Sorry this took so long. I've been distracted. Also... two major things, and a couple of minor ones.

I am currently trying to finish up the Re:ARitA part of Colored Ripples. If there is a part that I have posted already that you want to see from the POV of the CR cast (look at the end of this paragraph for the list), or if I post a part and you want it written from one of their POVs, let me know! I already have a request for Asch catching sight of Kairi with Natalia, Dark, and Koran, and Colored Ripples is, as of right now, completely caught up with Re:ARitA. The cast of CR includes Nephry, Jade, Reighn, Dark, Sync, Asch, and Cantabile. (Star, Seth, and Luke make few, if any, appearances in Re:ARitA, but if you come up with something, let me know, and the majority of the story is told from Kairi's POV, so I highly doubt anyone's going to come up with something for her that I haven't already.)

Second major thing... Updates will be frequent but sporadic as I attempt to finish this on the day of April 9. Can anyone guess why? It'd be nice if someone tried. And believe me, I've done the math a dozen times already. (That was your hint...) At any rate, I've got eleven parts plus a final page of acknowledgments, spoilers for Re:AST, do-you-know-or-do-you-care? stuff for Re:ARitA, etc. that all needs to be posted by April 9. So I really hope everyone can keep up.

Minor-ish thing... I'm about to go into my mom's office and attack the scanner, so with any luck, I'll have some better copies of drawings uploaded to replace what's currently on my deviantART.

One more thing before I let you all loose on this chapter... I'm about to go put a new poll up. If you feel like voting, please feel free to do so.

Now then... I'm tired, and I still have work to do. Enjoy!


Chapter 6.10 – An Assassin's Promises
Part 50

"Huh? Hey, who's—"

"Eye on your opponent!" I snapped at Luke, since Guy was already in mid-swing. The redhead turned just in time to raise his sword to block sloppily. Then the two turned to look at me at the same time. I took that as my cue and jumped up, a practice sword in hand, and rushed at the two of them.

Guy yelped, pulling his sword up just in time to block my initial attack, while Luke's eyes, widened at first, now narrowed as he prepared to fight back as well.

The two of them scattered, Luke heading to my left, Guy to my right. I kept my eye on Guy more than Luke. I knew that Guy was the more experienced swordsman, and I also knew the sword style Luke used quite well. Finding the holes in the Albert style always pissed Asch off. Maybe it'd work with Luke too?

Luke made the first move, charging right in. I frowned, stepped back at the last moment to get out of the way of his sword, and lifted my foot slightly.

"Watch your footing," I said, right before he tripped. I sighed and shook my head, turning as Luke rolled out from underfoot, allowing Guy to come in. The blonde was, predictably, avoiding coming too close, but I could use that to my advantage as well.

I jumped back away from him, then tucked and rolled past. "Watch your back," I warned, already swinging my sword around. Guy just barely managed to get his sword into position in time. I smirked, pulling mine away before striking his practice sword near the hilt, causing his grip to falter.

Then my attention was temporarily redirected to Luke as the redhead tried to come up behind me. I sighed, spinning on my heel to knock his sword to the side. To Luke's credit, his first reaction was to jump back and away from me. I smirked. "Better," I said, dropping down in a duck as Guy swung for my head. If it hadn't been for his aversion to females and his quick reaction, the jump I then executed probably would have had me ramming into his legs.

"You fight dirty," Luke complained half-heartedly, already running into to slash at me again. This time, he started his swing before he even reached me, giving me no real escape route other than backwards, which, given where I was in relation to the two boys, would have simply been closer to Guy.

I giggled and brought my sword up to block. I much preferred simply getting out of the way of such head-on attacks, but given the situation... Also... "Fighting dirty is attacking someone who can't defend himself," I corrected him calmly, pushing his sword away to my right before jumping to the left to avoid Guy jumping back in. "And while your defense is lacking, you can defend yourself. Big difference." I jumped back twice, the rushed back in, aiming more for Guy than Luke again.

"You tripped me!" Luke grumbled, consorting to a two-handed grip for a chain that I danced around most of. It had the effect of getting me away from Guy, though, long enough for the blonde to get to a different side of the courtyard. I shrugged.

"So? By your argument logic, you aren't playing fair either," I said. He blinked in surprise. "Two-on-one?" He glanced over at Guy guiltily.

