be a strong asset for whomever they choose to help. And the Brits and Germans are likely to stay neutral; they're rather old-fashioned over there but moderate in terms of how often they kill and whom.

"I have gotten myself on good terms with nearly all the Enclave leaders. I know what they want, and how to get them to do what I want. Whoever earns my allegiance will, by extension, gain the support of at least nine or ten Enclaves. And that is most certainly something you don't want your enemies to have."

He sat back and let them absorb the information. The King frowned pensively, clearly deep in thought, while the Knight never took his eyes off Daichi, who wasn't sure if he should be flattered or annoyed by the practically paranoid amount of attention. Even if he did decide to side with their enemies, he wasn't going to jump up and attack them right this second, or at all during this meeting. There was caution and then there was paranoia.

Before he could think any further on this, though, they were all distracted when the window shattered and a figure leapt into the room and onto the table. "Die!" the many-limbed, bug-like Fangire hissed before lunging at the Knight. Or perhaps it was at the King, given that the Knight had flung himself in between them the second the sound of breaking glass had reached them. Either way, the Knight suddenly found himself being tackled to the floor.

"Wataru!" King cried, trying to pull the Fangire off his brother. When that didn't work, King ripped the black leather glove off his right hand, exposing his Mark. The nearby shadows darkened and thickened into black clouds of mist, and a dozen jet-black vipers seemed to sprout from them, attacking the enemy just as the other Fangire extended two pointed appendages from the back of his head, the tips glowing a sickly yellow-green colour.

The Centipede Fangire yelled in pain and dove away, allowing the King to pull Knight to his feet. Knight pulled a white-and-golden sword out of nowhere and attempted to strike, but their attacker apparently decided that the whole thing had been a stupid idea from the beginning and fled back out the window. The two brothers looked down through the hole in the glass "Kivat!" they shouted as one.

"Tatsulot!" Knight added.

Daichi, having been (to his amusement) completely forgotten in the chaos, watched as two Kivats and a very small Doran joined them. Each Kivat bit one of the men on the hand, and the two yelled "HENSHIN!" and jumped out the window.

Daichi hurried over and leaned out to watch the two warriors, wearing armours of Kiva, land easily despite the three-storey drop. One was decked out in gold and red armour with a long, red cape, while the other wore crimson and black armour with a black cape. The Centipede Fangire took one look and started sprinting out of there as the two Kivas followed.

Daichi wanted to see just how capable the famous (or infamous, depending on who you asked) 'Checkmate Brothers' were in battle. So he shifted to his true form briefly so that he could also make the jump safely, then switched back and followed after them.

He caught up to them in a forested area of a park, where the Fangire was proving to be hopelessly, hilariously outmatched. The two brothers were working as a seamless team, taking turns to deliver strikes and sometimes striking as one, at a rapid pace. That they managed to do so without once getting in each other's way was very impressive (especially since there appeared to be no outward communication between them that Daichi could see), and their apparent individual power levels were nothing to scoff at.

The fight – if you could even call it that, as it was ridiculously one-sided – looked like it was about to end, but suddenly the Centipede Fangire had backup. No less than two dozen Fangires burst out of the trees from all sides, and Daichi realised that it'd been a trap, a gambit to lure the brothers out into the open where they could be ambushed. It seemed, just as Daichi had predicted, that their enemies were no longer simply individual malcontents; they'd begun to organise.

One feline-looking Fangire slashed at the gold-and-red Kiva (who was carrying the same sword Knight had produced) across the back with his/her claws, disrupting his next attack on the Centipede Fangire. "Wataru!" the crimson-and-black one shouted, confirming the other's identity as Knight. The Knight recovered quickly, though, and turned to slash his attacker across the chest with his sword before dodging the Centipede Fangire's attempt to sneak a cheap shot in from behind. The King tried to make his way over, but they were both surrounded by now, trapped in a sea of angry, murderous Fangires.

It wasn't looking good for the King and his radical new regime all of a sudden. Daichi quickly began to consider how he might be able to get onto the good side of whoever was going to take power once he was dead. He couldn't come up with anything solid so soon, though, as much of his strategy would have to depend on the person in question, their aims and temperament. Come what may, Kuroda Daichi was a survivor, and he wouldn't risk aligning himself with the losing side, even if it was the one to which the Mark on his hand had branded him as automatically belonging.

Then, as abruptly as before, the tables turned again. Another young man, appearing not much older than Daichi himself, charged in with a furious yell, shifting into a Coyote Fangire and launching himself at the nearest of the others. He was followed by several more, all coming from the direction of the D&P building, along with a white-and-blue-armoured figure.

