It's a big fight chapter for number twenty, didn't see this coming but I'm not complaining.
In this chapter we're going to see Elena at, mostly, full power. I know how I made it sound last chapter and, thinking over their location more now, it was a little short-sighted.
Elena can't use her Semblance in the A.E.G.I.S. room, mostly for sportsmanship to encourage Obito. So I'll apologize about that.
Bright side, it means that we get references for her full power which I don't have an ideal story beat for yet, so that'll be in the wings for now.
Also, in this chapter, we're going to reintroduce the idea of 'Dust Mages' that the show made all about Weiss… even though it's said that VELVET was supposed to be a Dust Mage. *Shrug*
Once again, a vague as hell explanation and idea that I can use to great effect. So that's going to be explored this chapter.
Obito learns a bit more about himself and Kakashi makes some arrangements.
Let's get this chapter a rollin'.
~NRK~
The air was literally electrifried as he stared at her, her entire body being in his view, preparing for her next move.
He didn't have his sword, knives, shuriken, anything. He was weaponless so that meant he was going in old fashion with some taijutsu and Aura use.
His Aura compressed and sunk into his skin as Elena smiled at him before taking a single step forward.
He was off the floor and on the ceiling in half a second as a trio of circles shot up on his previous location before shrinking back into the surging floor.
'A sort of trap? A sort of Lightning Prison technique,' the cop thought as he stuck to the ceiling, staring into Elena's confused, blinking, eyes.
"That's not… Normal?" Olivia blinked as Obito stood on the roof of the room. "How is he doing that?" she asked out loud.
That didn't make sense! Where had this little ability come from?! His new physiology?!
Glynda stared as well, mouth dropped at the sight of Obito just standing on the ceiling.
Qrow hadn't said anything about this. Did that mean he didn't know? Did this boy come up with this all on his own? He didn't look surprised in the least by his little ceiling standing so she had to assume he knew what he was doing.
'Ozpin, this boy may very well be more interesting than either of us imagined,' the professor thought with narrowed eyes. 'What else do you have to show us, young man?'
She'd memorize it all if that's what it took. She'd capture every moment.
She wasn't letting this little action get away from her.
Kakashi crossed his arms, seeing the determined look on Glynda's face.
'It's gonna be interesting how he explains this,' the former Hokage thought.
Wall Climbing wasn't really something they needed to hide per se but coming up with an excuse for why they'd think of doing it was different.
Kakashi couldn't be seen doing any of what Obito was doing until the two of them had some training together. Which limited the albino by a bit since this also crossed out Water Walking as well, which was honestly for the best.
If people could learn to walk on water that's be harder to explain and the chase for Obito would never end. Plus, Kakashi technically didn't know how to do either yet anyway.
'So what are you going to do now?' Kakashi wondered as he looked at Obito crouch.
He knew what he was doing, showing them Wall Walking was simply a fact of the matter.
Obito wasn't going to be limited with these people, he was fine with showing this technique in particular because it was easier to get away with if asked. He'd come up with an explanation after this fight.
Crouching in place he shot towards Elena's location like a bullet, the Huntress an arc of lightning as she shot backwards, away from Obito's crash site.
Her eyes widened as he was already mid-lunge towards her before she swiped her hand horizontally in front of her, a surge of electricity shooting from the wall at their side towards Obito.
He adjusted his body to face the attack and held his arm out in front of him.
If his Aura decided to change nature on a whim then let's see what a purposeful need for it would do.
He'd breathed out in a sharp breath, Aura meant to pulse out in front of him to form a sort of wall of Aura to block the lightning.
What came out was a surge of flame and fire that propelled him backward but also cancelled out Elena's attack with an explosion of electricity and fire, resulting in thick black smoke.
The rush of black smoke blew her coat back but Elena didn't focus on that. No, she was focused on both Obito's little fire blast and the young man's location in all the smoke.
She'd not been trying to sense him in a while, not seeing the need for it in the past couple of days, so when she did try and got a blaring response on where he was… She might have flinched a bit.
'Uh!' she shuddered a bit at the feeling of Obito in the room, his position clear as day to her.
It was like she could just tell where he was no matter what but that didn't make sense. Her sensing specialized in sensing Dust…!
Her eyes widened. 'My hypothesis is becoming more likely by the sec—'
She felt that ping on her senses move across the room but there were also several pings coming in her direction!
She dodged to the side as blue fireballs shot past her on her right, her eyes shooting up as several more fireballs shot down at her.
She could see Obito from afar, the boy was jumping from side to side and letting off his flaming shots in rapid succession. Elena didn't stay idle either as she slammed her hand down.
Obito raised his arms as the segmented diamonds on them came to life with blue flames, a ball of fire held above his head to stop Elena's tower of lightning.
'I-It's heavy!' he thought as his feet began to imprint into the floor. 'Grrr…" his mental growl became a real one as he twisted his body to the side and tossed his entire being with it, the lightning crashing into the floor where he just was.
He didn't want to stay in one place for too long, not with this little electrical field going on.
Elena's pointer finger was out and pointed at Obito.
Obito's eyes widened as the first series of shots were already halfway between the two of them in a quarter of a second.
'!' he didn't think, he just moved.
And move he did as for the next five seconds he expanded his senses to deal with the woman's lightning quick Aura Shots.
'His reactions are better than I thought.'
When they had their first encounter and, by proxy, fight, his ability to fend her off while not trying to use his Aura had been commendable.
Though she wasn't exactly a close-range fighter, Elena knew how to divert and fend off any up-close attacks on her person but she wasn't a hand-to-hand expert in any meaning of the word.
That said, she was certainly one of the quickest in her team, second only to Peach, so Obito's ability to dodge and counter her back then had been impressive.
Now? With her Aura Shots being enhanced by Lightning Dust that allowed her to let them off at ten a second? He was downright incredible.
Five seconds and fifty shots dodged later, Obito was up close and Elena grimaced as she threw up a block at her side to stop his kick.
Said kick took her off her feet regardless and she rolled for half a second before tumbling back to her fe—
She bent backwards as a quintet of thin, small, flaming projectiles passed her face. Obito's eyes were focused as he held his five fingers out towards her.
She slapped the floor behind her with a single hand before flipping out of the way of the next few, eyes on Obito's every move.
'He's good at testing,' she thought as Obito's hand swung out diagonally towards her. 'Strong too!'
She held her left hand in front of her and peach-colored Aura spun, blocking the attack. She reached a hand for a Wind Dust vial before wincing.
No, that was likely to only make Obito's flames worse, she couldn't have that.
The young adult was lunging at her already and she moved forward to meet him, both their right arms coming up to slam into one another, Tempered the moment of impact.
A shock of dark purple shot out as they released their Pressures. Obito's eyes narrowed as Elena winced.
'What wicked Pressure!' she thought as the two of them shot back from their clash, the teacher wincing while looking at her forearm. 'Pressure is your will and being manifested and then pressed on others… but that was…'
It was outrageously potent, his Pressure. Was this another effect of his transformation? Or was it just like this normally?
She didn't have time to think as Obito swung his arm out, jumping back and angled at the floor.
She balked at the sight of three flaming, miniature, tornadoes shooting towards her.
'Yikes!' she slammed her hand into the wall behind her and electricity curled around her body as those tornadoes cut off her exits.
The resulting explosion tossed Obito's shoulder-length hair back and he snorted a bit through his nose.
'She's incredible,' he admitted in his head as the smoke cleared to show Elena letting out a long breath, unprotected but also unharmed. 'I didn't think Huntresses or Huntsmen could put up much of a fight like this.'
