Kage is Kira

NOTE:

"Doryaaaaaaaaaa!": normal talking

"Charge!": special case

'Darn!': thoughts

GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!

Please… read and review

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"MOVE!" Kage yelled again, and every soldiers in vicinity were quick to get clear. The Ninja jumped to Fuji's welcoming palm, who quickly pull back.

Another explosion occurred that day. Many times bigger than the previous, and it blew the piles of rock away, allowing enormous amount of sea water, initially blocked by the blockade to pour in. The water level within the inlet of the Archangel bay which had greatly decreased due to the obstruction quickly rose back to its original height now that it's gone.

10 minutes later, the fleet of three Alliance flagships entered the inlet one by one. Everyone on that ship felt a chill on the back of their spine. And that's not because an 80 feet man's abnormally overbearing physique was overshadowing them.

But because they all fell under the gaze of a certain purple eyed shinobi.

"I had to say it. This guy is really something." Lockon sighed.

"Tch. Don't give this guy too much credit just because he shot down your arrows midflight!" Balsam groaned.

"If this giant is as big and as powerful as you've described, that he was able to survive a shot to the head, it kinda speak volumes of the person who tamed this monster, don't you agree, senpai-tachi?" Setsuna stated calmly.

Karren and Lockon signaled their agreement with their silence, while Balsam only grunted his inconvenience.

Canard however, was uninterested with the comments of his fellow juppongatana. The lieutenant had been glaring back at Kage's gaze. It wasn't long until Kage also took notice and returned the favor.

Chapter 19:

Art of War

As soon as the three ships docked, the four members and one former member of the Juppongatana went straight Prayer, who nervously welcomed his grim comrades.

"Where?" Canard only said a word.

Prayer sighed and pointed at a small grave lying separate with the other soldiers' grave. It is further distinguished from the others over the fact a huge two handed sword was embedded behind its grave marker.

The five warriors moved there and paid their respects silently. Setsuna only do so rather briefly and stood up and allow the other warriors to give their respects.

Soon, the other Juppongatana also finished their prayer. Canard turned to Prayer and noticed he was holding the Captain's vest. "Prayer, since when you turned into a fucking coat-hanger?"

"I… beg your pardon?"

"Isn't that the Fucking Captain's coat? Why the hell are you holding it?"

"Aaahh… well… the new captain in question is… well… he's kinda preoccupied."

"Speak of the devil…" Neil nudged Canard and pointed at a certain black figure that was walking towards them.

Kage stood face to face before the group, and an awkward silence followed. Prayer gulped and quickly tried to break the silence and began introduction. "Eh to… Kage-san… eh no, Captain, I suppose this is the first time you guys met, so allow me to introduce everyone. This is Neil Dylandy, AKA Lockon Stratos."

"Yoroshiku!" Neil coolly saluted the captain.

Prayer noticed the unfamiliar face and wondered. "Could you be…?"

"Ah, Prayer-Senpai? I'm Setsuna, the new member of Juppongatana. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The white haired boy bowed down politely.

"Karren…"

The red haired girl nodded.

"And this is Canard Pars, your… lieutenant."

Prayer's voice trailed off to a mute as when the Captain and the Lieutenant met, an even more disturbing level of awkward silence followed. Prayer nervously looked between Kage and Canard and fro. The two suddenly reengaged their earlier glaring contest from the cliff with increased intensity.

It was ended short when Canard snorted. "Hrng. You certainly got the looks." The long haired swordsman turned around and walked away. "But your attitude's all off."

Kage's eyes rolled at the last remark. Off? What was that supposed to mean?

"So." Everyone turned. This time it's Balsam Arendo. "Is it true?" The man asked aloud quickly, while Canard is still in the earshot.

Kage tilted his head, wondering what this is about.

"Is it true that you kill Goud Veia in single combat?"

The other Juppongatana perked at this and Canard halted his pace. Indeed, deep in their heart they still find it hard to believe there's someone who can kill the immortal monster.

"…" Kage still didn't answer the question. Truth be told, Kira weren't so comfortable of relishing that particular event. It was more horrifying than glorious. The scene when Goud stood in the middle of a blood bathed corpse laden room haunted his sleep. The terror of Veia's blade and his brushing with death seem left a lasting irremovable memory in his mind. Kage gripped his fist, and his face slightly paled.

"It's true!" Mwu suddenly barged in. "If you need proof, Balsam, we have it. If you peek into the Captain's office I think you'll see a nice little spot where some new trophy is being displayed."

"Trophy? What trophy?"

Mwu smirked. But looking at Kage's pale complexion, he realized the new young captain is but a breath away from swooning. And so he decided to cut it short. "Feel free to see it for yourself. Anyway, you guys must be tired after a long journey. What say you if you take some rest for now and have a bite? Have I told you that we have a new cook?"

"Now wait a min-" Balsam's blabber were quickly cut off by Neil.

"New cook? Is he… she… any good?"

"He happens to be the best cook this side of the world. A bit stingy but… well… you'll see. Now Kage, while we wait for lunch let's have a little chat about what should we do with that hunk of junk that used to be Aquarius eh?" And with that, Mwu arm wrestle Kage by the head and drag him away.

"Aquarius… as in Veia's… infamous flagship… a hunk of junk?" Karren blinked.

"Well after a little this and that…" Prayer chuckled. "Mostly courtesy to our new Captain going into rampage…"

And Balsam's face gets slightly paler.

Meanwhile as soon as Mwu and Kage was out of earshot and from view, the elder captain quickly took Kage's mask and headband away. "I'm confiscating these for a day."

"Wh… Wait a second!" Kira protested. "Someone could see!"

"You're KIRA YAMATO! A ramen bar waiter from Amaterasu who happens to have an incredible talent in fighting and cooking. ESPECIALLY cooking. You haven't forgotten that have you?"

"I… I…"

Mwu shook his head in pure sorrow. "Your job was originally to cut and cook ingredients not slicing people up. You've been stuck in this garment for days. People start to wonder where did Kira go?"

The young boy reluctantly accepted that fact. That and… truth be told, now that Mwu brought it up, a fact that Kira was quite grateful, the boy realized he should've been asking himself that question for some time now.

Seeing his words had hit the mark, Mwu motioned the boy to go. "Your civilian clothes is in the office. Go. It's almost lunch time."

As Kira left, Mwu looked at the mask in his hand and felt nothing but regret.

"One day off eh?" Murrue appeared.

"That's the thing about masks." Mwu fling Kage's mask with his finger in a spin. "You put a mask for so long, you start forgetting who you were underneath it."

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A little while later, Kira put back his long forgotten civilian chef attire. Once he put them on, Kira felt so strange and unfamiliar wearing such normal clothing. Even now when he's all clothed in his supposedly normal clothing he felt scared that someone would pop in and see him like this. Everything was backwards now. "Kira" becomes a disguise and Kage becomes the true identity.

Kira shook his head. Maybe Mwu's right. Maybe he does need a day off. Off this mask that is. Kira had just put in the black clothing of Kage in the drawer when his keen ears caught sense of movement just outside the captain's office. Out of reflex, he lowered his breathing sound, closed his back to a shadowed corner of the room, steady his heartbeat, basically he hid his presence. Just like what Harlbarton taught him.

Indeed, Harlbarton may not be a full fledged shinobi, but being a former member of Orb's military forces, he was well trained in shinobi art. And during the weeks that followed to the battle of Archangel Bay, Harlbarton had made sure to cram all the basics down to his guts till Kira vomit blood and cracked his bones, teaching him to hide his presence on reflex, first signs of danger. It was this trick that allowed him to slaughter the entire army of Bladebanes in the darkness during their surprise attack earlier.

