***Chapter 7***

"Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye."

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He rose before sunrise and quickly prepared himself for the coming duel. Kiota looked across the misty savannah and took in his surroundings for a while. For the first time in months he faced the distinct possibility of death if Ojiro was half the fighter that they claimed him to be. He looked around at his surroundings in with a perspective that he hadn't had in a long time. Everything was vibrant and more vivid than usual. He appreciated the world for what it was, and treasured life itself for fear of death. He wasn't at all afraid, or even nervous as he had been the night before. He was ready to face Ojiro and put his abilities to the ultimate test.

He climbed the gently sloping hill through the dew- covered grass and soon reached the top. He looked out at the African landscape that sprawled below him. He saw sparkling rivers and distant mountains, their tops clouded with high clouds. The sapphire sky was dotted with golden clouds, reflecting the morning sun's light. A gentle breeze caught Kiota's mane and filled his lungs with sweet air.

"Good morning, Kiota."

The rogue whirled around to see a group of approaching lions. At the front of the group were King Toyo and Ojiro. He nodded in greeting and walked to a more level spot on the hill top.

"I didn't expect so many others." He remarked to the king.

Toyo shrugged. "What can I say? This battle will certainly take its place in the stories of the past. There are plenty who want to watch the history unfold."

Kiota waved it off; the pretense of other observers didn't really bother him, he just hadn't expected it. He looked to Ojiro for a moment as he situated himself in a good position.

The massive lion of the southern prides looked back at him with black and heartless eyes. "Is there anything that you want to discuss before we fight?" he asked lowly.

"No." Kiota replied coldly. "I'm ready.

Toyo grinned and backed away from the two titans and stood in front of the gathered spectators. Kiota tuned them out completely as he began to circle his opponent.

It was just them, two opposites with a common goal. Kiota was self taught and of humble origins. An unkept rogue who roamed the savannah without any ties to anyone. Ojiro was taught by the best masters of the southern prides and was of regal descent. They were both considered to be the best, but 'best' is a singular word. There could be only one.

Ojiro lunged out at Kiota to begin the duel and Kiota dodged away. He met the massive lion's next blow with a block of his own and followed it up with a strike towards his chest. Though Kiota was incredibly quick, Ojiro managed to deflect the blow away. Going with the momentum from the block, Kiota spun away to retake his footing several yards away from his opponent. He growled loudly and leapt out at the larger lion. Ojiro caught him with his huge arms and threw him away, but not quick enough to avoid Kiota's claws across his cheek.

The rogue went sprawling across the ground as Ojiro roared in anger at being struck. Kiota rose quickly from the painful throw and ducked under the coming swing. He tried to rake across the Devil's exposed ribs, but he was blocked by a rising knee that caught him square in the jaw. Kiota fell backwards onto the ground with his head spinning. He found his bearings just as Ojiro's paw was descending towards his neck. In a sudden and desperate movement, Kiota brought his hind legs up and just barely dodged the falling blow. Ojiro's strike landed in the dirt an inch to the side of Kiota's head just as the rogue's hind legs made contact with his opponent's underside.

Kiota managed to perform an awkward throw that succeeded in breaking Ojiro's balance and throwing him to the side. With the threat away, he quickly stood and tried to recover from the dizzying blow. He didn't have much time, though. Ojiro rushed at him again, as if sensing his disadvantage, and lashed out with a series of agile strikes. He hit high, he hit low. The devil attacked from all directions and used everything he could to his advantage. Kiota blocked, dodged, and absorbed most of the blows, but eventually some Kojiro's attacks made it through his defenses. Kiota received gashes on his side and rips in his back. Vicious claws ripped up the rogues arm and over his chest, drawing deep gashes in his flesh. He didn't even feel it through the adrenaline and excitement. Instead of roaring out in pain, Kiota caught Ojiro's paw in his mouth before it could be withdrawn. With all of his might, he bit down and twisted away violently.

Bone snapped and muscle ripped as Kiota crippled the warrior's wrist. A cry of pain split the air and Ojiro's other paw came up in an attempt to strike Kiota away. The rogue easily blocked the strike, but released the broken limb anyways. He lashed out and caught Ojiro's shoulder with his talon-like claws. He ripped out the larger lion's muscle and bathed his opponent in his own blood. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Kiota struck out again with both his paws. His right ripped open Ojiro's chest and his left severed his muscular neck.

The Devil of the Southern Prides stared at Kiota for several moments without breathing. Blood poured from his wounds and painted him crimson. Eventually, he inhaled and instantly began to choke on the blood that was pouring into his lungs. He started to fall forwards onto his knees, but caught himself. He looked up at Kiota with a bizarre look. He wasn't angry, shocked, disappointed, or anything else. He seemed almost relieved, as if his defeat had freed him from something.

"Y-you… win." He gasped before collapsing at Kiota's feet. He lay there dying as Kiota watched intently. Usually he turned away, but this time he wanted to see the results of his kill. He watched as the lion's blood saturated the ground he lay on and his breathing slowed. Gags and spasms racked his dying opponent until he finally lay still. A slight breeze rustled Ojiro's fur and distant thunder made the moment that much more dramatic.

