“It’s your first full day at the school and classes haven’t even started yet, but you just had to go pick a fight with a Kazegami, didn’t you?” Thea complained, plopping herself down onto the worn brown leather sofa sitting up against the wall. Samantha sat with her legs apart atop a black yoga mat, stretching deeply to one side. “I mean, at least you get to go ahead and get it out of the way, I guess. Anyone else would have had to wait until next weekend. I feel like the waiting would be torture.”
Samantha loved the support her sister gave her and in a way was happy she wasn’t left alone to her own thoughts right now. She was about to enter her very first challenge at this school and she was either going to win, or potentially die. She twisted to stretch down her other leg and admired the exposed brick walls and her glaive resting in the corner. That weapon was like an extension of her arms, she knew every curve, dent, scratch, like the back of her hand.
“He is an asshole and I couldn’t stand by while he hurt some girl,” Samantha mumbled. “If Lazlo hadn’t dragged me to the office demanding that we fight today, it would have been next weekend. I think Mrs. Watson was just wanting him out of there given how rude he was, he even threatened to get Headmaster Kazegami involved.”
“Kazegami’s are all rude assholes. You have to learn to ignore them,” Thea sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. “I’m glad you stopped him from hurting someone though. Do you know who the girl was?”
“Nope. She was a Thomas, but I didn’t even see that until I was already involved.”
“I mean, at least it looks as though you were protecting your own kind. It would have been kind of awkward if you would have been saving a Kazegami from another Kazegami.” she grimaced.
Samantha stopped stretching and sat cross legged with her hands placed gently on her legs. “Are they all really that bad?” she asked as she closed her eyes. She started focusing on her breathing. She began pushing into her ability, feeling her power snake through her and ease some of the tension from her nerves that the stretching hadn’t quite managed to touch.
“Pretty much, yeah. Some of their weaker fighters keep their heads down and don’t make much trouble, but their Decums are all super assholes. Especially the head of their Familia.”
Kaguya’s father. Samantha was about to ask Thea to elaborate more, but realized now wasn’t the time or place. It was time to focus and show her skills to everyone, soon they would all know that she wasn’t one to be messed with. “All right, kid, time to go,” a man’s voice said from the doorway, causing the little hairs on her neck to stand on end. Samantha stood and nodded toward the man who disappeared just as quickly as he came. She walked over to her glaive and examined it, making sure the blade guard was on securely.
“You should probably take that off. Those guys fight to kill, you know,” Thea mentioned for the sixth time since she heard of the challenge.
Samantha sighed, “They might, but I don’t. I’m not killing anyone if I can avoid it, Thea.”
Thea nodded and left it at that, knowing that she wasn’t going to change her mind. She bounced over to Samantha and gave her a quick ‘good luck’ hug before leaving the room to go to the box seats positioned above the warm-up room. Samantha stepped out into the arena, a mix of clay and sand squishing beneath her feet. The crowd was loud and most people seemed to be rooting for the Kazegami opposite her, probably because they actually knew him. She watched as Lazlo swung around a couple of short swords in a sad attempt to either intimidate her, or impress the audience. Samantha sized him up as she reached her starting point, literally a line in the sand. He was tall, and without a shirt on, she could see all the muscles that had been hidden. She swallowed, she wasn’t afraid of him when she saved the other girl, she wasn’t going to fear him now.
Lazlo’s hair looked cleaner now than it had been earlier, maybe he’d showered, or maybe it was just an illusion from the gray bandana pulling his hair back from his eyes. His muscles rippled underneath his lightly tanned skin and his loose fitting pants matched the color of his bandana and were tied low on his hips. Even from about twenty feet away, she could still see the same arrogant sneer plastered on his face. He clearly already thought himself the victor and she couldn’t wait to kick his ass.
“I want a fair fight,” the teacher said dryly. He looked from Samantha’s covered blade to Lazlo’s short swords, free of cover. “It’s too much to hope for a clean fight, I guess. Winning conditions are a knockout, verbally surrendering, or death. If you two are ready, shake hands and get into position.” Samantha padded to the middle of the arena, meeting Lazlo face to face. She held her hand out and looked him in the eye, his arrogant smirk never faltering. He placed his hand into hers and gave it a crushing squeeze but she refused to wince.
He released her hand with a child-like huff and as she walked back to her starting point, she flexed and retracted her fingers, bringing some of the feeling back into them. Samantha was suddenly blinded as they turned up the arena’s center lights and dimmed those above the audience. She closed her eyes and took the time for a deep inhale, feeling her power coursing through her veins. As she exhaled, she opened her eyes, blinking them into focus.
