~NRK~
A week passed before Obito was back to full health.
The Uchiha unfurled his wrappings as the Khan family looked on.
Scars were revealed and Obito nodded at them, as he burned the bandages in his normal hand as the weird one touched the bursting scar on his stomach before touching a few of the other small ones on his abdomen.
"Hmph, all healed up," the young teen said as he touched his left shoulder. "This also seems to have a few."
Just a few scars there which weren't surprising due to how harshly he'd lost it.
"So, everything's good?" Sienna asked as he nodded, the female Faunus teen looking at his body's scars herself. "Hmph," her eyes flickered to all of them. "Well, this means you're gonna do a ton of trainin', right?"
"From here on out? Yes," Obito said as Ireed looked on in shock at the scar in his lower back? "... Oh, yes, I'd been stabbed," he told her and Moreno, the man's eyes widening as Obito turned to them, the scar from the back showing on his front as well.
"T-The hell?" The Faunus man said in horror.
"It… wasn't good," Sienna sighed. "All things considered, we made out with a decent end to all of it, yeah? Dad? How's your arm?"
The man grimaced as raised his sleeves to show the bandages around his bicep. "Better. Much better, thanks, hon."
"No problem," Sienna breathed out a long breath. "Alright. It's Saturday, what should we do now?"
"Well, that's honestly a good question," Obito said with a hum. "All things considered, getting more control over my skills is important… Sienna, are there any places where you all practiced for your gang?"
"W-Well, the construction areas are basically where every gang goes to mess around," the tiger teen said. "The rough parts are, one, most of them are sectioned by most of the gangs around… but since the Diamonds are done for, we could probably… no, that's not a good idea" Sienna realized with a wince.
"Let me guess, the other gangs will quickly fight over that space," Obito said as Marrone balked. "You remember the bits I taught you about people and how their minds work, right, Marrone?"
"U-Umm… This is that 'greed' thing?" The boy considered.
"Correct but it's also because they want security in more resources, more things they can make use of. The Burst Brights are big, worryingly so. I doubt they want to give up so much possible space," Obito considered something. "... Sienna, what about the areas closest to the outside?"
"B-Boy, there are Grimm in those parts," Moreno wondered if the human's seemingly suicidal tendencies were his fault.
"That's true but Grimm aren't that strong in the cold compared to other places. I looked it up in the library. People fear going around there and that's why those areas are empty despite how few Grimm attacks there have been. So, right now, it's up for grabs for anyone who's brave enough. That's good because if I get good enough, I can take control of that entire area."
"Huh? Why?" Ireed looked confused before the kids realized that they didn't know.
"Oh, r-right, well. Obito wants to stomp out the gangs in Mantle," Sienna said and the two looked shocked.
"W-Wait, what? How?" Moreno looked surprised.
"It's not gonna be easy," Obito said. "The issue is that I need to get stronger, more money, more space, and men. The fact remains, I need too many things to make a move like that."
"H-Huh?" What the hell kind of kid had been living in his house? "... What about that general?"
"Right! That general guy's gonna do it anyway, right?" Marrone asked.
"He most likely will but what happens when he thinks the job is done?" Obito suggested as Sienna frowned.
"... They'll come back… right?"
"Exactly. The issue with gangs isn't just their presence but their mindset of thinking they can just start over again with their people. What needs to happen isn't just putting them in jail. You need to destroy all their resources, cut off the brains of their organizations which might be their leaders, and make sure they can't regain what they lost. That's not easy."
"Brains?!" Sienna looked horrified and Marrone piped in.
"S-Sis, I think this is one of those things that mean something not the same," he said, confusing her to no end.
Obito snorted. "It's a metaphor. It can be like me saying 'stamp out the fires' when I'm talking about the gangs," he explained before sweatdropping. "Right, let me explain this…"
~NRK~
After a thorough explanation of what metaphors, idioms, and hyperbole was, Obito was currently walking around with Sienna to their potential spots.
Sienna wearing some more 'quiet' clothes of black everything and some decent boots while Obito had worn the last of his long-sleeve black tops, black pants, and his boots.
Over his head and shoulders were the hoodie he'd worn most of the week and around his mouth was a cloth, the two doing their best to hide every part of their bodies.
As they walked, Sienna looked at his left arm.
"They'll have to deal with the cold for a bit," she told herself as Obito hummed.
"In time, I can hopefully make more of those orbs," he reassured her as she nodded. "If anything, it'd be nice to make two quickly. One for personal use and the other for the house. For now, that's my aim alongside gaining control over my elements and how much I can push them."
She nodded as they kept going.
The trip went on for almost an hour, something Obito noted with a frown.
"Yeah, this place is NOT close, ya know? I mean, we're lucky to live between here and school but we literally take the bus to school and no bus comes this way."
As they reached the 'under eternal construction' district, Sienna gestured to an alleyway.
Moments later, they were scaling an apartment building, the Faunus looking at Obito's hopping form with interest.
And he noticed. "I can give you pointers if you want," he offered as he pulled her up onto the roof, getting a nod out of Sienna.
"I'd like to. You seem like you're some kind of movement master of something," she said as they walked to the edge of the building to look at the nearby noise. "This is what I meant, by the way," she said.
Down below, a familiar lion woman was beating down her fellow gang members, her form vicious and angry as the girls under her tutelage gasped on the floor, their makeshift metal pipes, bars, and reinforced umbrella handles broken on the ground.
"Get your asses up! We don't have time for this shit! Not with the two we've got to deal with," B said as the girls grimaced.
"M-Ma'am, why are we going so hard at this?" One of them asked as she held her forearm, hissing. " , isn't this too much?"
The lion woman scoffed as she growled at the floor. "Never. We've got prey to hunt in a month or two. And we're going for the number 1 spot soon, too."
Back up above, Sienna's eyes widened as her tiger ears twitched.
"That ain't good," she said as Obito frowned, Sharingan reading the lion woman's lips already. "She's probably going to fight with Atella for the leadership position."
"That sounds bad, especially with her current angry nature," he said. "Would it be wrong to think we are her 'prey'?"
Sienna's face went blank.
"We should go."
"Sounds about right."
~NRK~
With some alleyway-ducking, they passed the Burst Brights without issue along with a scarce amount of other gangs.
'They've really sectioned off well,' it was odd to see but even gangsters needed order, yeah? '... Wait,' Obito's eyes narrowed as he and Sienna walked down the street further. "Hold on, Sienna, question. Who was the first gang to start things down here?"
"..." Sienna blinked. "Huh, being honest… I think, at one point, it was an all-human gang by the name of… s-something, Desert Field! Right, that was their name. From what I've learned from Atella and our older members, back then, things were far more crazy, far wilder without order… I think it was thirty years ago? Forty? All I know is that these guys just came out, guns a-blazin', and tidied things up all under their banner."
Obito cupped his chin in thought. "What happened to them?"
"They got busted by one of the families up top, sometime later," she said. "Turns out, one of those rich kids was looking for clout and decided to take them down. That's why everything is so up for grabs down here, there's no big gang to control everything but the rules stayed. That's how we have what we do now."
