Ryoma X Kagero

C+

Rising up over the horizon, pheasants awaken from thier high nests; greeting the dawning sun as it shunned its golden light over the forest of the astral planes. Ryoma, the crown prince of Hoshido who strolled through the forest alone, gazing up through the gaps in the trees to also admire the start of another bright and promising day. He held both a joyful and yet heavy-weighted feeling in his stomach as memories of his mother and him- and later his younger siblings- climbing the tallest hills of thier homeland so that they can watch the sun rise over the vast open lands. He remembered as a young teenager how he would give Sakura piggy-back rides whenever she'd gotten tired from the walks; how he and Hinoka would duel with imaginary enemies and how he would scold Takumi for constantly trying to shoot birds out of the trees with his new Yumi that Father had given him before he...

Shaking his head, Ryoma pushed those memories aside. It was painful, not joyous, for him to think about such things. Especially since after Corrins kidnapping, when the crown prince had from then on dedicated all of his time training and preparing for that inevitable day when he and everyone who followed him would confront the forces of Nohr on the battlefield. Preparing to do whatever it took to overthrow King Garon, taking vengeance for his father's death and reclaiming Corrin as his birthright sibling. He'd achieved that vow of taking back what was wrongfully stolen from him, but with King Garon still on the throne with the intentions of wiping those who oppose him off the face of world, Ryoma will not take any unnecessary rests until the day he confronted the king of evil himself; regardless whatever fate awaited him.

Ryomo stopped suddenly. His legendary blade, Raijinto, gave off a faint vibration from within its saya strapped at his side. Placing his left hand just below the hilt of the blade, he used his thumb to push the weapon half an inch out its sheath to see Raijinto sparking with its green energy. Ryomo immediately understood what it meant. Something out of ordinary was present in the woods, though there was no sign of immanent danger. The legendary sword was giving off a warning.

The master swordsman took the opportunity to inspect his surrounding. Other than the vast amount of oak and pine trees that sprouted in all directions, the pheasants that pounced and fluttered from one branch to another, and that one squirrel who'd spent the last several minutes trying to crack open a pecan nutshell on one of the shorter trees, there did not seem to be anything unusual within his immediate area. Pressing his weapon fully back into its sheath, Ryomo continued to move forward a couple of steps before becoming rigid as realization hit him.

He turned back towards the squirrel who was still trying to pry open the nut and looked harder at what it was trying to open.

There was no mistake now. Pecans trees didn't grow anywhere near this area for miles. And Ryomo was highly doubtful that squirrel would carry a nut that hard to crack all the way out here and dedicate so much time trying to eat it. But there was something else...

The samurai only had an extremely brief moment to inspect the branch the rodent sat upon before he drew his Raijinto, spun on his heels into a 180 and effortlessly deflected two ninja shurikens in one clean swipe. He sees a shadowy figure dashing from atop a tree twenty yards away and onto another; too fast for the untrained eye to notice. But Ryomo had one of the most keen senses in the entire Hoshidan army. And was not only able to see the figure move, but also identify who it was that threw the shuriken.

Ryomo struck out with his Raijinto, sending out a bolt of green lightning at the branch his attacker stood on. The power he unleashed wasn't anywhere near enough to kill, much less even enough to scorch any hairs. But it was still capable of overloading the electrical impulses that coarse through one's body; leaving those who were to be hit paralyzed and spasm from the electricity that flowed through their body. Of course, it was nothing that caused permanent harm, but an extremely uncomfortable experience.

But his attacker was quick. Although no human is faster the strike of lightning, the assailant anticipated this and leaped to the next tree before the samurai could retaliate. He released several more bolts, and each and every time the ninja weaved and dodged in between branches to avoid getting hit. While dodging another blast, the ninja sent out two more shuriken, causing Ryoma to halt his attack and swipe away the projectiles with his sword.

Ryoma scowled. I am no ninja, he thought to himself, but I'm certain they were taught the basic rules that it is a fool's idea to try the same form of attack twice if it were to be ineffective the first time. His eyes narrowed. Wait, what just...? He had completely lost sight of the attacker in the trees. Ryoma gazed into the area where his attacker threw the shuriken. But I never took my eyes off of him. Even when I defelected...