Lazlo took up a stance that resembled that of Emmett’s starting position, it must be a duel sword thing. She had sparred with her little brother countless times over the years, hopefully that training would give her even more of an advantage. A few moments passed as the teacher backed out of the arena and a hush fell over the anxious crowd. She held her glaive out in front of her, parallel to the ground, and bowed out of respect to her opponent. He spat his response onto the ground towards her as he gave a menacing smile.
Thea had warned Samantha about the lack of respect and humanity that the Kazegami Familia possessed, and even witnessed it firsthand when she stopped Lazlo from hurting the other Thomas girl. That was the main reason she was here in the first place. But to not bow to your competitor, let alone spit in their direction, was disgusting behavior, and it lit another fire within her. Her fingers gripped tighter around the pole of her glaive, waiting for his attack. The pause of a few seconds seemed to last forever before the creep rushed forward, holding both blades parallel to the ground.
Just before Samantha could graze him with the longer reach of her polearm, he skidded along the ground underneath the glaive for an attack. Samantha instinctively maneuvered the pole to block her leg from a strike as dust shot into the air from her effort. She heard faint gasps coming from the audience. This was her first time in the arena, and it was time to show that she and the other Thomas’s were not to be messed with. Samantha drew in a deep breath as she jumped, using the pole arm to catch her. From there, she managed a backflip off the pole and landed with it in her hands. Cheers came from the crowd around her.
The dust in the air made her chest tighten, a cough banging on her lungs. Samantha had to hold it in; she couldn’t let anything catch her off guard. She tightened up her stance and could feel the beads of sweat forming on her face. Seconds later, the creep came at her again, with one blade positioned for a downward strike and the other angled upward. With her feet firmly planted, she swung her glaive upward in an attempt to block his strike. Not only did it work, but the force from the impact knocked the sword out of his hand causing it to land a few feet behind him. There was no doubt that if her blade had been free, the creep would be missing his right hand.
Suddenly, people in the crowd started chanting Samantha's name. Without missing a beat, the Kazegami creep swung upward with the blade he still possessed. Samantha barely dodged the attack, hearing her shirt rip and feeling the sting of sweat connecting with an open wound as she swiftly rolled out of the blade’s reach. Immediately, she felt her power starting to work, and had to focus to make it stop, not wanting to have anyone see blood without a scratch and make noise about it. As soon as she regained her footing and had a hold on her power, she swung the pole arm out toward the back of her opponents knees, knocking him onto his back. The air suddenly escaped his body, causing him to gasp for breath. His other sword flew through the air before thudding to the ground a foot away.
This was her chance. Samantha flipped through the air, using her glaive’s pole to vault over and land beside the creep, the covered blade resting heavily on his chest. His hands instinctively went to where her blade had landed, panic in his eyes and his body glistening from sweat. If her blade hadn’t been covered, there would have been a good chance he would have died right there, but that wasn’t her style or even the point she wanted to make.
The creep didn’t say anything at first, his mind desperate for another option. He looked around trying to locate his missing weapons. He reached his arm out in an attempt to retrieve the closest one. Samantha put more pressure on the pole, causing it to dig slightly into his sternum. He winced in pain before forcing his body to go limp and shouted, “I give up!”
Samantha removed her guarded blade from the creeps chest and stepped back as the teacher came closer.
“Kazegami concedes!” he announced into the small microphone pinned to his shirt. “Thomas has won the match!” A loud roar erupted in the stands as they both stood and bowed to each other. Samantha was about to turn when she saw a figure burst in through the doors at the far end of the arena. And her heart stopped at the sight. Of her.
Kaguya hadn’t been paying attention to the fight itself. Apparently a new student had picked a fight with a sophomore Kazegami, so she figured it would be over quickly enough. She heard the crowd chanting and looked up, seeing a flash of blade and then the Kazegami student was on his back trying to scramble. She watched as his body went limp and he shouted his surrender. She frowned and, not bothering to get a better look at his opponent, rushed down the stairs and into the arena.
She was almost to the pair when the opponent turned, and suddenly she found herself pausing in the middle of the arena staring into very familiar green eyes. Samantha smiled and stepped closer, and Kaguya closed her eyes, turning away. No! Not her! She could feel her eyes burning, but she knew that those in her family would look down on her if she didn’t do as her father had commanded when a student in the family lost a fight.
Ignoring Samantha, she shoved past her and yelled, “You idiot!” She grabbed the student by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer, his face cringing and turning away. “You know the rules, no giving up! Your opponent should be dead, and yet she’s barely got a scratch!” She released his shirt and grabbed his throat. “You’re a disgrace to the Familia! I should kill you myself!”
“I-I-I’m sorry,” he choked. “She’s just… I mean, she was tougher than I thought she’d be. She’s new, so I figured she didn’t have that much skill!” stammered the creep as he tried to pull away from her cold grasp.