He nodded as they entered a more decrepit area, the air being chillier as the buildings around them grew more shaky-looking, frost covering the stone, ice on the street, and broken-down sides of stores being the norm.
"S-Shit," Sienna shivered as she strayed closer to Obito, the boy nodding. "So, uh, this is where we start, huh?" She asked.
"You don't have to do this here with me, it's fine for me to know how to get here, I mean it."
"No… I also need to get stronger. This bullshit really isn't good for anyone, especially Marrone."
Obito nodded before gesturing to one of the more put-together buildings.
Going inside, the area was cold and lacking in items, likely pilfered by the gangs but it was big and usable.
"Was this a gym?" Sienna looked down at the super-cold mats whiles Obito observed the broken glass walls typically found in these places. "And it was a big one, the hell?"
The former shinobi looked at several empty picture frames before blinking as he saw a last one.
"Oh," he said before waving her over. "This was started by someone who was born in Mistral."
The picture was telling as they saw the man's face and what had to be his students?
"Someone from Mistral came here so long ago?"
"I guess this was before the flying city was a thing."
They looked around some more before blinking at empty weapon racks and closets.
"Damn, completely cleaned," Sienna sighed. "I need to replace my chain weapon."
"Hmph, having a weapon would be nice," Obito said as they walked back onto the mats. "It'd be conve-"
The two of them stopped as they felt, and heard, something below them.
"What?" Sienna's ears perked up as they stepped on that space again. "There's something below here," she said as Obito hummed.
"Back up," he said before placing his normal hand down on the mat.
A spiral of wind kicked up around his hand before it spun faster and began to cut into the mat.
When Obito heard something like wood being cut, he stopped and Sienna moved the cut piece.
They stared at what looked like a basement hatch with a pull handle.
"Whoa… no way, do you think this leads to a basement? A shelter?"
"Only one way to find out."
Grabbing the loop handle, Obito pulled and it shuddered before coming up.
When they looked inside, their eyes widened at a long ladder leading down into a large space.
Looking at one another, they quickly went in, Obito closing the hatch softly behind them.
"Oh, it's dark," he said as he slowly climbed down before Sienna's hands found his sides as he reached the bottom step. "Thanks," Obito nodded before raising his hand.
A ball of fire formed and he let out a slow breath as they looked around.
"You were right, it's a shelter," he said as Sienna hummed.
"..." Looking around, they admired all the boxes on shelves, wooden weaponry, and…? "Another closet?"
Going towards it, they nodded to one another before she opened the door, Obito at the ready.
But it was for no reason… no, if anything, they should have had a different reaction.
"The fuck?!" Sienna fell back onto her ass as she scrambled back. "W-What?" Her face went pale as Obito frowned.
For, inside, was a frosted skeleton wearing Mistral-based clothes, leaning back against a large pile of dirt. The sides of the 'closet' were covered by unopened cans and more boxes.
"... This is the owner," Obito said with a frown as Sienna scrambled to her feet before hiding behind him, arms around his waist. "... Wait, do you hear that?"
Skittering, scattering, and squeaking reached their ears, horrifying Sienna to no end.
"B-Behind i-it," she hissed into his ear as he held up his fireball above the corpse to see space behind the pile of cold mortar and stone. "There's a space-"
Obito nodded before using his foot to move the corpse.
"FUCKING HELL?!" She jumped before he was gripped harder. "D-Don't do that!"
"S-Sienna, too hard!" He grunted out as she growled at him.
"Do not do that, I'm serious!"
"I'm sorry, I mean it, but we need to figure out what's there."
"Why?" Sienna figured out too late. "Why are we checking this place?"
"..." Obito looked around. "Because this will become a good base of operations. If this is a shelter, those cans, these boxes, those weapons, this was all meant for him to hold off for a while."
"So, why is it all untouched?" She asked only for the flames to shine off something in the corner. "What is…"
His eyes widened at the same time hers did.
A knife. A small, bloody, rusty knife rested inches from the corpse's hand.
"... Ignore it, hold on as tight as you want," Obito said softly as she did involuntarily, Sienna's eyes staring at the suicider. "Dammit," he cursed before kicking out with his foot at the pile.
Breaking through it caused numerous scattering about, getting a jump out of Sienna before she covered her nose.
"What's that smell?!"
Obito was thankful he had his cloth cover as even with it the smells were reaching him.
And it wasn't pleasant.
"Rats," he said as they saw the creatures slipping into small holes in the floor. "But, still, what is…" Obito stopped as his eyes widened.
For there in the area were weapons. Three in total.
Sienna balked at the sight as well. "Whoaaa…"
They weren't amazing-looking, having rust on them, but these weapons looked far more taken care of than anything else in this area.
One of them, a long-chain-flail, and two long, thick, daggers that were hooked on the wall.
"... He was protecting these?" Sienna considered as she looked down and to the side at the horrifying skeleton. "U-Ugghhh."
Obito reached out towards them and pulled the flail off the wall, its ending bit missing. "... Here," he handed it to her and Sienna took it with awe. "I guess I'll take these," Obito said as he grabbed the knives in his quickly-formed black arm's hand. "... These are ridiculously well-made."
They were two-sided and made of cool black steel with engravings on the sides along with an empty engraving on the base.
The handle was black and wrapped in rope while the guard was cracked and basically nonexistent.
The rust rested on a big part of it and Obito hummed as he flipped it into his hand. "These were beautiful," he realized as Sienna looked at his chosen pair of weapons before looking back at her own.
It had a foot-long handle made of shining steel with black leather for better gripping. The chain was decently long, maybe about ten feet in length, and made of moderately-thin chain.
"Where's the end?" She wondered, looking around at the boxes.
"Want to look?" Obito asked her as he placed the knives on one of the shelves.
She nodded and let go of him, minding the corpse, and quickly looking into boxes.
Obito followed suit and after a bit of digging, they found both the end of the chain and holsters for his knives.
The end of the flail was a smooth, sharp, dagger-like thing with barbs on the side.
"This is much better looking than the other bits," Sienna said as Obito nodded.
On his thighs, he'd put on the holsters with his knives in both. "We got some good weapons out of this. Now… I think we should leave," Obito said and she blinked at him.
"Dude, there's probably all kinds of food and shit here. Clothes, tools, and some other stuff."
"Exactly," Obito said and she blinked. "How would we bring those with us? We have no idea if anyone else even found this. We might be stepping on someone's toes and we need to leave this here for now."
"Didn't you say no one would be here?" Sienna said.
"Didn't we find out that's not true upstairs?"
She flinched as she remembered that they had seen everything cleaned out.
"Fuck… Are we really about to leave all of this stuff?"
"Sadly, yes. The fact remains, we simply don't know who comes around here. We need to keep an eye out for this place and take what we can with us. There are fanny packs, backpacks, and burlap sacks. Let's grab some stuff but not too much."
Sienna sighed before nodding. "Alright, it's more than before."
They got to work, slipping two fanny packs beneath their coats and backpacks on their backs, filled with food, clothes, and their new weapons.
"Well, we got a lot of good stuff," Sienna said with a grin as he smirked. "Let's go before this whole place explodes or something."
"Let's not jinx it."
They made sure to leave through the back of the building, minding any watchful eyes.
