I began to wonder if my body was mocking me. By the time we were gathering our things to get ready to leave, the pain in my wrist had died down into a dull ache. The moment I reached to pick up my sword, however, it sent a spike of pain down my arm that was bad enough to make me pause for a moment. It was as if my vision had suddenly gone bad, seeing as the world around me tilted and blurred.

Who knew a simple wrist injury could hurt like that?

I managed to shake it off, however, the moment I felt his eyes on me. Gritting my teeth I managed to balance all of my things on my left side then casually dropped my right at my side. I actually felt thankful that I’d left the majority of what I brought with me sitting on our table in the commons. Noticing that everyone else was already done, I ignored the curious looks my teammates were giving me on how long it took me to gather my stuff and passed them on my way to join our little group.

The moment I neared the group Haruhi seemed to appear at my side. Her eyes studied me before she sighed and held out a hand. I could only look at her in confusion for a second before I realized she was offering to take something from me. Forcing on a friendly smile that I didn’t feel like sharing, no matter how grateful I was I just didn’t have the energy for it, I handed over my sword, keeping my normal clothing piled on my arm.

Instead of changing this time, I decided it would be better to keep my wrist as still as I could. Who knows, perhaps it was a simple injury that if I left it alone would go away by the time of our next match.

I almost snorted at how ridiculous that thought was. No way a simple injury would bruise so darkly as quickly as it had, or cause blurry vision because of how intense the pain was when I went to pick something up. Even with as stubborn as I knew I was being I couldn’t deny those obvious facts.

Time passed at an annoyingly slow pace as we waited for the next round to start. Luckily, since there had been half the number of teams as last time there wasn’t as big of a gap between second and third round as there had been between the first and second. There was simply twenty minutes to give all of the competitors time to take a break before going again. During this time I ended up reluctantly sucking on a few of the honey soaked lemons I brought, although a majority of them ended up being split between Ayumu and Fujii. The idea behind the snack was that it somehow re-energized athletes after tough workouts, although the only thing going through my mind as I sucked on one was how sour lemons were in comparison to my sweets.

Sour was something that definitely was not on my list of appreciated flavors.

By the time that everyone stopped chattering cause of the realization that we needed to go find our room, my nerves had begun to die down. Sure, the pain had gone back to be a constant throb, but it was one that I could easily push to the back of my mind and ignore. Keeping in mind my limits, however, I ended up leaving everything except for my sword where we’d discarded the rest of our possessions. The sword I could easily grip in my left hand without having to move my right an inch.

The first thing I became aware of when we entered the competition room was the change in the size of the audience. Instead of the ten to fifteen people I’d been seeing in the balcony during our rounds, I could easily see at least that many standing on one side alone. It seemed that the semi-finals could draw quite a crowd, especially when it was between two schools that had a grudge against one another.

When that last thought crossed my mind, I quickly switched my gaze from the balcony to the opponents bench. The first person my eyes fell on was Ren, his easy going smile that he’d had in place earlier having been switched out for what seemed to be an almost constant scowl. From where I stood I could even see him snapping at his teammates. Apparently being in the same room as a few select people put him on edge so much that he couldn’t even keep that fake smile in place.

For some reason I couldn’t help but smile at the thought. At least I wasn’t the only one that was getting uneasy. His words wouldn’t stop flashing through my mind, actually managing to send a shiver down my spine. If he played dirty like Fujii had said…

I shook my head, attempting to discard the thought as I took my seat on our bench and placed my sword next to me. No true kendo competitor would actually attempt to hurt someone on purpose. The idea was to enhance swordsmanship which strived on honor and respect for your opponent. It just didn’t make sense that someone would go against those things just for an old grudge that formed from competing in the sport.

Determined to keep an open mind when it came to our opponents, I began studying the other members of Ren’s team. There were three other boys and a girl. All of the boys seemed to be rather built, although one of them was a bit shorter than the others, making it reasonable to believe that their team consisted of at least one first year. The girl herself didn’t seem to be weak in strength, even from where I sat I could see the compact muscles in her currently bare arms. It would seem that there was little chance of her being my opponent if she hadn’t even bothered to put on half of her protective gear yet.

