This fic came out of one simple question: if the Checkmate Four are named after chess pieces, why was the Knight left out? I understand why there wouldn't be a Pawn, but I guess the writers just couldn't fit a fifth character in there, storyline-wise.

The end of Kiva Ep 48 never shows us the outcome of Taiga and Wataru's fight, and as this headcanon formed, I felt that being King is so much a part of Taiga's identity that I couldn't see him without it. But Wataru was so eager to protect his brother, so I wanted a way that he could do that. This fic and the ones following it came from this idea.

I know that the World of Kiva arc of Kamen Rider Decade has Wataru as King, even if it is an alternate Wataru, but I do not count it as canon here, along with Wataru Kurenai's appearances in Decade or anything from any other media. The 48 episodes of Kiva are canon in this universe, and nothing else is, not even the movie (which already screws with canon anyway).

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kamen Rider Kiva or any of its characters

WORD COUNT: 2541

EDIT 02/16/2016: Some details regarding the timeline have been changed. The last Knight's betrayal happened in 1458 (to be covered in detail in 'Lineage').

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Taiga stared at the door of the empty D&P boardroom, waiting for his little brother to arrive. It had been over a week since their fight with the time-traveling Neo-Fangire; the young man claiming to be Wataru's son from the future had cheerfully bid them goodbye and returned to his own time, leaving Wataru rather bewildered and muttering something about karma.

After Bishop's death and the conclusion of Taiga and Wataru's duel, Taiga had regained his position as King, though the fight had nearly been a draw. And Wataru was still intent on protecting his big brother, especially since the target on Taiga's back was bigger than ever. All the Fangires now knew that he interacting peacefully with the Fangire Hunters, and had a half-human younger brother, so many were gunning for him now. Two assassination attempts had been made on him already.

Taiga knew he'd have to take steps to ensure not just his own safety, but that of Wataru and his friends, who'd come under fire as well. So he'd done his research, going through old records that those who'd held the title of Bishop dating back centuries had compiled, until he found something that might help. It was risky. It would put Wataru in danger, just as much as it protected him. He would make sure that Wataru had all the facts, and in the end it would be the younger brother's choice. He'd already consulted with his mother about the plan, and she agreed that it was the best way to protect both her sons, restore order to the Fangire Race, and create the beginnings of a peaceful coexistence with the humans and the other races.

"Nii-san?" Taiga looked up. He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed his brother's entrance. "You wanted to see me?" The stitches in his forehead would be out in a couple days, and the bruise on his lip had long since faded. He had, though, aggravated the partially dislocated shoulder that had started with an attack from the former King (hadn't Taiga been shocked when he learned who the raging, resurrected Fangire had been) and been worsened in the brothers' duel, and had only recently been allowed to ditch the sling. Taiga hadn't come out of the fight with the Neo-Fangire without his own share of injuries, but the sight only made him feel guiltier for what he was about to ask of his brother.

"Have a seat, Wataru, this might take a while." As Wataru sat down next to him, Taiga pushed photos of the old documents towards him - the originals being too delicate and too precious to take with him. "You know things have gotten dangerous for me. And things are only going to get worse from here. What I've found will help keep me safe and help protect you from certain elements, though it may put you in a more vulnerable position to others."

"What is it, Nii-san?" Wataru asked, not a hint of trepidation evident in his voice (which was the exact opposite of what Taiga was feeling).

"Hundreds of years ago, the Checkmate Four had a fifth member, the Knight. While the power of the King is inherited through bloodline, and the bearers of the other three titles are chosen by the powers themselves, the Knight is appointed by the King. His or her duty is to act as the King's personal bodyguard, protecting him and his heir. The title was discontinued in the mid-fifteenth century, after my great-grandfather was betrayed and killed by his own Knight. My grandfather and my father refused to appoint Knights of their own because of this betrayal.

"You said that when you tried to take the throne from me, it was to take the target off of my back and put it on your own. If you're still that determined to protect me, then maybe..."

Wataru nodded. "You're suggesting I become your Knight," he said simply. He seemed more pleased at this idea than Taiga himself was.

"You would gain some protection from this; any attack on the Knight is considered by Ancient Law to be an attack on the King, and any Fangire loyal to me, or at least smart enough to realise that tangling with the both of us is a bad idea, would leave you alone. We'd be able to sense each other's location, and you'd know when I'm in danger. Plus, you'd get a significant power boost. It's dangerous, though. Not only would you have the obligation of following me around, our life forces would be tied together. If something were to happen to me... you would die as well. And that part of the connection is one-way, so you'd be the only one at risk. I don't want to put you in that kind of danger, but it's your choice."

Wataru was relieved, to say the least. The recent attacks had had him worrying for Nii-san's safety constantly. If this could help his brother safe, he was more than willing to do it. If only Nii-san was as enthusiastic about the whole thing.