He had done it. He had won. After what seemed like hours, Kiota looked up to see Toyo and his followers staring at him intently.

Toyo stepped forward with a grin across his face. "How does it feel to be the best, Kiota?"

The rogue looked back to the fallen corpse and thought the question over. As usual he felt giddy and excited from the fight. The rush of life was just as present as ever, but there was something else as well. Something different. He stared at Ojiro's body with an unprecedented intensity in an attempt to find the source of this new feeling.

"It feels good…" Kiota murmured quietly, though he wasn't really sure if he was being honest or not.

"That's good." The king responded with a widening grin. "I don't know what you intend to do now, but you know where to find me."

He nodded numbly. "I know where to find you…" It was more of a repetition of Toyo's sentence than a sign of acknowledgement, but the king accepted it nonetheless.

Out of his periphery, Kiota saw the king and his followers descend the hill as a group. They were talking loudly with enthusiasm about the fight but slowly faded into the savannah.

With them gone, Kiota returned his attention to the corpse that lay before him. He visually searched the body for answers and reasons. It was a strange feeling that he had; he was thrilled, yet solemn. Proud, yet ashamed. Whatever it was, he was feeling very strangely and he couldn't figure it out. For some reason, this kill made him incredibly uneasy. He had killed countless others with ease, but this was somehow different. Suddenly, it all snapped into place.

"He was just like me." Kiota whispered. Maybe they were complete opposites on the outside, but on the inside they were the same. They both were masters of their own bodies, pushing themselves to their limits for the sole purpose of seeing how far they could go. Even their attitudes had been the same; the few words they had shared were complete reflections of each other. They were the same! Kiota stared in shock at the corpse that lay before him as the realization of his actions sunk in. By killing Ojiro, he had killed himself. When he had taken the life of his greatest opponent, Kiota had killed a mirror image of himself and ended a life as great as his own.

He stared there for a long while as his wounds continued to bleed. Eventually they clotted and the blood on his fur dried into hard clumps. His breathing slowed to its normal pace and his body returned to its normal state. His mind, however, remained fixated on Ojiro's corpse.

"Examining your kill?" an dark voice growled from behind him.

Kiota whirled around to face a young lioness. "Kya…" he said softly as he recognized her from the night before. "What are you doing here?"

She snorted indignantly. "We scheduled a duel for midday, didn't we?"

He glanced up at the sky, and to his surprise the sun was high overhead. He slowly realized that he had been staring at the body all morning without moving. Somehow time had escaped him and the morning had been spent.

"Y-yes…" he answered. "We did, didn't we?"

She growled and began to circle him. "I've been waiting for this moment for so long…" she hissed lowly.

The rogue nodded. "I'll bet." He looked at her curiously. This guilt over killing Ojiro was really bothering him. Maybe killing this new attacker, he would be able to rid himself of it. He growled and took up a solid stance against her, despite his injuries.

"It's time for you to die!" Kya hissed before leaping out at him with her claws extended.

Kiota blocked both her paws away and met her flying mass with a splitting head butt. Kya rolled away with a pained groan, but managed to get to her feet before Kiota was on her. She tried to dodge away from his first strike, but he caught her on the shoulder and gave her a shallow, if painful cut. She screamed and tried to block his next strike, but all she received was a heavy bruise on her arm.

Kiota tripped her back leg and flipped her onto her back, pinning her there with his body weight. She stared up at him with sheer hatred in her eyes. He looked back at her with calm focus. They both knew what he was going to do.

"Do it." She said quietly through gritted teeth. "Just like you killed my father, you murderer; rip my throat out."

Kiota suppressed a grin as she squirmed under his weight. Maybe if he was especially cruel with killing Kya, he would make up for the unease over Ojiro's death. He growled lowly and slid his paw from her shoulder up to her neck. He extended his claws and pressed into her soft flesh.

The young lioness winced her eyes shut and grunted in pain. She was trying to hide her agony, but it showed clearly as his claws slowly pierced her neck and a small trickle of blood began to flow. She tried to cough, but it just came off as a quiet chest spasm. Suddenly, her eyes shot open and stared into Kiota.

He stared back in shock at her intense icy blue eyes. The focus and determination that radiated from her deep orbs pierced his mind. She had the same intensity that he did. Kiota stared for several moments, his claws frozen in their place. They neither retracted, nor pierced deeper into Kya's neck. He just stared into her eyes, shocked into stillness.

"Do i-it!" she squeezed out despite his weight on her neck.

Kiota blinked and zoned back into reality. He looked at his newest challenger and saw something different. Just like Ojiro, she was the same as him! His focus and determination were his best qualities, how could he kill her when she had those same traits shining through her eyes? It would be like killing himself! In an instant he pulled away in surprise and shock.

Kya coughed violently and rolled to her side. She lay there in stillness for a while while she caught her breath. Once she recovered, she glared up at her would-be-killer. "What? You'll kill kings but not princesses?" she yelled angrily.

