~NRK~
He watched her bring it into existence once more, the large blue rapier trembling in her hands as electricity ran up the blade.
His eyes narrowed as his Sharingan sprung to life, watching the flow of the weapon.
Was this an Enchanted Blade? Or was it some organic matter that Bradley had created?
He hadn't thought about the homunculus in a while and was worried about all the events that happened in succession that took his attention away.
They had to be related, Obito surmised. Otherwise, it was too coincidental to be random circumstance.
He was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of wood impacting steel, Velvet's hold on the weapon had given out and the electrified rapier now sat against the floor before it broke into motes of blue light.
Her eyes winced at the burns decorating her hands, the wounds healing slowly to her eyes before she saw only raw skin as the reward for her attempt.
"Velvet," Obito started, catching the Faunus's attention. "Is there a limit to your Semblance?"
"I… I don't know," she admitted. "I can remember everyone's weapons perfectly and use my Aura to make them but it takes so much that I can't hold it for too long."
"Does it depend on the size? Complexity? Just the fact it's other people's weapons?"
"…" she looked confused, a frown pulling at her lips. "I-I… I've never really checked… I'm sorry."
"Velvet, it's fine," Obito reassured her. "Remember, 'It's better late than never', so learn from this and keep moving forward."
She looked up at him, that admiration in her eyes, before nodding.
Obito had an idea.
"Do you remember the sword that was in my hands that day?" he asked, getting her to jump before slowly nodding. "Try projecting that."
She nodded once more and held her hands out, eyes closed.
She remembered the length, about six feet, taller than Obito with its handle included.
The blade's color was black with a red edge and weird eyes on the side that confused her.
A sword glowed into being, simply the color of her Aura, brown. Then, it gained the details.
The handle with its red leather, the guard was circular, and the blade followed.
His Sharingan traced every step of the process, the frame was first, than the engraving. Every part of this process was done by an outline and then it formed the real world details.
She held it in her hands, looking down the blade in her two-handed grip and breathed slowly as she took test swings.
Then she shocked the youngest of the Branwen siblings.
"Tsubame," she held the blade straight in front of her, the stance eerily similar to Obito.
"Wai-!"
"Otosh- Ah!" she lowered the slightest centimeter, pushing back with her right foot that pushed her momentum forward in a high speed push before she brought her blade down and crumbled.
Obito was by her side in a second, watching as she winced as his sword copy dropped out of her hands.
"Velvet," he held her up with one arm as he watched her winces slow to a crawl. "Listen, that technique you saw me use."
"Under no circumstances can you use that technique," she stared at him in confusion before red crawled up her face. "Velvet?"
"Ah!" she jumped out his arms before shuffling away. "Sorry!"
He shot her a raised brow before shaking his head and getting to his feet.
"I see, I'd like to make the same attempt," he said, catching her attention. "We've seen me attempt to create my blade from my Semblance but it's so undefined." He looked down at his hands.
He remembered what Coll had said about his energy balance and how this 'Enchantment' wasn't supposed to be physical like this.
The word made him think over how the technique was supposed to be used and he reminded himself to retrieve his blade from Qrow, the older Huntsman having told him that he had the weapon.
That said, Obito wondered if his Enchantment followed the same rules as the other magic.
Did repeated use make it stronger? How could he tell? Was it by the definition in the weapon? He didn't know, this was still a fresh thing.
He held one hand outstretched in between him and Velvet.
"Havoc," he muttered, getting a shiver from the Faunus girl as black flames spiraled into existence in the palm of his hand.
Obito's eyes burned red, the Sharingan watching the weapon and repeating the steps of Velvet's weapon creation.
Black outlines began to form the weapon, the basic structure, and then it formed all the intricate details first.
Then he filled in the rest, the nodachi forming in its entirety.
He looked it over, the weapon now far more detailed than before.
So it was more like that than forming it on the spot?
Interesting.
What else could he use with this technique?
~NRK~
"Welcome back, buddy! I know last night wasn't exactly… great," Larry said with a grin as Obito and he walked out the station.
"It's what it is, Larry. Speaking of, I guess the others took off early."
"Yeah, real urgent call some time ago and I told 'em I'd take you under my wing for today!" he grinned at the junior cop. "As a matter of fact! We're going to be visiting a buddy of mine who works at a firm nearby."
Obito raised an eyebrow.
Larry had an interesting amount of friends it seemed.
He sat down on a couch with Larry at his side, the senior cop grinning like a loon as the young woman served them some tea.
"I wasn't expecting for Larry to actually have a junior!" she said, her voice high pitched and slightly nasally. "Oooh! Have you been on any big cases yet?!"