To be fair, he was holding back by not revealing his true trump card. His Sharingan and its abilities would have made this battle a formality at best but he didn't want ANYONE seeing that. Obito had too many questions as is and just as many enemies.
The less known about him the better but that didn't take away from his previous remarks.
Watching her use lightning like she did and, thinking back to when they first fought, how she used other elements as well… He felt like he was back in the Elemental Nations.
Not fighting to the death for a crazy plan to save the world, though he WAS working on something similar, but just training with a comrade.
He really hadn't used that word in a long time… It excited him a bit.
This battle felt… nice if he had to describe it. He was focusing on this match and, honestly, his thoughts on Coco felt kind of focused.
He'd need to talk to her, apologize… after the trip with Kakashi. Obito had too many things to work through before talking to the girl.
This battle put a lot of things into thought. This woman's strength, his own, his powers, how easily he could beat her.
His might.
He breathed in through his nostrils as his hands clenched and unclenched.
Yes… This was exactly what he needed!
He felt something bubble in his chest and hissed out a breath.
Elena blinked at the bright eyes of the man across from her, his dark silver eyes forming an image she'd never seen on Obito's face before.
Excitement. Perhaps the boy was a battle junkie? He was living a normal, sedentary, life. Perhaps battle was his outlet?
She didn't have any more time to think on it as Obito appeared in her face, that ten meter distance between them little more than paltry centimeters to this excited cop.
Her eyes were wide as she felt electricity course through her Aura and then her being as quickly as it could, giving her that power and reaction time to roll to the side as Obito's hand shot out, palm facing forward and fingers curled.
There was a loud 'creak!' and Elena stared at the bike-sized indention in the A.E.G.I.S. room wall.
'… Oh fuck.'
"Oh fuck," Olivia didn't think her eyes could go any wider at the sight of the damage Obito had caused. "That's… That's not good."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Why…"
"Because he shouldn't be able to do… that," Olivia said nervously. "This room is reinforced by Gravity Dust compression methods, it also uses Gravity Dust to contain and mitigate damage towards it and the surrounding rooms. No normal person, Aura be damned, should be able to do that!"
Glynda's eyes narrowed. "And that means…"
"That means this is likely to go all sorts of wrong," the doctor said with a gulp.
She scrambled as Obito turned to look at her, hissing out a breath that looked eerily more like steam.
'… New plan!' she thought before she rolled to the side and then flipped onto her feet. 'Time to end this exercise.'
She was going to need to immobilize him—Oh, were those fireballs?
She held her hand out in front of her, lightning spiraling out of her arm towards her palm to block the projectiles. She grunted as the barrage finished, the weight behind them heavy despite how slow they were.
'Are his flames slow because they're so powerful?' she thought as she shook her hand, the sparking around it dissipating. 'I need to refill.'
She slipped a Wind Dust vial from her coat and threw it down between her and Obito.
The explosive winds that shot out tossed both of them backwards, Obito slamming into the wall behind him with a gasp as he was pelted with vicious winds.
Elena, being more prepared for what was to happen, pulsed her Aura out as she too was thrown backwards. The effects were immediate as she turned her backward flight into a slow float where she stopped in the air altogether and just dropped to the area below.
She landed in a crouch from across the room and placed her hand against the floor, the electricity all around her surging towards it as she breathed in slowly.
The effects of Dust were vast and immeasurable. As a Dust researcher, she saw fit to try and expand on the uses of Aura and Dust interaction.
Turns out that the effects of Dust can be used by Aura but the very act required Aura control she'd spent literal years to attain. It also required use of specially-refined Dust that she led the charge on.
These people that use Dust not-unlike she were called Dust Mages, a coined term that referenced Dust's natural, fantastical, nature.
So with great control, even the most mediocre quality of Dust could be used by a Dust Mage in versatile ways. With Dust aligned to one's Aura on activation, Mages could control the elements, for a time, at least through the use of breathing techniques.
Her senses pinged and her head snapped up to stare at the space in front of her, a large building of energy coming from across the floor.
Her mind formed a plan and she leaped back as she used her other hand to pull out another Wind Dust vial from her coat tails.
She broke in quick order but focused the explosive winds that resulted from its destruction to swirl around her left arm.
She felt that mounting energy reach its peak and quickly threw her hands forward in front of her.
Wind and lightning sort of worked in tandem but didn't at the same time. You couldn't hit lightning with undirected wind as it'd disperse the lightning… But when both were activated by the same Aura and controlled just right…
Swirling electricity and spiraling wind formed in front of her, a glowing light green ball riddled with yellow sparks that she pushed her spiritual power into, her pink Aura slipping off her body into the ball in front of her in swirls of pink wisps.
An erupting heat blew her hair and coat backwards as the smoke cleared to reveal a large blue fireball heading her way. It was easily twice her height in diameter and lit up the room with its ephemeral blue glow.
'Oh!' she hadn't expected Obito to be able to build up his flames that fast.
Her own attack shot away from her hand, the wind crushing the area around her with the only reason she was still on her feet being that she'd Tempered them and stuck herself to the floor with Aura Extension.
Though that may have meant little as the resulting contact between the two attacks covered the room in a purposeful explosion of smoke, force, wind, and heat that hid both combatants.
The observatory rocked as the explosion hit the walls and the deck.
"G-g-g-geezz!" Olivia gripped the top of her console to steady herself the best she could. "She's c-certainly going at him!"
Kakashi grunted as he supported himself against a wall by the door leading into the room. "S-She's pretty p-powerful!"
"Indeed!" Glynda shouted a bit as she floated above the floor, the explosion dying down. "What's going on in there?"
Olivia nearly snarked at Glynda on how the professor was the only one NOT in disarray via Semblance use but ignored that to steady herself and look over the screens and monitors.
"Both of their Aura levels are… Hmm?" the fox Faunus breathed through her nose. "Obito's Aura signature is getting closer to Elena's?"
She coughed in a series of ragged breaths as she covered her mouth, her eyes watering slightly at the smoke covering her vision.
'Perhaps next time we should do this in an open location,' she thought as she felt her senses ping once more, Obito's Aura signature was getting closer.
Then she heard him and had to stop and blink at the sounds she was hearing.
There was one thump and a small series of clacks following it before these sounds were repeated in a constant rhythm that seemed just like… walking?
She looked further into the dark clouds of smoke that had resulted from their attacks as small dark blue lights seemed to grow larger as Obito's signature got closer.
Those clacks were getting louder and she felt apprehension begin to fill her being as Obito seemed to emerge out of the smoke like it was some kind of veil—
Her eyes widened as he broke through to stand in front of her.
"W-Wha?" she saw those dark silver eyes' slit pupils look down at her as his clawed, dark blue scale-covered, feet stopped in front of her. "What… What are you?"
His scale-covered arms led down into claws that were held out at her, a small glowing blue flame shining in the darkness and illuminated his being.
His white hair, the two black marks on his cheeks, the two horns on his head…
And the most startling of all… The large wings he now had... Or they should have been wings.
What was attached to his back were large, skeletal, dark blue wing frames. No membrane hanging between all the flight bones, leaving it the dark bones stretching from Obito's back to just hang in the air.
His eyes emanated a hungry light, that blue flame in his hands growing in size and, most likely, power.
"…" She didn't have much time to think and went with the first thing that came to mind.
The clouds around them were, in fact, electrified via Dust and her right hand pulled on that feeling.
She thought it was a sneaky maneuver and that he wouldn't notice.
She hadn't expected that little growing ball of flames in his hand to dissipate before his eyes looked to her right arm.