The door slide open slowly, causing a small noise and in come Balsam Arendo, slithering in like a viper after closing back the door. He looked around the Captain's room, searching for something. Apparently he was completely unaware of Kira's presence.

'That guy… if I'm not mistaken, he's Balsam Arendo… What is he doing here?'

The Ex Juppongatana peeked around the room and suddenly started opening drawers and reading through files. After a while, he moved on. And then his eyes landed on a distinctive antler horned helmet. A makeshift shrine Kira remembered he erected earlier to enshrine his first major opponent's effects.

Balsam's eyes widened. "T… This is…" Balsam's eyes weren't transfixed to just Veia's helmet. He's also focused on the two objects placed underneath the helmet.

Veia's prized swords: Hyomaen and Ensui.

Balsam smiled sinisterly. "Unbelievable. The weapons and armor of that accursed Goud Veia… that Kage really did kill that bastard." He looked at the two weapons. "It's said his weapons are of magical sort… if I… if I…" The Ex Juppongatana extended his arm to take the two weapons, but before Kira or Balsam could do anything, a scimitar suddenly burst in spinning right next to Kira's head and accurately lodged itself just millimeters away from the tip of Balsam's fingers.

"H… HIIIIEEEE!" Balsam squealed like a girl and quickly backed away. Kira was still paralyzed by shock and maintain his position.

"It looks like I caught 2 fucking rats." Canard Pars roared from outside the room. The next instant, the black haired man kicked the door open and went in to see the sight of Balsam cowering in fear. His groin is filled with the stench of piss. Canard smirked viciously. "One rat is a usual fucker… the other is a new face…" the lieutenant looked straight at Kira. "But far more artful."

Kira groaned and revealed his presence. Balsam blinked. The boy looked as if he just appeared out of a black veil.

"You… who the fuck are you?"

"I… I'm Kira. Kira Yamato."

"What's your rank?"

"I'm… I'm a c… chef. Of the 9th squad division."

"Mwu's division? Chef? I see… so you're the new fucking chef Mwu was barking about-I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET BALSAM!" Balsam Arendo was trying to sneak past unnoticed but Canard's roar stopped him on his tracks. "You're too far away from the kitchen." 'And that hiding skill… that wasn't a skill of a normal cook. But he said he belonged to the 9th division…' "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I'm…" Kira quickly thought up an excuse. "I'm Kage's… earm… cleaning details!"

The two warriors in the room looked at him with shock. "What?"

"Y… Yes." Kira continued. "He told me to… clean this place up. I also… bring him his food. He… He never eats with the others. For some reason he always eats alone. So… So he asked me to bring his food here."

"So you're also Kage's errand boy huh?" Balsam's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You're from 9th division, what business do you have in the 7th division's captain's room?"

"Errand Boy, Assistant, Butler, personal chauffeur, pick your own terminology." Kira also became more convinced with his own story. And it's not entirely a lie. "I do whatever Kage needs me to do. Including occasionally taking out the trash."

"Human trash included?" Canard smirked. His suspicion slightly removed.

"Whatever trash I found." Kira responded more solemnly.

"Khahahah!" The lieutenant laughed sadistically. "Well… here's one big trash here. Wanna mop the floor with him?"

Balsam gritted his teeth in anger. "I'm just here to-"

"Pilfer our new captain's belonging? You know the penalty for thievery Balsam?" Canard ready his hand on the katana, eying Balsam's thieving arm viciously.

The ex-juppongatana growled and finally left without a word.

Kira just looked at the escaping thief with intensified dislike. "What's his problem?"

"What's your problem, captain?"

Kira's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Canard with horror in his eyes. But he kept his calm and reasserted himself. "Now that's a bad joke."

"Khahah." Canard let another short fierce laugh. "Yeah. I'm just fucking kidding." He looked at the shrine for Veia. "That's quite careless for that guy to leave something as powerful as Veia's magical weapon unguarded like this."

"How do you know it's magical?"

Canard's smirk gets wilder. "Aren't you too curious for an errand boy?"

"Aren't you too familiar regarding other people's stuff?"

"KHAHAHAHAHAH!" The black haired soldier laughed, hard. But then his happy ferocious smile was replaced with an annoyed one. "We fought him before. All 9 of us. Sometime before Setsuna joined up. Ganging up on that immortal son of a bitch… or should I say 8 of us? That fucker Balsam was more trouble than help. Longest damn fight in our lives." Canard laid his back on the wall. "We throw everything we got on that son of a bitch and he just fucking smile, suck it up and keep on coming. I've seen Advanced regenerate in the middle of a fight but none of them were that fast. He's a true freak of nature. We only managed to excite him even more, and he fucking chased us halfway across the fucking battlefield."

Kira understood. The Juppongatan must've managed to deal some impact upon Veia up to the point Veia was impressed enough and wanted to see them to try and kill him too. "What happened then?"

"What do you think what happened? If we had succeeded to even nick him, the fucking mask-man wouldn't even be able to kill him and made it among the blacklist on the first day."

Kira blinked. "What?"

"I take it you didn't know?" Canard gave the bewildered boy the black wanted poster, pertaining details of Kage, his nickname, and his absurd amount of bounty. Kira showed indifferent awe, but the Kage inside him was horrified.

"300…"

"Million. Not thousand. Million. Normally even the worst case rookie start off in 3 to 5 million. But no. His debut outranked them all by a hundred times over. Now there's not a single sane man, woman, or child in Zaft who doesn't hear Kage's name and did NOT tremble in fear."

"300,000,000… you know I… I can just about imagine the number of mercenaries and bounty hunters who would be drooling over this amount."

"Khahahah! If they don't piss themselves first. Besides…" Canard seems to be back in the mood, but he's leaving the room. He turned around one last time and smiled sadistically. "If I were him, money hungry bounty hunters are the least of my worries. Well, you passed that mailer to him, and do tell me the look on his face."

Canard walked out of the room and curiously hopped up right to the rooftop, where Mwu, dressed in Kage outfit, just in case, were waiting. "I take it you're approving of your new captain then?"

"Just because he made me laughed several times doesn't mean I fucking approve. Like I said. His attitude is still off."

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Meanwhile… in the harbor on the southern coast of Japan…

A village were just attacked and razed by an invading fleet.

Ships carrying a whole army of Bladebanes had just landed. Some of them are on horseback, the greater part were mostly on foot.

"Is this okay, Yzak? We didn't get any permission from the high council." Dearka frowned, looking at the now, surprisingly familiar surrounding. Now that he thought of it, ever since this whole secret weapon deal, he's been back to this country time and time again.

"It's okay." The silver haired boy replied flatly. He looked at some of the Bladebanes who were the vanguard were already helping themselves with the female locals. "If we took down the Archangel that should give us the excuse." Yzak quickly rushed towards the Bladebane and kicked the rapist away from his future victim. The rapist, denied of his victim angrily rush forward but Yzak menacingly pointed his sword at the man's neck. "Now… is not the time." The silver haired boy hissed menacingly, unnerving everyone. "We didn't come here to mate with these people. Not them."

"Screw you, Joule! You brought us here in such a hurry, we didn't even get to kiss our lovers goodbye or even any enough provisions! Even Veia-sama isn't stupid enough to start an expedition like this!"

