Random WIP that May or May Not be an Excerpt from a Fic I Haven't Started Writing Yet. (Rough draft)
Adrien dodged Kagami's sword, maintaining the space between them as she advanced. He knocked away another swing with his staff, circling around their invisible center, stepping back to keep out of reach.
"You always do this, Adrien!" Kagami accused, sword swinging downward.
"Do what?" Adrien kept his voice light even as he brought his staff up to block.
"Hide behind your mask!" She lunged forward.
"Which one? I've got a dozen." Sidestepping her attack Adrien swung at her.
Bracing one end of her blade with her forearm Kagami blocked. Her eyes hardening further. "Even now you play at the Fool. You can't be honest with me now just like you couldn't be honest then!"
Adrien let his facade fade as he swung his staff again. A hint of anger in its strike; taking satisfaction in Kagami's surprise. He leaned forward. "I was always as honest as I could be, Kagami."
She kicked his feet out from under him. Adrien realizing he overextended too late as his back hit the roof. Kagami pinned his arms above his head as she straddled him. "Is that what you call it? You couldn't even be honest with yourself! You couldn't face yourself, Adrien!"
Tail swinging towards her face, it startled her enough for her grip to loosen. Flipping their positions Adrien pinned Kagami's arms beside her head. "What did you think I was doing!? I opened up to you! And you said No!"
"Because I was right!" Kagami pulled her legs between them and kicked out at him.
Adrien flew back as Kagami scrambled for her fallen sword. Snatching it up, she jumped away just in time to avoid Adrien's counterattack. His staff leaving spiderweb cracks on the floor where he landed.
"You don't get to tell me what I am!" Adrien's staff slammed down on Kagami's raised sword. "You don't get to decide for me!" His advance left no opening as he backed her up to the edge of the roof. "I do!"
"What decisions!?" Kagami thrusts her sword centimeters from his face. "You weren't deciding. You were avoiding the problem just like always!"
Kagami's sword spun out of her grasp and suddenly Adrien was holding her own blade to her neck. Heartbeat in her ears she swallowed. But refused to avert her gaze. Even with her feet on the ledge she would challenge him.
Adrien's chest rose and fell with heavy breath. His eyes staring straight at her. "... You're right."
Kagami blinked, of all Adrien's potential replies she wasn't expecting that.
"It was easier to pretend. It was... safer. But I didn't pretend to love you. And I'm not pretending now." The tip of her sword eased back from Kagami's neck.
She stepped slowly away from the edge. "So, what? I'm just supposed to forgive you for lying because 'you're sorry'?"
"How many lies are you telling, Kagami?" Adrien snapped. "How many friends are you lying to right now by being here instead of where you said you'd be?" He took a calming breath; keeping the business end of her sword between them. "... No."
"I don't expect forgiveness. I am sorry. I'm sorry I ever followed their rules. Sorry it took so long to see. But I'm not sorry about lying. I'm sorry for me. Not for you."
"Oh, thanks!" Kagami kicked her sword out of Adrien's hand and tackled him. As they rolled on the ground she grabbed his discarded staff. "That's just what a girl wants to hear!"
Adrien grabbed his staff as Kagami pressed her full weight onto it. "So sorry saving Paris was more important than making out!"
"That- That is not-" Kagami couldn't remember the last time words failed her. But she could remember the raging heat in her chest.
"For so long I felt guilty!" Adrien shifted his hands so that they gripped Kagami's. "About everything! Every action I took was 'wrong'!"
Kagami tried to pull her hands away but Adrien merely held tighter. "You're not the only one with a strict parent!"
"Tomoe doesn't change the goalposts when you get too close!" Adrien's breath left him as Kagami kicked his abdomen.
Jerking away from him Kagami caught her breath, fingers clenched around his staff. "You think that made it easy?" she panted.
Coughing as he rose to his feet, Adrien held a hand over her target. "Not easy. Different. I was saying something..."
"Don't interrupt. You know how hard it is to keep your train of thought on track."
Despite herself, despite her instincts warning her not to, Kagami let Adrien collect himself.
Finally, Adrien straightened, looking at her right in the eye. "I've spent so long feeling guilty about our breakup. I'm not going to spend any more on it."
"... That's it?" Kagami demanded. "A fancy way of saying I was never your most important priority!?"
"Am I what's most important to you?" Adrien shot back.
"I'm not talking about back then! I'm talking about now!" Adrien spread his arms to encompass all of Paris. "Can you really say I'm your first priority, Kagami?"
"Because I have a duty!" Kagami set her stance. This reunion had drawn out unwanted memories, unresolved issues. And they've distracted her long enough. "And that duty takes precedence over everything. Even you."
Adrien smiled sadly. "So does mine. Uproar!"
Kagami's eyes widened as the Monkey's staff started to glow. She jerked her hands away as the Uproar materialized into an action figure of Ryuko. Snapping her head back to Adrien she-
Scanning the rooftops and the streets below for him proved fruitless. Kagami rushed for her blade and its sheath, bringing the sword-cane together. She stood there, waiting. Adrien's Uproar and staff vanishing a few moments later.
But the tension in her shoulders didn't leave her even as purple light signaled her detransformation and she fed Nooroo, Kagami felt... defeated. Yet, the shame she associated with failure did not come. She felt drained, far more than just physical exhaustion.
Duty takes precedence over everything. Even you.
Kagami started suddenly as an idea slid into place. For too long she'd held onto bitter resentment. Heartbreak that could only come from the loss of a friend. Her first friend. That had hurt more than their relationship crumbling.
Adrien said he didn't expect her forgiveness. And yet...
Duty takes precedence over everything. Even you.
Vision blurring as her eyes watered, Kagami gave a rueful smile as she realized the resentment was mere embers of what it once was. "Selfish jerk," she breathed.
"Kagami?" Nooroo hovered uncertainly, worry etched plainly on his features.
Kagami offered her palm which he settled on. "I'm okay." It didn't feel like a lie. "I'll be okay."
Satisfied for the moment, Nooroo fluttered his wings against her skin. Her smile softening at his support.
Duty takes precedence over everything. Even you.
It didn't matter that she forgave him. Kagami had a duty to Paris. To Ladybug. And she was obligated to see it through.