Next thing she knew, she was on her back with a slight groan of metal beneath her, Obito was looming above her with her right hand in his left's grip. His knee didn't seem to press heavily on her chest but she just knew that she'd not be able to move it, the boy's knee felt like some great weight that would crush her the first chance it got if she did.
He looked at her surging left hand.
She felt her attack halt altogether, eyes wide and skin pale as he dropped her hand. A pulsing mark over that part of her body that she looked at in horror.
A black chain-like tattoo seemed to stay over her skin and emanated a dark light that her Aura couldn't spread to. As if it locked that part of her body away from her very soul.
He looked down at her as the smoke seemed to curl around the two of them.
"Elena?! Elena, what the hell is going on down there?!" she heard Olivia's yells over the speaker and Obito seemed to as well.
He looked ready to go after them, those unaware of what was happening to him, until he stumbled, falling to his knees to hold his privates.
Elena knew one thing, right then and there.
Obito needed to be stopped before he did something he'd regret.
She couldn't think about her unprotected arm, she focused on her right leg that had slammed into the young man's privates. The leg Tempered over and she shot a kick out towards his forehead.
He caught it with one hand, eyes looking down at her to gl—
Her Aura extended, a small, blunt, point that she slammed straight in between his eyes.
Watching the smoke curl in the room unnaturally had been enough of a sign to tell them something had gone wrong.
Seeing Obito's body temperature rise beyond what could be called safe levels was the gunshot in the room.
"Elena?! Elena, what the hell is going on down there?!" Olivia shouted to no effect. "What the fuck is going on?! What's happening?!"
Kakashi and Glynda's eyes narrowed. "… Let me in," Glynda said before Kakashi could get a word in. "Olivia!"
"Alright, ar—"
The smoke seemed to still before slowly falling away normally, the event catching all their attention as all viewers rushed to the glass that observed the area down below.
What they found wasn't encouraging as Obito laid on the floor, seemingly knocked out, while Elena was holding her hand and seated a couple feet away from the young man.
"Dammit!" Kakashi was already out the side door, Olivia and Glynda right behind him, as he yelled. "Obito!" he shouted to the boy as he leaped over the stairs to land between both Elena and Obito.
"Elena!" the teacher sighed, letting her head drop slightly as her Faunus teammate slid to a stop by her side, eyes looking her over before landing on her right arm. "What…" she stared at the marking on her friend's forearm.
Said mark began to disappear as soon as she saw it, the chain dissipating into flecks of black light before shattering in a shimmer of light.
Flexing her hand repeatedly, Elena stared at it as her Aura slowly crawled up her arm.
"… I think we may be underestimating how strong he's becoming," Elena said as both she and Olivia looked to see Kakashi and Glynda, the former kneeling with the latter standing, over Obito. "I've no idea what happened, Olivia. He seemed like he was getting more excited as the battle went on."
The doctor looked over at Obito, the boy looking no different from when he'd entered as Glynda lifted the boy with her Semblance, with worry.
"Did something happen in that weird smoke?" Olivia asked and Elena's pink eyes narrowed in on Obito's unconscious state. "Elena?"
"…" the teacher got to her feet with little help from her partner, mind awhirl. "… I want to think on it and talk to Obito first, alright?"
Olivia frowned. "… What happened down there?" she whispered to herself.
Elena didn't have an answer… but she had a feeling that Obito's little transformation wasn't as simple as they thought.
~NRK~
Obito stood in the void that was… wherever this was, listlessly.
His mind was foggy, his eyes in a similar state as he looked around slowly. Sluggish and not all there.
Just as quickly as he saw nothing but darkness, blue flames spiraled around him. Capturing the young man in a ring of flames.
He groaned and held his head, eyes regaining some slight bit of consciousness as the sound of flapping filled his ears.
He felt a presence behind him but… he could muster the strength to turn around, head pounding as the flames surrounding him began to shrink in on the cop.
He saw them, grimacing as he shakily got to his feet, slowly walking to one end of the enclosing ring.
He wasn't able to get past it… what was goin—
Then there was a startled gurgle from behind him as the flames, the darkness itself, dissipated in a flash of white light.
"Honestly," there was a sad giggle at his side. "I guess I'm playing triple duty on keeping an eye on all three of you…"
"Right, Obito?"
He disappeared from that confusing but warm space.
The voice hummed as its figure stared into the distance of the white space, that black creature standing away from her growled fiercely, blue flames leaking from its mouth.
'I couldn't follow you two,' she thought as she raised a hand towards that winged reptile. 'But I'll keep you all safe when I can.'
Brown eyes narrowed as she banished that creature… for now, at least.
'Obito you've got a long road ahead of you,' she looked down at her pale hand, half transparent halfway up the palm. 'I hope I can be there for when you need me most.'
She could only interfere so many times as Shinigami-sama said.
She sighed as she clasped her hands at her back, walking back the way she came.
"Kakashi better not have something like this or my time here's gonna be really short."
~NRK~
His eyes snapped open as he shot up, chest bare, as he pressed a hand to his head.
"What…" he grimaced as a slight pain flared up around his temple. "What happened?"
He'd been fighting Elena, hadn't he? He frowned as he recounted the events leading up to this moment.
He was getting into the battle and then… nothing, really.
He stared at his black arms in confusion. "What the hell happened?"
The sliding door to his medical room opened and Obito's head snapped up to see Kakashi coming in, the latter's eyes widening at the sight of his friend being awake.
"Obito?" Kakashi asked steadily. "… Are you alright?"
"…" Obito shook his head. "I… Kakashi what happened? I remember fighting Elena but then there's nothing. I don't know how I got here."
"Ha… You and the rest of us… save for Elena, most likely," Kakashi said as he scratched his cheek, walking over and taking a seat on the chairs by Obito's bedside. "I'd like to know what happened as well."
Obito frowned. "We were by the back wall, opposite to the observation deck. I was… I was excited, I guess? I was feeling like it was the old days of sparring with you, Rin, and Minato-sensei again."
Kakashi blinked before chuckling a bit. "Well… That's welcoming. Sadly, it still doesn't explain what happened to you."
"I wish I knew, honestly," Obito said as a bing came out of Kakashi's pocket. "You're brother again?"
"… Oh…" Kakashi winced a bit. "No… It's my father, Jacques Schnee. Though it's only a text," Kakashi explained as he showed it to Obito.
"An itinerary?" Obito asked as he looked it over. "... How long is this train trip supposed to take?"
Kakashi looked the travel document over for a bit before slowly nodding. "I get the feeling I need to actually call Whitley and find out when this is happening. If it's sooner, we'll need to go and get some formal wear for this."
Obito's eyebrows shot into his head. "The most I have are some dress shirts and a kimono. The latter's for casual wear, though."
Kakashi scratched his cheek. "I didn't exactly come to Vale with any formal wear myself," he cupped his chin. "We'll need to find someone on short notice, though."
Obito remembered something. "Velvet," he said, catching Kakashi's attention. "Remember, Velvet's family runs a tailor shop."
Kakashi snapped his fingers. "That's right! Though… I have to wonder if they can handle two custom orders as well as do Mistrali make."
"Now's as good as ever, no?"
"You're right," Kakashi said as he got up before shooting Obito a look. "I'll be back."
"Take your time," Obito said as he laid back with crossed arms. "You know where I am."
His albino friend nodded and walked to the door only to let out a noise as it slid open to reveal a just as startled Elena.
"Oh!" she recomposed herself with a smile, Olivia right behind her. "Mr. Grey."
"Kakashi's fine," Kakashi said with a shrug and a raised brow. "What's the matter, Doc?"