Yzak angrily stomped the whining knight right on his balls with greave covered heels. Earning a scream from the victim and groans from the onlookers. Yzak shoved his sword menacingly at the man's mouth and hold it in suspension. The man whimpered, terrified over the fact there's a sword in his throat. But nothing terrifies him more than Yzak's murderous glare. "Insult… master Veia again… I'll kill you."

Dearka quickly grabbed Yzak's shoulder. "Come on man. He's not the one you want to kill. Come on. Take it easy." Yzak calm down and back away, but he was obviously still fuming at the knight. Dearka added however. "The guy's got a point though. We came with such hurry, we didn't bring enough provision for all of us."

Yzak let his anger to cool down and start thinking calmly. Then he saw the woman who was obviously still in a bit of a trauma. "You, woman."

The woman gasped when being addressed and frightfully turned around to face the talker.

"Where's the nearest village around here?"

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Meanwhile, as soon as the news that Kira's back in the kitchen travelled, an even longer line of soldiers (longer than usual) can be seen stretching out from the mess hall. The heavenly smell from the broth Kira was making being the main culprit. Canard and the other juppongatana, unfamiliar with this sight, wondered what on earth is going on.

Setsuna took a deep breath of the scent of the broth. "No wonder they're willing to make such a queue. This smell (sniff) it's heavenly."

Lockon closed his eyes and also took a deep breath. "This… scent… no way…"

The Juppongatana burst their way through the masses of soldiers and saw a commotion. Mwu, right at the front, was begging profusely to Kira for an extra ration of ramen. Tolle, Milly and Sai had to help out since they got more mouth to feed than the usual, what's with the additional reinforcements.

"NO CAN DO! How many times do I have to tell you, our ration is limited! Everybody gets the same amount, no exceptions!" Kira lightly hit the blonde captain's head with his soup spoon.

"Please! Just one more strand!" The blonde captain even went so far as to grovel on his feet. Kira glared at Murrue and Murdock, asking for help. Murdock shook his head at his captain's unsightly antiques.

"Alright, that's it you big baby!" The two grabbed Mwu by the arms and dragged him away from the food counter.

The juppongatana bypassed the line and looked at Kira.

Kira nodded nonchalantly and quickly prepare a bowl of ramen. It was plain ramen, no topping whatsoever but a few drops of onion cuts. Neil took it first and have a sip of the broth. His eyes widened, shocked by how delicious the soup was. Even more surprising, when eaten together with the noodle, its rich taste increases even more into a familiar taste. "This… taste… where did you learn to cook like this?"

"I spend some time in a small ramen bar. Do you like it?"

Lockon didn't answer. He was too busy rapidly sipping the noodle and its soup. Curious, the other juppongatana also huddled in for a bowl. Every one of them battle hardened warriors mellowed upon eating the dish. Even the fierce Canard break his stone cold face for a few seconds before he went back to normal. Upon seeing the reaction Kira smiled gently. How long has it been since he felt happiness of having cooked something delicious? "Alright, will the next guy come here please. Don't worry, we still have enough for everyone!"

"That's why I said!" Mwu burst out. "If there's enough for everyone, why can't you give just one extra mouthful-"

"I SAID ENOUGH for everyone. NOT more than enough." Kira sighed. Truth be told, they're not in a position to be able to squander their provisions. They haven't got the chance to resupply, and after that major naval battle, Archangel's waters are still considered a danger area. There aren't many merchants willing to risk their neck to do business in such an area.

"Is our supply in such a precarious state, errand boy?" Balsam frowned.

Kira frowned. "Yes. It does. I did the check myself. We need to carefully ration our dish."

"And how many of our scarce resources go into this dish I wonder?"

Hearing the implied but blatant accusation, Tolle, Milly and Sai suddenly stopped on their tracks and looked angrily at Balsam, undaunted by that glare. Kira looked at Balsam indifferently for a few moments but then ignored the nosy soldier and instead chuckled and shook his head. "Next one come here please."

Balsam twitched and pushed forward. "Hey! I'm talking to you soldier!"

Kira calmly choose his words quietly. "Well I apologize if the dish is not to your taste."

Balsam smirked even further. "Then perhaps you misunderstood me. I enjoy your dish immensely. I'm just wondering whether you're squandering our so called precarious resources on lavish dishes."

That just gone too far. Tolle angrily smashed his tray and came charging forward. "That's about enough you sonnovagun! You're just one more word away from me wringing your scrawny-"

"TOLLE!" Kira roared. Tolle stopped midway and looked at Kira. Kira's eyes were glaring at Balsam. Truth be told, everyone in the mess hall is also looking at the scene. Canard in particular looked at Kira, wondering how Kira resolve this situation. The boy humbly bowed down. "You're right. I shouldn't have been so wasteful."

A smirk spread across Balsam's smug face. "Then I believe, a punishment is in order is it not?"

Tolle exploded. "You lay one finger on Kira and I'll-!"

"TOLLE, SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Kira roared even louder. "…I'm sorry. My friends can be a little bit… emotional. I apologize. Both for my wastefulness, and his rude behavior as well as mine. I'll take the punishment for both transgressions."

"Kira… you…!" Tolle suddenly found his throat pushed back by Kira.

"I appreciate the sentiments, Tolle. But in this case… we're the ones who had to behave." Kira whispered in Tolle's ears. "If we are to survive in this circle, we must know how to be humble. This man maybe a jerk, he's a FORMER member of the Juppongatana. A former, but it's still something. It's alright. I have a thick face, getting slapped around a few times won't kill me."

"But… Kira…!" Tolle was about to rebuke again but Sai grabbed his back. Tolle looked at the bespectacled boy who shook his head.

In the end, as punishment, Kira was slapped around multiple times by Balsam in front of everyone. Tolle and Sai can only grit their teeth in anger while they watch. Canard frowned. After seeing several slaps, Canard sighed in disgust and walk away.

"Aren't you going to stop this?" Neil muttered.

"Stop what? I wish that fucking Toudou was here to fucking see this. Sun Tzu: Art of War. Real life application. If that kid died, kill Balsam, you fucking hear me?"

"With pleasure."

Thankfully, Kira did survive the beating, and when it was over, the severely beaten Kira was thrown back to the kitchen. His friends quickly tend to him, his face was all beaten and bloodied.

"Kira… are you alright?" Milly carefully caressed the blood from Kira's face.

"Heh… heheh…" Kira smirked despite all his wounds.

"I'm not sure if this is a laughing matter."

"He's not… attacking me… he's attacking Kage… he thought I was only Kage's errand boy… attacking the master by its subordinates… it's the lowest of blows… in the end… he's a petty man…" Kira chuckled. "He was banished from the Juppongatana due to ineptitude. Now he's trying to re-establish whatever's left of his practically nonexistent authority by trying to demean the errand boy of the boss. It's a low blow no matter how you look at it. With that said, why should I be afraid of him?"

"Hoo… so you let yourself getting slapped around just to deduce that? Sun Tzu art of war indeed." The group gasped and saw Neil, smiling over the counter.

"Sun Tzu art of what?" Tolle bent his head in confusion.

Neil chuckled kindly. He rummaged his pocket and handed a salve to Milly. "Rub it gently on those bruises. For someone so shrewd you're quite reckless, laddie."

"I'm tougher than I look."

"Sure you are. Which begs the question why would a guy like you wanted to stay as Kage's errand boy and chef for the 9th division?"

"It's the only thing I'm good at." Kira smiled.

