A/N: Soso sorry. Don't hate me :c I really am trying not to take forever, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Seth Darkcloud- Thank you! Please do rest- I know stressing over exams and everything always got to me, and it wasn't always easy to remember to relax.

TheBosnianWizard- I do agree that they would be lost without each other- they are a very one of a kind type of couple. I like Syndra's definition in Urban Dictionary :D it fits her.

Moi- Oh god. I failed you.

Ulcaasi- Ninjas are very, very sneaky ;]

CorporalNoob- Deatherino? Good idea… :]

SilentWolfx- I always want your cookies! I was kidding. But you should make sure you get more sleep :S Of course I've read the comic! That was the last thing that really slapped the otp in my face. I was done for after that. SYNDRA. SHIP SYNDRA. Please don't cry!

Chickenchops- I specialize in the feelz.

The Greek Geek3010- Harsh! Poor Akali c:

Guest- yeah, sorry about that- it was one of my shortest chapters. Hmmm…

Guest- Trust me, writing the initiation to a lemon and actually writing it are very different, but I may someday.

Alright ! Sorry for the wait, but enjoy!

Zed paced in front of the gathered students, deciding what to do with them next. It was still early in the day; plenty of time for more hands on training.

"Sparring. Pick your opposition."

The students had done this many times before; it took them hardly any time to partner up, the pairs spreading around and waiting for Zed to give the go ahead.

All except for one.

Akali watched the students split up around her, lip curled with her usually haughty arrogance. Zed could see it on her face; she was going to be difficult about this. He slowly approached her, trying to ignore how much the superior expression on her face annoyed him.

"Are you not participating?"

She crossed her arms, and tilted her chin at him.

"I've sparred with everyone here, and I have never lost. This is pointless."

Zed's mouth twitched, the only giveaway to his impatience. He supposed he wasn't surprised that Akali was making training a problem again, but today, he wasn't in the mood to tolerate it.

"You think you are better than the rest of the students?"

At least she didn't second guess herself.

"Yes."

Zed stared her down until her expression faltered, then left the space the students had made around her, moving to the side of the training ground where the weapons were stored. He took out just one blade, giving it a moment's careful inspection before affixing it to his arm.

"Very well."

He fastened the last strap, testing it in one quick swipe before going back to Akali. She was all alone now; the rest of the students had separated, moving to the sides of the training ground and creating one large, open area in which Akali was the center focus.

"I will be your sparring partner. Retrieve your weapon."

This, at last, wiped the smugness from her face; she swallowed, and very nearly argued, instead moving to collect her Kamas from where she left them and joining Zed once more. They bowed to each other, custom before sparring, and then slipped into ready stances. Akali was clearly nervous; she adjusted her grip on the hilts of her Kamas several times, and the muscles in her legs twitched in anticipation.

The duel was over before it began.

Akali waited too long; she let her nerves control her actions and gave Zed the split second he needed to take control. He stepped to her, using one swift jab to disarm her, one more to her midsection to cripple her, one slice with the blade to leave her crouched on the floor, nursing a shallow incision. All of this was completed in one, fluid motion, lasting mere seconds. The training area was silent while Akali panted, and Zed pressed the tip of the blade to her neck, tilting her chin back so that she had no choice but to look at him.

"Never hesitate."

He wasn't done just yet; he leaned closer, close enough that her ragged breath brushed his face and the other students had no hope of overhearing.

"And never question me again."

"This is not the way I wanted to do it, you know."

Akali did know; deception really wasn't Shen's thing, but it wasn't like he had a choice.

"I thought that I would be able to reach him… before any of this. Before anyone else had to die."

Like usual, Akali didn't say anything. Shen's views of Zed had always been a little… biased, and pointing that out rarely did her any good.

"Maybe it's been too long… the shadows have corrupted him too much."

Akali thought Shen was conveniently forgetting how corrupted Zed was before he fully adopted the shadows, but again, it never really helped to point it out.

"The League will protect us, but it can't save Zed."

No. No it could not.

"And this witch. What of her?"

Personally, Akali didn't think too much of Syndra; her problems were with her own elders, not the Kinkou. And given the time, Akali was convinced they would destroy each other.