"We're checking in on Obito," Olivia said, tail carrying a clipboard with some paper on it. "With everything that happened… We want to make sure that he's not beating himself up about… whatever happened," the Faunus said, shooting her friend an unamused look.
"Well… He's about as confused as you are," both women frowned at this as Kakashi scratched his cheek. "From what he remembers… he doesn't. He only remembers up to throwing those fire tornadoes."
Elena blinked at that. "Really?" she whispered with a slight sadness. "I get the feeling that's not doing him any favors."
Kakashi sighed. "I won't say it is, though he seems better than last time. Even if that's only on account of not remembering."
"Alright," Olivia had a fire in her eyes. "Then it's time to get a little more specialized!"
Kakashi chuckled before walking past. "I'm going to go and see Velvet about some clothes."
"She's in the garden!"
"Thanks!" Kakashi said with a wave as he walked off.
Both Team PECH members looked at one another before nodding and stepping into Obito's room, the room's occupant looking at them both expectantly.
"Ha, ha…" Elena chuckled before shrugging at Obito. "I guess there's not much point to doing pleasantries?"
"Good afternoon, Ms. Hawks, Ms. Parch," Obito said with a nod to both of them. "I hear you remember our fight, Ms. Hawks."
"Elena," Elena corrected with a wink. "We're all adults here, no point in being so formal."
Obito closed his eyes with a nod before opening one to look at her. "What happened?"
Elena smiled at him… before shrugging. "Obito, I'm going to be honest with you, I've no real idea what happened to you in there."
"So you don't remember as well?"
"No, I mean I saw what you did and became. I just don't understand it," she said as Olivia came forward before handing him a piece of paper.
As soon as he looked at it Obito's eyes widened, on the paper was an artist rendition of himself.
No, it really couldn't be, because what he saw. The person in that photo…
He caught sight of his long white bang in his vision before looking back down at the colors promoted on his new dragonic features.
The hair was a worryingly familiar white, one he'd seen only what he'd dealt with the aftereffects of the Juubi sealing. The two marks on his cheek weren't that worrying but damn near everything else was.
"..." he didn't know what to say and instead placed that drawing down and looked back at his arms in extreme confusion.
"I don't know what caused this transformation, so to speak," Elena said as she walked over and sat at the foot of his bed. "It kind of throws all our previous ideas out the window."
"We'd all assumed that you were going to just… change," Olivia said with a knock on her clipboard. "Essentially becoming a Faunus but that's not what Elena seems to think."
"I'm starting to think that your entire physiology is adapting complete Dust traits," Elena stated. "But that's not the only thing. I think that the way it's adapting these changes to you is by taking on temporary forms."
Obito gave her his complete attention. "That sounds… Good?" he was trying to understand.
"A better way to look at it," she said. "Is that the more power you exert, the more the changes take place."
Some clicked in his head.
A memory of a boy transforming into a large fox. A man that wielded several swords becoming a giant ox-octopus hybrid.
… Hm, hm, hm…
He wanted to laugh at it all. The very irony of exactly what was happening to him finally becoming obvious.
He'd become a sort of jinchuuruki for this dragon inside of him, hadn't he? His life was reflecting his old one in one of the most fitting ways!
So it wasn't that he was becoming a dragon… maybe. It was the Jinchuuruki's mark, as it were. Several of the containers had had their physiology changed or altered by the specific beast they held in a similar manner.
Naruto's whiskers came to mind, the Hachibi's taste for eight blades, the Nichibi, Sanbi, and Yonbi's different chakra natures. It all made sense now!
So his arms becoming what they were was sort of like his mark, right? That said… Did that mean he'd lost control in their exercise?
He grimaced outwardly, both women in the room frowning along with him as he did.
"... I lost control," he clenched his hands tightly. "Goddammit."
"..." Elena scooted over a bit before resting a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I can't fully understand what you're going through but I can tell what that look on your face says."
Obito sighed. "I… I need to gain control over this, somehow," he said with a frown. "I can't just have this… thing run rampant when it feels like it."
Olivia frowned at the strange wording that he'd used but brushed it aside as him being metaphorical… or as metaphorical as he could with what was happening being quite real.
"And you will," Elena reassured him. "Remember, we've only been at this for, at most, two to three days. The fact that we're learning so much as we have is a rather impressive breakthrough."
"She's right," Olivia said. "If we've learned this much in such a short time, we're likely to figure out a whole smorgasbord of what's going on with you. We've already been thinking about a few things."
"When you… lost control," Elena started with a strained smile at his frown. "You did something else that I've never seen."
Obito felt a headache coming on.
"You sealed away the Aura in my right arm," he stared at her in shock. "I have no idea what's going on in that part, though…" she said, eying him expectantly.
"Who knows?"
"Just us two," Elena said, Olivia nodding along. "So it's something you know how to do, isn't it?"
"Yes," Obito said, face blank. "I learned it a while back in Mistral."
"Learned?" Olivia stared at him. "How do you learn how to lock someone's Aura away?"
"Trial and error," Obito responded simply. "It took time to figure it out."
"…" Elena covered her mouth as she glanced off to the side. "Whatever is changing you, your behavior, this second attitude seems to have access to everything you know."
Obito frowned. "That's worrying," he said but on the inside his mind was in meltdown mode.
'It what?!' he shouted mentally. 'This has already become a troublesome situation but now I have to contend with this?!'
If this battle-junkie-dragon state had access to everything, he'd need to do something. Anything… Wait.
A plan formed in his head, an idea that may help him control this new development.
If he was right about his relationship to these 'battle instincts' he now had, he could possible seal it away. He'd known how a good amount of the Jinchuuruki were sealed and how they interacted with their bijuu.
The seal he needed was one that could seal it away save for its power and he only had one idea in mind.
The Hakke no Fuin Shiki was his best bet.
With Naruto, it'd allowed some of the Kyuubi's power to diffuse into the boy's system over time and added to the blonde's power. Sure, Naruto had never really made the most use of it, but Obito was sure he could make these powers work for him.
"I'll figure it out," Obito said with a conviction that confused Elena and Olivia. "I can find a way to deal with this… I have to."
He wanted this all under control and he'd get it done as soon as possible. Guess it was time for him to focus on his sealing.
"Now that we've brought it up," Olivia said with a curious smile. "What exactly is this arte you've found?"
Obito mulled it over.
He'd said it before, Sealing Artes weren't something he wanted the world of Remnant to know about. Ozpin was already on his case, he could feel it, and he's shown Glynda Tree Climbing as well. She was sure to report her findings.
That said, Elena and Olivia seemed to be a secretive sort as well. They kept his information secret and he had a feeling that Ozpin didn't know everything they'd learned these past couple of days. If he could build a rapport in Beacon's own medical wing...
… "It didn't exactly have a name when I found it," he lied. "I just call them Fuinjutsu."
The name honestly didn't matter, to be fair. If Danzo caught wind of it, using the blatant words 'Sealing Artes' wouldn't make a difference. Sure, he could make up a name for it, but some new method of Aura being announced to the world would also just catch Danzo's attention, anyway.
Like he said before though, Elena and Olivia seemed trustworthy to know the name at least.
"Fuinjutsu?" Elena raised a brow, tilting her head as she held her chin in her hand. "Fascinating. Do you know how this arte of yours interacts with Dust?"
Obito blinked at that, the question was so… unassuming and casual for someone who'd just learned that Aura had a new way of being used.
"You're taking this rather well," he looked at Olivia. "Both of you are."
"Well…" Elena shrugged. "To learn this is utterly enormous! There's so many questions we may have but we're not ignorant."
"You're a secretive person, Obito," the brunette nodded at the redhead's words. "This whole situation has made it pretty apparent you've got such a thing."