That's when Ryoma had realized what happened. Letting out an impressed chuckle, he called out, "That was very clever, Kagero, using my own weapon to shield my sight of you." He turned around. "You threw out those two shuriken in perfect alignment so that no matter what way I blocked your attack, you'd have enough time to go back into hiding without me being able to see it. However..." He raised his Raijinto to the top of the second tree in front of him as though he were using it as a pointer, "no matter where you hide, anyone within the range of Raijinto can sense your exact presence, no matter how much you try to hide it." He let loose another bolt of lightning at the spot where his retainer was hiding. The brush shook as the bolt exploded upon hitting something solid, and a humanoid figure fell over into view as Kagero dipped over the branch she stood on and went into a free fall.

Almost as though he were lightning itself, Ryoma sheathed his weapon and swooped in beneath the unconscious ninja and caught her with ease. However, immediately upon catching his retainer into his arms, the master samurai began to feel uneasy. There's no way she should've taken the hit like that, he though. It was meant to chase her out of her hiding place and corner her, but this...

Without warning, Kagero exploded in a puff of smoke and Ryoma's arms suddenly felt empty. Coughing and eyes stinging, Ryoma waved off the smoke until everything was clear again. Did Kagero just...? The crown prince of Hoshido looked down to see a card about the size of his hand lying face-down on the ground, picking it up and almost immediately recognizing it. Judging from the unique drawing of the Dawn Dragon emblem on the backside, Ryoma inferred that this was one of Orochi's divination cards.

He flipped the card over. It was a hand-painted image of Kagero herself. The majority of her black hair tied back similar to that as Ryoma's, but with a portion of it also hanging over the right side of her face just how she normally likes it with the yellow scarf wrapped snugly around her neck. But what the painting also showed was its unsettling portrayal of Kagero's appearance. Going by the intimidation and homicidal look in Kagero's eyes along with the red-orange background, there was doubt in the prince's mind that this card had been painted by Kagero herself.

Ryoma suddenly realized that he had been distracted for too long as his Raijinto suddenly buzzed again from within its saya. He immediately went to draw his weapon, but it was already far too late. Before he could even place his hand on the hilt of his sword, he felt the cold blade of a kitana placed at his throat as a calm soothing voice spoke softly into his ear. "Now what good is it to be able to sense anyone's presence when it can be so easily manipulated?"

Ryoma exhaled through his nose and dropped the card. "Hmph. So, you were somehow able to hide yourself away from my Raijinto while your... self, held my distraction. I am most impressed."

Kagero held back a giggle. "That little divination was a gift from Orochi. With the proper command, I can give it temporary life. I could either have it keeping the enemy busy or ware them down and then swoop in to finish the job."

Except that the longer I use it, Kagero thought, it still uses up my strength since it needs energy to feed off of.

"That's quite the devious scheme you have," Ryomo praised, "However, to be able to give life through divination, which is highly illegal I might add, the results of such practice always leads to similar outcomes as the Faceless."

"And you are right on both points," Kagero confirmed, "Which is why for a temporary amount of time, I can transfer my very own conscious into that card without having to worry about suffering injuries that it could receive. It was most definitely difficult to master, since I've had little to no experience of divination before the war had started. But Orochi was an excellent teacher and possessed a great amount of patience."

The samurai laughed, "You've come a long way, Kagero. You remember what I've told you when you asked to train with me, correct?"

"Wh-what do you mean by that, Lord Ryomo?" Kagero asked skeptically.

"That I might be easily defeated and that you replied you would come at me with everything you've got. But from I saw, that is not the case."

"I..." the beautiful ninja wanted to reply, but then shook her head. "I hardly see why that matters or what it even means. I have you right where I want you, so this sparring is over."

"Then finish it." Ryoma said flatly.

"Excuse me, my lord?!" Kagero gasped.

Ryoma smirked. "Go ahead. Try to slit my throat."

