Black & White

Chapter Sixteen

Part Three

The sound of the noon chimes filled the air with a rhythmic tone.

The Church of Solem rang the bells for the eighth time this day, drowning out the many voices within the market's, and the stadium where most of the people crawled. They waited for the final's of the tournament, where the final contestant's would give it their all, to deliver a maginficant battle. However, there was a twenty minute resting period before each section of the tournament, they wanted to give the student's some time to recuperate from the battles before. But it wasn't just a resting period, it was also a time to strategize a plan to establish victory against their opponent's.

Since the resting period was close to being finished, the student's were forced to prepare for a match that could enable a great victory for themselves, and their schools. In barracks' B, Hana Akari and Kaien Shunkun sharpened their sword's in utter silence. The sharp sound of grinding metal ruptured their ear drum's, the *shiiirá!* sound filled the barracks' with the horrible sound. In Barracks' A, Hikari sat on the bench, glancing at her sword, while Kaname talked to high class noble children who were curious about what they do.

Kira watched from the entrance, hiding away in the shadows from any praying eyes. He waited for the final minutes of the resting period to end so he could talk to Hikari. However, he would have walked over to her, if he tried talking to her there would be a misunderstanding with the journalist's who waited behind the children, they waited eagerly to talk to Yakushï Kaname. Kira narrowed his eyes at the second year student, he promptly finished answering question's from the children with a simple "Yare, yare". Once they hurried away with smiles on their faces, the journalist's walked forward, one with a note pad and a quil looked up at him, greeting the dark brown-haired boy.

"Kaname-sama, can you please answer some questions, please?"

Kaname hesitated for a moment, thinking about whether or not to agree with their request. For a few seconds with his eyes on him, Kira saw a slight smile etch itself across his face.

"Certainly..."

He left the preparation room with the two journalist's, shutting the door behind them. Kira waited for a few second's in order to make sure he wasn't returning, he made his way to Hikari who glanced back at him by the sound of his footsteps. She gave him a happy smile, sheathing her beautiful white one handed long-sword into it's scabbard. Kira returned her smile with his own, even though it was only slight.

Hikari deepened her smile, tilting her head to the right at a slight smile. To his surprise, her eyes glittered with happiness and amusement, unlike earlier, before Lena-sempai lost her match against Ken'ichi Ichiro in a fierce battle. He noticed his partner's attitude had changed from earlier, before she lost her self confidence after locking her sapphire blue eyes with green eyes, belonging to an old friend, Hana Akari. He understood her fear, but he knew there wasn't anything to worry about, especially from Hana.

Her bite is just as bad as her bark...

Kira thought, however, the occurring thought about his former friend's swordsmanship might have changed since the last time he saw her. From what he remembered about the long golden-haired girl who stood by his side the first semester of Star-Fall Academy. Her combat skills' were astounding, Hana wielded a beautiful golden long sword, somehow that small feminine figure managed to lift a weapon which weighed more than her. It was hard to imagine, the swords' total length 90 inches (110 centimeter's), the blade is 60 or 90 centimeter's, the weight of the weapon was around 1.1-1.8 (2.4-4.0 lb), it was heavier than a normal one handed short sword.

Kira wondered if his partner's fragile sword could ever match against Caliber.

"So, it's almost time for your match, huh."