"She is nothing."

Akali could tell he disagreed, but he still wasn't thinking clearly. He would blame Zed's entire downfall on Syndra, if he could.

Shen shook his head, sighing in very poorly concealed misery. It was impossible for him to be happy when Zed was so close but so far away from the friend he knew so many years ago.

"I do not understand."

But Akali did, to an extent. Shen may never give up the tenuous hope of saving Zed, but she had; long, long ago. There was only one way to save him now. Akali tried her best to comfort him, saying the most she had in weeks about the subject.

"I learned never to question him or his motives. You would be wise to do the same."

Bored?

Syndra didn't want to answer, but she really was bored.

"Clearly."

She slumped further in her chair, watching her spheres slowly, lazily make their way across her field of vision. She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting here, watching the rotations, but her eyes were begging to droop and she was having a hard time staying awake.

She needed something to do.

"Let's play a game."

She didn't really give the shadow time to consider the offer, just continued the sentence in almost the same breath.

"You tell me."

She lazily swept one hand between them, never bothering to move her eyes away from her spheres.

"What Zed is hiding."

The following silence was expected; the shadow's answer was not.

A rather poor game.

Syndra was inclined to agree, but her patience was wearing thin. Zed was naturally good at covering his tracks, and after weeks of nothing new to go on, she was growing frustrated. She really thought she would have figured it out by now.

"But you do know."

He shadow laughed, laced heavily with derision.

Of course.

The response made her fingers twitch, and if she wasn't so tired, she might have tried to break something. She didn't really expect the shadow to tell her anything, but she underestimated how badly it would frustrate her when it didn't give her what she wanted.

How it must burn.

Syndra scowled, sending a sphere through the shadow's wispy form with the slightest flick of her wrist. The corners of her lips pulled down even more after the murkiness reconvened, and the sick laughter was louder than ever.

"You're useless."

Am I?

Syndra nodded immediately, but the shadow wasn't done speaking.

You overestimate your own worth.

Syndra shrugged. Unusually insulting, coming from the shadow, but she would manage.

If only she could manage to find out what Zed was doing.

Akali lifted her arm, blocking her opponents hand with her wrist the moment before it would have connected. She followed the movement with an offensive strike of her own, disabling her partner and finally winning the duel. She considered gloating, for a moment; this was the fastest she'd beaten this particular student before, and he was rather well known, but she could practically feel Zed's stare, carefully cataloguing every one of her actions.

She lowered a hand, clasping it with her fallen partner's and lifting him off the ground, bowing at the same time he did.

"Well fought."

A few weeks ago, she might have bragged. A few weeks ago, she would have embarrassed herself in front of Zed for no reason other than shallow pride.

But she was different.

She glanced over her shoulder, meeting Zed's gaze for the smallest of moments, and in that moment, received something she'd been working weeks to earn.

A nod of approval.

"You are late."

The woman Zed addressed took the seat across from him, leaning over the table, her next words practically a purr.

"Indulge me."

With Ahri, that's all Zed ever really did; indulge her whims for information halfheartedly recovered, that was hardly ever useful. It was exhausting.

"Anything new?"

Ahri tapped her lip, humming to herself as if she really had to think about the answer.

"That man you had me follow."

She unrolled the map on the table, running a fingernail over the top corner.

"He left this camp. He has not returned to Ionia."

Even though Zed's stomach twisted, he wasn't surprised. He had expected Shen to join the League, and soon. But with Shen out of Ionia, he no longer had a use for Ahri's services.

"Is that all?"

She grinned, and the tips of one of her tails flicked in a motion Zed usually associated with her being upset.

" I suppose I'll be leaving now."

Zed didn't say anything, just let her collect herself and followed her out of the room. Even though Ahri hadn't brought him good news, it was almost a relief to hear it; at least he knew where Shen was.

At least he wouldn't have to deal with Ahri anymore.

She was pleasant enough, but Zed didn't like working with people outside of the order, and Ahri had a certain… aura, almost. She couldn't be trusted, not fully, and that made Zed nervous about recruiting her at all.

She turned a few paces out of the doorway, tails fanning behind her.