"Oof," Larry winced as he looked over to Obito who shrugged and answered.
"A little bit of one, we ran into a terrorist and his cell during the past three weeks," Obito's answer caused her to drop her jaw.
"NO WAY!" her eyes gleamed. "That sounds so cool! Did ya nab the thief coppa?" she shot him a salute.
Cute. "Sadly, no. We came up short both times with no leads to help."
"Aw man," she pouted before turning to the man behind her at a large desk. "Nick! You should have been there! Your super detective skills would have been an ace in the hole!"
"Maya!" she jumped at his ticking eyebrow. "How about we actually work on the files for today's case, huh?"
Phoenix 'Nick' Wright and Maya Fey, two of Larry's friends who owned a law firm that was under the girl's belated sister's name.
Maya was a short woman of 5 feet and two inches with a rather bubbly persona. She was dressed rather… strangely, what with her customized purple outfit that sported a large purple coat and small lavender kimono underneath with prayer beads around her neck.
Maya herself had a fair complexion and hazel eyes that went with her just as dark brown hair with a bun at the top and the rest of her hair falling down her shoulders.
Nick, on the other hand, was everything Maya wasn't, a lawyer in a blue suit and red necktie, where Maya was short, he was tall, about 6 foot 4 inches. Where Maya had long dark brown hair, he had shorter black hair with it being a flat angle off the top of his head ending in straight spikes. With blue eyes versus her brown ones, they made a strange pair.
"Oh?" Larry leaned forward. "You guys gotta case? Wanna get the cops involved?!" Larry stood at attention with a salute. "Officer Larry Aqua Butz is on the case!"
Maya's giggles and Nick's nervous laughter were all that greeted his action.
Then the phone rung, the quartet blinked in unison as Phoenix opened his FlipScroll and held it to his ear.
"Huh?" Larry blinked as his Scroll rang, the man flipping it into his hands before placing it against his ear. "It's me."
As the lawyer took his call, Obito sat back and stared outside at the clear sky.
His mind wandered to Coco, the event at the museum still bothering him.
What happened to her?
~NRK~
She got up that morning with more energy than she expected.
It was one of those mornings, it seemed. Those days where you felt like everything was going to go well and be easy.
She grinned as she shot out of bed and into her bathroom.
The shower was quick and efficient. She turned it off before looking down at her nuptial body and became aware of the fact she didn't bring her towel.
She had to be at VCS by 8:00 am, it was currently 7:15.
She could have just stepped out, it was her room and she didn't hear Ochre. The woman must have been gone already.
She looked down at her hands as Aura flowed through her body. Her form flashed before the water fell off her body immediately, leaving her dry but moist.
She grinned, she'd never thought about doing that! She could take her showers as long as possible!
She stepped out of the tub before looking at her mirror, the glass fogged up.
She raised her hand to clear away the fog before stopping in thought.
Could she do what she'd done in the shower?
Well! No time like the present!
She pressed her hand against the glass, the feeling of condensation against her palm and the smoothness of the glass mixing in her mind.
She brought her Aura forward, the light brown glow forming over her extended hand.
Earlier on in combat school, Aura control hadn't exactly been her best subject. From the teach's mouth, Coco's Aura was quite large, ridiculously so. She had a hard time controlling it at times, usually, it acted like it had a mind of its own.
Over the years, that'd changed though. She got better control as the years passed and she had a decent amount of control now. Enough so that she could push her Semblances for half an hour before tiring.
Her focus on the mirror was ironclad as she slowly let out her Aura, the power pushing the thin water veil away at a constant pace.
She grinned.
Then it went wrong.
To her very eyes, her Aura flashed on and off. The brown glow coming and going like a flickering light that kept her rooted in her spot.
She winced at a buildup of Aura passing down her arm, eyes closed as it reached her hand.
Completely unaware of her Aura's change from brown to a thick cover of bright white before it changed back to brown. Neither did Coco see the girl in the mirror's eyes burn white, a 'P' pulsing on her head as she held her hand to the mirror.
The glass was the victim of her loss of control, her Aura spread out rapidly in a pulse that cracked the glasses, the wall behind it, and shook the sink.
Her eyes were wide as she looked at the damage, mind causing her to rescind her hand as she noted how bad it was.
She'd need to control herself more if she survived Ochre killing her for destroying her bathroom.
Said result was punctuated by a piece of glasses dropping and shattering on the floor.
… She had forty-five minutes.
~NRK~
She walked into class, mind whirling at the morning stuff.
"Ah, Coco," Tanjirou rose from his seat and flagged her down.
She shot him a smile as she walked over and took the seat next to him.