As they snuck about, Sienna's ears remained flagged, keeping her hearing set for anything.
As they moved, Obito's Sharingan looked around with just as much surveillance.
They'd found a small jackpot but couldn't let their guard down.
If this got out, they'd be up a creek without a paddle. They needed this to be covert.
~NRK~
Marrone blinked at them as Ireed blinked along with him, the two sitting on a couch in the living room.
Obito and Sienna came in with smiles on their faces, taking off their bags to remove their coats.
"What's going on?" The Faunus woman asked as the two nodded at her, coming over and putting down their bags by the couch. "H-How did you get those?" Ireed asked nervously before Sienna grinned.
"We didn't steal it, promise, mom," the tiger teen said as Obito nodded.
"You heard me earlier, we went to the edges of Mantle and found a big space. That place had a shelter," Obito smirked as her eyes widened and Marrone bounced in excitement. "And we found lots of things there."
They pulled out clothes, several cans of food they could have carried, and more small backpacks before reaching their weapons.
"Weapons?!"
"Whoa…" Marrone grinned as he saw them. "C-Can I see one?"
"No," Obito said with a snort as the boy whined. "They're far too dangerous for you. For now, help us open some of these cans so we can see if they're not spoiled."
Pulling out two can-openers, the small boy and his mother open a pair of cans with no labels, the four looking on with hope.
Ireed's eyes shined as they all spelled sweet pineapples and tomatoes.
"Tomatoes!" The boy cheered as Ireed looked at the yellow fruit.
"H-Huh, what fruit is this?" She asked.
"Pineapple, they're typically two types and they come from Vale and Mistral," Obito explained. "It's a sweet and tangy fruit. I didn't expect it but it's easily sealable so that's not so hard to believe."
"So, these are all hopefully good," Sienna said as they put all ten cans of the food on the floor. "Still, we couldn't grab everything."
"No, I-I think I know why," Ireed said. "The gangs, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, we can't keep eating this?" Marrone asked.
"Sadly, I'd need to start working as well to grab different food from the nicer sectors," Obito said. "Right now, we have to work with what we have."
"Still… you both are going to train to fight all the gangs in this city one day," Ireed looked concerned.
"We have to," Sienna said. "I… I should have realized it sooner but I was in it to keep you guys safe. By joining the gang, I was able to guarantee no one would mess with my neighborhood… and then that situation with the Schnees happened and everything got insane. Obito almost died. I almost died. Obito almost died again and the fact that it happened twice in under two days caused my blood to rush to my freaking ears and tail. I hated it."
"... You never hated at all, did you?" Ireed realized as Sienna blinked at her before wincing.
"... no, I didn't. I just didn't want to get into a fight with dad, our family was already…"
"She did right by me despite our situation with Mr. Moreno," Obito intercepted as Sienna sighed. "All things considered, life moved on, that's all."
"... you really aren't normal," Ireed said as Obito shrugged. "So… you're both going back?"
Obito looked at Sienna as she did the same to him. "... Likely not today. The last thing we need is to put ourselves out there again. Besides, we got a very good haul to make use of," he said as he stood up before raising his arm stump.
A familiar black orb floated off of it before moving to the top of the living room and emanating heat.
The Faunus's ears went a bit limp as their eyes closed in relief.
"When you're ready, Sienna, I'll be out back."
Watching him leave, Sienna groaned before picking up her weapon and walking after him.
"See ya when we do, mom."
"Take care," Ireed said. "... Haa, your… Obito seems far too old, Marrone."
"Bro's just super good at stuff, I think," the boy said.
"Yes, well," she looked at the cans before getting up. "Let's put these away, alright?"
"Alright, mom!"
~NRK~
Standing in their backyard, Sienna looked out at the icy space with Obito before the boy walked out onto the freezing grass.
Each step caused steam to kick up, hissing water vapor left behind with each step before he stopped in the middle of it all.
"Alright, let's see what I can do," he held up his lone arm before pressing it down onto the floor. "Hmph!"
Ice slowly melted in a growing circle around him before Sienna blinked at the glowing orange color climbing up to his bicep from his palm.
'I don't think he noticed,' she thought as the ice by the back porch began to fall away, leaving wet grass in its wake.
She observed it before stepping out onto the grass as Obito kept going.
Sienna waited behind him as he continued for another minute before stopping, Obito looking at his hand as he noticed.
"Finally noticed?" She asked and he hummed with a nod.
"It might be because I'm using the fire power?" He considered before standing up. "Alright, tell me, Sienna, do you work out or simply go through forms?" Obito asked as he began to take off his sweater.
"H-Huh?!" She blushed a bit with a choke. "W-What are you doing?" Did training involve getting naked?!
"I don't want to get this soaked if I can't help it, especially if I can't dry my pants fast enough," Obito said, standing there in nothing but pants and boots. "... Oh, sorry, you don't need to do this, especially since my powers affect me, you understand?"
Standing there in her cream-colored long-sleeve top, Sienna huffed before nodding, red in the face.
"Y-Yeah, I get you. So, uh…" gods, she was stumbling. "Ahem! Anyway! We all worked out together, usually," the Faunus explained as Obito nodded. "We usually do that and then spar a lot later on the same days. Those girls we saw with Taliesin, we call her 'Tali', are going to be training and sparring every other day while learning to do a job in the gang on the others. They do that for half a year to a year. After that, we just do whatever we wanted."
"Sounds… very organized," Obito said as she chuckled. "Very well, let's see how this body of mine fares against you," he offered and Sienna balked.
"You and me, fighting, right now?"
"Yes."
"..." Sienna took several focusing breaths before nodding with solid resolve. "Alright, let's do this."
They stepped apart a bit more before Obito brandished one of his knives.
"The first one of us to get hit, yeah?" Sienna suggested and he nodded. "We both know you don't have Aura so… I'm not trying to do something permanent to you."
"I understand," Obito said.
His life up to this point made him worryingly weak. While not in mind but body.
Malnourishment, scarring, constant cold, hunger, neglect, abuse, and improper protection from elements.
Honestly, had he not been a former shinobi in his past life, Obito was sure he'd have died by this point, already.
He widened his stance and crouched a bit with his knife held in front of him.
Sienna widened her own stance but held her chain's hand in one hand while holding a good amount of its rolled-up length in the other, her eyes narrowing.
He spoke the smoking gun. "Go."
Obito lunged and Sienna spun the end of her flail before throwing it at him.
He skidded forward at it, spun to the side, and lunged again, knife sweeping out at her neck.
The older teen stopped and leaned back, the knife missing her as she wrought her flail back, Obito dodging around her with bursts of wind from his feet.
'No you don't!' She turned to face him before pulling on her chain harder, Obito jumping over the flail head that cratered the grass beneath his feet.
His leg snapped out and she blocked it, tossing her throwing arm towards him.
His knife swung back and diverted her weighted weapon before he kicked out at her raised chair length.
A black eye narrowed before Sienna was shot off her feet by a burst of wind from his own foot.
'Right! Forgot!'
Her feet stumbled as they barely found the ground beneath them, her eyes locking onto the ax-kicking Obito coming at her!
Sienna turned and pulled on her chain at the same time, the boy's kick cratering the floor but missing her as her weapon's weighted end came around towards his shoulder.