Neil returned the smile. "Balsam is all bark and no bite. He's upset because Harlbarton found replacement so fast. If he had died without any successor, Canard will automatically placed as Captain-"

"Leaving one open spot for him in Juppongatana."

Lockon nodded. "But he can be quite a bully. Just tell me whenever he starts acting up again okay?" The sniper left after a friendly wave.

"Well he seems a pretty nice guy…" Milly had just finished rubbing the ointment on Kira's face. "By the way… what was it he said, Sun Tzu: Art of War?"

"Sun Tzu art of War: All warfare is based on deception. When you are strong, you must appear weak, when you want to fight you must not show that you want to fight. I insulted him earlier on in the Captain's office and I already knew then he was a bad apple. And now I let myself getting beat up to found out more about this Balsam, but…" Kira chuckled. As it turns out, the other Juppongatana were not only able bodied, they're also able minded. "Oh dear… this is bad… I really need to stop standing out. Otherwise I'll be exposed…"

"Kira… he's right, that's way too reckless. Just to find out a character of a man you made yourself a punching bag?" Sai helped his friend stand back up. "You're lucky he didn't came up with harsher punishment."

"Been worse." Kira, feeling better now, simply get back up. "Pray he's that stupid. He kill me, Mwu will have to expose who I am, and I don't think the soldiers will be too happy to listen to the man who had killed their hero captain…"

"I can testify to that brother. But you keep going… doing this… lone warrior act… is it worth it?" Tolle followed. "Is it really necessary?"

Kira twitched. "What are you getting at?"

"Kira…" Tolle stopped midway. Clearly he had a great difficulty saying this. "…are you still feeling guilty about what happened to Kuzzey?"

That's when Kira finally understood what Tolle was trying to suggest. "Don't even think about it. They tortured him, Tolle. They didn't just kill him, they do it slowly and painfully."

"And they are going to do that to you too. Kuzzey protected you. And in the end, not just you. He protected all of us. We owe it to him."

"No you're not."

"God damn it Kira, stop talking as if you're his only friend!"

"He's your friend too, I get that. But I created Kage. I… started all this. And now… it's spiraling out of control."

"Kira… we're your friends too. You created Kage to protect us. We get that too." Sai replied in a much calmer tone. "We've said this before. In the end, we're all responsible for Kuzzey's death. You don't need to shoulder everything alone."

"It wasn't our war… but when they killed Kuzzey, it became our war."

"But there are plenty of ways to fight other than what you're suggesting. Kage was put in a blacklist. Do you understand what that means? With a 300 million bounty. 5 times the amount of Mwu-san's bounty. I just painted a target on the back of my head. Let's not paint some on your heads too."

"We already have one. By associating with you. This is from what I've heard… but… when a blacklist was declared, Zaft don't just hunt 'you'. They hunt everyone. Families, friends, relatives…" Sai pushed his glasses up. "And we are your friends. In the end… they'll try to get to you… through us."

"Ergo… all of us need to get stronger too. One way, or another." Tolle surmised.

"That's why I put my mask on. They don't know who I am, and so they won't be able to make connection to anyone."

"All the more reason why we should put our suggestion to practice… don't you think?"

"Out of the question. Blacklist means there will be no trial, no judge, no jury, they'll try to use any means to kill the target, even illegal war crimes will be allowed. You guys will be better off without the mask." But Kira is still adamant. "We are not going to talk about this again. That's final." Kira stood up as a sign of the end of discussion and he was about to leave when the bell sounded. "That's… the alarm?"

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Outside… at the front wall… a little while earlier…

"Please! Open the gates!" A man banged the gates while his wife and children watched from a rundown cart. Around them, many people of similar predicament were also waiting. Some of them were on foot, and those who do had arrows or cut wounds around them.

The gate guards were surprised when they saw civilians, dozens of them, many were injured and weary. They were attacked.

"This is a military fortress! We can't just allow anyone to come in!"

"We were attacked! By bandits! They're right behind us!"

"Bandits?" At that time, an arrow suddenly landed dangerously close to the said man. The guards gasped and looked to the direction where the arrow came from. Sure enough, a large but disorderly group of heavily armed bandits appeared screaming and leering from the woods. They stopped midway upon seeing the great fortress.

"Holy… that's the Archangel… it's bigga' than I thought…"

"Wut now boss?"

A large brutish bandit shouldered his massive hammer. "Blargh! So wut? I herd the capt'n is all de'd and bur'ed. Tha' base is all decoration now without the old chap! Get them all!"

Some of the bandits were still reluctant though. "But boss, I 'eard dat dere is a new capt'n dere! And he's a scary one dat he is!"

The said bandit were quickly hammered dead. "Brah! Dere's no one in dis godforsaken land more scarier dan me! Anyone wanna complain can go to the complaint department, and dat's ma hammer by de way. CHAAARGE!"

And with that. The whole bandit army charged forward.

The guards were overwhelmed by the sight. One of the soldiers asked nervously. "Err… shouldn't we fire?"

"Uh… but if we fire we might hit the civilians as well!"

"Then open the gate, let them in!" Another soldier yelled.

The guard was truly confused now. "B… if we open the gate the bandits might came in!"

"You mean we just have to sit here and wait!"`

Before their fruitless conversation went any further, a black shape zoomed past them and suddenly appeared out of the blackness. It was Kage.

"Captain Kage! Sir!"

"OPEN THE GATES!" Kage bellowed.

"B… But the bandits!"

"Leave them to me." And with that, Kage again turned to a wisp of black and descended across the fortress walls, landing with a thud just right in front of the shocked refugees. They cringed upon the sight of the mysterious being, clad head to toe in black. "GET INTO THE FORTRESS ALL OF YOU! GO!"

The giant gate began to crank open. The refugees initial fright turned to cheers and they start running into the fortress. But there's still so many of them so far away from the fortress entrance, and the bandits were literally on their heels. Some of the refugees were even attacked, and the women were captured, some were about to be raped on the spot. Gritting his teeth, Kage stilled himself, and then, amidst the crowd of the chaotic refugees… he vanished in a barely visible puff of smoke.

The refugees running towards the fortress entrance were mixed some of the marauding bandits. "UHIAHYAHYAHYAHYAHYAAAHAHA! Get them all, get them all!" One of the bandits were getting close to bashing a mother carrying her child, when suddenly, out of the woman's shadow Kage emerged and slashed the brute dead, before disappearing again as the corpse fell. The other bandits didn't notice. But then, a skinny guy was suddenly a head short when he was came close to a little girl he fancy, a man's scream of agony over his suddenly cut apart hand was cut short when a katana went through his mount from the back, an entire family could only stare in a mixture of awe, horror and confusion, as a second ago they were surrounded by three bandits, and then all the sudden, one start puking blood and drop dead, the other was beheaded, and the last one had several kunais embedded on his skull. Kage continue to move quickly from shadow to shadow, dispatching all the bandits one at a time. Some of the bandits still didn't realized what was going on and so they just keep charging ahead. But as wild as they maybe, even the bandits began to realize they are being killed left and right. Even more annoying, they couldn't see who did it.

Meanwhile, the commotion had attracted the soldiers in the fortress. Canard and the other Juppongatana gathered on top of the fortress walls. Prayer looked at the situation below and noticed many invader's corpses, killed in a familiar clean and efficient manner. "The Captain's down there isn't he?" Looking at the inflow of refugees, Prayer quickly dispatched some orders. "Get some soldiers to escort those refugees and guard the entrance, make sure none of those bandits came in! And get ready a task force, we must quickly come to our captain's aid!"

