A/N: I had a request for some more Hinami and Winter content, so it's coming up right after this one. A continuation of Hinami's harmless shenanigans :P
Enjoy!
Hinami had always found her time maintaining her equipment relaxing. It was just something that let her calm down and forget about all the things that had troubled her that day. Just to sit alone with the weapons that had gotten her out of countless confrontations with beast and man alike, and just be silent.
Only the soft hum of the smooth stone running across her blade, or the light tap of a hammer dinging against steel. Luckily for the faunas Beacon Academy was outfitted with the latest in manufacturing and fabricating equipment, highly accurate three dimensional plasma cutters, 3D printers, and of course you're regular saws and hammers and what not. However what Hinami was most thankful for was the quietness of said machinery, there was no blazing roar of a furnace, or the grinding rumble of a saw, no heavy clangs of hammer against metal and anvil, right now it was all quite. The printer only made slight clunking sounds every now and then and the plasma cutter was a faint skittling sound.
Hinami's weaponry didn't require larger heavier machinery to be created, the printer could spit out five of her throwing knives in an hour and had her daggers need replacing the plasma cutter could sculpt them out of a block of alloy in just the same time. However the round edges of the handle required some precise hand work.
All in all it was a rather easy process and a process Hinami had enjoyed many times before on her own. Now, however, she was hardly alone anymore, her teammates had this strange ability to never leave her by herself for too long. Even if it was just a short 'hello' they were always close by.
And on this occasion Hinami had the pleasure of her fellow archers company, she was running low on arrows and it had been a while since she had made her own, Trinity wanted to make sure she was still able to do so.
"So, how long do you usually stay down here for?" The archer asked, etching a stencil onto a block of steel.
"Not long actually. I usually just come down and plug the specs into the printer and wait for it to do its job."
"Well what do you do while you wait?"
"Ah just up keep. Sharpen my blades, make a new scabbard. Whatever needs doing I guess."
Trinity nodded, continuing to draw another stencil beside the previous one. "And today?"
The archer looked up and nodded at the sheets of paper resting in front of teammate on the work bench.
"Oh this? I've been thinking about a new design." The faunas explained, her wolf ears twitching. "Gonna see if I can get a prototype done."
"It's not gonna blow up in your face is it?" Trinity asked with a grin.
"No!" Hinami replied sharply.
"It's not gonna blow up in ours is it?"
"Trinity!"
The archer laughed sweetly, "I know, I know. I trust you."
Hinami looked at her teammate as she moved back to her bench before turning to her own and mumbling softly so that Trinity could just here, "Thanks."
The two girls worked in silence for the next ten minutes or so, Hinami pondering over her schematics chewing on the end of her pencil and angrily crossing out designs from time to time, her teammate failing to hide her grin. Then Trinity suddenly announced that she had left something back at their dorm and excused herself, leaving Hinami alone.
The faunas usually came to the workshop either early in the morning or late in the night, depending on classes and expeditions. Beacon left the shops open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The Academy was more than aware that weapon maintenance was seen as therapeutic for many hunters and huntresses, teachers and students alike, and as such kept the doors open permanently.
It was currently almost midnight so Hinami wasn't expecting any other students to come by, perhaps a third or fourth year student might come past, Hinami knew quite a few of them because of this, but currently she was alone. She went back to her work, glaring at the dozens of sheets before her, she was meant to start on the model tonight, but it didn't look like that would happen.
With a frustrated sigh she dropped the pencil from her grasp and leaned back in her seat, stretching out her back and arms with a yawn, her ears flicking involuntarily. The faunas blinked away the fatigue and looked over the room, she had decided to forsake the schematics for tonight and try again another time and would have left and gone to bed but Trinity left her bow and quiver behind. She didn't think it would be a good idea to leave her teammates weapons alone.
Hinami got up and strolled over to her teammates work bench, glancing over the stencils of arrow heads on the sheet of alloy. She picked up the metal and was surprised by how light it was, hefting it in her palm she turned it over and read the serial code stamped into the bottom corner, recognising it as the code for a high, strength-to-weight ratio alloy. Hinami was confused as to why Trinity would use such a light alloy for her arrowheads, some weight would be required for a balanced and effective arrow, but then the faunas realised they would be filled with dust before use, which would account for the missing weight.