"Hmph," Obito thought it over. "I'm grateful."
"Though…" Olivia shot him a sheepish grin that he rolled his eyes at. "If ya ever feel like letting a certain Faunus doctor know… just saying."
"Right… I'll think about it," he said noncommittally before frowning. "Now that we're talking about things we want to know…" he turned to Elena.
"How did you get me to calm down?" she smiled at the question as even Olivia looked at the rosette with curiosity.
"Oh, nothing really," Elena said. "I played a little dirty, mind you, but anything to knock you out."
Obito's eyes went half-lidded. "You aimed for my balls, didn't you?"
"Guilty!" Elena admitted as Olivia let out a bark of laughter. "After I'd… stunned you, I aimed for your forehead with a Tempered kick. You caught it, though, so I had to use Aura Extension to hit you as quickly as possible."
Obito cupped his chin in thought. "I see…" He said, a slight smirk on his lips.
He'd never have been so easily knocked out were he conscious. Which likely meant that this dragon inside him wasn't in complete control of his bodily functions!
That meant good things, at least.
The sliding door to the room slid open to reveal Kakashi, who walked in, followed by a familiar family of Faunus.
"She said they could do it," Kakashi said with a grin as a bug-eyed Velvet was rolled in by a similarly bug-eyed Valour.
"So… many… zeroes…" he whispered, ears pointing towards the ceiling. "I… I've never…"
"That could pay for Vallen's entire way through college…" Velvet muttered in disbelief. "And you're really willing to pay that?"
"Yeah," Kakashi said simply, catching the others attention.
"So her family's going to be making it?" Obito asked, getting a nod from Kakashi. "I see, we're grateful, Velvet."
That snapped the rabbit Faunus out of her reverie to look at him with wide eyes. "O-Oh! I-It's fine!"
Elena smirked before letting out big smile at her Faunus student. "I'm glad to see you two worked out your differences, Velvet," she said, a slight teasing tone to her voice.
So imagine her surprise at Velvet's slightly proud smile. "Y-Yes, Ms. Hawks. We did."
Elena's eyes widened before she turned on Obito with a more searching, if not thankful, look.
"We worked through it," Obito said simply.
"I see, I see," Elena grinned. "A joyous event, I'm sure!"
"Haha," Kakashi chuckled a bit. "Well, we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to get our measurements."
Obito nodded at that before raising a brow. "We're going to n—"
"I've got ya," Olivia said with a smile. "We should have some measuring tape by one of the stations. Will you need anything else, Velvet?"
"Height and weight," Velvet said with a slight tilt of the head. "That should be it for everything else, though we're going to need to go and buy the thread and cloth. And then we need to get it to my sewing kit."
Kakashi cupped his chin. "And I'm guessing that having all that will take a while, no?"
"Yes," Valour said as he scratched the back of his head. "Sure, you're paying for all of this but we're still only two people. Our parents are actually swamped right now, so we're the best you've got."
"So you need more hands, yes?" Obito asked, getting a nod from Velvet. "Then I'll help."
The entire room looked at him oddly. "Yes?"
"You know how to make clothes?" Velvet asked in disbelief. "Then why are you asking us?"
Obito raised a brow. "Velvet, just because I can make clothes doesn't mean I could make them as well as an actual seamstress," he lied.
People didn't realize how dangerous it'd be if whoever made the Akatsuki cloaks were to blab about it. So Obito had actually had to learn how to make the cloaks himself.
It was an interesting time of his life where saving the world, apparently, needed him to make clothes for people but he got through it.
"So that's an extra hand," Valour said tapping his cheek. "H-How good are you with different material?"
"I've handled mostly heavy materials," Obito answered truthfully. "I specialize in making tough clothes but I've never made anything really casual or formal."
That last bit was mostly right, he wasn't exactly going around and meeting people back in the day in suits or formal yukatas. He'd made clothes but he didn't have time for such frivolous pleasantries back then.
"Oh," he looked impressed as he made a nervous expression. "Well, that's good. Vallen and I can't really break through heavier cloth like Velvet can."
"You needed formal wear, right?" Velvet asked before adopting a confused look. "Where are you going?"
Obito tossed Kakashi a look that dropped the responsibility on the older man's shoulders. "Well… We're going to a little party in Atlas."
Elena and the Faunus siblings blinked as they stared at him for a moment before the teacher and her student's eyes widened.
"Wait!" Hawks said as she pointed at Kakashi. "Are you saying you going to a party in Atlas Atlas?"
Velvet thought over the fact Kakashi could pay such a large sum for his rush, custom, order and the fact he was going to Atlas.
"M-Mr. Grey? A-Are you from a family in Atlas?"
"Hmmm," Kakashi looked up at the ceiling of the room for a bit before shrugging. "Well, it can't hurt to let you know, we'll probably be in all the papers once it's all over with."
"What is?" Elena asked with a raised brow as she looked at her teammate. "Olivia?" the Faunus didn't look nearly as curious as the rest of them did.
"I kind of already know," she admitted. "Let him tell you, it'll be clear by then."
"Kakashi what do you mean it'll be in the papers?" Obito asked.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Kakashi said with a smile before continuing.
Just then the door to the room slid open.
"The former Schnee heir going back to Atlas, the papers will be all over that," the albino said with a shrug only to freeze as the door opened fully with a clack, Velvet speaking up right at that moment.
"You're the Schnee?!" she exclaimed before flinching as a series of yells followed.
"Excuse me?"
"Seriously?!"
"You what?!"
All in the room turned as one to see a familiar couple of people at the door.
Marrone looked horrified while Liza covered her mouth in shock.
What was more damning were Coco and Ochre's confused eyes as they heard Kakashi's admittance, the latter Adel's being worse to the albino than all the others.
"Oh…" the oldest male in the room winced at the sight of their fellow officers. "Uh… Hi?" he tried.
"Now, hold on," Marrone said with narrowed eyes. "What was that about an heir to the Schnees?" he hissed.
Obito breathed in through his nose at the emergence of people in the room.
"Will all of you get inside before anyone talks about anything!" he said loudly, eyes narrowed at everyone in sight, causing all the flinch. "Now."
Coco sat at the end of Obito's medical bed, staring at Kakashi like a fish out of water.
"So…" he rubbed the back of his head as Ochre stood by the door, her look one of complete and utter confusion. "Yeah… So I'm the former Schnee heir."
Elena stared at him, tilting her head slightly. "You know, it does make sense. There aren't exactly many people with hair the same color as yours. Combined with your blue eyes, it honestly should have been more obvious… But your Semblance doesn't make sense."
Kakashi smiled at the opening. "Well, that's likely because mine isn't a normal version of it," he said as he crouched and placed his hand against the floor."
All eyes in the room went wide as a Schnee glyph flashed against the floor but with another symbol spinning over it. It looked like a pinwheel with interconnecting parts but that wasn't what truly surprised them.
No, it was the small vortex of water spinning where Kakashi's hand was laid.
"What the fuck?!" Marrone stepped away from Kakashi's display of his Semblance, eyes wide. "That's NOT the Schnee Semblance!"
"Hahaha," Kakashi chuckled as his hand flexed against the floor once more. "Not exactly."
Where a visible whirlpool was now stood a rotating fire tornado, steam filling the air as it appeared and replaced the small whirlpool.
"…" Obito's wide eyes went back to normal as he nodded. "I see… It's a mutation, I'd assume."
All eyes turned to him before snapping back to Kakashi's direction, his flames disappearing from sight as he shrugged at them.
