Update: The Sequel to this story is out now! If you liked this story, be sure to check "The Shadow Within" as well!
I guarantee you'll love it!
~ Wings
Title: The Shadow that Watches
Genre: Romance/Tragedy/Action
Main Characters: Zed and Akali.
Summary: Zed, a master of the forbidden art and the way of shadows, faces one who does not accept his art. He grows an interest in her and studies her, but soon, his inner feelings begin to conflict. Does he truly just have a predatory interest? Or does the Shadow Master actually feel something much deeper?
Pairings: Mainly Zed x Akali
Rated: M for Language, Blood, Gore, Violence, Graphic Depictions, Lemons, Sexual Situations, Death.
The Story Cover photo is titled "Zed.", Done and Owned by the very talented RuneScratch on deviantart. Hopefully, the artist will be reading this story. If you are reading this, RuneScratch, thanks a bunch for being the inspiration for this story as well as allowing me to use this picture. Half the credit goes to you for being the inspiration~!
Well my dear fans, here is my newest story. Everyone needs a little break from the same story, so I'll be writing this along with my other Story, Wings of the Raven, to keep my mind fresh.
The Shadow that Watches
Chapter 1: Watching her.
With almost eerily silent effort, Zed spun his upper torso from left to right, swinging both of his arms around to slash at a 360 degree angle all around him, using one of his moves known as Shadow Slash. Gurgling sounds and the sound of blood spurting erupted all around him as every minion around him was slain. But that wasn't his target. Infront of him, his target lay, trying to crawl away from him at a slow speed. Ezreal coughed up blood, making a desperate crawl for his tower, which lay feet away. Zed just stood and watched.
"Don't attempt to escape…" He said in his dark, monotone voice as Ezreal suddenly froze. "You're already dead." Zed added, turning around as Ezreal cried out in pain, a splat noise being heard as he felt all of his vital blood vessels explode as Zed's Death Mark activated.
"Zed has slain an enemy." The Female announcer's voice rang out from above as Zed began walking back to his tower. And then, suddenly, a pair of kama's came flying out at him. Zed crouched instantly, dodging the Kamas as it disappeared, going back to it's owner, who came flying out of a bush. Zed raised his arms to block the flying kick, his assaulter kicking off to flip over in the air, landing with the grace of a feline. It was none other than Akali, the Fist of Shadow.
"Akali." Zed said in his emotionless voice as Akali got down into her traditional battle stance. "Zed." She said, equally emotionless. The two ninjas then rushed each other, their blades clashing blow for blow. Zed jumped back, suddenly turning into a shadow as he reappeared behind Akali. Akali expected it and turned around to see Zed thrusting his right hand at her, blade extended, while his left hand went over his shoulder. Akali blocked his strike, but that was what Zed wanted. He threw his shuriken with his left hand backwards, his shadow mimicking him as the shadow's Shuriken came flying at Akali. The female ninja, however, had quick reflexes and instantly moved to the side, the shuriken just grazing her side, drawing blood. Her foot slipped on the uneven ground where the road transitioned to the river and Zed took his chance. He charged forward, using his Shadow slash. It was a direct hit as Akali fell back, her kama's falling out of her hands as she clutched the cut Zed inflicted on her stomach. It wasn't deep, but it was bleeding fast as Akali's breathing turned short and ragged. Zed advanced on her in a sinister way, the female announcer above announcing the death of Akali's other team mates. She was the last one alive as Zed chuckled. "No one to save you, Akali…" Zed said in his deep, silky voice, flexing the fingers on his right hand as his blade extended.
"Last words?" He asked. Lightning fast, Akali suddenly kicked upwards, striking a direct blow onto Zed's chin. Zed grunted, the kick making him stumble backwards as well as lean backwards, his helmet flying off of his head. It landed with a splash on the river, as Zed's red scarf fell away from his head as well, revealing the long, messy black hair that fell. Zed opened his eyes, which were as red as they seemed to be to look down upon Akali. He had an handsome face with pale skin but it was scarred. There was a small vertical scar on the right side of his lip, and a horizontal one running across his face, under his eyes and over his nose. Akali was surprised by his appearance but Zed just narrowed his eyes at her. He came forward, pulling his hand back to deal the finishing blow on Akali, who braced herself, closing her eyes tightly. And then, Smack.