He flipped back and over it, landing quickly and rushing her, much to her shock.
"Tsk!" Sienna lunged to meet him and his knife arm was grabbed by her throwing arm's hand at his wrist and her shoulder found his chest.
She grinned and tried to kick him in his side she blinked as she hit the air.
"What?" Then the reversed hold on her wrist alarmed her, Sienna's eyes going to Obito's landing form behind her. "?!"
He didn't give her a chance, stepping around her back with his hold coming to slam into her chest, his knife twirling in the air in front of her eyes.
Obito's grip on her wrist shook it as much as he could which was only enough to wrangle her chains… but Sienna realized that was all he need.
The chain bounced the knife towards her chest and bounced off, much to her shock.
"T-There's no way you-"
"Yep," he chuckled into her regular ears which had her tiger ears flagging as her tail curled around his shin. "... oh, you don't realize it," Obito said with a hum as he let go, causing her red cheeks to cool a bit as she facepalmed.
"Crap."
"Hm, hm, it's fine," Obito said with a smirk as she looked at him with a miserable blush. "Besides, you still had a chance, you know."
"When?" She asked with a huff before he pointed down at her tail. "What about it?"
"It was curled around my shin, you could have done a lot with it," Obito said without noticing Sienna's glowing red face. "Imagined if you pulled my-"
"I get it!" She said immediately, cutting him off even as her mind completed his sentence in her head like a perverted whore. 'I did NOT just?!' Amber eyes swirled in horror.
Nope!
"... Okay then," Obito said with a nod as he kneeled down and warmed the dead grass again. "Time for a workout."
Sienna grumbled as they put their weapons by the porch before getting down to business.
Push-ups, sit-ups, walking handstands, forms, and more he took her through.
As they went through it, Sienna was shocked to see both of them tiring out at different speeds. Obito's forehead was not as full of sweat as hers was as they completed their hundredth kick combo.
"I-I… wheww, didn't know you did that much," she said with a gasp as they sat down on the ground. "Mmmm," Sienna stretched, feeling a pop near her tailbone. "Haaa, I never knew."
"I have to be more careful inside the house. If Mr. Moreno caught me before his change of heart, I can only imagine what he'd say or do," Obito said as he sat down next to her, cross-legged, even as Sienna grimaced. "Sienna, it's over with. For now, he seems to be a far better man than ever before."
It was true. While the man wasn't out here calling him his 'son', Moreno had been nothing but… well, 'tolerant' wasn't the word Obito would accept.
The man simply didn't act like his existence was a sin so that was good. If anything, he seemed far more awkward than ever before.
"That doesn't mean being reminded doesn't make me want to punch my past self."
"I appreciate it," Obito said with a chuckle. "So, I'm impressed you kept up with that new workout."
"New?" She sat up like him, tail waving around to her side. "What do you mean?"
"I told you, right? I can't do everything in my room so I added to my workout," he grinned slyly and Sienna swallowed as she blushed. "You followed along without much issue, I'm impressed, really."
Thump, thump, fuck her heart right now. "Y-Yeah? Well… thanks," she groaned mentally. 'Crap, did he always look good when he smirked?' Was she just noticing?
"So, we've been at this for an hour or so," he said as he got up, shocking Sienna before she blinked at his outstretched hand.
Taking it, she was pulled to her feet and Obito stretched before walking towards the back porch only to stop.
"Oh," he looked like he remembered something, coming back over to Sienna resting a hand on her shoulder. "One second."
Small rings of fire shot up around the two from the floor up to above their heads.
"H-Huh?" She blinked before remembering how wet she was. "Ugh, thanks," the Faunus said with a hand rubbing the back of her head.
"No issue," the flames dispersed and Obito let out a long sigh. "Okay, so, I was right. It's pulling from my stamina and somewhere inside, which I guess is where my Aura/soul is. If I'm to make the most of this power, I need proper nutrition, more stamina, and more exercises."
"Well… we kind of have a fix for one of those, right? Especially since you've started getting to eat blatantly."
Obito nodded as they walked inside, the human putting on his top as they did. "It's a good start but for us to have prime nutrition, I'll need to get us good food. I think I might have an idea for that, too."
As they entered the living room, they chuckled at the sight of Marrone and Ireed asleep on the couch, the small tiger 'cub' tucked into his mother's body.
~NRK~
Marrone tugged on his empty sweater sleeve as he and Sienna dropped him off like always, the human going inside his schoolyard to hand the tiger boy off to his teacher.
The woman looked at the human teen with nervousness like always but she'd gained a curious gleam in her eyes as he brought in Marrone.
"... Yes, Ms. Sala?" He asked and the woman jumped before blushing at her 'vacancy'.
"Y-Yes! Um, well," she looked at him with embarrassment. "Marrone has said you're… good at making furniture?"
"Is something broken?"
She nodded, lizard tail waving lazily behind her as he nodded.
"I'll grab Sienna."
He looked at the teacher's desk with a blink as the woman blushed.
The wood was dented, cracked on random spots of the legs, and had one plank for the drawers hanging oddly off the bottom.
Sienna chuckled as Ms. Sala blushed harder. "You did the legs with your tail, didn't you?" She asked with a grin as her own tail waved about lazily.
The woman fidgeted with her fingers. "S-Sorry. Is it… doable?"
Obito nodded. "... I can fix it, I mean it, but you need to trust me. It'll look horrible at first but trust me, I've got something special for this," he said as Sienna blinked before wincing.
"Trust him, I'm serious," the tigress said as the teacher grew pale. "... Might as well do it and just get it over with."
Obito nodded as he raised his hand and a blade of wind formed over it, the children inside the classroom looking on in shock, awe, and horror.
Then he blinked, stopped the wind blade, and then placed his hand on the floor. "This'll be easier to take in," he said.
The entire group of Faunus jumped and choked as a wooden block formed beneath the desk, rising up to lift it off its shaky legs.
"Better," his wind blade returned.
He cut off the broken legs, much to the horror of the teacher and students, before taking that off-wooden plank and shearing a bit off the top of the desk.
With his little changes done, Obito breathed out before placing his hand on the desk, Sharingan blazing as he memorized the entire structure and recreated it in his head. 'Focus on the image, you know where all the broken parts are. Fix those,' he thought to himself.
Wood sprouted out from the leg stumps, the beneath of the drawer, and the grooves he'd made in the top of the desk.
The work was a bit more precise than he'd done before as he adjusted each bit perfectly before removing his hand off the desk, wiping his brow. "Done."
Sienna whistled as Marrone grinned.
Ms. Sala choked at the sight of a brand-spankin' new desk, seemingly, in front of her!
"H-H-How?!" She squeaked as Obito chuckled.
"Just some weird skills," he said before placing his hand on the floor, lowering the desk to the ground, the furniture standing on strong legs, getting his nod of approval. "Alright, take care-"
"T-There are a few… others!" The woman added with embarrassment as Sienna chuckled nervously while Marrone hummed.
"But bro's got school," the tiger boy reminded as the woman winced.
"I'll come here during lunch and after school. Just let me know how many things need fixing and put them in one room, please," Obito said as he accepted his bag from Sienna, threw it on, and ruffled Marrone's hair. "Good morning, all of you," he bowed before leaving.