With more strength than she looked like she possessed, Kaguya shoved the creep away and watched him stumble and fall to the ground after tripping over his own feet, a cloud of dust forming around him. In a mix of terror and disgrace, he fumbled to gather his swords and run off. Kaguya watched him struggle with amusement as Samantha stood frozen in disbelief.
Kaguya took a violent step toward Samantha in an attempt to intimidate her, her head turning after the step was complete to see once again that this was Samantha and not a nameless person. Her eyes focused on the aura surrounding the woman before her, and wasn’t surprised to see the bright green surrounding her this time. But the tendrils of attraction, still strong despite the situation, were accompanied by unease, fear, and confusion.
Samantha was taken aback by Kaguya’s harshness, and it suddenly felt as though she’d been punched in the stomach. The wild eyes that widened as recognition flashed through them didn’t seem like the beautiful eyes she’d been captivated by just one day before. She could feel the acid in her stomach trying to creep upwards, Samantha took in a deep and shaky breath trying to push the bile back down.
“Samantha…” Kaguya muttered breathily, only the two of them hearing her despite the sudden silence in the arena as the patrons were clearing out. Why was Samantha, gentle and adorable Samantha, here in this violent maelstrom of a school? After a brief moment, she drew into herself and quickly turned on her heels, running out of the arena with her long black hair swishing behind her. Samantha took a quick step forward as she went to call out for her, but was stopped by Thea jumping onto her back.
“Whoo! I knew you’d win by a margin!” she yelled, breaking whatever spell Kaguya had put on her. Much of the crowd had left already, but there were still cheers and chants coming from her new Familia that had stuck around. Samantha, her mind still in a state of shock, smiled at her sister but couldn’t find any words to say to her. “Come on, Samantha, it’s almost time for dinner, we get to celebrate your victory!”
“Yeah…” Samantha agreed softly, eyes still in the direction Kaguya went. “I should probably shower and clean up first though.” She let her power do it’s work, no longer concerned about anyone seeing the blood without a scratch. There was a heavier burden on her heart now than having people find out about her ability.
Thea picked up on the hurt in her sister’s voice as they walked side by side on their way out of the arena. “You okay Sam?”
“Oh, yeah,” she shook her head, “It was just a lot to take in.” Samantha shot over her best attempt at a lighthearted smile. The other girl frowned, blue eyes heavy.
“I will be fine, I promise. I am going to go wash up and then I will meet you for dinner and we can celebrate, okay?”
She didn’t quite believe her, but Thea let it go. “Okay, I’ll see you at dinner.” she smiled softly. Samantha nodded her agreement and trudged toward her dorm room. It wasn’t a far walk, but it was lined with plenty of students that had witnessed the first fight of the school year. She had to stop for the occasional fist bump and words of congratulations.
She opened the doors to the dorms and entered the Thomas common area. The place was bustling with students, and the moment she was recognized, the room erupted into cheers once again. She smiled half-heartedly, as she searched for a way to escape the sea of people. She felt like she was drowning. Samantha reached down inside of herself and held tightly to her ability as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
When she opened them again, she was more calm and focused. The new Thomas held her glaive out in front of her like a guide, and the students parted like the red sea. She still kept a pleasant look on her face to keep from frightening anyone, but she needed to get through. After a minute of twisting her way through the common room, she’d made it to the stairs. She sighed with relief as she ran up them.
The door to her room slammed closed behind her and the evening sun was beginning to pour through her window. She placed her weapon in the corner of the room before stripping off her clothes on the way to the bathroom. She turned the water on and within seconds the bathroom started to cloud up with steam.
Her long and toned body slipped underneath the cascade of water and a pleased moan escaped from her lips. She closed her eyes as the water fell over her, washing away the dirt and dried sweat that clung to her curves Samantha grabbed her sponge and lathered it with her cedar scented soap before rubbing it all over her body. As she rinsed herself off, she could feel the grime of battle washing off of her. She turned off the water feeling pounds lighter, knowing it was all in her head. She wrapped herself in a towel before getting dressed to head down to dinner.
It was almost dark outside by the time Samantha made it to her dorm room after dinner. She was happy to be alone with her thoughts, barely suppressed during the celebration and finally allowed to take the forefront in the privacy of her own room. Samantha collapsed on her bed and stared at her phone with Kaguya’s message from yesterday on the screen.
> Kaguya: I can’t wait to see you again.
Samantha sighed, wishing she’d been able to respond yesterday. By the time they had gotten to the house, Thea had stopped asking about the message, but at that point they had to gather all of their weapons, clothes, and other school supplies to bring to the school and set up their dorm rooms. When she’d finally gotten to her bed last night, she’d been exhausted and fell asleep before being able to respond.
