Hello there, currently, I'm fighting against my father, who was going all out. While I pretended to struggle, and that is a simple reason as to why.
FLASHBACK
As we arrived back home, mom began to spoil us as much as she could. Wrapping us in blankets, getting us snacks, and even playing with us.
While my Ghira stared at us with worry. I couldn't blame him for feeling this way. We were gone for a few months, and Khali was trying to spend as much time as possible.
But I then noticed that he stared at me, and I could tell that he wanted to talk to me. So, I made an excuse to leave, and soon followed him.
Once we had some privacy, Ghira knelt down and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Son, I have failed you, and your sister."
I wanted to ask why, but I kept silent to hear what he wanted to say. "I've trained you to protect yourselves, taught you how to speak to powerful people, yet, I never taught you to be aware of dangerous people."
"I wanted you and your sister to have a childhood, where you could still laugh, smile, and even enjoy the light this world has to offer." He then sighed and looked at the floor.
"Instead, you saw the darkness. The harsh reality on what the humans do to our kind, and to each other." I felt his grip tighten, but I didn't flinch.
Instead, I placed my hand on his shoulder. The second he raised his head, he saw a kind smile, one that showed no anger, only sympathy and understanding.
"You didn't fail us, you didn't expect this to happen, these are things you can't control. It's just the flow of calamity." I said and soon looked at where both Khali and Blake were at.
"Both Blake and I knew what we were doing, yet, we encountered many things. Pain, fear, greed, and violence." I said and began to walk back to them.
But I stopped and turned to look at Ghira with a bright smile. "Besides, both Blake and I would have to face reality at some point."
Ghira himself smiled sadly at my words, but chuckled. He stood up and walked to my side, and placed his hand on my head.
"You seemed to handle this well. I'm proud of you." My tails and ears flicked at his words, and I laughed.
"Be prepared though, I'm going to train you until you can no longer feel pain." He said and the both of us walked back to Blake and Khali.
'If only you knew.' I thought, and soon the four of us were happily spending time with one another.
FLASHBACK END
That was three days ago, now, I was fighting against my father. Who was trying to get me to make a mistake.
Yet, I parried each and every one of his attacks. I had to admit, he wasn't strong as mt mother and grandfather, yet he could fight well.
'Brat, I'm going to say this once, protect this family. He knows what he's doing.' Was all he said and stayed silent.
Hearing gramps say that, I knew that Ghira had earned his respect. Giving me another reason to protect this family.
"Never let your mind wander, you will be left open!" I heard Ghira say and I saw that his hand was reaching out for one of my tails.
However, I reacted in return by having my tail coil around his entire arm, and pulled him forward.
Where I thrusted my entire palm forward, slamming it against his chest. His aura shined to protect him, but the blow was enough to send him sliding backwards.
"Good, your body is a weapon, use every limb at your disposal." He said and soon knelt down and acted like an animal.
He then pounced towards me, his entire body stretched to it's very limit. And his claws were aimed towards my head.
I chose to kneel down instead of facing him head on, and grabbed a fistful of sand. As he flew over me, I spun my body around, and used my tails to prevent me from falling.
Where we could face one another, as he flew by. He saw me give him a wink, and I threw the sand at his eyes.
He was able to recover from his pounce, but he was now blinded. However, he didn't let it bother him, instead, he got into his stance and began to listen.
I on the other hand began to use my illusions, trying to mess with his sense of direction. Each one rushed towards him, with me running from far behind.
Yet, he didn't react, even when the illusions struck him, he didn't flinch. Yet, when I went to strike him, he was able to grab my arm and slam me onto the ground.
"Smart to use your traits, but you forgot about one thing." He said while pinning me under the ground with one arm, while the other was rubbing the sand from his eyes.
"And what could that be?" I asked, pretending to struggle from his grasp.
"We Faunus have our instincts." He said while pointing to his head, and I understood why.
"They didn't have the bloodlust." I said, and felt Ghira stood up, opening his eyes after removing the sand.
"Exactly, both faunus and some humans have instinct, which can tell us when and where the attack will come." He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
As he opened his eyes once again, full with hostility. The air changed, and I didn't feel suffocated as before, but I could feel my instincts telling me to show caution.
Soon the feeling disappeared, and Ghira smiled. "You've experienced it before, and judging by how you are standing means that you are strong."
I relaxed and nodded my head. "Sienna was the one who kept exposing us to it, and it wasn't easy."
'But when it came to my gramps and mom, that's a different story.' I thought to myself, the two of us then began to make our way inside, and we saw Kali and Blake with one another.
"Hey you two, done for the day?" Khali asked us, and she made her way to Ghira, placing a kiss on his cheek.
"We are, Aiko is improvingly at a rapid pace. I wouldn't be surprised if he surpassed me." He said and nuzzled his head against hers.
Blake on the other hand soon ran towards me and hugged me. "Aiko, now that you're done, can we go outside?" She asked with a hopeful look.
"Sure, just let me shower and change." I said and ran towards the bathroom to shower, I even brought my clothes with me to spend less time to change.
Once done, I made my way to the front door, where I saw Sienna and Ilia waiting for us. Both me and Blake rushed forward to hug them.