"Correct and not," he said as he got up and crossed his arms. "It IS a mutation, I think, but I still have the Schnee Semblance."
"… Wait," Olivia's eyes were wide as she walked over to Kakashi before circling him. "Are you sure it's not just a new facet to the Schnee Semblance?"
Kakashi blinked at her, eyes wide and blinking at the theory. "… I don't know," he said as he looked at his hands. "I just knew I could do it. I have an idea on how the other glyphs work, mind you, but I've only ever used two of the other abilities."
"Which ones?"
"The time dilation ones," Kakashi said as a spinning glyph appeared above his hand. "I can stand on it, speed up and slow down, everything. I've not tried using the projectile nature of it nor using Dust with it for obvious reasons."
"So, what?" Marrone said with weary eyes. "You just all of sudden got a new…. Whatever of the Schnee Semblance?"
Ochre's eyes lowered into narrow shapes. "A branch," she said slowly, getting the room's attention. "It's not just that he can use the Semblance, he also has his own branch of it."
"Hmm," Elena held her chin as she closed her eyes, humming all the while. "Hereditary Semblances aren't exactly well known, to be fair," her eyes opened to look at the glyph in Kakashi's hand.
"There's already so much we don't know about this world of ours, what's to say this isn't one of them?" she offered to the group.
"Well…" Liza pressed her fingers together as she spoke. "I guess that makes sense. Mom always went digs for old civilizations and she always says that it seems like the world gets stranger with each new find."
"… Tch," Marrone huffed while looking off to the side. "Whatever, what brought on in the first place?"
"Oh, well…" so Kakashi explained the situation to them and Coco's eyes snapped to Obito and Velvet.
"You can make clothes?!" she shouted at them, a fanatical gleam in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
Obito leaned back an inch before responding. "At no point would it come up in conversation," he said as Velvet nodded along..
"Obito, tsk, tsk, tsk," she wagged her finger at him, the former ninja's eyes squinting in disbelief. "Buddy! I live, eat, and breathe FASHION! There's no way I've never spoken about fashion around you."
Obito raised a brow. "… I don't believe that."
"Seriously?!"
"So you guys are going to Atlas?" Marrone asked with a frown, getting things back on topic. "Seriously, what is going on up there that you need to go back so badly?"
Obito ignored Coco's rambling to address this. "Marrone, why is us going to Atlas such an issue?" Obito asked, an eyebrow raised.
The feline Faunus flinched at the call out. "I-It's not… I don't exactly have great memories of Atlas, dude."
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as Marrone grimaced. "I—"
"I don't have anything against you, okay?" Marrone stopped him before he could say anything, frowning. "I know that I sounded like I had a problem with you… It's just Atlas in general."
Ochre breathed out through her nose. "We understand, you just seemed a bit… hostile," she said, getting another wince from the male Faunus.
"Y-Yeah… Sorry," he apologized.
"No problem," Kakashi said as the door to the room slid open to reveal Olivia with a tape measure in hand.
"So you just need thigh, bicep, waist, chest, and neck, right?" the fox woman asked the rabbit girl.
"Yes," Velvet nodded as Vallen sat in her lap. "We can start sketching from there," she said as Valour grimaced.
"Oh, right," he sighed. "Anyone have any paper, a pencil, ruler, and all that?"
"Got it," Olivia said before turning to Obito. "I guess now's as good a time as any."
Obito shrugged before getting out of bed only to blink at Marrow, the Scarlatinas, and Liza's looks of shock.
"Oh right," Coco said aloud. "They didn't know… Wait since when the hell did you have all those scars?"
Obito slowly nodded at that. "How do we explain this…"
He explained to those who hadn't seen his situation what he felt comfortable telling. Coco asking the odd questions about his body that he answered with the excuse of 'training'.
"Oh…" Velvet, Liza, and Valour said in unison. "That's…"
Marrone made the executive decision to walk over and touch his arm. "Whoa, that's like 'skin' skin… super weird."
Obito shot his fellow male cop a raised brow that the Faunus shrugged at.
"So whatever you got set up with by that MOD," he emphasized. "Explosion, it's the cause of all of this?"
"Essentially."
"That's rough buddy."
Velvet only then realized that Obito was half-naked in front of her and blushed up a storm. Vallen, the tiny Faunus boy who could, was already standing by Obito's left arm, opposite Marrone, and touching the older male's skin.
"Ooooh," he muttered as he poked, rubbed, and overall just examined the cop's changes.
Valour laughed nervously before accepting the tape measure from Olivia. "Let's just get this over with. You're next, Mr. Grey."
"Yup."
Getting Obito's measurements, Valour wrote it all down as he circled the older male. He stopped and stared at the trio of mirrored scars on Obito's back, mouth gaping.
"So what are ya gettin'?" Coco asked Obito, grinning as she turned her head every which way to observe the works in front of her. "A snazzy suit? Royal turban? Puffy sleeves?"
Obito rolled his eyes. "A formal yukata will work, honestly," Valour blinked at the taller male. "We'll workshop it a bit."
"Huh," Coco cupped her chin within the angle of her thumb and pointer finger, trying to imagine it. "Hmmm…. I think I could offer ya some ideas."
Obito hesitated for a bit before frowning. "Very well… No weird ideas."
"Aww where's the fun in that?"
"Exactly."
"Buzzkill," Coco said with a smirk before rounding on Kakashi. "And what about you?"
Kakashi hummed for a bit. "Well… I guess I'll be getting a suit," he answered.
"I thought…" Ochre made to say before shaking her head, hair flailing about for a bit. "Nevermind."
"You thought I'd want a Mistrali outfit, right?" Kakashi asked, getting an awkward nod from the older Aubrey. "Well, it's likely just for appearances."
"How so, Kakashi?" Coco asked.
"Well, I'm a Schnee—"
"Still weird," Marrone interjected.
"True. I'm a Schnee still and, well," the albino shrugged. "It's more to not cause any sort of stir."
"Oh, I think I get it," Elena said. "Imagine the headlines. 'Former heir returns baring a different culture! Witnesses say he might have left due to not liking Atlas! What does this mean for the Schnee family?!', like that?" the rosette said with a grin.
"That's about right," Kakashi said with a snap of his fingers. "There's just too much trouble when it comes to paparazzi, I still remember lessons on that specifically."
"Seriously?" Coco blinked owlishly. "I mean, sure, celebs always got 'em in their faces but surely they can't take a little ch… No, I think I get it," the fashionista said with a grimace, getting a weird look from Obito.
"I got a lot, and I do mean a lot, of attention like that in Pharos," she shivered. "Guys and gals alike, and they weren't even with the papers. I can't imagine what having someone watching my every move, waiting for me to mess up, would be like."
"Well," Liza began. "How are you going to explain Obito?"
There was silence as Kakashi raised a finger to respond before his eyes widened and that same finger fell.
"Oh, right," he winced at Obito's flat look. "… I don't think just saying we're friends is gonna be enough for anyone there, is it?"
Valour finished his measurements just in time for Obito to pinch the bridge of his nose and spoke. "… I have an idea," he said. "Just call me a bodyguard."
Coco let out a bark of laughter. "Dude! You went from cop to high-class bodyguard in a month!"
Kakashi slowly nodded. "Yeah, that just might work… but you're going to need a weapon."
"We can just purchase something simple…" Obito frowned. "Though it does have to hold up," Obito covered his mouth for a second before nodding.
"I've got it covered," he said, surprising the group. "I know someone who can make me a fitting blade, even if it's temporary."
"Who? Qrow?" Coco asked as Ochre's eyes narrowed.
"Or is it someone from before you came to Vale?"