"Belay that last order." Canard nonchalantly growled.

"Eh? But! He's just alone down there!"

"One way or another, I want to see our new captain's worth."

Just then, a little girl's scream draw everyone's attention. "MAMA! MAMAAAA!"

"RUN CHILD, RUN!" The mother of the said girl were just 5 feet from her. But three thugs were right behind her, one put their dirty foot on top of her.

"Heh, heh, heh! Don't worry we'll catch your daughter too soon enough… ere we go-SNIKKT! A black figure arose from the woman's shadow and before anyone realized it, Shiki had gone through his forehead. As his dead body fell, a black figure just jump past the body, and the other two thugs suddenly found a kunai lodged to their throat. Holding their bleeding throat, trying to scream in pain but their shred throat simply can't comply. A glimmer of katana swing and then a black form appeared between them, and the next instance, the two thugs were dead in the pool of their own blood. Kage, finally appearing in full view, yelled. "Take your daughter and go!"

The woman can only managed a quick "Thank you." and quickly grabbed her daughter and run. Kage nodded at the little girl as her mother brought her to safety. Kage turned towards the masses of bandit horde and assess the situation. "There's still more refugees coming this way… how come there's so many of them?"

The bandits stopped midway when they saw the black figure standing before them. "Oi bos! Dere 'e is! That black de'il!"

"Tha lit'l runt?" The bandit lord looked at the black wanted poster in his hand to the figure on the field. "No way. He ain't big enuff!"

Kage turned around, seeing his condition. There are some soldiers at the gate, facilitating the refugee some cover. "Good, now I could use some reinforcements… Prayer?" He looked up and saw Prayer was in some heated argument with an ignorant Canard. He could feel his lieutenant's stare at him. Then Kage understood that help isn't coming. 'You want to see me do this alone didn't you?' Groaning, Kage turned and saw the situation chuckled exasperatedly, remembering the succession of increasingly difficult enemies he had faced up to this point. In normal condition, after an army of emerald knights, an 80 foot giant, then a stealthy army of Bladebanes, and recently, an immortal Hakutenkun, a horde of bandits may seem a chinch. That is, if he didn't have a whole bunch of civilians caught up in it.

A boy was running away in fright while one of the bandits were chasing after the boy. Kage cut his train of thought short. "Got no time to pick my bearings!" And he quickly shunshin towards the location and killed the thug with a stroke. The bandits then charged towards him, and Kage growled. The ninja closed the distance in an instant, and with a swing of his katana, the thug was gored on his neck. More of them come. One from the flank attacked him with a swing, but Kage's swing was faster, and with a stroke, the arm was cut off. While the man was still howling in pain, the ninja quickly throw a couple of shurikens at another batch of bandits before he returned back to the first thug and decapitate him to finish the job. He shunshin again to another location and stab another bandit by the head.

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"Holy shi'! He kan move fastar tha' de blink of me eye!"

The bandit lord snorted. "All of you be goin and get him! Dere's only one of 'im, and he kannae get to all of us at once! Eat at his stamina and den rain him with arrows!"

"Right ya are boz! Ei! All ya gits! CHAARGE!"

"Dat includes you ya stupid gnat!"

"Eh?"

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Meanwhile, as expected, Kage was quickly overwhelmed between saving the refugees and beating down the bandits. He may be able to move instantly from one spot to the next, but there are simply too many that needs to be rescued. "Kyaaa!" A familiar scream draw Kage's attention and in an instant, a bandit suddenly lost his head, spraying his blood upon his future rape victim. Kage managed to get a good glimpse at the person he just rescued and his eyes widened. Bathed in blood from head to toe was Fllay Allister. Some of her clothes were torn and she was trembling head to toe. What's with the sight of a terrifying man in black, drenched in blood is standing in front of him with a fresh blood dripping sword in hand. "RUN! Get away from here! RUUN!"

She was clearly too afraid to respond, and she was too confused to understand what's happening. Kage grunted, and he was getting desperate. He bent down and slapped the girl's face. "COME TO YOUR SENSES! RUN!" Kage noticed another civilian in danger and was about to dash away when he felt something grabbed his leg. Kage looked down and saw Fllay, still terrified, was hugging his leg out of fright. "LET-!"

"No!" Tears swelling up at the corner of her eyes. "Don't leave me!"

Kage became even more desperate. "FLLAY! LET GO!"

"Eh?" Upon hearing her name being said out loud by a stranger, she momentarily let go. Just then, a bandit saw the opening and lunged at Kage. The ninja turned around just in time to see a mace smacked him in the face. His head spinning, his ears ringing, and he can feel his skull cracking. Kage fell to Fllay's lap with his head bleeding. But he can still see the bandit was spinning his mace with a smug grin on his face. Fighting the pain from his aching head, Kage raised his sword but the injury rendered him too slow.

The bandit roared, preparing to land the final blow, when suddenly a long, two handed blade went through his chest, right to his heart, thrust forth by a black blur appearing out of a puff of smoke. The bandit was still alive to see, in his horror, a second Kage growling angrily and viciously rip out his large nodachi and then decapitate him, this time finishing him off. "You're alright?" The second Kage spoke, panting, as he grasped his obviously heavy horse killer katana with both of his arms.

Kira thought the voice was familiar. Once the thundering pain in his head was reduced to a little numbing ache, Kira immediately recognized that stature and voice. "…T… Tolle?"

"Reinforcements have arrived Captain." Tolle nudged his head to his back. There, bunch bandits were getting their arms broken and their own weapons are being used as projectiles by a Kage with glasses carrying a spear. A bandit fell dead when an arrow landed squarely between his eyes. Far in the distance, a fourth Kage was holding a bow while aiming at another bandit.

"Sai…? Millly…?"

"Huh?" Fllay frowned upon hearing familiar names being uttered in such familiar ways.

Meanwhile, panic reigned on the bandits as they saw multiple Kages. The bandits' charge was halted. "Bloody hell! There be four of im! Boz! Ya sed dere's only one of 'im!"

"Shutup-shutup-shutup! I'm tryin to tink!"

Kage looked at Tolle, all dressed up as Kage. Fighting inbetween pants and gasps, Kage wanted to scream in rage asking his friend what was he thinking. But then again, considering the situation, that desire suddenly went out of the window. "Can you guys do shunshin?"

Tolle smirked behind his makeshift mask. "Yes. Yes we could. All three of us. We weren't exactly resting our laurels all this time."

"We'll talk about this later." That's enough for Kage. The ninja roared. "SHADOWGUARDS! TO ME!"

The newly christened Shadowguards heard their leader's call, and in a blink, they all disappeared in a puff of smoke and gathered in a small circle with the even more terrified Fllay at the center.

The Kage with glasses exclaimed. "Fllay…! What…?"

"Listen up! All of you! We don't have much time so I'll make this quick!" Kage quickly assign their roles. "Tolle, you and I are on the offensive. Milly, Sai, you two on defense, get the refugees inside the fortress, if they can't walk, carry them! Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" The three other Kage replied in unison.

And just like that, one Kage quickly tend to Fllay, the other stand ready with her bow and arrows, and two charged forward. Mid charge, Kira whispered to Tolle. "Tolle, I did say we're in the offensive, but remember, our priority is to get them to safety."