Blake hugged Ilia, while I hugged Sienna. The two of them hugged back, and we soon face both mom and dad. "Remember you two, don't stay out for too long." Mom said and waved goodbye.
"Sienna, make sure they stay out of trouble." Dad said with a knowing smile, Sienna only smirked and ruffled my head.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he behaves." I then swatted her hand way, already annoyed that she was messing with my hair.
In the end, we all began to walk through the city of our home, greeting the faunus that walked through the streets.
As we walked, we saw that my family were already constructing better homes, ones that were made of stone.
When did this all start?
FLASHBACK
"Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, it must be hard to manage the entire island and making time to spend with your family." Said my mother.
"There is no need for formalities, we have both been a part of out son's lives." Said dad, he then extended his hand.
"We are friends, and it's only fair that I listen to my friends." My mother smiled and shook his hand in return.
"Now that we have sorted our matters, I wanted to ask if it was alright if we helped with improving the living situation." Hearing this caused dad to widen his eyes in shock.
"Well, I was expecting something else. But wanting to improve the homes of the people was not one of them." He said.
My mother and gramps then looked at dad with confusion. "What… did you expect us to help you with?"
"Well I… expected you would ask permission to train the people." He said and looked a bit sheepish.
My mother only chuckled, hiding her mouth with a fan she had made. "That is understandable, the guards that patrol the streets haven't seen any violence."
"That… we can both agree on." My dad said with a tired look. "Only a few hunters were assigned as guards, and with the lack of materials, we don't have much weapons."
"Then how about this, you allow us to train your men and improve the city, you will have our assistance with whatever you need." Said my mother.
Hearing this, my dad smiled and agreed to her proposal. "Then we have a deal, may this new partnership flourish until the end of time."
FLASHBACK END
And that's how we have better homes, cleaner streets, and more guards patrolling the streets.
As for weapons, those take time to make. So the guards were given swords and shields. Some decided to stick with a spear, while others chose to use a bow and arrow.
As for the docks, they began to work with the aquatic faunus to change it from wood to stone.
I could see them already placing wooden frames to act as guides to where they'll build the stone pillars.
"So, where do you want to go?" Sienna asked us while walking through the city.
"I want to go to the market, I want to find some new books." Blake said, holding my hand and Ilia's.
"What about you Aiko, anywhere you want to go?" I pretended to think for a second, but I soon smiled.
"Let's go to the beach, maybe we can find something interesting." Sienna and Ilia looked at each other, both looked hesitant, but nodded in agreement.
"Fine, but we head back as soon as the sun begins to set." Hearing this, both Blake and I smiled and began to drag them to the market.
Along the way, we greeted both the people, and my family. Who worked with one another with ease.
Things were slowly improving in this city, albeit slowly, but like the saying goes in my old world. Rome wasn't built in a day.
And seeing that this place was improving bit by bit, is worth it. After arriving at the market, we explored through the stalls.
Trying to find anything interesting, yet, it was all the same, fruits, veggies, and meat. So, we arrived at one particular stall.
Tukson book stall. "Blake, Aiko, I'm glad to see you two are up and about." He greeted us with his same warm smile.
"Tukson, did you get any new books yet?" Blake asked with hope in her eyes, her ears twitching every few seconds.
"Sorry kiddo, nothing yet. But don't worry, I'll let my favorit regular know as soon as I get new books." Blake then sighed but smiled in the end.
"Okay, thank you." Was all she said before we all left towards the beach. Leaving Tukson behind, who was waving.
"I still dont understand why you always go to that stall, you know there's nothing new." Sienna said, but Blake didn't seemed mad.
"I like books, and I want to know if I could find something new." She said while kicking a small pebble.
"But we're too far from the mainland, it could take months for the next batch of books to arrive." Ilia pointed.
"So? I have all the books back home, by the time I finish those, new ones will arrive." Ilia couldn't refute Blake, our home had many books.
"Anyways, let's go to the beach!" Blake and I ran forward, surprising both Ilia and Sienna.
"W-wait for us!" Ilia shouted and began to chase us, while Sienna rolled her eyes and only jogged next to us.
By the time we arrived, we began to run. Laughing and building sandcastle's, while sometimes running in the water.
Time passed as we played and danced, we even played with other kids as well. We played tag, built sandcastles, and even made some silly sand drawings.
Yet, I couldn't help but notice one kid that was at the edge of the trees, staring at us with curiosity.
I wanted to approach them, but they took a step back, then ran before I could say anything.
I however wasn't one to give up, so I ran after them. After running for who knows how long, I soon saw the kid was hiding behind a tree.
When I got closer, I could hear them sniffling. I was curious as to why, but when I got a closer look, my eyes widen in shock.
(A/N) HELLO MY LOVELY READRS, I'm back after my long deserved break from this story, and we are now starting, the kingdom build arc.
What can you expect? Well, I'm not spoiling anything, so you'll have to wait and see.
Now, since I'm going to update this story, along with my Path to nowhere's Zenless zone zero story, it may be wonky, but no need to fear.
So for now, send them power stones, or I'll make sure I look up every pun, including the dark ones.
For now, peace!