"How's it going, Burns?" she leaned back in her seat as more people came into the classroom, Inosuke's muscled form barging through the door to the seat on Tanjirou's other side, opposite Coco.
"Nothing much, I was thinking of visiting Obito today," he said as he shot Inosuke a nod that the wild boy returned. "I wanted to work on his swordsmanship if he wanted to."
"Hmm, eh," she thought it over for a bit before shrugging. "Obi's the type to focus and overachieve, ya know? I can bet he'll do it."
"That's right, Obito was like that a lot," the boy with the burn mark on his forehead nodded. "He was well-rounded as far back as I can remember."
"Hm?" she looked at the swordsman more intently. "What was he like as a kid? I look at him now and I'm wondering if it was a before and after situation and he was more of a happy-go-lucky dude back then."
Tanjirou sweatdropped. "He's exactly the same." He admitted, getting a snort from the fashionista. "As far as I knew him, he's always been the diligent sort, if a bit standoffish."
"Yeah, I can see that. If what you're tellin' me is true, he seemed like the type to learn nothing but skills in his downtime."
Tanjirou smiled at that. "Yes, thought his cooking is to die for."
She rose her eyebrow at that as Elizabeth entered the classroom with Dalia right behind her.
"Alright class!" the silver-haired woman called for their attention. "Today, we'll be focusing on Aura exercises and technique, please choose your partners so we can move onto the simulation room."
~NRK~
She'd asked Tanjirou due to being more familiar with the teen and getting more info on kiddy Obito.
"Remember, against the wall and practice pushing your Aura!"
The two nodded to Dalia as they went against the rocky cliff face, the other students spreading out all around the place.
"Hmm," Tanjirou hummed for a minute as he pressed a hand against the rock. "Slowly…" he breathed in.
His Aura, a bright blue, pulsed from his hand in a foot wide circle around the extended limb. The pulse didn't do anything at first but, with each passing second, the rock cracked into smooth lines.
Receding his hand, a sun-like crater was formed, a pushed in circle with squiggly cracks spreading out from it.
"It's always a sun, how do you do that?" Coco gripped her chin as she observed his work. "Seriously, you call it Water-Breathing but I can't help but imagine you as 'Sunny', call it a feeling."
"Hahaha," the boy chuckled as he stared at the rock. "My Semblance works with breathing, it's why me, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, are so similar. I don't know any other way to breathe like they do."
"Huh, it is what it is, I guess. Now," she turned to the rock wall. "Let's hope I don't repeat this morning," she said as she pressed her hands against the wall.
"Huh?" Tanjirou said with confusion. "What happened?"
"Tanji," she tightened her gloves with a determined frown. "If things go exactly how I think they are, you'll see in a second." She placed her hands against the rock face.
She didn't disappoint as she brought her Aura to the front, Tanjirou jumped away from the large crack in the wall.
He blinked, staring at the devastation before slowly nodding.
"I see…"
"I don't know what's wrong with me," she said with a pout. "I never had trouble like this before except for when I was younger."
"Younger?"
"Yeah, I had a lot of Aura. We're talking A LOT," she emphasized. "I didn't have enough control."
"So, you believe this can be attributed to a loss of control?" Tanjirou frowned.
"… I don't know," the fashion expert admitted with a shake of the head. "This all started happening after the museum thing."
"Do you know of what might have caused this?"
"Nah, I even asked Obito but all he said was I was acting strange," she frowned, mind foggy from her morning. "I don't remember anything, either, which is worse."
"Hm," Tanjirou closed his eyes in thought. "Whatever it is, I think Obito might be your best bet." She looked at him. "When I was trying to figure out my Semblance, he was able to look at it once and point stuff out. Perhaps, whatever this is, he can also give some insight?"
She shot the boy a puzzled look before shrugging. "Can't hurt. Now, come on, maybe I can figure out some of this with more Aura control practice."
Tanjirou nodded and, once more, the two pressed their hands against the rock face.
~NRK~
She'd been in deep thought when the bell rung and the clamor of student's feet, screeching chairs, and chatter, brought her back to reality.
"Make sure to practice in the meantime!" Dalia shouted as she waved some of the students off, a few coming up to the teacher to speak.
Coco blinked twice before getting up, picking up her weapon, and leaving.
She'd made it out the room and came face to face with Liz.
The two stared at one another, neither's face baring any emotion, before they nodded and walked past each other.
'Glad to see where we stand,' Coco thought as she made for the combat school's entrance.
With the explosive end to their relationship, she and Elizabeth hadn't been on speaking terms all year. Even with this whole mess going on, Coco didn't remember a single time where she and her ex interacted.