He stood there with a blank expression on his face. Something was wrong. He just couldn't do it! For the first time in his life, he had allowed a challenger to live.

Kya coughed again as she rose to her feet. "WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL ME?" she demanded furiously.

"I… I…"

"WHAT?" she screamed, hardly an inch away from his face.

"I don't know…" he whispered with a confused expression on his face.

She blinked in surprise. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I MEAN THAT I DON'T KNOW!" he shouted back before turning away. "Something's wrong..."

She stared at him in silence for a moment, clearly taken aback by his statement. "And what exactly is wrong?"

"I couldn't kill you…"

She rubbed her slightly bleeding neck. "You certainly tried to…"

"But I couldn't… you're just... you're just too much lik-" he cut himself off and turned away, not wanting to explain to her.

"Just like what?" she pried.

"Nothing!" he answered coldly as he walked away.

"Where are you going?" she demanded. "Come back here and fight me!"

"NO! I'm leaving!"

"Leaving to where?"

"Away… far away from here." he said softly before becoming angry again. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She trotted up beside him. "No." she said bluntly. "I said that I would kill you, and I intend to do so!"

"I already defeated you, just go away!"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "This isn't about who is better, it's about justice!" she hissed. I may have lost once, but I will kill you eventually."

"GO AWAY!" he roared as he lashed out with his claws sheathed. Kya fell to the ground from the blow, but rose quickly with a fire in her eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said coldly. "I will go where you go, and there's nothing that you can do about it."

Kiota turned to face her. " I'll kill you if you don't leave." He said dangerously.

"Heard it before." She replied smugly.

He growled irritably and turned away to continue on his way. There was no way he could kill her, he had already tried once and failed; they were simply too similar to each other for him to kill her. Those eyes! He thought angrily. If it weren't for those eyes he would be able to end her life easily, but they were just too much like his! He groaned inwardly; and glared at her with hate.

What could he do? He walked. With his chest still wounded, Kiota moved slowly to allow the wound to heal faster. Trying to outrun Kya was a simple impossibility with the injuries. He was stuck with her, whether he liked it or not. Now he headed off into the wilderness again, this time without direction. He entered into the desolation without a goal or a reason, he just needed to leave.

END OF PART 1: The Rise of Kiota

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***Author's Note***

Thank you for finishing part 1, I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all the comments and stay tuned for Part 2!

As promised, I will now tell you the truth about the quotes and everything else. The quotes are all from a Samurai named Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the greatest Samurai that ever lived. In his early life, he was a killer, a strategist, and a lordless warrior. Simply put, Kiota is Musashi. I modeled Part 1 after Musashi's early life, (with lots of modifications and creativity of course). Part 2 will not be modeled after Musashi's life at all; it will be of my own creation entirely.

Here is a brief version of the true story of Miyamoto Musashi as told by Wikipedia (the most concise source I could find). If you care to read it, I'm sure that you will be able to see the inspiration for this story.

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Musashi states that his first duel was at the age of thirteen against a samurai named Arima, [Sali]three years later, Musashi left his village. He spent his time traveling and engaging in duels.

In 1600, a war began between the Toyotomi [Toyo]and Tokugawa [Kugo] clans. Musashi apparently fought on the side of the Toyotomi's "Army of the West", with the Shinmen clan [Vita mercenaries]. Specifically, he participated in the attempt to take Fushimi castle by assault in July 1600, in the defense of the besieged Gifu Castle in August of the same year, and finally in the famed Battle of Sekigahara. Some doubt has been cast on this final battle, as the Hyoho senshi denki has Musashi saying he is "no lord's vassal" and refusing to fight with his father in the battle. [Desertation of Toyo's Army]

After the battle, Musashi disappears from the records for a while. The next mention of him has him arriving in Kyoto at the age of 20 (or 21), where he famously began a series of duels against the Yoshioka School. Denshichirō promptly challenged Musashi. The duel took place in Kyoto outside a temple. Musashi arrived late and defeated Denshichirō. This victory outraged the Yoshioka clan, whose head was now Matashichiro [Shinmen]. They assembled a force of archers, musketeers and swordsmen, and challenged Musashi to a duel outside Kyoto [Shinmen's ambush], Musashi broke his previous habit of arriving late, and came to the temple hours early. Hidden, Musashi assaulted the force, killing Matashichiro, and escaping while being attacked by dozens of his victim's supporters. With the death of Matashichiro, this branch of the Yoshioka School was destroyed.

From 1605 to 1612, he travelled extensively all over Japan a warrior pilgrimage during which he honed his skills with duels. It is known that Musashi did not care which weapon his foe used — such was his mastery. In April 13, 1612, Musashi (about age 30) fought his most famous duel, with Sasaki Kojirō, [Ojiro] who was known as "The Demon of the Western Provinces." Musashi came late and unkempt to the appointed place. The duel was short; Musashi killed his opponent with a carved oar he had made while traveling to the island.

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Thanks for reading, I own nothing as usual.

-Ben