#entrustshipping

   Nonetheless, because of the stigma, Kiku was certain if she ever told Takeru what weighed on her mind, she would not be believed. It broke her heart but she was certain. Her good, sweet, kind, silly, goofy Takeru who had been with her through thick and thin may very well turn on her and called her a liar for this because he simply would not remember. 

   But she did.

   Takeru had been part of her existence before she could articulate what she could remember. What had begun in a lifetime before them both and continued to burn on inside of her regardless of what she did. If she tried to ignore it or otherwise block it out.

   For you see, Kiku was, very genuinely, one of the rare few who recalled a lifetime from before her own. She was an instance of transdimensional reincarnation.

   In another life, in a previous life, she had lived a long and storied journey as the Valkyria Knight.

   Kiku vividly recalled the harsh training and harsher conditions of that other world, the Monster World. A spiritual plane filled to the brim with monsters and was fraught with danger, an ever cycling push and pull of good versus evil, embroiled in violence where strength was justice. But she, even then, as a little girl, aspired to something better, something kinder, and she honed those ideals alongside the art of war, of swordsmanship and strategy.

   Even now, in this life, her present life, Kiku had been drawn towards martial arts. Hence how she and Takeru’s families became involved at all when they had been children in pre-kindergarten sports but kendo was more clearly her calling than judo. Even as a human child, Kiku showed promise with the bamboo sword as she recalled and drew upon her previous life’s recollection for this new skill. 

   But a fake sword wasn’t as thrilling, or gratifying, as a fake sword. Not to mention, her prodigal markings quickly made her a tall poppy so Kiku dropped the interest but not her interest in Takeru as there was more to her previous story.

   There had been a man. Her lover and her husband, the man who was supposed to have been father of her eventual children. Her army’s commander, their brilliant hero who was going to usher in a glorious and more prosperous, peaceful era: the valiant Phoenix Gearfried. 

   And Kiku was certain, she could still feel that spark - that flame - in Homura Takeru.

   Their love story in that previous life had ended in tragedy. It was as the saying went. The good always died young and Phoenix Gearfried had died in Kiku’s arms- no, Valkyria Knight’s arms and he had looked up unto her and gave her one last mission, “Please, my love, protect me, for the rest of your days.”

   His dying words imparted a mission upon her and Kiku was nothing if not a woman of her word.

   She always was. As a child, as Valkyria Knight. She was serious and earnest, an old soul, and Kiku wanted to serve her lord-husband until the end of her days. Whether it was as Valkyria Knight or as Kamishirakawa Kiku. That was her destiny.

   Though perhaps it was more like a curse.

   Because she knew.

   And no one else did, least of all the youth whom she was certain was her twin flame, Phoenix Gearfried.

   It made sense, perhaps. Their previous life’s love story had ended in tragedy because it had begun in ill. Intercrual fraternising was a taboo even in that other world and Phoenix Gearfried did not want to be distracted from his own mission but she, Valkyria Knight, made him soft.

   Kiku held onto those precious memories of various kisses in the soft, late afternoon sunlight, or holding hands under the tables during war meetings, and more interactions snuck in between their efforts during the campaign. Even now, they made her heart swell but they brought tears to her eyes too due to being so bittersweet. 

   If only Takeru remembered, if only…

   At first, Kiku thought maybe their reincarnation alongside each other in a dreamy beachside town had been a blessing. That it was the gods' ways of apologising that their first lives together as Monsters had gone so awry. That made sense as they were once again brought together by a passion for athleticism, of bettering themselves and their bodies but then things changed.

   The… Incident happened.

   Maybe if it hadn’t happened, the outcome of a hypothetical confession of such cosmic proportions would be different…

   Takeru’s not so safe return from the clutches of such heinous events reignited the fire inside of Kiku: she had to protect him. That was her duty as Phoenix Siegfried’s second-in-command and sergeant but he was a very different boy compared to before.

   He now hated Duel Monsters, he hated Duelling and his once favourite cards of Phoenix Siegfried and Valkyria Knight, and the rest of their fiery armada, were now amongst his most hated things.

   Not once had Kiku ever seen Phoenix Siegfried so rattled. 

   She had seen Phoenix Siegfried storm into battle, fight back when surrounded. He did not endure duress, he thrived in it. He always burned brighter than the fires of conflict around him. Kiku could say much the same of Takeru who looked only after he leapt, who never cried over skinned knees and whose favourite place was the highest part of the jungle gym.

   So to see him so scared, it harrowed Kiku to the very last specks of stardust in her soul. Worse still, she wasn’t allowed to know why. There had never been secrets between her and Takeru: merely pinkie promises that had yet to end in a needle in either of their eyes. Same for Phoenix Siegfried and Valkyria Knight. 

   Yet here they were. Frozen out from another by adults who could not begin to fathom what Kiku knew. It broke her heart then and ten years later, it broke her heart again because something had changed. She was certain something had changed. The way the headwind blew over the ocean, the sparkle in Takeru’s eye.

   There was something new. Renewed. Reincarnated, even but Kiku was still not allowed to know and that made her howl in agony. She was supposed to be Takeru’s confidant, his strongest soldier but instead, she was pushed away. The menial, instead, was pushed onto her.

   That night… Against the bullies… Kiku had not been at Takeru’s side but her card had been in his deck and that mattered close enough, she supposed. That was when the switch was flipped but cardboard was a far cry from flesh and blood so she didn’t know what entailed in said duel. Just that she had been summoned there, she could feel it, every hack and slash, every attack from the depths of Takeru’s soul.

   He had no idea how he had shone, how his past life was reinvigorating him.

   But afterwards, in the morning light, something changed. He had a new deck. One that his old cards and old life were a part of. Something sparkling and new in the sunlight. He would go on to battle with it over and over again and in places as far flung as the big smoke, like Den City.

   Kiku was superficially gladdened that Takeru had direction again. Who wouldn’t be? Except it saddened her. She still wasn’t allowed to know. Takeru was still keeping secrets about what had fundamentally changed him. She just knew that it did, she could hear it in his voice and the way his passion rippled through.

   To not know was worse than knowing, Kiku was certain.

   Especially when her precognition unto Phoenix Siegfried, and by extension, Takeru, led her to the conclusion that something was wrong. Something dire had happened. She could just feel it a la an extrasensory perception and that rattled her. 

   A fearsome battle. Life versus oblivion. A fire extinguished, a gale blew. Kiku got flashes of something beyond her comprehension of how she understood life in superstitions and the supernatural. Grand duels of violent delights which with snuff of extinction. Who? Why? Oh, Takeru, please… Please! Allow her, your darling Valkyria Knight, to aid you in this time of complete crisis.