Or maybe she chose not to remember, Coco could hold a grudge at times. With relationships, it was just so much more painful of one.
She made it to the entrance before having to stop at a passing student with a stack of Dust in his arms.
"S-Sorry!" he shouted as he hurried past, the dust jars in his arms jingling with every shift in his step.
She nodded him off, the image of the Dust flashing through her mind.
"Ah, right," she knocked her head a bit. "I'm going to need more bullets."
With the recent tango with Torchwick and the manor incident, she'd had to try to make an order that she simply couldn't afford and had been running on offhand bullets from Ochre.
Gianduja, her purse/mini-gun, was such a hungry baby at times but she was hers. This girl could shoot targets from 1km with ease even with how big and unwieldy it was. Couldn't get that with most weapons unless they were sniper rifles or marksmen rifles.
She'd gone through a slew of weaponry before choosing Gianduja, favoring ranged weaponry had made the choices plentiful but also hard to narrow down.
She'd wanted power, high fire rate, and precision, handguns had been out and so had most of the longer-range weapons.
Then she had seen a machinegun in a movie and her heart had been set.
Throughout her internal rambling, Coco's feet took her to her location, Dust til Dawn.
Going in, she closed her eyes and breathed.
She never really told anyone this, especially not Ochre, less they give her weird looks and make a couple assumptions about her sexual kinks.
Being around Dust, the sight, presence, etc, made her feel at ease.
At one point, she'd thought it was because of her Semblance but searching the web had given her zero answers for her sitch. She just liked Dust, it seemed.
When she was around it, she felt like she could take on the world and still make it home in time for a dinner date.
But, of all the types, one always stood out to her.
Hard Light Dust. The most expensive stuff on the market next to Gravity Dust.
That stuff was the top of the top, Dust that was manufactured to be a potent Dust that could form structures.
She didn't have the cash for it, not even close. Atlas made most of the stuff anyway and importing from there to here was too much for her allowance to consider.
So she stuck to looking only if she ever saw it but could at least afford the other Dust.
She waved to the shopkeep before going around the store.
She brushed her hand past the Fire Dust, the heat from the crystallized flame warming her hands through her gloves. The Ice Dust did the opposite.
Lightning Dust made her feel excited while Wind Dust made her feel lighter. Dust had an effect on her that she could never explain but she wasn't complaining.
She looked at the small section of Gravity Dust, hand hovering over the glass and felt her Aura flash, startling her.
She stepped back from the case, the Dust glowing worryingly as she looked at her hand.
She frowned at the tan glow, shaking the limb but seeing no change. She looked back at the Gravity Dust and blinked at the dimmed glow.
She walked over slowly, eyes stuck on the case for any minute changes before standing in front of the casing.
Something thrummed in her, was it the Dust? She'd never had Gravity Dust do this to her before. She turned back to the shopkeeper then back to the Gravity Dust.
"Hey, uh, Keep?"
She made it home, breath wild as she pressed her back against it, wondering why she felt so… guilty.
She was buying Dust for Brothers' sake! What would she feel uneasy for?!
She looked at the bag in her hand, Gravity Dust in powder form. Streamline, cut and ground.
"Ochre!" she shouted into the home, eyes moving from side to side for nail or hair of her sister before sighing. "Okay! Okay…" she breathed in before standing up and walking to her room.
They had a medium-sized, two-story home. Kitchen, living room, and Ochre's room on the first floor. Coco's room on the second, with an empty guest room, attic, and personal bathroom.
She took the stairs in front of the doorway and arrived at her room in quick order before entering and locking the door.
There was a table in the corner of her room, shavings, bullet casings, and design ideas, sat on its surface.
She set all that to the side before taking out the vial of Gravity Dust. The purple powder had a slight glimmer to it as it sat in its vial.
She sat down on a chair and just… stared. She watched it.
She wasn't sure what she was looking for.
She just watched it.
She looked at it straight on.
She thought over an idea, a dangerous one.
She closed her eyes and focused on her Aura. The power flashed over her form as she opened her eyes and stared at the Gravity Dust.
She sat up straight, the distance from her and the Dust half a meter as she set it up in the middle of her meter-wide table.
She raised her hand out, Aura bright, and watched.
The Dust glowed brighter at intervals as she lowered and raised her Aura. She didn't understand. Was it her Semblance? She wasn't even using it though.
She blinked as she activated it… it didn't activate. It didn't do anything…
Her Scroll was in her hand in seconds as she remembered Tanjirou's words.
Time for a second opinion.
~NRK~
Obito's ride with Larry was coming to an end as 4 o 'clock was closer and closer.