Obito nodded. "Yes, we have an amicable relationship so I can probably get a favor from them."
"Not gonna say any names, ay?"
"No."
"Mr. Grey?" Valour called, tucking the pencil Olivia had gotten him behind his normal ears as he set one of the notepads she brought with her down.
"Gotcha," Kakashi said as he walked over, Obito taking a seat on his bed. "Clothes on is fine?"
"Yes, sir."
"Man," Coco said. "Life's kind of crazy nowadays."
Ochre couldn't help but nod at that.
"Unfortunately," Obito said as he leaned back and crossed his arms, Vallen pulling his tiny body onto the bed between the two humans. "Life should, hopefully, slow down for now, though."
Coco breathed out a bit at that. "Not gonna lie, I hope so."
"I can't imagine what's been going on for you guys," Marrone said as he leaned against the door to the room. "It's like one thing after the other."
"Well, we still have a full schedule ahead of us," Coco said before realizing something. "Oh yeah, you gonna ask them for what they want?"
Obito knew what she meant. "That's right," he said as he turned to fellow junior officers. "I'm going to do the cooking for our get-together after the trip."
"I'll be helping with that, by the way," Kakashi said as Valour wrapped the tape measure around his right bicep. "I'd say I'm a decent cook, though I specialize in fish dishes."
"Nice," Coco stated.
"Fish, huh?" Marrone said before coughing into his fist. "I-If you're gonna be cooking… Seafood would be nice."
Velvet let out a nervous giggle at Coco and Obito's smirks.
"Oi, don't you dare!" the feline said with squinty eyes. "I'm onto you, Midoriya."
"I'm sure to use tartar sauce and write your name on your food."
"Bite me."
"What about you, Liza?" Coco asked with a grin as Marrone threw Obito The Bird. "Got any favorites?"
"Not really," the dog Faunus said before tapping her chin. "Though noodle dishes are a favorite."
"Add in fish tacos!"
"Marrone you're really not good at defending yourself."
"Once again, bite me."
Olivia giggled from Velvet's side.
Coco only then realized something. "Where are we having this thing, anyway?"
"Hmmm," Kakashi said as he leaned back, a hand holding him up against the wall, as Valour measured his thigh. "I could find something, somewhere, if it comes down to it."
"Oh right, you're loaded."
"Technically, I'm loaded," Kakashi said as the rabbit boy finished off his measurements with his chest. "I live a pretty sparse life, never needing to spend money on anything. So with the money I get from my job and the stipend from back home, I have enough."
"Define 'enough'."
"Coco, no," Ochre said before her sister's grin turned on her and the older Aubrey rolled her eyes. "And whatever you two are cooking, hmm…. Egg rolls are preferable. Really, any sort of egg dish is."
"Noted," Kakashi said. "Now, about that space…"
And the group fell into a series of amicable chatter and topics that had them talking till nightfall, after which, they all returned to their own rooms or homes for that night.
Waving Marrone off, Kakashi, Ochre, Coco, and Obito were the only ones left in the room after all was said and done.
Ochre looked down in thought before knocking a fist against Kakashi's shoulder, getting his attention.
The albino winced a bit at her worried expression. "Right, gotcha," he turned to the two teens in the room. "We'll be right back, guys, just gotta talk about something."
Obito and Coco didn't get a chance to say anything as the room's older patrons left just as quickly as Kakashi finished saying what he did.
"And then there were two…" Coco said out loud. "I wondered what was up with them."
Obito closed his eyes before crossing his arms. "It's likely about Kakashi's revelation. Ochre and he were teammates, after all."
"Well… I guess," Coco said with a shrug and a sigh before she thought of something. "Hey…"
"Yes?" Obito said, grimacing slightly as the fact he was alone with Coco finally set in. "… Coco?"
"You okay?" she asked with a frown that Obito returned. "It's just… I wanted to talk to you about what happened."
"…" Obito looked off to the side. "I… I'd actually like to postpone this talk," he said, getting a wide-eyed expression from Coco.
"O-Oh…" she rubbed the back of her head as she looked off to the side. "So—"
"After this trip," Obito clarified, seeing her sad look. "I have some stuff to work through and, while everything won't be taken care of by then, I'd like to work through some things first before we talk about this."
Coco's expression went from saddened to startled. "S-Seriously? I thought…" she shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "I guess that's cool. Maybe I'll also be thinking of some things while you're gone."
Obito nodded only to see her take up one of the notepads that Olivia had brought. "Going to write down what you're going to think about?"
"Nah," Coco responded before she put pencil to paper. "You guys are gonna be up in Atlas, Obi! That's super important, ya gotta dress to impress!" she said, a grin on her lips as her hand glided across the paper.
Obito shot her a raised brow before walking over and looking at what she was drawing, eyes widening.
"Like watcha see?" Coco asked smugly as she twirled the pencil in her hand. "I've always wanted to have my own line to show off so I got good at makin' concepts."
Obito couldn't argue that as he stared at the kimono-haori combo Coco had drawn up.
"…" He focused on the lower body portion. "I'd like to make a suggestion."
"Shoot, pal."
~NRK~
They walked up towards the rooftop and exited out the medical wing proper.
Kakashi watched Ochre's back as she led him here. "Ochre?"
"…" She said nothing before walking towards the railing on the rooftop and looking over the landscape, the night being brightened by the lights all around Beacon and the distant city of Vale. "… So you're a Schnee, huh?"
Kakashi sighed as he walked to her side, rubbing the back of his head. "It's what it is, really," he said before grunting. "I didn't mean to hurt you, if I did, it was just something that really didn't need attention brought to it."
Ochre chuckled a bit. "Yeah… Kakashi, my older sister is in Atlas."
His eyes widened. "What?"
"Otto had said that they landed in a cold place," she explained. "We were coming from the The Unbridled Territory to Mistral. The nearest port would be in Argus and across from Argus—"
"Is Atlas," Kakashi finished. "That's concerning. What would you have me do?"
"…" Ochre's head fell as Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I don't know," she whispered.
What was she to say? Meeting Opfer was never in her plans which, as of this month, had been thrown all the way to Mistral and back with little to show for what it was originally.
They had to stop Opfer, yes, but how to go about that was the question.
Kakashi released her shoulder before looking out at the world. "How about I just keep an eye out then?" She looked at him with concern. "We won't get into any trouble, promise. I'll just see if I see her, yeah?"
Ochre's face relaxed a bit. "That sounds like as good a plan as any," she said before frowning, catching Kakashi's attention. "Kakashi…"
"Yes?"
"Obito," she started, getting a raised eyebrow from her former teammate. "What is your opinion of him?"
Curiosity piqued, he explained. "I think he's plenty good. From what I heard from you guys, he's about as strong as a Huntsmen, if not better."
"Yes, that's what concerns me," she said before looking him in the eye. "Why is he so strong, at such a young age no less, if he was just coasting through school?"
The albino's eyes widened before he cupped his chin. "I don't have the answer for that, sadly."
Obito was only going through the educational system to please his adopted family, nothing more to it. Sadly, that didn't exactly make his old friend out as the most upright citizen.
"That's what I thought," her head dropped as she said this. "…Are you thinking of trying to bring him into the fold?"
Kakashi's mouth dropped. "Huh?!" Ochre blinked owlishly at him. "What?"
"I thought," she flushed a bit, flustering at her own assumption being wrong. "I thought you were sizing him up to be in on this."
Kakashi's shocked expression changed into one of amusement at the woman's flustered expression. "Ha, ha, ha, no, I wasn't thinking about that," he admitted, mirth dancing in his blue eyes. "I was just getting to know him," he smirked slyly at her.