"I'll do it."

Nii-san smiled sadly. "Somehow I knew you would. But you have to be certain. I don't want you to die because of me. You're my younger brother, and it should be my job to take care of you, not put you in more danger for the sake of my own protection."

Wataru put his hand on Nii-san's shoulder. "Then we'll watch each other's backs. The times coming are going to be dangerous for both of us, so it's best that we take what measures we can to be as prepared for them as possible."

Nii-san huffed, a wry smile on his face. "You're too damn wise for you age, Wataru," he said, sighing, "Very well. There's a ritual we'll have to perform, and then that will be it. I don't think I could trust anyone else with this responsibility, anyway."

Tuesay, February 10th, 2009

A little under two weeks later, they were ready. It had taken a while, but they finally found all the rules and procedures of the Knighting ritual, and got everything set up in Castle Doran. Their mother was present, as were Shima-san, the Arms Monsters, Kengo, and Shizuka (who was adapting slowly to the revelation of what Wataru had been up to for the past year). The Nagos were absent only because they were still on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Megumi e-mailed them all pictures every day, and it was odd seeing Nago-san in a bright Hawaiian shirt and lei with such a serious look on his face.

A circle of crushed glass was made on the floor, accompanied by runes drawn around the outside with black charcoal. The runes were in the ancient language of the Fangire Race. Taiga and Maya could both read them, and the others would be learning soon enough. The phrase written around the circle was 'Bind, Search, Protect'. Both brothers stood in the centre of the circle, facing each other, while everyone else stayed up against the wall, as far away from the circle as possible.

Taiga held a sharp ceremonial iron dagger in his right hand. Wataru held out his own left hand, palm up. "Do you swear to devote your life to my safety?" Taiga asked, "Do you vow to give your life in service to your King?"

Wataru held his brother's gaze steadily as he replied: "I swear to devote my life to your safety. I vow to give my live in service to my King."

With those words, Taiga held his hand out and cut his left palm with the dagger, over his King Mark. "By blood we are bound." He moved the dagger and cut the palm of Wataru's outstretched hand. "By blood we are one." And he placed his cut hand, palm down, on top of Wataru's, so that the wounds touched and the blood intermingled, blue and red.

At that moment, energy surged between the two brothers, appearing as a whirlwind of violet light. Everyone else gasped as they could feel the power in the air.

Wataru and Taiga were both overwhelmed by the intense energy filling their bodies. It coursed through their veins and penetrated into their bones. It only lasted five seconds, and then the whirlwind dissipated, and both brothers collapsed, clutching onto each other's hands with iron grips.

Maya hurried over to her sons. "Taiga?" she called, "Wataru?"

When Wataru opened his eyes, he became aware of his brother's presence in a way he hadn't before. It was like a sixth sense, not just the sound of Nii-san's breathing or the hand that still held his. He couldn't describe it, but he knew exactly where Nii-san was, and that he felt just as disoriented as Wataru. This feeling seemed to pull them together, like an elastic band had been tied between them. "Nii-san?" he gasped.

"I'm fine," Nii-san assured him breathlessly, "Just... Give me a second."

Shima-san and Jirō came over to help them up. When Taiga's hand was removed, they all watched in fascination as the cut on Wataru's healed, and an ornate emblem of a knight chess piece and a rose appeared in its place.

"It's done," Maya said simply, "The Knight rises again."

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

The old records did not do the bond justice, Wataru decided. He was able to tell exactly where Nii-san was at all times, aware of every shift and movement. That alone was distracting, but Wataru found that he could hardly bear to be apart from his brother anymore. Too much distance between them made him twitchy, worried that he wasn't close enough to protect Nii-san should he be attacked. After the ritual, Wataru had returned home to rest, only to turn around only half an hour later and head straight back to Castle Doran, where Nii-san now lived. Nii-san admitted that he felt the same anxiety to some degree. The only time any distance didn't bother them was when they were both within the castle walls, so it was decided that Wataru would move in as well, though the scrolls suggested that the tightness of the bond would ease over time, when they were more used to it. He couldn't part with his father's house, however, so he kept his workshop there and continued his violin repair business, with Taiga more often than not sitting and watching. They filled those hours with talk, chatting about the years between their first meeting as children and their reunion.

The first Fangire that dared attack Nii-san after the ritual never saw it coming. Since D&P was working on finding a replacement energy source, Nii-san was putting restrictions on how often a Fangire was allowed to feed on a human. He would have banned it altogether, but such a dramatic change to millennia of tradition and a heavily entrenched way of life would cause uprisings amongst the Fangires, resulting in far more human lives being lost. Nii-san had no choice but to move slowly with his reforms. Outright forbidding Fangires to attack humans would have to wait until the new energy source was found.