"See ya in a bit, Mars," Sienna said as Marrone grinned. "Bye!" She hurried after the human.
Marrone raised his hands in victory. "Bro's amazing, you guys!"
The teacher put that to the test as she went over to her seat, sat down, and drummed her fingers on her desk, in the spots she favored doing so.
The tougher 'thunk' she heard had her looking at the desk with interest. "... I-It's good," she said to Marrone who grinned.
Well, a human had helped.
How mortifyingly nice.
~NRK~
They ran to school, barely making it into the school before rushing to Sienna's class as the bell rang.
"Later!" She said to him before she opened the door. "Sorry! Just on time!"
"I-I'm here!" Came a call from down the hall as Derry came running up to them, going to the door. "S-Sorry, I'm late!" She said before looking at Obito who nodded and walked off.
"Wait! No, come back!" Kyle came running out of the classroom. "Out of the way, animal! Dude! Come o-"
The boy paled at Obito's one-eyed glare.
"How about no?" He said before leaving, shooting Derry a look. "Tell me if he causes trouble," was the last thing the Freshman said as he jumped out a nearby window but not before shooting Kyle one last look.
Derry hurried inside and found her seat next to Perry. "H-He can be really scary," she whispered as he nodded sagely.
"I think so," he said as she rolled her eyes before smiling a bit.
"I-It's kind of cool."
"?" His face contorted in confusion.
~NRK~
In his class, Obito ignored the students who kept looking at his armless sleeve.
'You'd think they'd get used to it,' was he being a bit mean with that remark?
It wasn't like they could prep for seeing a missing arm every day.
"The school year is almost done," their Faunus teacher said as he walked by every day, putting down a sheet of paper on it. "On those are your End-Of-Year Topics for your essay. All of the topics can be found in the school's personal library. If you want, though, I know of another library a bit away on Planter Cv. As I said, it's a bit of a walk."
Flipping his paper, Obito expected to see a topic but, instead, found a message.
Meet me after class.
His eyebrow rose as he flipped it back over, the lack of topic telling.
Something interesting had happened.
He and the teacher stayed behind as the other students filtered out.
"Can you follow me to the teacher's lounge?" He asked kindly as they left out the classroom and down the hall. "How do you like school, Obito?"
"It's fine, you know I'm already trying to skip a grade," Obito said as the man nodded, his lynx tail waving slowly behind him. "Though, I wonder what this is honestly about, Mr. Linne."
"I promise you, it's not anything bad. If anything, it might be an opportunity," he said as the human raised a brow, the two finding their destination. "Come in."
Going inside, they moved past a variety of interconnected cubicles before finding the man's own near the middle of a row.
"So, you've quite the reputation," he said as Obito nodded, sitting down in a seat. "All things considered, I don't want to assume you're involved in some gang business."
Not yet. "I'm not. I was simply involved in helping out some friends and family," Obito answered.
"Yes, that reputation is a big one, too. That's also why I brought you here," Obito blinked. "Right now, there's a certain lack of faculty, you know."
"Yes?"
"I'm not about to ask you to be a teacher," the man said with a smirk as Obito rubbed the back of his head. "A bit… what's the word? Mis… Misleading, yes. That was a bit misleading. With the number of members we have in staff, we can't handle… all of our duties on time, usually."
"You want me to bring things to specific classrooms?" Obito asked.
"Well, not that kind of duty," the man said with a nervous smile. "You know with how close the two schools are, right? Most of the teachers here who have children have them over there."
"You want me to bring your children over here?"
"Essentially. I'm not trying to make you an errand boy but leaving my daughter over there as more of the other kids are leaving doesn't sit right with me," Mr. Linne said. "Amongst all of us, there are eight children we'd like you to pick up and bring to the school. No more, no less. After you do, we'd just want you to bring them to the here, the teacher's lounge."
"I can do that, I don't mind," Obito said as the man smiled before taking something off his desk and handing it to him. "What? Sir?"
"We don't want you doing this for free, we know we're taking up your time. There's about fifteen lien we pooled together if you can do this every week."
Opportunity! "Very well but, please, only give that to me at the end of the week. I'd rather be paid for actually doing my job instead of advanced payment," Obito said, surprising the man.
"I… you're a lot more upstanding than I've seen."
"I try."
~NRK~
"So, you're gonna be bussing them back and forth?" Aster asked as he, Sienna, Derry, Perry, and she walked towards the elementary school, a juice box in her mouth. "Ssssss, smck, ahhh, sounds like a sweet gig."
"Fifteen lien just for that, huh?" Perry said in awe. "Sounds like an amazing deal. I wonder why they didn't ask one of us?"
"... My reputation, most likely," Obito realized as Derry nodded as Sienna blinked in thought.
"Oh, yeah, I get that," she said as they made it to the kiddie schoolyard, going inside without hesitation. "Still, it's a nice little gig, yeah?"
"Definitely. Imagine what'll happen if more of them have kids," Obito considered with an eye full of capitalism. "A nice little bit."
"W-Was he trying to be a businessman?" Derry asked Aster who snorted.
"Nope, he's just a smarty."
As soon as they got inside and made it outside of Marrone's class, Obito peeked in.
"O-Oh! You're here," Ms. Sala said with a smile as she got up, a piece of paper in her hand. "These are the numbers… I don't think you'll be able to finish this so quickly."
Taking it, Obito nodded.
43 chairs
23 desks
31 tables
12 walls
"Walls?" Aster asked as Ms. Sala blushed. "Walls?"
"Yes, well, some of them are getting weak from natural wear-and-tear while others have been cleaned so many times, they're slowly wearing down."
"I see," Obito said as Sienna looked at it all with a wince.
"What are ya gonna do?" She asked.
"I'll have to break this up into specific times," he said as the lizard teacher nodded.
"W-We'll be able to pay for it as long as it's not too much material," she said as Obito perked up. "O-Only if it's good," Ms. Sala added immediately as he nodded.
"Alright, we're lacking time so I'll just do a few and we'll hurry out of here."
The items hadn't all been moved to a designated room, most of those things being in use, but Obito was fine with that.
The first thing he did was reinforce the walls on the second floor.
He looked at the slightly eroded frame of an entryway to the cafeteria before nodding and making a one-finger wind blade.
Smoothing it out by cutting away all the odd and brown edges, he applied his Dust Wood Style and nodded as it formed perfectly to the shape.
He went on to just focus on the wall section of the list, getting to eight of them before having to leave.
As he went downstairs, he nodded to the others. "Were you guys able to do the thing with the chairs?"
"Got all of those and some of the desks!" Aster grinned as Perry nodded. "If it's just cutting or breaking 'em off, we've got strength for days!"
"Yeah, thankfully, we had some knives for the weak chair legs," the lizard teen said. "And Derry's got strong legs."
"U-Uhm," the young woman blushed at that as Sienna chuckled along with Aster.
"With Sie and my strength, Perry's quick fingers, and Derry's legs, we've got a lot of it down," Aster said.
"Thanks, I'll repay you guys for this," Obito said as the children had an early break for their lunchtime. "We've got ten minutes to get back to school."