"Eyes on Kairi!" Dark snapped. Good thing he did, or Luke would have gotten the flat side of the practice sword to the forehead. He ducked with a yelp and jumped back out of my range, while Guy came in from the other side. Luke, rather than trying to continue the swapping thing the two of them had been doing before, also came at me from the opposite angle.

I smirked. "Ooh... Nice odds," I commented quietly. Then I took a deep breath and ducked under their blades, spinning around to slash at Guy, then back the other way to strike at Luke while dancing away from retaliation from the blonde. From there, I slipped under Guy's arm (I don't think he was appreciative of that) and whirled around to attempt to hit his exposed backside.

What I hadn't expected there was Luke. The redhead came from the other side, managed to block the attack aimed for Guy, which set my balance off slightly since he'd done it from an odd angle I hadn't been expecting, and then started into another chain of attacks, one of which actually nicked my left arm. I grinned as I managed to find my footing again, slashing out as hard as I could to my right, then again to my left to stop Guy.

"Should it bother me that you seem to be enjoying the fact that this is two-on-one?" Guy wondered as he blocked my strike and thrust his sword out in his own. I laughed, dancing out of the way, which put me right next to Luke again.

"It's a change," I admitted, thumping Luke on the shoulder with the hilt of my practice sword before he managed to get enough distance between us to slash at me again. "Asch or Sync, I can dance around, find the holes in their defenses, and bring them down, but if I try to spar with them when it's me versus both of them? I'm screwed."

Dark chuckled. "That having been said... When are you going to stop holding back?" he called. I jumped back twice, three times and shot him an incredulous look.

"You want me to kick their asses?!" I asked, before having to roll out of the way as Guy caught up to me. Dark's chuckled turned into a full-out laugh.

"Oh, is that what would happen?" I rolled my eyes, and Luke frowned.

"You're holding back?" he asked indignantly. I shrugged.

"Maybe a little. It's not like I'm actually trying to hurt you two," I said, blocking one of his strikes and then ducking under his blade again to run past him. Guy sighed.

"Now I'm curious. You seem confident that you can beat us easily," he said, running in and making a series of quick jabs, two of which I danced around, and one I blocked. Then I had to hit the ground as Luke slashed at me again.

This would have ended badly, if I'd had my sword in my left hand, because my shoulder was practically touching Luke's leg, and he and Guy nearly had me trapped.

Of course, I'd been using my right hand the entire time, so it was a simple matter of lash out at Guy's legs to force him away, get a leg under me, and haul ass. Once I'd gotten a few yards away, I turned back around and sighed.

"Alright, then... Just remember, you asked for it," I said in an almost sing-song voice. Then I took a deep breath and ran at them again, tossing my sword from my right hand to my left as I closed in on them before bringing it down low on Luke's practice sword.

The wooden sword flew for about a yard before it skittered along the ground another three, but I wasn't paying attention to Luke anymore. Disarmed, he wasn't a threat. Guy still was.

The blonde, it seemed, had also been holding back slightly, and as I jumped back away from Luke, I was forced to block a slash that came in too quickly for me to dance out of range like I usually did. I smirked, Guy's little speed boost giving me an idea, and I decided to see if Guy liked playing cat and mouse the way Sync did.

Guy versus Sync in a race? I'd put my money on Sync, only because he's my friend. Sync was faster, so he usually caught me when I started trying to play run around in circles, but Guy had the greater stamina, so he was able to catch up to me just before I ran out of energy myself. Luke had picked his sword back up by now and joined in as soon as we stopped running around.

I took my sword in both hands this time and struck out to my left at Luke again. His block slipped, slightly, but at least he was more prepared for the kind of power I could put behind my swings with my good arm. Then I flipped around and swung at Guy.

The blonde, although obviously expecting a stronger hit, was obviously not ready for the power swing that connected with the base of his blade and sent it flying up into the air—right toward Natalia and Dark. I cringed as the practice sword hit the ground and Natalia stood and danced to the side to avoid it skidding along.

"Whoops... Sorry!" I called, ducking under Luke's blade and striking out to hit the back of his left knee. He cried out in surprise as his knee buckled, sending him crashing to the ground before I held my sword at his neck. "One down," I commented. I spotted Guy's sword flying back through the air toward him.