"Glad we could meet Nick today, it's good to have a lawyer that has your back."
"They were amicable," Obito responded as they exited the police cruiser. "I would like to ta-"
His Scroll rang, the item buzzing in his pocket.
"You can answer it, dude," Larry said as he twirled his keys on one finger. "You're basically done, anyway. Make sure to wear a coat!" The older male walked into the police department with a whistle.
The former shinobi looked up, the grey clouds above getting thicker and darker as time passed.
Obito pressed on the button on his Scroll causing the image of Coco to appear as the adopted man pulling his coat out the back of the cruiser.
"Coco?"
-Obi, ya know how I asked ya if I could come over? Could you come over right now?-
~NRK~
He knocked on the door, Coco having given him the address to her and Ochre's home.
She was already there, opening the door with barely a second between him knocking and her answering.
She looked… fine? She didn't look bothered at all, which made this little visit all the more confusion.
In a casual outfit of a shirt and small shorts, she seemed unchanged from last he saw her.
"Is something wrong?" she gestured to him to come inside, the cop closing the door behind him when he did. "Coco?"
"Obi… how are ya?" she shot him an unsure smile as she led him up the stairs in the middle of the home. "Sorry about this but Burns said you were good at figuring out Semblances."
His eyes narrowed at that. "I'm confused, is something off with yours?"
"Yeah… I think that's a good way of putting it," she said as they got to the second floor and entered her room. "This has been breaking my brain the last hour or so."
"Hour?" Obito shot her a raised brow that caused her to blush.
"Ya see… I didn't even know that much time had passed before I called you," she frowned as she said that. "I don't get like that, ever! So I'm not sure what's up but I think it has to do with my Semblance."
Obito observed her for a moment before speaking. "Show me." She nodded and turned around to the table where a vial of Dust sat.
His Sharingan rotated to life as he etched what he was seeing into his mind and felt everything freeze.
'Why does Coco have TWO SOULS?!' he thought incredulously as she settled by the table, his doujutsu deactivated by the time she ushered him over.
The two lights that flowed throughout her form bounded about her body, one tan and the other white, the white one latching on at times before letting go but both spiraling about at her nape.
He did as gestured to and watched the vial of Dust with Coco.
She told him what had happened and he cupped his chin as he looked at the vial.
"Are you sure it's not just the Dust?" he asked but felt like that was a dumb question with what he'd seen.
"It's not, not unless all the Dust in the shop came like this," she held her hand out to it, the Gravity Dust glowing brighter as she brought her hand closer. "This never happened before and right as my Aura started acting up, this comes along."
There was a crack of lightning, causing Coco to jump and look out the window as small sprinkles of rain began to fall against the glass.
"O-Oh!" she shrieked a bit, the girl closing her eyes as she turned away from the rain. "S-Sorry, little jumpy."
"It's fine Coco," Obito said as he leaned forward a bit. "Hmm."
He eyed the vial and thought back to the museum and Coco's strange behavior back then. Was this a part of that? What did it mean?
The Runes on the cloth flashed in his mind. Did that cloth have something to do with this? The item had been cut in twain but he'd seen part of it sink into Coco's flesh.
"Any ideas?" she asked him and Obito grunted at that.
"So you just raise your hand to it, yes?" she blinked at the question before nodding. "I wonder if this reaction will be the same with me."
He wasn't sure if this was a magic situation but only assume the refined Dust would respond to his presence as well.
Obito raised a hand, Coco watched intently as he did, the two keeping eyes on the Dust as well as Obito's proximity to it.
He reached out slowly, the Dust didn't seem to do anything from a meter away and so he reached more.
More and more he reached and the Dust looked to have nothing happen to it.
Then he was within a foot of it and the usual Dust glow began to die.
The two teens stared at the result as Obito took his hand away and its luster returned.
"Oh,' she seemed relieved, a smile breaking out onto her face. "Was worried something was wrong with me for a second-"
"Coco," Obito said simply, the girl shooting him a worried look at his frowning expression. "Did the Dust respond any kind of way to the shopkeeper?"
"I… I don't know," she said, one eye closed in thought. "I don't think he had Aura though, I can usually tell."
Obito filed away the fact she had slight sensor abilities for a later date. "I…" he didn't finished the sentence.
Did he tell Coco? Was this something he needed to? She was fine without being on this side of the world but he was worried about if this would affect her way of living.
He'd keep this to himself but he'd ask Dalia the next time they met.
There was a flicker of the lights in the room, the lights waning as the rain continued to hit the window.
Then the crack of lightning hit with a large boom!