They nodded and headed out, Obito freezing before rushing back over the doorway.
"Okay, one thing, children," he spoke up as the chatty kids looked at him. "Okay, so, I'm supposed to pick up Mr. Linne's daughter and seven more kids of the teachers from the high school. If your parents work there, raise your hand."
Four kids did, Obito nodded as Ms. Sala perked up.
"Henry asked you?" She asked.
"Him and the teachers. They've been staying back a lot and didn't want their kids to stay here alone if you will. So, they want me to bring them over to the high school from today on until… I guess until I graduate," Obito said as she looked at him curiously.
"I see… thank you."
"No issue. Take care."
He hurried out after the others. "Sorry. I wanted to see if I couldn't find some of those kids beforehand," Obito said.
"Nah, it's fine," Sienna said as they powerwalked back to school. "Still, you're gonna be busy. Can you get training in with all this?"
"Of course, what do I look like? You can turn anything into training. I'll simply focus on my powers while I do all of this."
"Powers… you can make wood and stuff, right?" Derry asked.
"A few other elements as well," Obito said as they reached their schoolyard.
~NRK~
The end of the school day found Obito moving to the elementary school with the others.
"So, you'll be dealing with these things for, what, a month?" Perry considered as Obito nodded.
"Three weeks at the minimum. I won't know if I'll run out of energy or stamina. This will help me see how much I can push my skills," the human said as Derry considered him.
"So, we'll be going home without you for a while," Sienna said with a frown. "Sounds unsafe."
"I'd ask for which one of us?" Obito offered as the tiger teen frowned deeper. "It's better for you two to be home. Ignoring that I'd not be able to know what's happening there. Protection is something we need everywhere. We don't know what'll happen."
"Not wrong," the tigress knew that well. "Still."
"I'm both a lot faster and stronger now. Unless I get kidnapped again by some powerhouse, I'm good."
"Don't jinx it," Aster said as Derry nodded. "Bad juju will never not be real. I can't believe it isn't."
"Hmm," Derry tilted her head at that as the group made it to the elementary school. "So, you'll bring the kids over first?"
"Well, it'll depend on if I can get all of them quick enough," Obito said as they stood outside the school before blinking as he felt a tap on his back. "Hmm?" Turning around, he looked down and saw a small Faunus boy who grinned.
"Ya saved m' dad!" He said before Obito blinked only for Sienna to laugh as she leaned on his shoulder. "You and Ms. Sie!"
"Basically," she said as her friends snorted or laughed.
"M-Me, too!" Girl said.
"T-Thanks, Mr. hooman. Ms. Sie."
"T-Thank you!"
More and more thanks found their way at Obito and Sienna's feet as they nodded to the children before then speaking with their parents.
The male Faunus in front of Obito rubbed the back of his head, his Arctic Fox tail wagging slowly as his twin daughters pulled on his pants towards the human teen.
"I'm glad everything worked," Obito said, breaking the ice, as the man sighed.
"Y-Yeah, uh, thanks. You too, Sienna."
"No problem," the tiger teen said as Marrone came running out with a grin on his face. "Hmph, you said a lot, didn't ya?" Sienna said as he grinned.
"But it's so cool!" Marrone said with a smile as she chuckled.
"Maybe."
The floodgates opened before Obito shook hands, bowed, and chatted with several familiar Faunus parents both from his neighborhood and not.
Twenty minutes later, he was currently counting the heads of all the children who'd come to him from Marrone's class.
"Four, five, six," Obito counted. "So, two more? Do any of you know who the last two are? What class they're in-?"
"C-Coming!" Came a small boy's call as he and one other ran up to them. "W-We're… y-you're not my mom," he said as he froze as the boy behind him looked at Obito.
"I know. Your mother, Mrs. Cabba, asked me to pick you up, along with the other kids' parents, and take you to the high school. They're not always able to come and get you, correct?"
"C-Corekt?" The boy asked nervously, his scaly arms covered by bandages as Obito crouched to their levels. "?"
"Cor-rec-tion," he pronounced as the boy jumped before pouting a bit only for the short one behind him to grin.
"Core-Ect-Shin!" He said as Obito chuckled before the small child saw his flapping sleeve. "Ah! Missing arm!" He jumped before moving over to it and grabbing the sleeve. "Air?"
"It's not there, after all," Obito said as the first boy looked at him with concern before hiding behind the other kids. "Alright then," standing up, he sweatdropped as the small boy hung from his sleeve. "Please don't rip it."
His eyes widened and he quickly climbed down and raised his arm. "So'ry!"
"It's fine, you just need to be more careful. All of us aren't exactly rolling in lien."
"Why would we roll in lien?" Mr. Linne's daughter asked as Obito sweatdropped.
"It's a saying."
"What's it say?" Another girl asked. "... S-Sir."
"No, when I use the word 'saying' like that, I'm using it…" Obito considered the explanation. "Okay, uh, have your parents ever said it's raining cats and dogs?"
"Yeah!" Three kids said as the others looked at them weirdly. "It means it's raining super hardly."
"You'd use 'hard' instead of 'hardly' there," the human teen corrected as Ms. Sala came out with a curious look. "Sorry, we were just waiting for the last two boys."
"No, it's fine… All of you, be well-behaved," she said as the kids nodded.
"Alright…"
"Okay, since we're all here, let's go. I'll be back, Ms. Sala," Obito said as she nodded. "Are you going to be here? Should I knock on the window?"
"I-I'll be here, I promise," she said. "I have to clean up and look over their spelling tests. Marrone got number 1 again."
He chuckled with a nod even as Mr. Linne's daughter groaned.
"H-How does he keep on winnin'?!" She whined as the others nodded. "He has to have ay Samblance!"
"The word you're looking for is 'Semblance'," Obito corrected as she blinked at him.
"S-Samblance."
"Semblance," Obito said before she pouted in embarrassment. "No, it's fine, you're just a child. Learning how to say your words is going to come in time."
"Words?"
"How to say 'em."
"O-Ohhh," she said as he nodded and they began to leave. "Are we going to get on the bus?"
"It's not that far away," Obito said as Ms. Sala giggled a bit.
"But my feeties hurt."
"... Come on."
The girl squealed as he lifted her with one arm and held her on his shoulder as they walked, much to her horror and excitement. "High?!"
"If your feet are hurting, the last thing we need is for you to hurt them too much," Obito said as the other kids looked at him expectantly, much to her nervous chuckling. "I might need to get a wagon," he realized as they walked.
Though, as they did, he sighed as some of the kids struggled on some patches of snow.
~NRK~
Mr. Linne laughed along with the other teachers as Obito came in with a long bit of cloth tied around his waist with a long tail.
Holding onto said long tail were the children, much to the amusement of the teachers, those with children and those not.
"I got them," was all the human boy said and they really started laughing.
~NRK~
He wiped his brow two hours later, working on the tenth desk more closely, already having finished all the walls.
In only his pants and boots, Obito sweat gently as he rolled his shoulders, looking at his work.
"Hmph, I think I'm done for today," he said to himself as he heard a crick in his back. "Yes, definitely," Obito said with finality.
It was still a nice bit of exercise.