“The competition between Ouran Private Academy and Fukuoka Daiichi Private High School will begin shortly.”

Almost on their own accord, my fists clenched in my lap, earning me a sharp pain for my wariness. Attempting to focus on something other than the increase in the level of the throbbing that I’d caused, I simply watched as Ayumu slid on his mask and turned to ask a few questions of Fujii.

“Do you know which of them is mine?” he asked, there was a seriousness to his normally happy-go-lucky tone.

Fujii seemed to study the Fukuoka side for a moment before nodding and pointing to the shorter of the males.

“Him, I’ve seen him once this year in a group competition and he went first, so odds are he’s doing it today.”

Ayumu furrowed his brows thoughtfully, a bit of the stiffness that had begun to form in him suddenly seeming to melt away.

“I was hoping that it was him or the girl,” he replied with a wry smile. “I didn’t like the idea of facing one of those other guys.”

Fujii laughed, patting the top of Ayumu’s mask with a smile.

“Yeah, neither do I, thankfully if I’m right I shouldn’t have to. Normally the order goes with the short kid first, then that brunette of the bigger ones, the blonde, the girl, then Kimura is last.”

“So this will be a rematch between Kimura and Mori,” I spoke up, that fact just now dawning on me.

Fujii frowned as he glanced back in my direction, noticeably more tense than before.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Only a few minutes later Ayumu walked out to meet his opponent, the announcer calling out the beginning of the round. Attempting to relax my nerves, I closed my eyes, tuning out the sound of Ayumu’s match. From what I’d seen today I had no doubt that he would be able to win. After all, in both of our previous matches he’d managed to score consecutive points on his opponents, which wasn’t an easy task.

“Shit!”

Startled, I snap opened my eyes in time to catch sight of Ayumu going down on one knee. Fujii was leaning forward in his position next to me, his fists clenched in his lap tight enough to turn the knuckles white. One of the referees raised a flag signaling a timeout as the other ran onto the mats to check Ayumu. Before the man could reach him, however, Ayumu raised one hand in the air and waved him off. The referee seemed to hesitate for a moment then nodded and walked back to his position. Once Ayumu had pulled himself to his feet he quickly moved back to his starting position, although his stance was noticeably more shaky than before.

“You can do it Ayumu-kun!”

“Shake it off!”

“You’ve been doing great!”

Seeming to at least understand that they were cheering him, even with as focused as he seemed to be, Ayumu’s form settled and I breathed a relieved sigh. Whatever had caused him to fall didn’t seem to be effecting his spirit.

The signal for the next point began and as per his usual Ayumu lunged forward with amazing speed and struck his opponent, the flag for his point going up only a few seconds after they’d been signaled to begin. I noted with alarm, however, that on his way back to his starting position, Ayumu seemed to be limping slightly.

“Is he hurt?” I murmured, half expecting Fujii to be too focused to reply.

A second later, however, I caught sight of Fujii scowling, an expression dark enough that it seemed out of place on him.

“Probably. Those bastards don’t know when to hold back.”

I bit my lip, my wrist seeming to throb even more in response to the possibility of Ayumu being injured.

I’m a hypocrite, I told myself, the thought sounding bitter, even if it was just in my mind. Every part of me is saying that I should interrupt the match to keep him from getting worse.

I was saved a moment later when seemingly without warning, Ayumu darted forward the moment that the signal was raised. It was an even faster movement than the moment before and his opponent had no chance to fend him off.

The crowd cheered as Ayumu came back to our bench, but it was absolutely silent where I sat. None of us had a word to say except for congratulations on his win as he reached us. The silence was broken a moment later as Fujii let out a loud curse and stood up, moving to where Ayumu had sat down.

“Your leg,” he demanded. “Show it.”

Ayumu gave a wary smile and complied, pulling his uniform aside the best he could so that Fujii could examine his leg. A second later Fujii seemed satisfied as he stood and returned to his seat.

“It’s just a bruise,” he muttered when he realized the rest of us were waiting for him to say something. “He’s fine.”

“I knew that,” Ayumu replied cheerily. “I can’t get hurt and ruin the rest of the fights, that’d be the opposite of what a senpo is supposed to do!”

For once I was grateful for Ayumu’s overly cheerful personality.

