Chapter 1: Choice

The warm spring sun shines down on the city of Argus as the people go about their lives, bringing the city to life . The thud of a body against a rubber mat is heard from a house, followed by a groan.

"Ow ow ow! You win alright!" a young man looks over his shoulder at the young girl holding his right arm straight behind his back in a firm grip under her own. Whilst clutching his neck, a smile of victory on her face.

"Are you sure? You're still struggling Rohan" she says, squeezing his neck a little.

"Ahhh Yes! Now for the love of Remnant Sakura get off!".

Sakura lets go and climbs off. He pushes himself off the mat and sits cross legged, rolling his right shoulder as Sakura sits next to him.

"New move?" he asks.

"Mhm my father just taught it to me, nice to know it works hehe".

Rohan looks at her with his usual warm smile, picking up the grey cap he always wears off the mat "I'll say, I could have beaten you if you hadn't pulled that out of the bag" he puts the cap back on and lies on the training mat, hands behind his head.

Rohan has gotten better since he started training with Sakura everyday after school even if it was for just a couple of hours at a time. That much she could tell, but Sakura was still more skilled.

It had been a year and a half since the two had met while defending Sakura's friend Cotten, a rabbit faunus. From some unsavoury anti faunus bullies at school. Rohan and Sakura had actually got on surprisingly well, not only becoming fast friends during that time but also developing a friendly rivalry during the training sessions. One thing that puzzled Sakura at the start was as to why Rohan wanted to train. She did ask him and his answer was actually rather simple and blunt.

"Never know when it will come in handy".

Now here they were sitting on the training mat her father had set up in their garden, six months before they had to make an important life choice. Stay in education until you are seventeen, develop what skills you wanted for what job you wanted after graduating or go to a Combat school and train to prepare for the huntsman exam at one of the four Huntsman academies. Sakura knew she wanted to become a huntress like her mother, but as for Rohan he still hadn't made up his mind.

She looks down at her best friend lying on the mat, not a care in the world. "Have you decided on what you want to do yet?".

Rohan takes a deep breath, looking up at the clouds "No not yet. Honestly it's been hard, my mother suggested becoming an engineer like her but I don't think that suits me. While the rest of my family says to do what I want to do, the problem is I don't know what that is" he sits up "I'm not like you Sakura".

She playfully punches his arm "Yeah you have always been indecisive. But I know that no matter what you pick you'll have plenty of support behind you".

"Don't I know it" Rohan chuckles as he stands and stretches "Well I better get home, see you at school tomorrow Sakura" he waves goodbye as she waves back.

-Later at Rohan's home-

Rohan looked outside his bedroom window up at the night sky, it had been almost four years since he moved to Argus at ten years old and during all that time he had never really put much thought into what he wanted to do when was older. But now as that day drew closer, it was all he could think about, he scratched his head in frustration and decided to sleep on it.

-Next Morning-

The school bell rings signalling the start of class and as the students all take their seats one however remains empty. This worries Sakura as Rohan was normally never late for school and usually meets her at the tram station to come together, this time though he never showed. He wasn't even picking up his scroll when she called and she didn't want to bother his mother at work.

The day moved on till lunch and still no sign of him, now she was really getting worried. Her lion's tail wraps tightly around her waist to stop it from swaying about, which only happened when she was worried or stressed "Please be alright Rohan" she says biting her lip sitting in their usual spot on the roof she takes a bite of the omelette from her boxed lunch, not hearing the footsteps.

"Oh I'm fine, a few scratches but nothing that bad" Sakura looks up and almost chokes on her food seeing Rohan's face so close to hers. "Heya, sorry I'm late" is all he says with his usual warm smile and a tip of his cap.

After Sakura recovers from almost choking to death, she notices a couple of plasters on Rohan's face and bandages wrapped around his right wrist. "What happened Rohan? Did you get into a fight on the way to school?".

He laughs at the thought and waves a hand in front of his face "Oh no, nothing like that at all" he explains that while making his way to the tram station to meet her, a young boy had run out into the street in front of an oncoming tram.

"After that everything seemed to just slow to a crawl, like the world was moving in slow motion. I just ran out on instinct and managed to push him away in time, but the tram still clipped me when I jumped out of the way and knocked me to the ground. Breaking my aura." he looks at his bandaged wrist "I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me as I ran but Sakura, it almost felt stronger".

"Stronger?" she asks.

Rohan nods "It had passed by the time the ambulance got me to the hospital though and I felt the pain from my wrist along with the cuts" he flexes his wrist, wincing a little from the pain.

A thought occurs to Sakura and she stands up, asking Rohan to do the same."Close your eyes and I want you to remember the sight of seeing that child in the road about to be hit by the tram, really focus on it".

He nods, closes his eyes and focuses. An image pops into Rohan's mind. He sees the tram and the child running out in front and the feeling he had experienced before came back, not as strong but it was there. It felt warm and extended all over his body.

"I can feel it Sakura, though not as much as before" he opens his eyes, which then widen as a fist comes towards his face however it moves slowly to him just like when he ran out into the road. Rohan manages to barely dodge the punch by stepping to the right, grabbing Sakura's wrist and jerks her arm upwards, the warm feeling throughout his body fades away.

"What...the hell was that?" he looks into her eyes as Sakura smiles.

"I think your semblance has unlocked Rohan."

He just blinks and a wide smile forms on Rohan's face.

Months pass by and Rohan dubs his semblance as Rally, learning it allows him to turn on and off when his body produces adrenaline and how much of it. This excites him because it meant they could take their training up a notch, he also learned that he could use it on others by touching them directly.

While during a rough training session Sakura unlocks her own semblance. She described it afterwards as a feeling where she could predict what an opponent would do when in close range even when they were out of sight. Unlike Rohan's though it was passive, he gave it the name Hunter's Instinct which made Sakura roll her eyes but she didn't mind the name. Could have been worse after all

Then the day came where they had to finally make a choice, stay in education and get a normal job within the city or leave and join a Combat school to start the journey to become a huntsman. Sakura and Rohan meet after school to discuss what he had chosen and his choice takes her by surprise.

"You want to become a huntsman!?" she shouts.

Rohan nods with a smile as they walk to the tram station "You sound surprised?" he says.

"Well I am!" Sakura replies as she walks next to him "I mean what brought this on?".

He just stops and looks at his hand "The fact that my semblance unlocked. It would be a waste not to use it and also" he looks at her with a cheeky smile "someone has to keep an eye on you lioness" he immediately starts running down the street, laughing as Sakura gives chase. Shouting at the top of her lungs, but also laughing

"Get back here Rohan Verde, you know I hate that nickname!"