Early sunlight began to be visible behind the hills, bathing the crowns of the majestic trees belonging to that place again with light. And so, once again it shone on the leaves, branches, flowers, and bushes, awakening life in those lands as the singing animals thanked it with their songs. It was bright on the horizon as always, it was the sign of a new day; the sun means a new beginning.
That brings us all the joy of starting over, because we have a new opportunity to live and enjoy life, to fight against difficulties and overcome them, to be the warriors that life and its circumstances force us to be.
But for others, the sun also means the end.
Sun rays poured into a certain inn room which kept a lot of things inside; an empty bottle of honeyfruit liqueur, leftovers from a half-eaten dinner, clothes scattered all over the floor, messy dark hair, the warmth spilling out of the two sleeping bodies on the bed, and a secret as big as Runeterra itself.
A pair of brown eyes slowly opened to realize that, once again, their time was up. Her arm withdrew from the torso of her lover and she yawned as she stretched, an action that caused the one lying next to her to wake up. In silence, they tidied up the mess they had made, and as they prepared to go their respective way, with a single glance they said goodbye and promised to meet again, sheltered in the darkness of night, safe and away from the eyes of the sun and intruders.
Few times were they presented with the opportunity to enjoy better-planned meetings than an ephemeral encounter in some clearing lost in the forest, but one way or another they always ended up in each other's arms, lost in each other's eyes and wrapped in the warmth that only they knew how to provide.
It seemed funny even, and not even the craziest prophet could have imagined what that pair of tormented souls would come to be. They, who had instantly hated each other the first time they met, were soon tempted by the unknown and made up their minds to try something that promised to be sweeter and more intoxicating than any liquor. After all, Akali's stubbornness and impulsiveness, and Kayn's curiosity and tenacity were the ideal qualities for them to end up being hopelessly attracted to each other.
Before their first meeting, he had only heard about her. Of course he had, she seemed to be the most popular person in Ionia at the moment; the young Fist of Shadow, after defying the Kinkou for holding her down and not letting her do what she had been trained to, renounced to her title and decided to go her own way. Shocking news, really. And yes, it piqued his interest a bit, but not as much as Master of Shadows', who wasted no time in sending him to recruit her for his own Order.
For obvious reasons, that plan went as wrong as it could have gone, and instead of catching her attention and getting her to consider it, he only got a bunch of blades trying to pierce him and a few cuts on the skin that, had he not been the target, would have killed the victim in an instant. And even though he did want to fight back (and not just because of the Darkin trapped in his weapon requests to do so), his master had told him clearly not to hurt her, so he simply dodged and blocked, waiting for the woman to get tired.
After a few moments and a whole lot of blades, when a cloud coming from a smoke bomb clouded his vision, he finally made up his mind to stop her. He thought it would only take a little skill and strength, but he was quickly proved wrong because he was not able to hold her down as fast as he would have liked. He didn't harm her while doing so, he only immobilized her and made her listen to what he had to say. Akali only stopped her struggling to interrupt him and make it clear that she would never go with him, and that in any case, he would kill him to settle accounts with the man he called master.
She knew who the boy was; since she saw him, she knew that his murder would be useful as a message for Zed; he would know then that she would soon come for him. But... well, none of her victims had lived this long when fighting her, much less had they managed to catch her, so seeing the skill of the warrior she decided that it was best to escape and take him by surprise the next time. She managed to get out of the young man's grip while he seemed to argue with someone, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see or hear anyone nearby. She quickly used another of her smoke bombs and slipped through the thick of the forest.
That was the end of their first encounter, but Kayn wasn't one to give up so quickly just because of a minor obstacle, and if his master deemed a Kinkou worthy enough to send him to recruit her, he would try to do so with all his might. Without hurting her, of course, orders were orders.