"Thanks, Dark," he called, grabbing it by the hilt and adjusting his grip before charging right in at me. I braced myself silently, Luke reluctantly moving out of the way. Guy's first attack came from the left and, two-handed again, I blocked it, then stepped back and allowed him to make a second strike. This one came from the right, and again I blocked it.

This time, however, I pushed his sword away and swung mine back around, intending to strike him on the left side. He brought his sword back around just in time to force me to dance away, but it wasn't long before he was right there in front of me again. I frowned, then sighed, stepped back, and rolled past him again.

Expecting me to attack from behind again, Guy turned, only to realize that I had jumped back to where I was and had brought my sword up to his neck while he was still turned around. He froze for a moment before relaxing and chuckling, stepping away from the tip of my blade to turn and face me.

"Impressive," he said. "Where did you learn to wield a sword like that?" I shrugged, turning to walk over to Natalia, Dark, Koran, and Luke.

"I'm self-taught," I replied. "Well, with the exceptions of my strike artes. Asch taught me most of those."

Luke scowled. "That was so unfair! You fight dirty and you're better than both of us on top of that!" he grumbled. Guy chuckled nervously, and I sighed, shaking my head.

"Why do you think I was wielding right-handed? If nothing else, it evened the odds a little," I said. "Besides, haven't you ever heard the saying 'all's fair in love and war'? Whatever it takes to survive on the road, I'll do it. I'm not going to play nice when the monsters and bandits want my guts across the ground."

Luke paled at that and dropped his gaze to the ground, and Guy and Natalia shot me concerned, almost warning looks. Dark crossed his arms, leaned against the column nearby, and lowered his head as his expression darkened.

"And another thing... You're a noble, Luke," he started. "You'll probably never have to leave Baticul alone, which means you'll have someone else there to guard your back. Kairi's a nomad, and up until quite recently, she was by herself. I know what it's like, always looking over my shoulder for the attack I know is going to come from behind. I can't always have Koran there to warn me."

Luke looked up at him, then up at me before turning away again. "That's if Uncle ever lets me out of here," he grumbled. Natalia looked at him sadly.

"He will, Luke," she stated firmly. I, however, was more preoccupied with Dark.

"What's with the guilty look all of a sudden?" Guy asked. I blinked and turned to look at him, realizing he was looking at me. I sighed.

"It's nothing, just..." I trailed off. I glanced up at Dark again, who was now frowning, before looking at Natalia and schooling my face into a neutral expression. "Your Highness, would you mind horribly if I borrowed Dark for a few hours?" I asked. Natalia's hazel eyes blinked, wide with confusion.

"Um... What for?" she asked, obviously not sure exactly what question to ask. I sighed, glancing off to my right as I tried to figure out what to tell her.

"There's something I need to tell Asch and Sync, and... I think he deserves to know as well," I said, turning back to Natalia. "I've already put it off long enough, so far as Asch and Sync are concerned."

Natalia looked thoughtful. "I suppose so. I'm going to assume whatever it is will be of a more personal nature? But... a few hours?" she asked.

I cringed. "If Sync can keep his mouth shut, it should only take about an hour for me to explain, but... uhg..." I trailed off. Dark cringed.

"That kind of thing? Should I be worried?" he asked. I sighed.

"I don't know. I'll have to survive Asch's temper for having slipped out of the inn on my own first," I replied. He gave me a look, and then sighed.

"I might go with you just for damage control," he commented. Natalia looked back and forth between us.

"Is Asch's temper really that bad?" she asked. Dark and I exchanged a look.

"Well, that depends..." I started.

"If by 'bad temper,' you're thinking 'lots of yelling and general snippiness,' that's Asch in a good mood," Dark continued. I bit my lip.

"Let's put it this way... The last time I saw him fly into one of his actual 'rages,' I was lucky he didn't successfully cut my arm off," I finished. Natalia, Luke, and Guy turned pale, before Natalia looked over her shoulder.

"Go," she ordered quietly. Dark groaned.

"I'll just leave Koran with you. The less sentient lives between Asch and Kairi, the easier my job will be," he commented. "We leaving now?" He added as he turned back to me.

I took a deep breath. "Yes, let's go before what little courage I've managed to gather up decides to completely abandon me," I decided. "Though, at this point, I wouldn't blame it if it did."