Of course, Nii-san had to follow his own rules, so after nearly a whole lifetime of never eating actual food, he was going to have to rely on that to keep his strength up. So Wataru, Shizuka-chan, and a recently-returned Megumi-san had taken it upon themselves to introduce him to as many different cuisines as possible, so he could figure out what he liked and disliked. The first stop, of course, had been the Mal d'Amour Café (where Jirō had joined them just to have his first taste of Master's coffee in decades), and they'd since been to various other restaurants.

They were just leaving a Chinese restaurant in a quiet area of town when Wataru felt it. The sense that something was urgently wrong, and he needed to act now. Without any conscious thought process, he had Zanvat Sword in his hand, had moved around Nii-san, and deflected a beam of energy that had been aimed at his brother's back. The Fangire responsible for the attack had been stunned, allowing the brothers enough time to transform and fight while Shizuka and Megumi got the few stray civilians out of there.

During the fight, Wataru and Taiga discovered an advantage to the bond that had never occurred to them before. Their instinctual awareness of each other's movements allowed them to fight even more seamlessly than they had in past battles, moving in perfect synchronisation. The Fangire was destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Weeks afterwards, the attacks on Nii-san hadn't stopped, but they'd slowed considerably. Word had spread that the Knight had risen, and of the quick and brutal deaths of those who crossed him and the King. Alone, each was formidable. Together, they were so far unstoppable. Their human friends weren't targeted as much, either, anymore. Few Fangires were stupid enough to think that there was anywhere they could hide once the Checkmate Brothers, as they were called by some, were on the warpath.

Now they sat together at Mal d'Amour. The café was otherwise empty, as it was near closing time. Taiga was smiling as he sipped his coffee (Jirō had made sure he tried it, and Taiga had been hooked since) while Wataru talked on about the day he and Shizuka had met.

"She's stuck with me ever since, I don't know why. But I'm glad I decided to venture out of the house that day. I think she's still hooked on trying to be my 'mother'; have you noticed that she gets kind of territorial when Kaa-san's around?"

Taiga's reply was cut off by the sound of the bell above the door ringing as it opened. "Ah, sorry," Master apologised, "I'm afraid we'll be closing soon."

The two women paid him no heed, the elder marching straight to the brothers' table, pulling a girl who had to be her daughter behind her. "Which one of you is King?" she asked breathlessly.

Taiga and Wataru shared a startled glance; Wataru readied himself to pull his sword out of whatever non-space it currently resided in. "I am," Taiga declared, "Who are you, and why do you ask?"

The woman tugged her daughter forward. "This is my daughter, Yamamoto Chōko," she said, "She is the new Queen."

Glowering, the young woman held up her hand, displaying the mark of the Queen for all to see.

THE END

So that's the end of 'Knight'! As you can probably guess, next I will be focusing on the new Queen.

A note on how the Checkmate Four (Five) are selected:

The King title is inherited through bloodline.

The Knight is an optional but recommended position chosen by the King.

The Bishop and Rook are chosen based on their skills in the necessary arenas. The Bishop handles administrative affairs and coordinates with foriegn Fangire groups (to be fully explained in 'Bishop'), and the Rook is the commander of the Royal Fangire Army - Taiga's father just didn't have need for one and left his Rook to his own devices.

The Queen, however, is simply a female Fangire of acceptable age relative to the King, and biologically well-suited for childbearing. Mio's headstone says she was born in 1989, so two to three years after Maya's powers were taken, but because the powers were ripped from her instead of Maya simply dying, it took them longer than usual to find a new Queen, and by then Mio had been born. Since Mio, the last Queen, died before she could give Taiga an heir, the new one would have to be of an appropriate age.

So here's the preview for 'Queen': (EDIT 10/27/2014: This preview no longer matches how 'Queen' goes down - I wrote the preview before starting the fic)

Chōko glowered at him. "Just so we're clear, I'm only doing this because of this stupid mark on my hand."

"Same," he muttered. Why on Earth did Mio's replacement have to grate on his nerves so badly? He never realised how lucky he'd been to have had Mio as Queen, someone he could truly love. If only she was still alive... Of course, then he and Wataru would probably still be at odds over her. Thankfully, his little brother seemed already smitten with the music store clerk he'd met last month.

"So, what, we just have the wedding, I pop out a kid, and my job's done, right?"

Taiga sighed. That was the only part of the Queen's role that still applied to the times; there was no need to eliminate Fangire who'd fallen in love with humans anymore. "I suppose it is." He wasn't looking forward to being married to her. Now he sort of understood how unhappy his own mother had been to be married to his father.

This will probably be a three-chapter fic, however, I will be posting 'Rook' and 'Bishop' before the second chapter due to the timeline continuity of the Knightverse. There will be also a Wataru/OC fic in there somewhere, as hinted in the preview above.