Tolle nodded in understanding and charge towards a bandit. The first swing sliced his knee, sending the bandit screaming, holding on to his knee, Tolle pushed his long nodachi up and pressed the blade to the man's neck, and he gored him off. Leaving the man to bleed to death, Tolle moved to other target. Kira dodged the first hammer swing coming to his head again and swipe Shiki across the man's stomach, spilling his guts. Before the man can scream, Kira quickly beheaded him. For the next target, Tolle jumped high and then brought down his sword with such a force, the defender's sword was shattered and his fingers were cut off. Without further ado, Tolle cut his head off with a scream. Kira dodged a sword thrust by a hairbreadth, bent his head down as if falling, but instead stomp forward and slashed the man across his chest. Another come to Tolle's way quick. Thinking fast, the boy hurled his long sword and it lodged cleanly to the bandit's chest. Wildly looking around, Tolle grabbed a sword. Kira slither past a spear thrust and grabbed the spear. With a roar the boy gave an upward slash, cutting one of the man's arm while cutting the spear in half before stabbing his now one armed opponent by the heart, killing him instantly. Tolle caught that same spear midair just in time as a bandit came close. Tolle angrily rammed the spear through his gut. The bandit choked blood several times, still alive. Tolle put his blade on his opponent's neck and viciously slit it open with a roar.

"Goodness gracious! Who taught you to fight like that?" Even Kira was a bit shocked with such ferocity.

"Err… well… I… we all have been having intensive practice… with Mwu-san, with Murrue-san, Natarle-san… sometimes one captain sometimes three. Anytime you weren't getting your ass kicked by Harlbarton or/and Mwu."

Kira made a mental note to ask the exact detail of what exactly those three officers had stuffed into his friends' heads. But he doesn't have time for that. "When this is over…" Kira throw a shuriken that nailed on a bandit's throat. "…you and I gotta talk."

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Meanwhile, the alliance soldiers in the walls were also in the state of uproar.

"What the hell, there's more than one Captain!" The root of the commotion, specifically, was Balsam, who was just until a moment ago was secretly rooting for his new captain's death, screamed out loud in frustration.

Ignoring their incompetent comrade, the other Juppongatana also began observing this unique development.

"Who's that Kage with bows and arrows? She got talent!" Neil smiled with interest.

"How can you tell that one is a she?" Karen frowned.

At this distance, Lockon is probably the only one who can see such distance. "I'm a sniper, and I have an eye for detail. She's got a nice ass to boot-" Lockon's comment was cut short when he felt a sharp cold chill down his spine. Partly because one of the Kage seem to be glaring his way and partly because Karren pointed one of her claw fingers to his balls.

"Watch your distance Neil…"

"Hai." The Sniper peeped.

Canard assessed the Kages' movements. "The ones on defense… the girl with bow and arrow got some talent with it. The kage with glasses had movements reminiscent to a mixture of Natarle and Murrue… with some moves of yours. The two on the offense… the guy with Spear and sword are more of a power type and had a brutal streak. The first one with a katana has more finesse."

Mwu tried to pretend he wasn't smiling proudly.

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Meanwhile, Kage looked at the situation and realized most of the refugees are now in the safety of the fortress. Milly and Sai had both fallen back and waited for them at the gates, keeping it open. Suddenly an arrow zoomed past his neck. Kira looked towards the direction of the attack and realized some of the bandits start getting smart and avoid close combat with them, hence they choose to rain them with arrows while some are still coming their way. But there are no more Refugees in sight. With that in mind… "Tolle! Pull back!"

"What? But I'm not sure they're in the mood of falling back…" Tolle gritted his teeth as another arrow nearly punctured his head. "In fact I think they're getting more frenzied…"

"Figures. But… you're in the way." A high pitched hum of energy building up caught Tolle's attention and he turned to see Shiki glowing menacingly in Kira's hand. He quickly understood what's about to happen and quickly fall back. Kira pull the sword back as Tolle jump over him and stand at ready behind his back. In the distance, the bandits, emboldened by the sight of the black devils retreating, yet foolishly unaware of what comes next, charged forward, screaming wildly.

"Tetsuga…"

The bandit lord's instinct suddenly kicked in.

"TENSHOU!" A flash of bright white light later, and the wild scream of the bandit horde turned into screams of terror cuts off mid scream as Shiki's white shockwave rattle and rip apart everything in its path. When the light faded, every soldier in the fortress jaw dropped as a grotesquely large crevice can be seen where the charging bandit horde once were, littered with what's left of the bandits or none at all. The charging bandits was no more, instead, in their place was a screaming and moaning bandits in obvious pain, many are which are no longer in one piece. Alive, but no longer intact.

Tolle sometimes forgot the fact that the slightly beat up, plain looking piece of Katana in Kira's hand was a super weapon. A super weapon that, in Kira's hand, seems capable of feats of unworldly proportion. "Wow… maybe you should start with that next time eh, Capt?"

"With all the refugees around?"

"Oh. Right. Hm?" Tolle narrowed his eyes and amidst the screaming and gore, there are two bandits that are relatively intact. The bandit lord and his aide. "You missed two!"

"I missed one. I was planning to spare the aide. The other was lucky. I want to leave at least one alive for questioning. But I guess two is just good." Swishing Shiki, Kage stepped forward.

The Bandit Lord was never more frightened in his life. Upon the sight of one of the Kage was coming his way, he squealed and start running. From the distance, Kage disappeared with a puff of smoke and to the horror of the Bandit Lord, suddenly appeared right in front of him.

Kage menacingly pointed Shiki before him. "Why did you attack the villagers?"

"Why de hell do you care?"

"Just answer the question."

"We got paid alrite! Told to send them runnin. Jus… jus scare em a lit'l that's all."

"Paid…?" Kage twitched. Suddenly his nose caught a stench. A stench of blood and gore. He narrowed his eyes and looked deeper into the forest and his eyes widened. A trail of massacre and rape strew across where the bandits were coming from. His hand began to tremble in anger. "You were paid… to do this…?"

"Err… well… he did say to just send these people runnin… but I thought it was a bit borin an all so-"

"So…" Kage's next words are effectively laced with murder. "So you add the interesting order to massacre them on the way?"

Upon seeing the angry bloodshot eyes of the black Devil, the Bandit Lord knew the captain isn't going to let him off alive. With a roar the Bandit Lord raised his hammer. "RAAAAAAAAAA-

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The bandit lord's screaming visage, a mixture of anger and terror, were frozen just like that as Kage angrily tossed the dead man's head to the crevice. Still in that anger, he looked at the last survivors of the bandit horde. "Those of you sons of bitches, who managed to escape with your lives, take that life and GO!" He angrily shouted. "BUT! Leave behind the limbs you've lost. They are mine now." He added menacingly.

The bandits need not to be told twice. Kage looked to his feet and saw a sword. He took it and frowned as he observed its craftsmanship. Then he turned to the bandit lord's corpse and saw a few Gold bullions strewn from his torn bag. He took a piece of the gold bullion and examined it. At that time, the bandit lord's aide was just about to run when Kage suddenly throw the sword in his hand and nailed him to a tree. "Except you. You stay right where you are."

The aide was on the verge of pissing himself in the pants at this point and nodded furiously.

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Not a moment too soon Kage, along with his Shadowguard entered the fortress triumphant, with Tolle dragging the whimpering and crying Aide with one hand. The soldiers looked at them with a mixture of awe and dread. There the officers of the alliance and the Juppongatana were waiting. Kage's eyes met Canard's for a moment, but then he decided to say nothing. Instead, Kage motioned at Tolle, and the Shadowguard tossed the aide screaming right in the middle of them.