It reverberated around the room and Obito frowned at both the lights going out and the feeling of another body latching onto his.
He looked down at the shadow holding onto him, the light was out but the shining silver and brown eyes that looked at him shocked him before he noticed her breathing.
He kneeled with her iron grip on his person.
"Coco?" he said quietly, watching her eyes catch his. "What's wrong, Coco?"
There was the sound of a shuddering breath as those eyes moved slightly up and down before they closed.
"Lightning," she got out before breathing in and pushing her face into his chest. "I've always hated it, still do and I don't know why. Too loud I guess."
He frowned, this was beyond a little fear, she was terrified of the weather.
Her grip tightened. "I never understood it but it makes using Electricity Dust difficult."
Obito's frown was full-blown and blatant were it not for the lack of light.
Then, something lit up the room. A purple glow spreading across the room that seemed to mute the lightning.
The two blinked as they looked at the Gravity Dust, the glowing vial brighter than ever before.
Coco was transfixed before another shock of lightning sent her hurtling back into Obito's chest, the Dust's glow brightening as she did.
"…" he understood a bit now, whatever her magic was, it was causing more light to fill the room.
Light. The opposite character to his Darkness derived from Pertho.
"Nah, it just goes like a flash…"
It wasn't that she couldn't figure out an element, she'd already had it.
It was Light element.
His eyes moved to the Dust. It was also affecting the Dust, so did that mean Dust, the crystallized nature items, were magic?
But, Obito couldn't affect it from this distance while Coco could. Did that mean her Light element was stronger than his Dark? Or did it mean she simply had a longer range? Was it because of the amount of light in the room when they first started?
Obito looked down at Coco, the girl tucked into the left side of his chest with a hand covering an ear, before turning back to the Dust.
His hand reached out, the light never dimming as he did so, so he sent out some of his magic.
The lights dimmed for 10 seconds or so before going back to their brightened state.
He looked to the window, rain pelting the pane, before sighing.
"Come on," he ushered Coco towards her door, the girl latching onto him still. "We should get you as far away from the lightning as possible."
He could feel his marks returning, becoming more detailed and realistic, as he protected her from her fears.
He watched the pasta boil as he grated some cheese. The feeling of the marks on his cheek, his Sin, thankfully gone.
"… Thanks," Obito heard from behind him as he cooked. "Wasn't expecting you to be in an apron with clothes on and I'll just stop talking, damn that sounded way better in my head," Coco said to the room
He rolled his eyes a bit as he finished grating and took the pasta shells out of the boiling water. He threw some salt into the boil before taking a cup of it out and emptying the rest into the Adel house sink.
"Quite."
"So you do cook, hmm," she said nonchalantly, tapping the table in the kitchen. "I guess that makes sense, I can make some rice and fish but I'm not that good at other stuff." This raised his curiosity.
"What do you eat for breakfast?" she blinked at the question before humming.
"Ochre either makes it or I just boil half a dozen eggs, that's not really hard," he nodded as he poured the pasta, some heavy cream, cheese, butter, and milk, into a medium warm pot. "See, I couldn't Mac from scratch like that, box all the way."
"That's far more unhealthy," he shot back before Coco's smug tone reflected his words.
"Obi, honey, I look good," she emphasized the last word. "You may not see it but I've done my absolute best to the best damn looking thing in the room."
"Hm," he shrugged causing her bravado to deflate.
"I will never understand how different we are," she started, getting him to frown as he finished the food. "You're, like, the most mature person I've ever met outside of my sister and you're not even that much of a stuck up guy."
"I've had to mature far faster than most people, Coco, that's not something anyone should be envious of," Obito explained getting a curious look from the girl. "I'm basically an old man in a teenager's body."
"Hmm, you're not that bad," she said catching his attention. "Yeah, you're more of an adult than most guys we know but you sort of look like, I don't know…"
"You want to," she said getting the male brunette to freeze a bit as he stirred the pot some more.
"I don't…" he trailed off, the frown from earlier deepening. "It's a simple matter of, I can't, Coco. What I want is something that's too far beyond me at this point."
She frowned at that. "Aren't you making this complicated?" he looked back at her with one eye.
"I mean, if I think about it, I don't really think about what I'm doing in the big sense," she shrugged. "In two years, I'll be in Beacon and I don't think that's going to change much… Or, I'd think that if we didn't have our recent… situation."
Obito had to give what she said a second of attention before grimacing, she meant the incident at the manor.
"Have you found your answer, yet?" he asked as he shared out two plates of macaroni. "Or are you still looking?"
"Still, thanks," she took the offered food and utensils. "No, no answer, but like I was saying that whole situation sort of put me in a different place."