"Wh- why on heaven or earth would I do that?!"

"Trust me, Kagero, just do it."

Her eyes fell to her arm which held the kitana to his throat. "I... I can't move my arm... how is that...?"

Chuckling, Ryoma grabbed his retainer by the wrist and lowered the weapon from his neck. "While you and I were having that little talk, my Raijinto was sending electricity into my body which then traveled into the blade you'd had placed at my throat. Which in turn traveled to your arm and sabotaged your nerve network so that it cannot receive the proper commands from your brain." Kneeling down, he picked up the card and turned back to Kagero who stood in place as she desperately tried to get her body to move. "And for good measure, I've also stopped contact from your brain to the rest of your body. But in a few minutes, it will wear off."

What Kagero said next caught Ryoma slightly off guard. "Heh, honestly Lord Ryoma, do you think that highly of yourself? Did you really think I am the slightest bit like Saizo and run into battle and ignore the risk of being unprepared?" The ninja shifted her tongue as though she were hiding something underneath it. Kagero bit down and Ryoma heard a small crunch like she was biting into a piece of hard candy and swallowed.

For one tense moment, time stood still as Kagero remained in her paralyzed state until suddenly, her pupils contract to one-third its original size. She lunged forward at Ryoma as though the electrical currents within her body ceased to exist, and he had barely enough time to draw Raijinto to meet with her kitana head-on. Whatever it was that Kagero had consumed, it must have contained a powerful ingredient to be able to force her out of that paralysis. But right now, that was the least of Ryoma's concern.

Kagero placed her trembling free hand to her chest and inhaled deeply as though she'd been holding her both for as long as she could. "Phew, I guess I underestimated the effect of Midori's homemade remedy."

Homemade remedy? Ryoma frowned. So Kaze's daughter had been quite busy recently. And Kagero's skill with the kitana was unquestionable. But why were her hands trembling like that? It was not easy for the prince to be caught by surprise during the heat of battle, but for it happen twice...

The ninja struck at him again with such speed that the prince had barely enough time to deflect it. She's faster than before. Whatever that remedy was, it was most likely responsible for the sudden burst of energy that Kagero now possessed. However...

It was now Ryoma's time to go on the offensive. He made deliberate and predictable attacks, watching his retainer as she jerked before meeting her own blade with his.

As I suspected, he confirmed. So that was how she was able to break from her paralysis. That pill or whatever it was she took simply just shot a plentiful amount of adrenaline into her body. Now she can move faster and hit harder than what her body is mentally capable of performing, but it also meant that she was less aware of her surroundings and more vulnerable to anything outside of her line of sight. Trying to take Kagero head-on would be downright difficult if not dangerous and Ryoma wouldn't dare try to hit her with another burst of electricity since the currents from the last one still flowed throughout her body. So that only left him with one option.

Slowly but surely, the samurai backed away as Kagero came at him again and again, trading off strikes and parries as the two combatants edged closer and closer to the same tree Ryoma had seen the squirrel with the pecan nut sat upon. He waited until the ninja winded back for a heavy attack and dodged out of the way at the last possible second; throwing his retainer off balance as she stumbled forward.

It all happened in an instant when Kagero tripped the snare as the branch snapped up; snagging her ankle and yanking her head-over-heels. Now disoriented and hanging upside down several feet above the ground, she dropped her kitana.

Ryoma tried his best to keep from bursting into laughter. "You really had me on the ropes, Kagero. I couldn't have asked for a better retainer that's as full of surprises as you are. But honestly, of all the places you could have picked to ambush me, it had to be on one of Mozu's hunting grounds?"

Cheeks red, Kagero cringed as she crossed her arms and looked away. "I appreciate your false flattery, my lord, but I'm more concerned about the blood that's rushing to my head."

"Mhm," Ryoma responded with a half smile as he raised his Raijinto and cut the line tying her foot to the branch with ease. Just before Kagero was about descend, she swung her free leg forward for momentum into a half back flip and landed gracefully on both feet. "As always, your skills in both stealth and close-combat exceed my expectations, Kagero. And as my retainer, you of all others know full well of how little I jape about my own comrades."