Akali's head was turned forcefully to the left as Zed's left hand delivered a strong punch to the side of her head. Her senses went haywire as disorientation took in. Above, the announcer said "Ace!" Zed had spared Akali of the pain of death and just incapacitated her. But why?
…
The match was over, Akali's team had surrendered. Zed was waiting outside of the institute, his helmet back on, red eyes gleaming through the dark shadow his helmet cast over his face. He was lurking in the shadow cast by the sun hitting the institute from it's angle as it was setting. The Champions who had been in the match and the ones who watched were all exiting the institute now, going back to their compounds. Akali exited alone, farther apart from the groups of friends who walked together. She paused, feeling someone's eyes on her. Turning her head, she saw Zed looking at her, his red eyes intense and uncomfortable. The sheer inhumanness of Zed caused a shiver to run down Akali's body, as she clenched her fist to get over it. Turning around again, she continued to walk away, leaving Zed standing alone, still watching her go.
The Shadow master stayed there for a few more seconds before moving on to head towards his own compound.
…
The compound where the Champions resided were in several segments, each segment for a faction. The faction some of the champions, such as Zed resided in, was in Neutral Territory. That was also where the Eye of Twilight trio resided, so the area was a tense one. Akali was lounging in the commons area on a sofa, chatting away with Kennen, who was sitting on the floor. Meanwhile, from the other side of the room, Zed was watching. Zed never came out of his room without his helmet or without something covering his face, such as right now, he wore his traditional armor minus the blades in his gauntlet. Akali, however, was in a normal outfit consisting of a white T-shirt and a pair of short jeans.
Zed was studying her, because after their battle, he had developed this strange interest in her. He wanted to see if he could persuade or force her into accepting the art of the Shadow. Or if she would be against it. He wanted to see if she was worthy enough to take on the art, or if she would be a mistake and Zed's time be wasted?
Akali's eyes glanced over and saw him staring at her and, suffice to say, she was a bit creeped out.
"Kennen, do you think Zed's holding a grudge against me because I kicked him?" She asked uneasily, her eyes seeing Zed without directly looking at him. Kennen glanced over to see Zed's gaze on her and said, "I don't know. That man is impossible to read. I mean, I know we're ninjas and all but he's… different." Kennen said.
"No kidding." Akali muttered, eyes glancing at Zed. Zed, meanwhile, studied her physical features. An Athletic but curvy body, with waist-length black-brown hair, creamy skin and dark red eyes, similar to his own but darker and more stable, whereas his ones were brighter and more striking. She was unscarred, as far as he could tell, unlike him, who had battle scars all over his body.
And then, a man with short brown hair and dark brown eyes, came up in front of Zed, blocking his view of Akali. "Shen." Zed said impassively, Shen staring back at Zed. "Is there a reason as to why you're staring at my friend?" Shen asked. Zed stared down at Shen in response, silent as the shadows he trained with. He was taller than Shen, and the standoff was soon the center of attention in the room. Everyone was looking at them. Shen was wearing regular clothing as well, as did most people in the room.
"I do not need to explain my actions to you, Shen."
"Oh, I think you do."
"Stop it you guys." Akali said, walking over to them as she put a hand on Shen's shoulder, looking from Shen to Zed. "Shen, chill. He's not doing anything except being a creepy stalker." She said, her eyes turning chilled as they glanced at Zed. Zed stared back without the smallest reaction, her words not even fazing him. The two ninjas walked away, leaving Zed yet again, alone. Zed's red eyes stayed on Akali as she left.
…
It was training day as random opponents were being pit against each other to spar. The announcer soon called Zed to the mat as the Shadow Master stood up, his armor sharp and as intimidating as ever. As Zed walked up to the mat, weaponless as this was a spar, the announcer called his opponent. It was a surprise to face Akali, who was to be his opponent. She was just as surprised, but gave no indication of it on her face. Akali got into a stance, although Zed only stood straight and still, his shoulders rising and falling just a bit from his steady breathing. The fight began but neither Ninja made any aggressive moves. Akali was cautiously circling Zed to the left, while Zed moved to his own left in slow measured steps.