Daichi was shocked when he realised what the last one was: the dreaded Ixa. He (or 'they', as Daichi had heard whispers that there was more than one person who used that system) had cut down nearly as many Fangires as Kiva in the past two years. Rumour had it that he'd even killed the last Bishop, Daichi's predecessor. Yet now he was fighting alongside a small army of Fangires.

The new arrivals appeared to be on the King's and the Knight's side, as they only attacked the rebels and mostly left the other two alone. Wait, scratch that – they were definitely on the same side, as Ixa and Knight briefly teamed up for a tandem attack on one enemy. Then Daichi saw the signature 'banners' on the shoulders of a black-and-orange Tiger Fangire, similar to the ones that'd appeared on his own Fangire form when he'd become Bishop. The Rook had arrived on the scene, and from the looks of things, he'd begun to reassemble the Royal Army, which had been dissolved after the extinction of the Franken Race in the seventies.

The rebel Fangires suddenly found themselves overwhelmed. Daichi hadn't been able to get an accurate count on either side, but he was fairly sure that the rebels had a slight advantage in numbers, and they were getting their asses handed to them anyway. They may not have been outnumbered, but they were most definitely outclassed.

A few rebels on the fringes of the chaos decided to retreat, leaving their fellows in an even worse situation. They'd underestimated their opponents, and were seeing the consequences. The King may have alienated many of his old supporters, but he'd also gained some powerful new ones. Paying attention to individual skirmishes, Daichi realised that the rebels' only advantage had been in numbers, and their strategy had only relied on that and the element of surprise. But it just wasn't enough, because even on an individual level, the King's allies were displaying superior power and skill, and were applying teamwork while the rebels stumbled over each other.

Even though there were likely to be overwhelming numbers of Fangires who would oppose the King, this very battle was proving that numbers were not everything. He'd gathered people under his banner that were willing to make a change and were willing to fight for it, more so than those who were fighting for things to stay the same simply because it was all they knew and they were afraid of any kind of change.

One of the rebels – the feline one again – managed to get a lucky hit on the Coyote Fangire while he was occupied with another opponent. He went down, clutching his shoulder. Both enemies began to advance on him.

Daichi made a choice.

He shifted into his true form, that of the Eel Fangire, and summoned black lightning from his fingertips. His raw power having been boosted upon becoming Bishop, both were violently thrown back into the scuffle.

By that point, all the rebel Fangires were either fleeing or dying. Daichi strolled the edge of the clearing, throwing lightning at escaping rebels when he saw an opening. Eventually, the Centipede Fangire was the only one left, surrounded by shattered glass and his enemies.

The King stepped towards him, the Knight at his shoulder. "Your plan failed." Never before had stating the obvious sounded so ominous. "I'll admit, it was marginally clever. But as you can see, your allies could not be counted on, as especially not as much as mine can. They used you as bait and then left you to die."

The Rook came up from behind the Centipede Fangire and grabbed him by the shoulders with his clawed hands, keeping him still, even as he began to visibly panic.

"You are charged with a direct attempt on the life of the Knight, and conspiracy against the lives of the Knight and the King. For your crimes, your punishment is… death."

At this declaration, the Rook backed off, and the Centipede Fangire tried to run. He didn't get far, though, because the King thrust his red-and-white weapon (which, from Daichi's observations, was some impossible combination between a rapier and a whip), which elongated and pierced the Fangire through the chest. Red light from above drew Daichi's attention to the large, glowing insignia of Kiva that'd appeared over their heads. The King jumped up high, flipping through it and back down to the ground; when he pulled, the Centipede Fangire was lifted a few feet into the air, the lines of the symbol acting as some sort of pulley

"Now, Wataru!"

The Knight inserted a whistle-like object into the mouth of the Kivat on his belt, which shouted: "Wake Up Fever!"

The sky went dark, as if night had fallen in the space of a few seconds, and the full moon glowed ominously red. Knight bent his legs in a crouch before springing up in an impossibly high jump. Glowing red fang-like points formed around his legs as he descended, slamming into his enemy feet-first before pushing back off. At the same time, the King made a sharp gesture that sent a pulse of red energy, which hit the Fangire just as Knight landed beside him.

The Fangire screamed in pain before his body stiffened up, then shattered violently. His soul joined many others that were floating over the clearing. When they began to ominously drift towards each other, the Knight grabbed another 'whistle' and stuck that into his Kivat's mouth as well.

A roar echoed through the air, and Daichi was embarrassed to admit that he very nearly fell on his ass in shock when the famous Castle Doran swooped in from above. The giant creature eagerly gobbled up each individual soul before flying off with another roar.