Now she wasn’t even sure what to say. She didn’t recognize the cold-blooded young woman that she witnessed grab the creep in the arena. She knew that he deserved being treated that way given what he’d been doing to that poor girl. But Kaguya didn’t seem like the kind of girl that grabbed anyone harshly, let alone by the throat. She was nice and fun, and Samantha had been so very attracted to her. And still was, if she was honest with herself. Despite the violence that had been shown in the arena, Kaguya had still been frighteningly sexy as she grabbed the guy.
Given Kaguya’s reaction to her when she finally recognized her, she had obviously
not been expecting to see Samantha here. Samantha remembered something Kaguya had said yesterday about having to meet her father’s expectations, and remembered when she'd seen Kaguya in the arena next to the guy who introduced her as his daughter. He said the Familia was strict, but he didn't seem to be cruel as he explained things in the arena this morning. But that didn't mean he wasn't even more strict with his own family, especially since Kaguya would be his successor at the academy.
“Father’s expectations, huh. If she’s the Kazegami’s daughter, I couldn’t even begin to understand what kind of expectations she’s trying to keep up with,” Samantha sighed, going back to the text and deciding it would be better to just talk it over than lay here thinking about it all night. She also couldn't deny that she had a strong desire just to lay eyes on the other woman again.
> Sam: Can we meet?
> Kaguya: Are you sure you want to?
> Sam: I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t.
> Kaguya: Meet me in the arena from earlier.
After the events that had just taken place, the arena was the last place she wanted to meet Kaguya, but she quickly pushed her fear to the side. Kaguya won’t hurt me, right? she thought to herself as she got up from the bed and tossed her shoes back on before racing out the door. She saw Thea across the hall, her door closing before it opened again quickly.
“Where are you going, Samantha? Curfew is in ten minutes!” Thea called.
“I know, and I don’t care,” Samantha rebutted with a heavy exhale, rushing down the stairs and then out of the dorm building. She took a roundabout way to the arena through the gardens to be sure she wasn’t being followed. It had gotten too dark to see much, but the smell of the planted lavender and other flowers helped calm her nerves along with a little help from her ability. She twisted and turned down the walkway, making her way back to the arena.
Kaguya was already there, going through sword forms with her katana in the dim lighting. Samantha was anxious and almost wished she’d brought her glaive, at least for its comfort, before she pushed that thought aside. She steadied her nerves with a deep breath before she stepped further into the arena where she was sure Kaguya would notice her. A couple swift and precise movements later, Kaguya sheathed her katana and turned towards Samantha.
“I’m sorry you had to see that today,” Kaguya said softly, unable to look up into Samantha’s eyes.
Samantha walked closer, well within striking distance for the katana, and took a relaxed stance, leaving herself open for any attack. She knew she probably shouldn’t, but she found it was easier than she thought it would be to trust Kaguya. did more to relax her than her ability or any deep breaths. “Yeah, I’m sorry too. I’m sure you would have rather I didn’t see the Kaguya you are for your dad.”
Kaguya flinched, and Samantha saw that she had deduced the reason behind
Kaguya’s behavior correctly. She looked into Kaguya’s eyes which had become almost like black holes in the dim lighting. Kaguya looked away. She removed her still-sheathed katana from her side and walked it over to the arena wall and placed it upright against the cold stone. She turned away from the weapon and shyly made her way back to where Samantha was standing. “You wouldn’t understand,” she said, finally raising her eyes to stare Samantha down.
Samantha shrugged and dropped to the floor of the arena in a seated position, dirt and dust puffed from underneath her. She smiled and patted the ground in front of her causing another small cloud to appear. “I’ve got all night. Why don’t you explain it to me?”
Kaguya laughed wryly, saying, “I’m afraid it may take more than one night.”
“All right, then I’ll meet up as many nights as it takes,” Samantha replied with a cocky grin. The smirk slowly faded away as Samantha peered across the arena at the young woman standing before her. She could see tangible signs of unease crossing the other woman’s entire body in waves. “I want to understand, Kaguya. Why do you act like that if you don’t want to? I heard that guy’s speech in the assembly today. He doesn’t seem like he’s a cruel guy, so I won’t know why he’s making you be like this..” Samantha took a small step closer. “Help me understand?”
Kaguya focused on Samantha, taking in her aura for a long moment before she looked away, her expression hardening. This girl that she found herself yearning for had too good of a heart to be able to handle what her father made her do. It would be a mercy to end this friendship before it could blossom into more, even if it hurts so very much to push Samantha away. After she spent a moment collecting herself, Kaguya shook her head and went back to her katana. “It’s late. Go back to your dorm,” she snapped as she tied the katana to her belt before turning and marching away without another glance.
Samantha waited for several minutes before falling back and sinking down the wall. “Damnit. Did I push too hard?” She stayed like that for a long time before she got up and slowly headed back to her room.