Kaede’s match went as we expected it to. The opponent was thankfully the only girl on their team. She played hard, however, ignoring that Kaede was obviously unable to keep up with her swift, aggressive movements. The round was over within two minutes of it starting, both points going to the opponent’s side.

“You didn’t get hurt,” Fujii commented when Kaede returned, obviously upset. He surprised me by standing and wrapping his arm around her shoulder like he had done in practice when the event had been announced. “I’m happy that you kept that much from happening.”

A faint smile reached Kaede’s lips as a blush lit up her face. Giving a small nod, she allowed Fujii to steer her back to the bench.

“The third match with be Morioka Nao of Ouran Private Academy-”

As those words hit the air I felt nervousness began to buzz through me. When I pulled myself to my feet, however, the nervousness turned into a wave of dizziness. It took all I had to shove that aside and slide on my mask. Within that moment, however, I missed the name of my opponent. When my eyes searched their side of the room, I found him easily.

A taller, muscular boy, who was looking at me with equal curiosity. Ren was standing next to him with a smug expression, his lips moving too quickly for me to even attempt to guess at what he was saying. I had a bad feeling, however, that I already knew.

“Don’t push it.”

I was started enough that I looked back at Mori. His face was expressionless, but I could tell that I hadn’t imagined the words- his eyes were trained on me. Feeling a lump begin to form in my throat, I could only nod in acknowledgement before I forced myself to begin walking towards the starting point.

I knew by this point it was a stupid move. There was a chance that I was going to pass out before we even received the signal to begin. My vision was blurring once again and the pain was to the point it was hard to focus on anything but it. If it wasn’t for the tense air that had begun to form in the air between me and the boy, the expectant feeling that came with it, I might have allowed my wrist to claim the attention it was asking for.

Instead I reminded myself of why I stood there. I couldn’t disappoint Uncle, or my team. I wouldn’t allow it to be me who dragged them down. We already had one loss, I had a duty to make sure that I didn’t create a second one.

I shifted into my starting position, the fingers on my bad side barely able to grip the sword. To  make up for it I gripped with my other hand hard enough to turn the knuckles on that hand white as can be. Attempting to get rid of the nervousness that had turned my entire body tense, I took a few deep breaths, watching for the signal for our round to come up. I already knew where he was, and I would be able to see where he went even if my vision blurred. At least he was big enough that it’d be hard to imagine he’d move as quickly as someone like Ayumu.

The signal went up and I focused all I had into watching his movements. If I could learn them then I stood a chance. Much to my surprise, however, my opponent didn’t move right away. Instead he stood still, swiftly moving his sword from the ready position so that it was raised even with his chest.

“Will you cry if I hit it?”

I froze, the soft spoken words slowly registering in my mind.

Cry?

He was really willing to abandon a swordsman honor just to win? He was willing to strike an already injured opponent in a place that would cause them unneeded pain?

Fear shot down my spine as he darted forward. As if in slow motion, I barely brought my sword up in time to catch his movement. The instant our weapons touched I felt the weight behind his blow and I nearly fell down to a knee from the intense pain that the blow caused. We drew closer to each other as we pushed our swords together, close enough that I was able to catch another set of whispered words.

“Do you mind if I find out?”

With a sudden surge of strength he shoved his sword forward, pushing me back and causing our bamboo blades to break apart from each other. Before I could catch my balance, he swung downward in a swift movement I could only watch.

The instant it hit I felt the pain.

Everything seemed to freeze as my sword dropped from my hands and my knees hit the mat. My vision went blurred and I felt myself falling even further, unable to stop myself.

I could have sworn I heard several voices calling out my name in that single moment before my head hit the mat and everything went black.

A/N: Yay! Leaving off on a fun part! She's too stubborn for her own good... hehe.

In all seriousness, I hope that the last few paragraphs made sense xD I've never had the expereince of passing out before, and I've only broken a bone once, and not to the point she did. I did a lot of research so I hope that came off the right way. 

Vote, comment, follow, etc. You know the drill!

P.S. I'm lacking internet most of the time right now, so I can't really say when I'll update next. It could be later this week or it could end up being two weeks from now. Sorry about this, I'll get back to regular updates as soon as I've moved into my college dorm in August.