The door to the room opened to reveal Ms. Sala who choked at the scars on the young teen.
"H-Huh?!" She jumped as Obito blinked at her before wincing.
"Oh, apologies, I forgot," he said as he moved to one of the finished tables with his top on it and put it on. "There, sorry again," Obito said as he picked up his bag and walked over to her.
"A-All of those are s-scars?" She winced as he nodded
"Yes," he left with a bow to her as the teacher looked at the fixed items. "I'll probably stay two hours every weekday. Is that fine?"
"H-Huh?" She looked away from the shocking sight of good-looking furniture to look at the chuckling boy. "?!" The lizard woman blushed as he grinned.
"I'll see you tomorrow, miss."
~NRK~
The ride on the bus was thankfully as uneventful as all his recent bus rides had been.
'It's going to be Spring soon,' Obito thought as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. 'But the first big two-week break is coming up next month, also,' he'd probably use those two weeks to try and find more work.
Fifteen lien and forty lien, from the elementary, was a good number even though the latter would certainly be cut once he finished the furniture.
Still, he'd not bleed them for it, he couldn't find it in his new understanding from his previous life.
'Still… if they can introduce me to more work,' he considered as he pulled on the stop cord, the bus coming to a stop by his bus booth. 'Then it'd be the best,' Obito thought as he got off.
Walking home, the lowering sun in his sight, Obito let out a cool breath as it lit up his face.
He'd solve this mess of a city, bet on it.
Making it home, he pulled out the new key for the new lock on the door, a wooden thing he'd already given to the others.
As soon as he went inside, Marrone got off the couch in the living room and ran over with a grin.
"Sup, bro?!"
"Hm, hm, good evening," Obito said as he closed the door and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Hoo! You're cold," Marrone said as the human snorted before hearing the sound of several adults in the kitchen.
"I'll warm up fast enough. I'm guessing Mrs. Ireed has some friends over?" he asked as Sienna peeked out of her room with some sweat on her brow and a sports bra's straps visible from her angle.
"Welcome home," she said with a nod and blush before closing her new door, rustling around in her room as Obito nodded. "And, yeah, she does," Sienna said as he hummed.
He put his things down in his and Marrone's room, the warmth of the home relaxing him immensely as he heard the chatter, clatter, and sounds from the kitchen.
"Really? H-He can fix furniture? The old wheels haven't been too great, Ireed."
"We can ask him. He made the bed frames in all the rooms which already have a slightly firm middle."
"Then maybe we can get him to make some dressers…?"
"You have to ask the boy, not me."
He hummed at that before standing in the middle of his room, holding up a half-Tiger hand seal.
Flames spiraled over his body for ten seconds before he cut it off, the slight hiss off his form reaching his sight.
"Hmph," he chuckled at the warmth in his body before his foot tapped back against something, much to his confusion. "Hm?" Obito blinked at the backpack with an open compartment full of neatly folded clothes. "What's this?"
"Mom and my work," Sienna said from his doorway, causing Obito to look at her, the grinning teen standing there in a new white shirt and socks. "I'm loving this, by the way," she said as she wiggled her toes in their warm confines.
Obito snorted as he looked at his bag before nodding at a top he pulled out.
He stripped his top off before donning the new thick black shirt he'd received, the top coming down to his thighs.
"I'll have to grow into this," he said as Sienna nodded.
"Come on, mom and the other Sisters from their business are making something in the kitchen with one of the cans of food! We've got beans on toast!"
He hummed before following her out of his room.
As they entered the kitchen, they found Ireed along with three other women, Mr. Moreno and two men by the table with Marrone and three other Faunus kids.
His form got everyone's attention, the flat left sleeve of his top still getting the most to this day.
"Good evening," the human said as Marrone grinned. "Beans?" He asked Ireed who nodded.
"The usual seasoning when we've had it," the stoat woman said with a ladle swirling the beans. "Also, Grantha wants to know if you can fix some of her furniture."
"It'd have to be on the weekend. I'm already doing the ones at Marrone's school," Obito explained as Moreno blinked along with the other men and women.
"Bro's helping fix a lot! He got a whole list of stuff to help with," Marrone explained.
"I'm surprised, how'd they know?" Moreno asked and the boy grinned nervously before his father's hand slowly found his own face and slid down to show a flat expression. "Marrone."
"I-It's just, well, Susie said her mom couldn't fix their bed and I said that my bro made lots of stuff and then my teacher heard and he helped and then I-" the boy rambled as the other men laughed. "... Sorry," his ears flattened against his head as his father sighed.
"I get that you wanted to be helpful, I do, but what happens if someone hears you saying all of that who isn't… nice?"
"U-Um, well, bro and sis are super-tough, they could handle it."
"We don't really know that," Sienna said as the boy snickered nervously. "While I think we're pretty tough, that Keler guy was ridiculously strong."
"But you're training," the boy whined.
"It's been two days," Obito sweatdropped along with Sienna. "No training in that amount of time really happens. For now, we have to not only deal with what we have but we also have to hope no super-bastards show up again," Lord help them if another did.
"S-So, he is gone… right?" One of the men asked nervously as Sienna rubbed the back of her head.
"... We think so," she said.
"Keler seems observed with taking my head in fifteen years, I think we're good," Obito said as the group balked. "Oh, did you all not hear that part?"
"Yeah, no, I really don't like that guy."
"Trust me, same here."
"Wait! What?! Bro! That dude wants your head?!" Marrone asked in horror as Obito nodded.
"It seems so," Obito said as Moreno looked at him oddly.
"You… don't seem bothered," he said and Obito shrugged. 'Oh Brothers, I think I really messed up this boy,' that was another hit to his conscience.
"I have time to get stronger, build connections, and learn all the proper skills I need to handle a man such as him," the human said. "I'm likely going to be meeting with the general a lot for a check-up on this whole situation," Obito continued as he raised his stump of an arm. "I'll ask him more about this and hopefully come away with something good about that Vacuan ma…" His eyebrows lowered deeply. 'Wait.'
"Something got your tongue?" Sienna asked.
"No but something's on my mind," Obito said with a frown as he jabbed his thumb over to her room. "I need to ask you a very worrying question between us."
Sienna frowned as they left the kitchen and went into her room, closing the door behind them. "What?"
"Sienna, the Desert Field gang, can you tell me more about their members?" Obito asked and she blinked with a tilt of the head.
"Well… Like, I don't know what they all looked like, yeah? I just know what I was told they were pretty dangerous, the most notorious gang in history," Sienna said. "... Wait, you don't think that Keler guy was related, do you?"
"I don't know but we both know it's weird that a Vacuan man would end up here in Atlas… and there was once a gang called Desert Field? I don't know what to believe but I feel like this is a big part of everything and it's dangerous."
"... Fuck, yeah, that's starting to make more sense," Sienna hissed. "Still, what could this mean?"
"Didn't you say they got busted?"
"That's what my boss told me, we don't know if she knew everyone in that gang got busted."
"..." Obito's eyebrows lowered in worry. "Sienna… did you happen to remember the family, or child, who took them down?"
"..." She hummed as her tail curled forward without a thought. "... It was the Avion family," Sienna said as Obito raised a brow, her arms crossing in more consideration. "Their son, at the time, I think was Bastion Avion?"