Still blushing, Kagero retrieved her kitana. "Yes, Lord Ryoma, I understand. It's just..."

"Come now," Ryoma said reassuringly, "You've done extraordinarily well. And that new trick of yours will become extremely handy in the war now that-."

"That wasn't what I was trying to get at, my lord," she said shamefully. "The fact that I allowed myself to become so easily outmaneuvered and caught in such an obvious trap leaves me concerned about what would have happened if this occurred in the battlefield."

The Hoshidan prince stared into his retainer's defeated eyes with his lackluster gaze before it melted into a nonchalant smile. "Which is why you've requested to train with me is, is it not?"

"Pardon me, my lord?"

"That remedy you spoke of that helped you out of your paralysis? That was a surprise that I certainly would've never expected. However, what good did it do you if you've never tested it and expect what kind of effects it will have on you?"

Kagero shrugged. "I had thought that I would obtain more accurate results if I'd tested it out in the field. Considering that I was going to be training with you, I wanted to be prepared for almost any situation. I asked Kaze's daughter, Midori, to formulate a special serum to provide temporary adrenaline, while also having Saizo's son, Asugi, create a thin edible shell to contain the potion."

"Well then," said Ryoma, "I'd ask Midori to put a little less of whatever it was that gave you that adrenaline. To be truthful, you were quite intimidating up close with that sudden burst of energy. However, if someone were to figure out what was happening just as I have, the tables can turn back on you in an instant." Sheathing his Raijinto, Ryoma turns back to the direction from where he came. "We should be heading back to the castle. We have to attend the war council meeting before leaving the astral planes." He turns back to the ninja and held out a hand which held the card of Kagero's self-portrait. "Care to join me?"

Without hesitation, she took the card graciously, "Of course. Never could I deny my lord's requests."

Ryoma chuckled. "You've always held yourself up to that statement, Kagero. Even if those requests were somewhat... abnormal."

"That's because you've never had an abnormal request to begin with, Lord Ryoma." Kagero's face flushed. "You said it yourself."

I-I-I-I-I

"Lord Ryoma," Kagero spoke up, "there's a matter that I've been meaning to address with you, if you'll have me."

"You know I'm all ears for anything that's on your mind, Kagero." said Prince Ryoma. "It's always important for retainers and their masters to have a clear mind of one another. With a clear mind comes trust, and with trust the chances of both persons making it through the battle increases."

Kagero was about to speak before she felt a sudden tingle on her leg; causing her to stop and look down to see the squirrel with the pecan nut in tow climbing up her leg and onto her shoulder. "Ah, so you're the one that gave me away, aren't you?" She reached up and took the pecan shell from the rodent. With a quick flex of her hand, she easily crushed the shell and opened her hand to reveal the pecan nut still in one piece. Taking the nut and throwing the away the remains of the shell, she offered it to the squirrel who accepted it in a heartbeat; hopping from her shoulder and onto a nearby tree and disappeared within the brush.

"So what's been troubling you recently, Kagero?" Ryoma asked as the ninja watched the squirrel scurry off.

"Hmm?" She responded distantly, then remembered what it was she wanted to bring up. "Oh, my apologies, Lord Ryoma. I just... well, ever since we've received that urgent letter of the Royal Guard almost being overrun by both the Norhian and Mokushu armies, I've been feeling a bit more anxious than usual. Though I understand that time basically stops outside of the astral planes, it feels like a burning hot metal slowly sinking in my stomach spending each day here training and preparing instead of moving closer and closer to ending this wretched war." She took a breath. "However..."

Ryoma raised a brow. "However?"

Kagero felt her cheeks burning. "I am also especially worried for how the others are taking in the news. Well, actually, more specifically..."

"Kagero..." the prince began, "are you saying that you are concerned for my well-being and position as the crown prince of Hoshido?"

His retainer cringed and shook her head. "My sincerest apologies, my lord, with everything that has happened and what is to come, I can only dread as I try to imagine how you could possibly feel with the weight of the world placed on your shoulders like this. I can never understand the type of stress of such responsibilities; wondering what is to become of your kingdom and its people-."