"Nowadays, it feels like I can only relate with our group," she said, moving the food around a bit. "I've been hanging with Velvet, I'm also thinking of taking her beret but that's for later, I've been hanging with her and I can't help but think we relate on a different level now."
Obito nodded as he ate.
"Weirder, I think I also feel that way with Tanjirou, Lizzy, and Inosuke, along with all you guys, the coppers," she bit into her food and blinked. "Damn, that's good. I feel like I understand you a bit more than usual."
"So you've noticed," Obito stated instead of asked. "Yes, for most of us, we've all likely gone through a situation like at the manor." She frowned.
"Ya know, Tanjirou always felt like a different person to me before but I see why now and he made his choice way earlier," she said getting a nod from Obito. "What did you go through?" she eyed him.
"I know you're a lot stronger than us, by the way," she said as Obito shrugged.
"I'd be more worried if you were rejecting everything that happened but, yes, I'm hiding my strength, it's part of the reason why I can't do as you all do."
"Back to that, huh? You say that but why not?" she closed her eyes in thought as she sucked on her fork a bit. "You seem like you never had a childhood, why not start now."
"I-" she cut him off.
"Yes, yes, lost time but you still have the chance, just relax a bit, alright?" she asked as their gazes met. "Just, let loose a little, enjoy stuff like this more," she gestured to the entirety of the situation before blinking.
"Wait a minute, it's not raining?" she got up and opened the blinds in the kitchen, the light shining in as she looked at the lone sun parting the clouds. "Well… that's not too bad."
'It isn't,' he sighed mentally as the light shone on Coco just right, the purple bandage-like marks under her cheeks bringing him a round of nostalgia.
He felt like he was becoming a deplorable person little by little.
That was a worrying thought.
~NRK~
He looked him over, frowning as he failed to find the weak point.
"Greed, remind me, how had this young man taken you down?" he asked the homunculus as he removed a scalpel from the brute's chest, the entire diagonal scar now stitched up.
In an hour or so, that'd be gone.
"He, he, he, he, couldn't tell ya but it was amazin' all the same," the man in question said as he laid down on the surgery table. "How am I lookin' Doc?"
"That's the thing," the doctor said as he looked over the data. "I don't know, your skin becomes more impervious to damage of different types over time."
"You said he used a sword for the entirety of your battle, so how was he able to fell you with a single stroke?" the man overlooking Greed racked his brain for answers.
"I believe, arhhh, that I may have a couple of answers," came a call from Greed's left, catching the doctor's interest.
"Is that so Wrath? Please, do enlighten me."
"Of course, Dr. Watts," Bradley, Wrath, said as he flexed his new arm, the organic material still recovering from his loss. "The boy has a strong Dark affinity."
Arthur Watts stopped pulling off his gloves as he listened. "What does this have to do with anything… Wait," he narrowed his eyes.
"Did one of you fail to get away with all the Dark Stone Mist?" Bradley nodded. "He consumed it?" Arthur asked, baffled by such a development.
"Yes, I believe so," the homunculus stated. "His power could only be such, that dragon-like visage is hard to miss."
Altogether, Arthur rounded on Bradley, eyes glowing a pale yellow as he pressed his hand against the older-looking man's forehead.
He strode through all the memories, each one more confusing than the last.
"Children?" He looked offended. "My creations bested by non-magic users and children at that?"
"You saw it, no?" Wrath asked, getting the scientist to nod slowly. "He did not die before I faced him again, the effects of Dark element on Aura users is supposed to be deadly but he's still alive."
"Yes… He is," Watts said as he studied the memories once more. "He's not a magic-user, not completely, at least. He has to have some sort of heritage like the ones on the island, diluted but potent, and his Dark element had to help in his resistance to your weaponry." Bradley nodded.
"What do we do about him?" Wrath asked only to be answered by Greed.
"You do nothing! He's MINE!" the now frowning man said as he glared at the older-looking male. "I'm going to see what he can do when he's NOT on death's door! I'm giddy just thinking about it!"
"Oi, Quack!" came the call of a man that Arthur was at odds of becoming familiar with. "You done touching all these guys?!"
"Mr. Deidara," Arthur said in a harsh tone. "Do you mind? We're discussing subjects."
"Yeah yeah, your feelings, who's sleeping with who, it's whatever!" Deidara said as he strode further into the crazy man's lab, eying all the easily breakable equipment. "The Queen wants your help with something."
"Does she?" Arthur narrowed his eyes on the grinning blond, the man in some purple clothes, pants, and a sleeveless top, walking around barefoot. "Does it have to be you who brings me this news?"