"Sienna."
"That dude's doing their bullhead business, I think."
"Sienna."
"So, what do you think?" She asked him, looking at her human comrade whose eyebrows went flat. "What?" Sienna frowned.
He pointed down and she blinked before looking-
"Crap!? I'm sorry!" She squawked in horror as she pulled her tail back from around his shin. 'The hell?! Why is THAT what you decide to do on your own!?' Sienna had never been so mortified.
"Right… And, what I'm thinking is there's something up," Obito said, letting her have this one as Sienna looked so embarrassed. "Think about it, there's no way some random gang not only has connections to Vacuo but there was a former gang with desert elements, and that same gang was beaten down by some random rich kid? Said rich kid certainly capable of paying for Keler and I think we have an issue."
"You think Bastion did it?" Her mouth fell in disbelief. "The Elites are causing trouble?"
"For what it's worth, it's only him and possibly his family. We don't know, it's just the hints make that picture, I could be completely off the mark and it's even one of his staff or something," Obito explained as Sienna frowned.
"Still! There's no way someone down here made enough cash to bring Keler here!"
"That's the complete truth," Obito said with narrowed eyes. 'And that's the biggest issue. If that man, Victor, is truly the one who hired him…'
He knew something important and could DIE.
His eyes widened in horror while Sienna blinked at him. "What's-"
"WE NEED TO GO!" Obito realized in horror as she jumped at his voice. "Sienna, we don't have time, fuck, we might already be too late!" He hissed as he walked towards the door.
"Wait, hold on! What's going on?!" Sienna asked with a grimace. "You can't just freak out and not say anything!"
Obito's hand stopped on the handle as he looked back at her with a look that chilled her bones.
"If we don't move now, even if it's too late, we're gonna miss our one chance."
She stared at him in shock before swallowing and scrambling for some of her clothes, backpack, and weapon.
The two ran out of her room abruptly, shocking Marrone who stood by their door.
"Huh?! Bro?! Sis-Where are you guys going!?" The tiger boy asked as they skirted to a stop.
"Wait, that's it!" Obito powerwalked into the kitchen, the Faunus looking confused. "Mr. Moreno, we need to know, what did you all do with Victor?"
"H-Huh?" The tiger man blinked in surprise along with the other adults. "Hmm, well, we beat his ass before dropping him off at a police station near Planter Cv."
"Crap, that's not good," Sienna realized.
"Wait, what's going on?"
"We need to get to Victor, immediately!" Obito declared as they ran out. "If he's not DEAD already."
The door slammed shut, leaving the shocked Faunus behind.
"What?" Ireed choked.
~NRK~
There was no time to hesitate.
Sienna grimaced even as her cheeks reddened, her hair slapping against her cheeks as Obito sent them high into the sky with power wind-fueled leaps.
"Will we make it?!" She asked him as they fell again.
"I have to hope so!" He answered as they reached the better sector in good time. "Where's Planter Cove?!"
"To the right!"
They hurried for the next 60 seconds, the two of them landing on the sidewalk by the prison, shocking nearby folk as they ran in.
The policewoman inside grimaced at the two of them. "What do you two want?"
"Where's Victor?!" Obito asked as he slammed his hand down on the desk. "We need to speak with him! It's urgent!"
"What, you his-"
"We're NOT!" Sienna hissed as the woman flinched, more of her fellow officers peeking into the room. "It's… we need to get to him before-!"
The area rumbled as those in the building barely held their posture, all of their eyes widening as it stopped and screaming reached them.
Obito ran past her desk with Sienna right behind him, the cops flinching as they did.
They passed by hallways with as many hopeful hunches as possible, their luck holding out as they slammed through a pair of double doors that held glowing orange light behind them.
His eye widened and it was only due to his reaction speed that he was able to throw both his and Sienna's hoods up before that 'person' looked at them.
"U-U… urggghhhh," Victor White choked within the grip of a large being in a black bodysuit, brown trench coat, and large fedora.
Its head turned and the two teens flinched as a shining red eye looked at them, the both of them holding down their hoodies so they could barely see the red light of its gaze.
"H-Help… me?!" Victor begged as its head turned back to him. "... N-Nooo, don't-"
Sienna's eyes shrunk as a sickening crack reached their ears, Victor's odd-angled-head-having body dropping out of the machine's grip and into view on the floor.
"W-What?" She covered her mouth as her face went green, feet trembling as they stepped away from that thing. "T-The hell, h-his head is-"
"Focus," Obito spoke once as she flinched at his hand on her shoulder. "... Go, I'll handle this."
"The hell are you saying?!" She wheezed and hissed all in the same measure, eyes locking onto the large machine. "Y-You… you can't," Sienna's mind told her something important.
This thing wasn't Keler. It wasn't a thinking, feeling, living being that might have let them off with its interest piqued.
This thing was a monster.
"... Tsk," Obito kissed his teeth before he grimaced deeper as the double doors slammed open, the cops had arrived.
"Hold your-the fuck is that?!" The woman from the front desk said in horror as she and the others flinched at its gaze. "F-Freeze-!"
"Don't!" Obito ordered as the cops froze at the feeling of pressure on their shoulders. "Right now… that thing can kill all of us if we make the wrong move."
Its visor twitched between them all before landing on him.
Obito's eye narrowed, blazing red.
[...] It turned around before walking out. [Target Terminated.]
They all watched in shock as it vanished into the flames… as in into the flames, becoming fire itself that dispersed soon after.
Sienna fell onto her rear as Obito hissed. "W-W-What was that?" She asked the others who looked as horrified as she was.
All save for Obito whose Sharingan recorded every moment of that thing's existence.
As well as an important bit of information.
A small barcode that was almost impossible to see, likely even up-close. A thing with a set of words above it.
Atlas Military Recognition Code.
~NRK~
So, that's the best spot to end this chapter on. I'll be immediately working on the next one, too.
So, we have several revelations in this chapter, along with a long-running plot between Mantle, Atlas, the Elites, and the gangs.
If anyone here has read my other stories and paid a bit of attention to the bits of lore I made for Mantle. This is the event that took place when James was down here to bring law to the lower city. It appeared most recently in A Grimm Light, actually, when Naruto first gets revealed and they're in Mantle.
I like sprinkling in little events for potential usage like this. Where I already wrote down the idea in another fic and can make a whole arc about it in another.
So, to list off:
Obito's fully healed and ready for, very necessary, training
He's making a little bit of money by working between the schools
He and Sienna found a little bunker where they've gained a good couple of things. Clothes, food, and weapons
Met some of the hostages, and their families, who he saved
Finally… we meet the unknown villain who's going to be a big motivator for the two
Of course, because shit. Got. REAL.
Oh, and anyone who might think Sienna's reaction is odd, is it really? You have to consider this, seeing someone die horribly, and feeling like you're facing someone who's just playing with you is different. VERY different.
And, spoilers, Sienna's never killed anyone much less seen people being killed on purpose like this. At least, not so helplessly.
It's a whole new experience for her and she's gonna need to develop from it.
Gonna start working on the next chap.
Ciao.
Words: 12.2k+
~NRK Out~