"He reminds me a lot of you," Ochre sputtered. "Guess we can say that caught my attention."
"… Hmph," she regained what composure she could but Kakashi's expression told her that was useless. "… So?"
"What do I think, right?" Kakashi cupped his chin, tapping it with his pointer finger. "What do you think, then?"
Ochre's eyes closed in thought. "… Midoriya's been a rather diligent, attentive, if not perfect example of a cop. We both know that's not all he is though," she sighed. "I'd say he seems like a good fit."
"Especially since Coco seems so attached, as well, right?" Ochre frowned at Kakashi's point. "Just sayin', that could be a good thing."
"Speaking of," Ochre said. "She knows now."
Kakashi's chin tapping stopped as he stared at Ochre. "… Okay… what happened?"
She explained what Olivia had shown her, her emotions on the matter and… something more worrying.
"Excuse me?" Kakashi's eyes were narrowed. "What was that last bit?"
"Her powers are reawakening," Ochre grimaced. "I don't know what's going to happen from here on out, Kakashi. None of this makes any sense to me."
"Okay, slow down, let's think this through," Kakashi said. "Remember, I only found you post-'all of this happening', there's only so much I can speak of without a clear mind from you."
Ochre breathed in before letting it out in one explosive breath. "Right, right. What we need to do is… I think I might need to actually train Coco."
"Are you alright with that?"
"There's not much merit to NOT doing it," Ochre explained grimly. "I don't know what exactly is causing her powers to reawaken but if this continues, I worry that she's going to be overwhelmed by it all once it comes back."
"And if it comes back with her original personality," Ochre grimaced before nodding at his assumption. "Then she's going to be more than just a handful. We don't know if she's going to retain all of Coco's memories if it happens. She's a wild card."
"So we're in agreement on that?"
"Yup."
They fell into a companionable silence as the wind blew their hair and clothes.
"… Should I regain my powers?" she asked the Schnee.
"…" Kakashi thought it over. "What happens once you do?"
"I guess… I guess I'll have to get back into shape," Ochre said. "I can just reseal my Aura whenever so hiding it will be easy. I just have to get used to using Aura and my Semblance once more."
"I'll support you," the albino said. "And… Back on the Obito topic, I think we should include him in this."
"You thought of something?"
"Nothing new but after rethinking all that we know of him," Kakashi said, lying slightly. "He's a powerful guy, he's also in the force but he's also close in age to Coco."
Ochre tilted her head in thought. "That does make sense. Obito's got a cool head on his shoulders at all times, he's resourceful, he can actually be around Coco without it being unusual," she said, coming around to the idea more.
"If anything, we'll talk it over after we get back," Kakashi said as he pulled out his Scroll, viewing the itinerary that Jacques had sent him once more. "This trip happens two days from now and is supposed to only last about… five days?" Kakashi said, a little unsure.
"You're going to a party that's going to last five days?" Ochre asked incredulously.
"No, no, no, no," Kakashi waved that away. "There's a secret event going on that will last three days… The day before and after those days I'm going to be spending some time with family… I'm going to try, anyway."
She blinked. "You never really talked about your family."
"Well," Kakashi closed his Scroll and leaned back against the rails. "What'd you want to know?"
And so they continued like that. Just a night after a crazy couple of days where they relaxed a bit.
~NRK~
"Ahhh~" Coco yawned as she looked at the finalized concept she and Obito had been working on. "I think I'll head in," she said slowly, blinking at a similar speed.
Obito, seated next to her and holding the drawing concept, nodded as she said this. "Get some rest, Coc—" he made to say only to lift his head up as a weight settled on his shoulder.
His eyelids lowered halfway as he looked to see Coco's head on his shoulder, leaning against him as she let out a low moan.
His mind… was at ease, knowing that he had time to think about things. So, with ease, he put down the outfit concept and allowed his Aura to coat him for a second.
Coco was off his side and in his arms in quick order, Obito decided to just set her up in his bed since he didn't know where her room was.
Balancing on one foot, he used the other to move the sheets back before placing Coco down. She mumbled some form of thank you, he thinks.
"You're welcome," he said simply, pulling the sheets up to cover her. "…"
Dammit..
Sighing, he went to the window and opened it before sitting by it with a leg hanging out it.
He pulled out his Scroll, opened it and scrolled through his contacts.
Landing on the one he wanted, he placed it to his ear as he took another look at Coco's still, sleeping, form.
-Hello?- he heard on the other end, the voice was strangely alert for this time of night.
What was she up to?
"Raven?" he asked and heard a slight shuffle over the line.
-Obito?- he heard her surprised tone. –Is something wrong?-
"No, I just wanted to ask a favor," he said as he rested against the window sill. "How good of a blade do you think you could make in two days?"
-Hmm? That depends. I don't exactly have a Dust Smithy nearby-
"Normal-wise?"
-About a day- she said before he heard her curious huff. –What's it for?-
He thought it over for a bit before letting her know he was going to be playing bodyguard.
Just not for who.
-Seriously? What happened to, wait…- he heard her tone dip a bit. –Were you involved in that shit that went down in Vale?-
"Yes, I lost my blade in the process, unfortunately."
-…Hmph, how bad was it?-
"Completely destroyed."
-… What the hell did you get into?- she asked before sighing. –I'll see what I can do. That old bastard is here, unfortunately-
"Do what you can," Obito said. "I can easily wait one or more days if necessary but I would appreciate it if you could get it to me by Friday."
-I'll see what I can do-
"Thank you… sister," Obito said quietly, silence echoing from the other side of the line for a bit. "I'll figure out a way to pay you back."
-No problem, little brother-
The line cut off after that and Obito let out a slow breath as he leaned back.
Two days until he had to go to Atlas.
He hoped to God that nothing crazy would go on during the trip.
~NRK~
Not gonna lie, I kind of reignited my taste for Big Time Rush during the writing of that last bit.
So we're finally here! Chapter twenty, 25 reviews, 97 favs, 117 follows, and 18k hits later.
It's interesting writing an actual multi-chaptered fic that goes on past 20 chapters.
Words: 13k+, this chapter was a bit difficult to write near the middle but after a day of letting it sit I came back with lots of ideas.
This chapter is about it for them staying in Vale. Chances are that I'm gonna have them boarding a bullhead to Atlas in the next chapter along with the rest of Obito's hospital stay since there's not much else he can cover for now.
Kakashi's reveal is done and over with! And, yeah, he is right. There's no way any of the press isn't going to have his face plastered all over the news what with his abrupt leave and return. They'll be on that man like white on rice. Every move he makes, action he takes, will be scrutinized by journalists with way too much time on their hands.
On the clothing portion of this chapter, I mean, is it really that surprising?
Obito would have had to have made the Akatsuki cloaks, no other way makes sense for the situation he was in at that time. He had to have gone through it all on his own, customizing even, ironically. Save for Konan's since she can do it herself.
It's rather humanizing when you think about it. Obito had to make the cloaks for ALL the members the Akatsuki had. Which means they had to give their sizes, heights, and everything. It's an interesting image of a boy trying to save the world by sewing.
Velvet's family business comes into play and Coco's inner fashionista comes out as well. All parts coming together to form a whole or, really in this case, clothing.
Lastly, the talk between the old world shinobi and the Adels/Aubreys. Really, Kakashi's talk with Ochre while Coco drew out Obito's outfit for his trip.
Kakashi learns vital information on Opfer and knows to look out for her. They think about bringing Obito into the fray as well.
Next chapter shouldn't be too hard to write. THEN comes the REALLY good stuff!
See ya'll soon.
~NRK Out~