"That's enough, Kagero." Ryoma said sternly, and to her surprise, smiled. "It's true. The weight is certianly back-breaking. But you forgot that I'm not the only one carrying the load." Ryoma turned and started heading west of the direction they were going. "Come with me. There's something I'd like to show you."

With no reply, Kagero followed Ryoma's lead. Neither spoke for the next fifteen minutes as they crossed through the forest until an oak tree the size of Hoshido's plaza statue came into view. As the pair came closer to the colossal plant, Kagero began noticing etching in its bark that had been done with a very fine blade, along with a single rusted arrow plunged into the wood above it. Once close enough, she read:

In our darkest moments, we seek the light.

When there is no light, we shed our own.

When all seems lost, our hope wanes.

But when all hope is gone, the light follows suit.

A seed can dry, but it can be revived.

Because all it needs is a little bit of light.

Beneath the etchings were five signatures carved into the wood by a more crude blade. And those signatures had their own unique vibe as each of them were the names of the five royal siblings.

"Soon after you had found me in Cheve," Ryoma told her, "The five of us went exploring into the woods for the first time in a long time, as a family again. This was also right about the time when Takumi finally started warming up to Corrin too, which was a quite the blessing." He let out a short, fruitful laugh. "Corrin had been asking for his own little brother to teach him how to shoot an arrow; not that he was even any good at it to save his own life, but he had heart and didn't know when to quit. How Takumi even had the patience for such a hopeless cause, heh, that's beyond me.

"By then, Corrin had either lost or broken all but one arrow. This tree was the biggest one we could find around here for him to use. It might sound absurd, maybe even childish, but when Corrin finally hit his target, all of us, including Takumi and I, were flabbergasted. To this day, I don't even understand why my youngest kid brother, as impatient as he is, would go through all of that trouble just to see that one arrow fly. But my best guess is that even for someone as cynical as he was, like the rest of us, we were so desperate to have our family whole again and to catch up on all the time that had been stolen from us. And I would give almost anything to see our Mother witness a reunion like that."

Willing a single from his eye before it could break free, he looked at Kagero. "Knowing how devoted and giving you are, Kagero, that is enough to lift much of the weight off of my shoulders. It even reminds me how Mother felt towards not only each of her children, but to those who lived under her care and protection. Even if that took a little time to show in the beginning."

Kagero nodded in confirmation. "Yes, I remember those turn of events. Even so, it didn't take long for the two of you to become so close as mother and son. And that was all the convincing needed for them to trust her with all their hearts. Including my own."

"Kagero..." Ryoma's cheeks turned peek. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for everything that you've dedicated your life to, and for always believing in us and keeping us in the light after Father's murder. After Corrin's kidnapping, all that mattered to me was swearing revenge and wiping Nohr off the face of the planet. It was at that moment when I truly hated Mother for choosing to not go to war. I was blinded by rage and hatred and said those repulsive things that's now branded into my heart that I wish would go away, but won't." His voice almost cracked as tears now flooded his eyes and didn't bother wiping them away and allowed them to fall. "You helped me understand what was really important and that revenge is nothing but an empty gift of sorrow and suffering. I... I guess that is part of the reason why I wouldn't take no for an answer when I offered you to make any request that you'd like. But even so, I owe you so much more than that."

"You owe me nothing, Lord Ryoma." the ninja shook her head, hiding her scarlet cheeks. "I came to Lady Mikoto willingly. Since I was a little girl, I had already sworn to protect her and those she cares about with my life simply because she was a beacon of hope who would've done the same for me if our roles had been reversed. And I believe with all my heart and soul that as long as the five of you remain with the living, your debt will always be repaid to me as you continue to give the people hope and a light to follow."

The crown prince of Hoshido was silent for a moment as he continued to stare at the etchings in the tree, then, with a smile, said, "Mother Mikoto was very lucky to have you by her side, Kagero. And quite frankly, so am I."

Project Requested By: Gallian Squad 7