Mwu looked at Kage and wondered what's all this about. Kage tossed Mwu the sword he observed earlier. Mwu took it and checked it. "Sword… with pretty good craftsmanship… too good for something used by mere bandits…"

"Mercenaries." Kage throw a gold bullion to Murrue and have her examined it as well. "Hired by an army of angry Bladebanes."

Lockon blinked. "Bladebanes? How can you tell?"

Kage turned to the aide. "Hey you."

"Y…yes?"

"They were Zaft right? With an army of swordsmen wearing mostly blue armors."

"Y…Yes…"

"The guy who hired you. A boy my size. A Russian."

"Yes."

"With silver hair, bowl cut… and a scar across his face."

"H… How did you know…"

"I gave him that scar." Kage nodded to the horrified mercenary aide. So it's true. He looked at Mwu, who seem to have understood what happened. "Yzak. The last student of Goud Veia. Yzak Joule." Kage concluded.

"You can tell just by looking at that gold bullion?" Karren frowned.

"It's not just any gold bullion. Look at the surface, notice there's a crest on top of it."

"Ah… it's true." Setsuna confirmed it as he can feel the surface of the bullion with his fingers. "It's a… a dragon sprouting from the ocean, biting a trident… Midgard Serpent Jormungand… Emperor of the Abyss…"

"Zaft people of nobility used their own crest on the gold bullion that they possess, to mark it as part of their wealth. In war time, the loss of someone of great importance, such in this case, a national hero such as Goud Veia, is given a ten days of funeral games, and Zaft warriors waged no war during that period. It was decreed by the Crimson Emperor, and there aren't many people of Zaft who would risk their necks to disobey this tradition, nobility or not. And today is still within that period." Kage explained. "The only one who dares… are those who were angry enough and ready to die to pick a bone with me. That can only be one person and one army: Yzak Joule and a whole army of Bladebanes coming our way."

"But why would they hire mercenaries?" Prayer wondered.

"Haven't you heard what Kage said? Because they're doing something illegal." Mwu understood completely.

"Only the Sapphire Bladebanes feel enough attachment to the late Goud Veia that they are willing to disobey a tradition. But because of that, they're practically on their own, cut off from support, they can't ask for help from any other branches of Zaft military. Hence, they hire mercenary as disposable cannon fodder. But that's not all there is." Kage turned and faced the mercenary again. "What village you were told to attack?"

"T… the village of… Tanzaku…"

"Map." In an instant, a soldier had procured a map of the area. Kage studied the map. "Tanzaku lies… here… So they must've landed here, the closest beach to that village."

"Tanzaku… that's weird. That's rather far from here… they're… taking the long way around." Tolle commented. "And… they don't intend to come here straight away?"

"I see what they're plotting. They don't intend to attack us directly. Bladebanes are not good siegers, they're best at man to man combat. So they'll go to one recruitment after another… amassing hired mercenary and dispatch them to attack nearby village, and make sure these mercenaries rallied the villagers here." Natarle surmised.

"Why the hell they want to do that?" Murdock frowned.

"Fucking obvious isn't it? To force us into acts of charity." Canard snarled. "We just let in a reasonable number of refugees. Our supplies can support a few families' mouth just fine… but…"

"Pretty soon there's gonna be more inflows of these refugees coming here. First a few dozens, and then eventually it'll mount into a few hundreds… and there's still thousands of soldiers that we need to accommodate, you'll be surprised how fast that'll burn our supplies." Kage sighed. So they're using these refugees to attack their supplies.

"Then let's kick them out!" Balsam roared.

The group of warriors exasperatedly looked at the jerk of a soldier, showing him that their patience are sorely tested, that shut him up.

Prayer nodded. "I'll see if I can give them some accommodation. There are plenty of space in this fortress, I'm sure we can put them somewhere."

"I'll help you. Murdock…"

"The water tower's fixed, we shouldn't have problem with water. I'll start focusing the repairs on other facilities. We'll also double the production of ammunition immediately."

"We'll look to the defenses. If there's gonna be more of things like this… we need to be prepared to respond." Murrue looked at her lieutenant who understood immediately. The captains and lieutenant of the 12th division left.

"I'll… ask Kira later to manage the supplies… put them into ration… and…" Kage took a deep breath remembering what happened in that forest and rubbed his aching temple. "…someone… take a group of soldiers… gather the dead in that… forest…"

"I can do that, no prob." Neil volunteered.

Kage thought again what needs to be done and looked at the remaining members of Juppongatana, apparently they're waiting for orders. Kage rubbed his head again, that bash on his head began to ache again. "Drill the troops. Make sure they're prepared."

Canard nodded and signaled the other Juppongatana to leave. But before the meeting were truly dismissed…

"Prayer!" Kage called.

"Yes sir?" Prayer turned.

Kage grunted, his head is obviously still hurting. "Once you're done… meet me in the captain's… my… office. Take your time."

"Yes sir." Prayer nodded.

"Anoo… ken I leave now?" The aide was trembling head to toe. Kage coldly looked at the wretch before him.

He nodded. "Yes. Yes you can." But Kage grabbed the whimpering mercenary and dragged him along before tossing him to the midst of the refugees. The villagers looked at the man and anger flared, remembering the horror they've gone through. They approach the aide intending to do harm.

"W… Wait! Y… ye said I can leave?"

"Yes. You've convinced me to let you go. Now, you have to convince them to let you go." Kage ignorantly jerked his thumb to the angry crowd.

Like that was even possible to begin with…

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Later… that evening…

Prayer had just finished the accommodation and remembered he had a meeting with Kage. On the way, he ran into Canard.

"Canard-san!"

"You got a meeting with Kage, yes?"

"Yes. So? What do you think? Of our new captain?"

"Tch. That's the problem with you Prayer. So naïve. So trusting."

Prayer frowned. "Well I think Kage had proven enough today. If there's anyone with problem, it's you. Why didn't you let me send reinforcements?"

"I told you, I want to see what his worth is. And I tell you right now, I'm still not convinced."

"What's your problem?"

"Hey, this is how I see things. How I do things. If he doesn't fucking like it, why should you be the one to complain? Let him come to me, let him speak it up. I still don't like his fucking attitude." Canard snarled again and left a very annoyed Prayer.

In the end, Prayer remained in the bad mood even as he stood face to face to the door to Kage's office. And then he was about to knock the door when it slide open. One of the imposter Kage had just opened the door from the inside. The Kage looked around and saw no one. Then he motioned the blond haired boy to come in.

Inside, Prayer's eyes widened as he saw everyone from the Shadowguard including Kage himself at the center. Their eyes were quite grim. "Erm… did I interrupt anything… I can just…"

"No. You're just in time." Kage spoke up. He looked at the Kage at the door and nodded. Simultaneously, every Shadowguard opened their mask, revealing their faces. The one who opened the door was Tolle, the one with glasses were Sai, and the last one is Milly.

Prayer was slightly surprised. They were all cadets, and mostly they were all…

"Prayer, do you know why I called you here?"

Prayer's train of thought was cut short upon hearing Kage spoke. "Mercy me, I don't know."

"I called you because I decided to trust you. Can you do something for me Prayer?"

"Sir?"

"Can you promise me that whatever you're going to see, hear and speak of in this place will not leave the walls of this office? Can you commit everything that's about to happen here to memory and never. Say. A. word?"

Prayer's intial bad mood was completely forgotten upon hearing the seriousness in his captain's tone. He took a deep breath and made his resolution. "I will defend this secret with my life, if I have to."