"No shadow to save you now, Zed." Akali muttered. "Neither do you have teammates to blame." Zed countered, causing Akali's eyes to flare dangerously. She stepped forward suddenly, aiming a palm thrust at Zed's midsection, which he took without flinching. "Is that all you have?" he muttered as Akali quickly withdrew back into a safe posture.
"You're the one fighting with your armor, coward." She said as Zed narrowed his eyes. And then, he began taking his armor off, something that caught all the people viewing them by surprise. He threw his shoulder armor off first, the metallic pieces landing heavily on the floor outside of the sparring mat. Then he pulled his torso armor off, revealing the black top he was wearing underneath. That too, was thrown aside. Finally, he took his helmet off, revealing his long shaggy hair of black and his red eyes. The lower half of his face, right under his eyes, was covered by a black facemask which was an extension of his top, covering his neck as well.
Akali was a bit surprised to say the least but that didn't faze her. She stepped forward once she saw he was ready, with another palm thrust. Her blow connected with his mid-section again and this time, Zed trembled slightly from the force of the hit, but it didn't seem to affect him, much to Akali's surprise. She felt his rock-hard abs under her palm, which had absorbed the blow.
"Weak." Zed said, before he suddenly grabbed her extended arm and turned around, pulling it, causing Akali to stumble forward out of her stance. Zed kicked out with the leg that faced away from Akali, but instead of kneeing her in the stomach, he kicked low, his feet sweeping Akali's feet from under her as he let go of her arm. She fell with a small "Oomf!" as Zed stood over her, lacking any reaction other than contempt. Some of the other champions turned around, not wanting to watch Zed completely humiliate and decimate Akali. Akali felt heat rushing to her cheeks as well as anger at being taken down like an amateur. She turned around and kicked upwards, but Zed caught her foot with lightning fast reflexes.
Using his own grab, Akali pulled herself up, showing off her body-strength as she was only using her stomach muscles to pull herself up. Her fist came up to meet his face, but he simply leaned his head back away from her punch and let go of her foot. Akali fell down yet again, this time in a tangle of limbs as Zed watched her with an eyebrow raised, his hand still hovering where he had gripped her foot, the hand open. "Impulsive." He said, causing Akali to become even more heated. She jumped back to her feet, instantly moving into a combo of punches, chops and kicks. Zed blocked most of the strikes with his own hands and legs, even doing simply leans or sidesteps to dodge some of the attacks. Akali's right hand chop was pushed outwards, making a large opening. Zed took the opening to thrust his palm at Akali, but instead of using deadly force, it was more like a shove, causing Akali to stumble back and fall.
"Rash." Zed muttered, as Akali's face burned. Before she could stand up again, the announcer said, "We've seen enough. Winner, Zed."
Akali narrowed her eyes, gritting her teeth at the humiliation. Zed had treated her like a child. Like an amateur. She looked back up to see Zed staring down at her with those vivid red eyes, and to be honest to herself, she admitted that she felt fear. He was just so… Inhuman. His lack of emotions was unsettling and his eyes… They looked intense enough to burn a hole through her. Zed continued to gaze at her until she got back up, her head lowered slightly to hide her eyes with her hair as she brushed herself off. Turning her back on Zed, she walked out of the mat, leaving the room entirely. Zed simply continued to watch for a few more moments before turning around to gather his armor.
Zed was having his own thoughts. He had tested the woman right here and she turned out to be weak. The woman was more suited to assassinations, not for straight-edge combat, but even Zed was better at that. It seemed that Akali was not strong enough to be a part of the order of Shadow. But yet, Zed couldn't bring himself to deliver aggressive moves on her. In their little spar, Zed had simply countered and used Akali's own moves against her, but not once had he attacked her viciously as was his nature. Normally, people feared to spar against him as he would completely destroy them. Some of the warriors, such as Tryndamere or Garen, liked to go up against him as it proved to be an even challenge. But Most knew Zed to be a master of combat, both in terms of speed and strength. So it was a surprise to see Zed not hurting Akali. Well, not physically. Akali had been completely humiliated and her pride had been shattered, thrown onto the ground and stepped on.
And yet, Zed still wanted to study her. To keep on watching her… What was more surprising, he felt a weird emotion at defeating Akali like he did… He felt…
…Remorse?
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