After that was all over, everyone around Daichi started to relax. Everybody shifted back to their human forms, and the Rook started giving orders to take care of the wounded, though it soon became apparent that no one was suffering anything worse than relatively minor cuts and bruises.

The King ignored his brother's fussing over him and walked over to Daichi, an appraising look in his eyes. "I saw you helping some of our people in the fight. Does that mean you've made up your mind?"

Daichi faced him, acting much calmer than he felt, knowing how easily he could be killed if something went wrong. "I suppose I have. I told you, I choose whichever option benefits me the most. You and your people have proven today that siding with you is the best option."

There was a long, heavy pause, in which the King stared at him, eyes narrowed. Then he stepped closer. "Know that you can't betray us once you've made the commitment. If you decide you'd rather stay on the sidelines in the war you've predicted, I may allow that, but any collaboration with our enemies will see you treated as one of them. Do you understand this?"

Daichi took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "I understand."

There would be no backing out of this alliance, unless their ability to punish him was decimated severely, a state of affairs that could easily be just as problematic or dangerous for him as well. He would simply have to help himself by helping them.

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

About a week after he'd signed on with the King, Daichi had gotten himself settled in. He'd been properly introduced to the Rook, Shirakawa Katsurō, who was both friendly and intimidating, depending on the circumstances. Daichi had already known that he'd grown up in the human-friendly New York Enclave, but the fact that he had a human wife and a young, half-human child had not reached the new Bishop's ears. Caitlin Shirakawa was surprisingly comfortable living among all the Fangires, unlike many of the humans who'd aligned themselves with the Knight and King. Oh, they were trying, but Daichi could tell that it was something they were still getting used to.

He'd also met Queen Nobori Chōko, a young woman whose mother was firmly against the reforms, and who'd been forced to banish the woman for killing Fangires with human lovers (along with the humans themselves, in spite of the King having revoked the laws against that). Chōko herself proved to be quite adept at politics and diplomacy; Daichi foresaw possible teamwork between them. Well, after she'd had her baby, anyway, as she wasn't yet due to give birth until late February.

Throughout that week, Daichi had been in contact with the leaders of the various Enclaves. He confirmed the alliances of the New York and Sydney Enclaves, and was arranging discussions with the Lagos Enclave. Then one day, he received a distressing phone call from the leader of the Shanghai Enclave.

As soon as he hung up, he raced out of his office in search of the King. He found the man in his own office, along with Kurenai and a teenage girl a few years younger than Daichi in appearance. The King looked up upon his entrance, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"Who's he?" the girl whispered to Kurenai.

"Kuroda Daichi," he hurriedly introduced himself to her, "the new Bishop. I just got some disturbing news from Lord Zheng in Shanghai. He said there've been rumours circling about a new political group that is slowly gathering members. They call themselves the Neo-Fangire, and the rumoured leader is named Yamamoto Mari."

The three faces in front of them all paled. "Chōko-san's mother," the girl gasped.

THE END

A word on Enclaves: In Knightverse, there are Fangires all over the world, not just in Tokyo, and the Enclaves are cities in which there is a high enough population of Fangires that they have their own leadership, which still submits to the Checkmate Five/Four. The currently existing Enclaves are, in order of establishment, Jerusalem, Rome, London, Paris, Shanghai, Cairo, Seoul, Berlin, Accra, Lagos, Mexico City, São Paulo, New York City, and Sydney. I will be introducing a new Enclave later in the series. Each of these cities is the most populous of their respective countries. NYC is a haven for Fangires who love humans, and Sydney has started accepting them as well. The rest are at varying points on the attitude spectrum regarding humans.

So now the Checkmate Five is finally complete after five and a half centuries, and the Neo-Fangire are beginning to form. 'King' will probably not be coming until April or later, but it is coming, so until then, here's a preview:

Yesterday, the bullying had gone so long without teacher intervention that it had only been the sound of the bell ringing that had stopped them. That was when Nobori Taiga got fed up with depending on the adults to rescue him.

"Maybe the Freak would rather eat dirt!" one boy jeered. Another grinned and scooped a handful of soil. Two bigger boys picked him up off the ground and held his arms behind his back while the second boy advanced on him.

By the time the teachers intervened, half the boys were on the ground, some crying openly, with bloody mouths and noses and sore spots that would certainly become dark bruises. A handful had been smart enough to run away, but most of the other half were trying to hold him down and retaliate. They weren't having an easy time of it, though, as Taiga was taking several weeks of anger out on their hides.