Fanfic / The Moon and Polaris

Raising a finger, Iori said, "I'll agree to be your teacher on one condition."
[Kiki’s] eyes widened, "Yeah? Yeah?!"
"Once you’re a capable fighter, you leave me alone."
"Deal!" She grabbed his hand with both of hers and shook it vigorously. "I ain't leaving your side until then, Mr. Yagami! From now on, you're my teacher and I'm your student."

— The Moon and Polaris Chapter 2: The Agreement

The Moon and Polaris is a Self-Insert Fic of The King of Fighters franchise written by PKLucky and can be read on AO3, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad.

It follows the story of aspiring martial artist Kiki Cruz who travels to Japan from the United States to be mentored by three-time King of Fighters champion Kyo Kusanagi. However, she runs into Kyo's rival Iori Yagami instead and decides to gently convince him to be her mentor instead.

The fanfic started off as a series of one-shots (aptly named The Moon and Polaris (One-Shot Collection) which can be read here) which were then rewritten into one continuous story.

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This fanfiction includes the tropes:

• Anger Born of Worry: In the one-shot Interrogation and Infiltration, Kiki found Iori in the NESTS clone laboratory. She was less than pleased to realize that he made no attempt to let her know he was still alive after the KOF '97 tournament.
• Characterization Marches On: The one-shot Training: Day One had Kiki come off as someone who threw in the towel easily as opposed to the Plucky Girl Kiki is in the official fic.
• Crash-Into Hello: How Kiki and Shingo first meet in Chapter 7.
• Comforting Comforter: At the end of chapter 10, Iori puts a blanket over Kiki after she falls asleep in the middle of fixing his amp.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Some elements in the original one-shots are much different than the continuity of the official fic. Even some of the early one-shots had a lot of weird elements in comparison to the more recent ones. One example of this can be seen in the one-shot Mine where Kiki and Iori just recently started dating after KOF XIII.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Kiki had forgotten about Kyo and their first meeting at a local arcade. In chapter 18, it's a subverted case in that Kiki did remember. It's just that she thought the Kyo she met as a kid and Kyo Kusanagi were two different people.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Iori and his bandmates fit into this. The vocalist Yuta is Sanguine, the guitarist Aya is Choleric, the drummer Shun is Phlegmatic, and Iori himself is Melancholic.
• Friendly Rivalry: This is what Kiki and Shingo's relationship is starting from chapter 15.
• Genki Girl: Kiki. To quote Iori: "Just looking at you is exhausting."
• Ms. Fixit: Kiki as seen in the appropriately named chapter 10, A Quick Fix (and continues into the beginning of the next chapter) when she fixes Iori's broken amp.
• Older Than They Look: Kiki. Iori takes notice of her young appearance and is taken aback when she says she's 24 years old.
• Plucky Girl: Kiki. Nothing stops her from achieving her goals. Not even evil organizations bent on world domination.
• Prone to Tears: Kiki in the original one-shots, as noted by the author in the author notes in the first chapter of the full work.
• Rocky Roll Call: We get this in Chapter 6 when Iori, Kiki, Kyo, and Shingo run into each other by chance on the street.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Iori and Kiki. Iori is the level-headed, cold mentor whereas Kiki is the energetic, enthusiastic pupil.
• Sexy Mentor: Iori to Kiki.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Iori denies an intimate relationship with Kiki to his bandmates in chapter 11.
• Smarter Than You Look: Kiki. In chapter 10, Iori expresses his shock when she tells him not only did she go to college, but she also studied engineering.
• Teacher/Student Romance: What Kiki and Iori's relationship ultimately becomes. This is a variation on the trope where the student is older than the teacher and both of them are adults.
• There Is Only One Bed: Subverted in that Iori immediately offers to sleep on the couch while he lets Kiki take his bed when they start living together.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: We get an inversion of this trope in chapter 16 with a flashback that starts off with Kiki showing symptoms of her deteriorating mental health due to college then transitions to her and her friends watching the KOF '96 tournament together.