Kage chuckled. "I prefer you keep your silence hence you don't have to sacrifice anything." With that, Kage opened his mask before Prayer.

"K…Kira…san?" At first, shock clearly flowed from Prayer's eyes. But as he looked at each members of the Shadowguard, epiphany dawned, followed by a smile of acceptance. "What can I do for you, Captain?"

Kira smiled. "I told you all before about the Bladebanes, but… in truth, I've only told half the story. I've given it some thought, and I decided to tell you and only you the remaining half. But as you promised, this will not leave this office. Is that clear?"

"I understand… but why you refrain from telling the others the whole story back then?"

Kira shook his head. "If I did, it would've destroyed whatever potential yield that we can gain from this situation."

"Potential yield?"

"Another reason I called you because… Prayer, I believe you have the experience in this sort of thing. Regarding… mutiny."

Prayer blinked. "Well… yes. I do. I take it my brother had told you that unfortunate story. In a way, yes I do have experience. But still… I don't see how it'll happen to you. I mean… you're our hero captain. And after what you did today, I don't think they'll have any issues with you leading them?" But Prayer quickly noticed Kira's face grow gloomier.

"No Prayer. That's the thing." Kira concluded. "If they're gonna have issues with me, they won't be with what I've done. They will be with what I'm about to do."

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An Empire Divided – part 1:

A long time ago, before the Great War, the Oni Clans ruled the world justly atop their seats of power of a world spanning eternal empire. They teach the humans, back then are mere cavemen with bone maces and mud huts, civilization. They taught them how to build, how to plant crops, how to manage their lives. They also introduce them to science, literature, art; and men proved to be good students, a great ally… and potential pack mates. Soon, the assimilation of species began, and suddenly, Human Oni hybrids are an everyday sight.

Pretty soon, these hybrids outnumber the pureblood Oni. With the arrival of this new race, the Oni began to mysteriously disappear, one by one they diminish. Until eventually, the White Emperor of the Oni Clan became the last Oni in the world. And soon, he too, vanished. Left without guidance, mankind had no choice but to now rely upon themselves to survive and they began to expand whatever is left of the Oni's teachings. However, division began to arise. Those whose veins flows the blood of Oni is simply better than everything normal humans are capable of. They're stronger, faster, smarter, and they even live longer than most other humans. Even more intriguing, these Human Oni hybrid develop a special ability, unique to each ancestry. These special abilities were called Bloodline Limit. Over time, those who have this Bloodline Limit were named as Advanced. And those who are mere humans were dubbed Naturals.

At first, the tension was practically nonexistent. Both races accepted each other for what they are, in respect to the teachings of the Onis. The Advanced, with their longer lives, capable of gathering and expanding wisdom over their long periods of live, were mostly became thinkers: philosophers, scholars and scientists. The Naturals take hold of mostly those of hard labors: they became farmers, miners, craftsmen and warriors. The advanced will expand and develop the culture of the two race, while the naturals will provide them with protection and resources. The two races were able to work together and formed an Empire, with its ruling system are based similarly with the Oni Empire of old with one difference: there will be two emperors: the Crimson Emperor and the Blue Emperor. The Emperor will be chosen by the high council, and both Advanced and Naturals will take turn to lead their empire. When the advanced rule, that time will be known as the time of the Crimson Emperor. Similarly when the Naturals take the throne, the reign will be known as the time of the Blue Emperor. Both reigns were aided by the High Council, with the composition of five council members to represent the naturals, five council members to represent the Advanced, and two prime ministers, hand chosen by the Emperor himself. By law, any decision made by the Emperor must also receive consent from every member of the High Council, both by the Natural's side and the Advanced's side. This system ensures peace reigned. An order was established that endured for centuries.

As the ages goes by, the distinction between the two races became more apparent. The reign of the Blue Emperor went over relatively quicker compared to the Advanced's Crimson counterparts due to the Naturals' relatively short lifespan. Consequently, the reign of the Crimson Emperor is much longer than that of the Blue Emperor. As the result, the Crimson Emperors can employ longer term political plans, create many decisions that may not share the previous emperor's decision and countermand or even put down decisions made by the previous Blue Emperor that the Crimson Emperor deemed as inadequate. Truth be told, this is true in many occasions. After all, the Advanced do possess mental capacity higher than that of the Naturals, hence enabling them to think with more clarity and came up with better solution at every turn. At first, this doesn't cause much problem as the people be it Advanced or naturals, were well fed and clothed. The elder and wiser naturals accepted this fact and compromised. But as younger, more temperamental generation replaced the old, the younger saw the Advanced's meddling as unwelcome. Countermand after countermand, cancellation after cancellation, animosity and anger began to build. Why is it that, not only the reign of the Blue Emperor is short-lived, but they must also be continuously undermined by the Crimson Emperor on the next reign? The Naturals feel that it is the Advanced that determine the direction of which the empire turns, with the Naturals having little to no authority at all. This trend also gave rise to a dangerous notion amongst the Advanced in that Naturals are just inferior. Fortunately, at first, this notion is merely shown through pity and concern by the Advanced towards their less capable cousin race.

Several times the Naturals petitioned for the Natural council to have a greater say and that the Blue Emperor were given a greater reign, but the petition was denied multiple times. In response, the Politics of the Blue Emperor, and that of the Natural High Council began to increasingly leaning towards racial separatism of "Natural's only", using the fragility and weakness of the naturals as a bargaining chip. Little by little, the animosity began to spread, and the Advanced were shunned, and more than once the Blue Emperor made decisions without consulting with the Advanced High Council. The final stroke fell when come the time of the reign of the next Crimson Emperor, the high Council of the Advanced, backed by the Emperor attempt to once again countermand an ages-old natural-centric state law declared during the rule of the Blue Emperor so many decades ago. The High council of the Naturals perceive this as an act of treason, and what was once would only result in an endless fruitless verbal debate suddenly became a full blown confrontation. During the commotion, a member of the Zaft high council was accidentally killed, and no one is taking responsibility.

Ever since then, the animosity between the two races began to mount. The annual meeting between the two high councils never produced any result due to so much tension between its members. Eventually, what used to be only a mild concern turn into full blown anger and arrogance, the Advanced began to see the Naturals to be synonymous with self serving and incompetence. Likewise, the Naturals, out of envy and anger began to see the Advanced as treacherous and pompous. A more radical belief even viewed them as abominations hell bent on exterminating the Natural human race. Eventually, tension reached the boiling point, and it took only a small spark to ignite a bloody chaos.

It was the Advanced who finally took the initiative. Their methods were subtle, since it was the naturals who, at the time, were in command of the military arms. The Advanced attempted to oust the members of the Naturals' high council which is very vocal in Natural racialism, leaving what they deemed to be more cooperative members of the Natural High council. They faked a military training exercise by calling the entire bulk of the military to the capital, where they will silently took over the reign of military during the chaos that will ensue once the council members were assassinated. The council members were amassed together in one place, where they will be silently killed. Unfortunately, due to a leak from a Natural supporter, the plan was exposed and failed. Using this as an excuse, the high council of the naturals launched a punitive expedition and incite a mass rebellion from the public. Their plan backfired, and the High councils of the advanced and the Crimson Emperor as well the High Ministers were killed in the frenzied anarchy. The more radical extremist Naturals took over the control of the Empire, and began a systematic holocaust and cleansing of the Advanced race. The last vestiges of the ancient Oni wisdom was forgotten and lost amidst the clamor of words such as Purity and Power, and the world is steadily walking into chaos.

To be continued…

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Till the next chapter.