"It was a pleasure working with you."

Zed wasn't sure if she was trying to simper of if that was normally the way she said goodbye, but he declined to answer either way, opting instead to make sure she really left. As the last of her tails disappeared around the edge of the temple, it occurred to Zed once more how much of a relief it was that for the time being, he didn't have to worry about Shen. Even if he couldn't pursue him now, he knew where he was. Shen was trapped; it was only a matter of time before Zed found the perfect opportunity to strike. But for now…

It would be nice to see Syndra.

You win the game.

Syndra rubbed her eyes, the quiet voice just hardly rousing her from sleep. She leaned forward in her chair, groaning at the ache the terrible position had left in her lower back.

"What?"

I surrender.

At this, Syndra perked up; surrender? Since when did the shadow ever let anyone else win?

"Excuse me?"

It didn't even laugh, just hovered by the door and waited for her to move. Syndra didn't like this; there was definitely something the shadow was getting out of the situation, but if she really found out what Zed had been doing…

It was worth it.

She shrugged, ignoring her sore limbs and hauling herself out of the chair, letting herself out of the room and allowing the shadow to lead. It took her far away from the apartment, almost on the complete opposite side of the order, to a small temple very dimly lit from the inside. She didn't recognize the room; she'd never been to this particular temple before, and she'd never had a reason to come this far away from the main part of the order.

So why had the shadow brought her here?

The shadow stopped at the corner of one outer wall, waving a hand towards the other side. She followed the motion, carefully peering around the edge, ignoring the part of her brain that screamed how ridiculous it was that she was sneaking around the order, trying to spy on Zed.

It was a good thing she was ignoring it.

Zed was following a woman out of the temple, awfully close to several tails and long, dark hair. Even though she sauntered away almost immediately, Syndra's mouth screwed up, her stomach suddenly feeling painfully empty. Of all the things she'd assumed Zed was up to, this was definitely not one of them. Whoever the woman was, whatever she was… doing, with Zed, was far from expected.

She stepped around the corner, no longer making an effort to hide; if Zed was really paying attention he would have known she was there, but he was currently too busy watching whoever that woman was walking away to notice anything else.

This certainly didn't feel like winning.

Syndra stood there until he turned around, wishing very badly at that moment that she had a mask like he did; it was easy for him to hide whatever it was that he felt right now, but Syndra's turmoil was written clearly across her face, her features twisting uncomfortably.

"Syndra, ple-"

She shook her head, and for a second, neither of them moved.

"No, not this time."

What had been anguish before was anger now, and Syndra was surprised she could stop herself from yelling.

"Don't ask me to understand your motives and forgive your actions. I've tried, Zed, but it never ends with you."

No, she couldn't see Zed's expression, but she hoped whatever was on her face was enough for them both.

"I will never understand."

Akali walked briskly to the smaller of the meeting halls, glancing over the paper in her hands one last time. It was a new training schedule, an idea she'd had for a couple of weeks that she had finally gotten around to refining. She wanted to find Zed before training started, the only free time either of them really had, and if she wanted to have a chance to explain her idea she would have to move faster.

Here it was.

The temple door was shut, masking almost every quiet voice coming from inside. Akali hesitated outside of the door, suddenly second guessing herself. Should she interrupt? She wasn't aware of a meeting today, but then again, she wasn't partial to all of what happened at the order. She would have turned around, if not for one word being unmarred by the door.

"…. Kinkou…"

Akali pressed further against the door, making every effort to stay completely silent.

"They remain a problem as long as Shen and his father reign over them."

Zed's voice. The response from whoever else was in the room was much too quiet for her to hear, but she didn't need to hear more than that. She thought things might be different, that Zed had left the Kinkou for good…

Akali gasped when the door against her cheek was yanked back, quickly straightening up and away from whom was now standing in its place. Zed's face was pulled into a frown, and Akali was surprised at how far from furious the expression was- not quite the reaction she had expected from ease dropping.

"Akali, let me-"

She stepped away, shaking her head with every step.

"Explain? No."

Whatever he wanted with the Kinkou, whatever he was planning, Akali would not be a part of it. She would never be a part of anything Zed did again.

"Because I will never understand."