Hinami returned the alloy to the bench and turned to the bow resting beside it. Hinami looked at it for a moment, contemplating her thoughts before looking around the room and out the door before picking up the bow. Holding it in her left hand the faunas wasn't too surprised by its weight, she turned it over in her hands and inspected the groove in the centre that marked the spot where it broke into two.
She grabbed it with two hands and twisted, there was a solid click before the string detached from one end and was reeled in at the other, two blades extended out and Hinami was now holding two blades slightly larger than her own. A bow she couldn't work with, two daggers however was right up her alley.
Feeling at home Hinami easily flipped and twirled the swords in her hands and through the air, marvelling at how similar it felt to her own daggers. She paused and held them in front of her, a thought coming to her. Trinity hardly ever used her bow in this way, even if the enemy came close she managed somehow to select an arrow, draw and fire before an attack was even attempted, that or she simply stabbed her enemy with the arrow itself.
The one time Hinami had seen Trinity use the swords had left her stunned, the girl could really fight. Which was an unbelievable understatement to the archer's ability, Trinity was really good, so good that Hinami wasn't sure whether she would like to be battle her. Letting the thought pass Hinami returned the bow to its true state, clicking the two pieces back together and marvelling at how the string almost magically returned back to place, taught and ready to go. She'd have to ask Trinity how it did that.
Hinami was about to place the bow back down when she spotted an arrow resting peacefully on the bench. Looking at the arrow she found herself contemplating once more, before she took yet another look around and out the door. Trinity wouldn't be back for at least five more minutes, the faunas convinced herself and picked up the arrow, turning to the target board at the other end of the workshop.
Hinami knocked the arrow onto the string, rested the arrow head against the bow and placed her finger over it holding it in place. Hinami had never used a bow before, so of course she had no idea what she was doing, she was acting purely based off what she had observed from her teammate. Hinami lifted the bow, took aim and pulled on the string, well she tried to but underestimated the resistance in the string.
"Wow." Hinami twanged the string, "Trinity must be ripped." Hinami mumbled, a new appreciation for Trinity's strength coming to light.
Bracing herself this time Hinami pulled back on the string, pulling her shoulder blades together to make it a little easier. She looked down the length of the arrow, the point lined up with the target, she stayed in that position until her arms began to tremble before loosing the arrow. She thought her aim was spot on but didn't get to watch the arrow fly as a sharp pain suddenly lanced along her left arm.
Yelling out in pain she dropped the bow and clutched her arm, inspecting the area to determine what had just happened to her. Swearing freely she moved her hand away, finding a bright red, vertical mark along the inside of her arm, the area stinging madly.
"Weren't you ever told not to touch things that aren't yours?"
"Oh shit!" Hinami jumped, spinning around to find Trinity watching her with a grin, arms folded smugly.
"I uh-I was uhm-" Hinami stuttered, holding her injury behind her back.
"Rookie mistake." Trinity began, bending over to pick up her bow. "Should've worn an arm guard."
"A what?" Hinami questioned, rubbing her arm as her aura worked to dull the pain.
"An arm guard. It stops the string from whipping against your arm."
"Is that what that was." Hinami mumbled.
"Yep."
"Right." Hinami scratched the back of her head. "I guess I should apologise."
Trinity laughed, waving it off. "No it's fine. It was quite funny." She laughed again, replaying the memory.
"How long were you standing there?"
"Long enough." Trinity replied with a grin.
Hinami looked away, still trying to hide her arm.
"Are you okay?" Trinity asked sincerely.
"I'm fine." Hinami replied sharply, causing Trinity to chuckle.
"You know, if you want I could teach you."
Hinami's ears twitched at the offer. "Really?"
Trinity shrugged. "Well why not? It'd be nice to have an apprentice."
Hinami's eyes twinkled at the prospect. "I dunno though."
"Well why not? You're a damn good shot."
Hinami looked at her partner in confusion before Trinity nodded towards the target board. Hinami turned towards the piece of wood, finding the arrow embedded right in the centre of the targets head.
"When do we start?!"
A/N: Feel free to review and leave suggestions