"Sorry I look too much like a lady for ya," the blond with a combover shrugged with a mocking smirk. "This place is a sausage fest lest you like ugly or gods."
"I'll keep that in mind," Arthur muttered as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. "We'll talk later, so focus on recuperating, we have another temple to search in days' time." he said to the homunculi in the room.
Watching Arthur leave, Deidara turned to the two men on surgery tables.
"So, any info I can get on our mutual enemies?" Bradley let out a breath as he laid down fully on his gurney. "Oh come on, we're a team! Don't you know teamwork makes the dream work?"
"Fuck you and your teamwork!" shouted Greed as he crossed his arms with a grin. "I'm taking this target for myself."
"Hm?" Deidara smirked.
"Let me know so I can inform ya where he is," he said, getting a frown from Greed. "Listen, I'm really good information gathering, trust me."
Bradley rolled his eyes at the obvious ruse as he laid on his gurney.
"Oh yeah? Then tell us something interesting," the aggressive homunculus said with a raised brow at Deidara's grin.
"Sure!" he rubbed his hands together. "That's easy, how about the fact that there's a roaming magic-user somewhere on Sanus."
~NRK~
She was dreaming again, she thought.
She shrieked at the sound and vibrations of thunder around the home as she ran.
"W-What's going o-on?!" she screamed as she stumbled, another vibration rocking the castle. "What's happening?!"
"Miss Otilline!" came the shout of Clarissa, the maid running forward, grabbing her hand, and dragging her elsewhere. "You must leave!"
She allowed the maid to drag her away.
She couldn't do anything else, after all…
There was some large beast shooting lightning from its mouth outside.
Its face was a mix of a baboon and lion as its mane of yell fur shook with each spark of lightning.
She was horrified at the visage as a snake waved around from its backside and shot black smoke at a building, the portion it hit melting.
She was scared, a Nue. It was a NUE!
What was a Nue doing here?! Worse yet, where were the rest?
Where was the pack?!
Nue were odd creatures, they didn't roam around in anything but packs with a larger leader.
This one was obscenely large, it had to be the leader, so where was its pack?
She'd actually begun running when she heard a sound. A sound like shrieking metal and storms.
She dared to lo- it was staring at her.
Her mind blanked, its bulging red eyes pulsing as it caught her in its trap.
She heard lightning all around her, her breath was static and hurting her chest.
She hit the floor not a second later, her hands coming to her chest, as she convulsed.
Thunder scored in her chest cavity- No! No it didn't! This was all an illusion! Stop it! PLEASE!
That sound came again, like a thunderstorm of metal, as she saw the bright light from the window.
Thunder boomed, lightning crackled, and the light engulfed her.
~NRK~
Coco shot up with a gasp, the rain a skittering backdrop to her hurried breaths.
She blinked the fog away from her eyes, the darkness of her room setting her skin on freezing as she looked around.
Obito was long gone, of course, he had left after sharing out some food for Ochre and cleaning the dishes.
Their talk had been mind-opening, to say the least, knowing more about him was nice as he'd been the one getting to know her beforehand.
So she'd gone to sleep this day happier than usual, so why was she having these terrifying dreams? She… she knew to not call them nightmares, for some reason, and so was confused.
She was a little sweaty but not enough to warrant a shower but was worried about falling asleep.
She reached for something on the nightstand by her bed, her Scroll, and retrieved the item.
She hesitated before opening it and going through Kingoggle, the best searching engine throughout the four kingdoms.
She tapped on her search bar and looked down the list, finding her interests peaked once more on the 'Huntsmen/Huntress retirees' one but stopped.
The image of that thing was still clear, as was the phantom pain of electricity in her chest, and she typed it in.
'Nue.'
What she got was old Mistralian folklore about such beast born from black clouds? That didn't sound right, sounded more like Grimm.
She frowned as she looked through all the info.
She looked into specific locations, possible appearances, old interviews, and the like.
"?" she blinked as she looked at one specific video. "What's this?"
~NRK~
That finishes off chapter 17!
We get more information on Coco's situation as things are thrown in motion, past plans are ended or so we think. Coco opens up Obito a bit more, the reincarnated war monster isn't sure where he's going with Coco and he's actually more open to it than he should.
Obito's childhoods have always had too many overarching obstacles, obviously, to be normal. The Third Shinobi War in the Elemental Nations and Kojiro in Remnant, where his father groomed him for battle and Obito growing up in a tribe of plunderers and murderers.
Obito Uchiha is a man trapped in time, which is rather fitting as he's the holder of a powerful space-time technique.
Words in Chapter: 7.7k+
~NRK Out~
