Aneko stood outside the Captain's office, she stopped, breathing deeply to calm her nerves. She started walking again, letting herself find the building's training room. The room was outfitted with hard light projectors that mimicked human opponents. It was regularly used for clansmen to hone their skills by themselves. If a simulation got too out of hand, a safe word was used to shut off the projectors to avoid any other bodily harm.
A control panel can be seen to the wall immediately to the right of the entrance, and Aneko locked the door, setting her conditions to the spar. Lights activated, and she walked to the middle of the room.
Elaborate holograms formed around her, and with a swift motion, she had her long dagger withdrawn and ready. When the barely physical opponents were sliced, the limbs turned into cubes of light, scattering and disappearing when they hit the ground.
As more opponents were created, she let her aura flare and summoned her knives in an old and familiar dance. With every motion, blue pixels could be seen, and ice crept out from under Aneko's feet. Her aura was strong enough to defeat her opponents by itself, and the effort it took to avoid creating her Sword started to strain her meager energy even more.
When the woman exhausted her anger, she called out the safe word. "Crimson!" Automatically, the hard light projectors froze, the created fighters stopping and dematerializing. Aneko fell to her knees, panting harshly. Ice was cold under her palms, and she could see her own breath, white smoke puffing with every pant. Her long dagger was abandoned, laying on ice from about five feet away.
Her fingers gripped at the ice, and she pushed herself up. The Blue King didn't know how long her training exercise took, but the warmth of constant motion kept her from freezing, not that her aura ever gave her a cold. She glanced at her surroundings, the ice encrusting the walls and the high ceiling. The room felt more like a refrigerator than a training room, and nubs of icicles were forming, dangling over her head.
The ice was thick as she strode over to her throwing knives, pulling them out from the frost covered walls. Her empty harness itched at her skin, but otherwise, she felt better than when she came in. Soon, she had fistfuls of knives, and she sat cross-legged on the ice, laying them down.
Her coat wasn't much use in the chilly room, so she took it off, the heavy cloth little help from the cold inside and outside of the fabric. She unbuckled her harness, numb fingers squeezing the little latches and pulling the small strips of Velcro from underneath her button down.
Aneko cursed her emotional weakness as tears started to streak down her face, the wet tracks feeling colder with the low temperature of the room. She wiped them away, the roughness of her hands scraping the soft skin of her face.
She counted the daggers before she undid her shirt, the thin fabric of her undershirt the only protection from the cold. Throwing knives were snuggly reloaded into the harness, and it went back on, the light clicks of the buckles slightly echoing in the large room.
The ice created from the woman's aura would melt in about ten minutes after she confined her power, the unnatural ice being a distant memory in an hour. Unfortunately, the water would still remain, but it would most likely dry quickly.
Aneko stood up to take her long dagger from where it laid on the floor, sheathing the weapon. She pulled out her PDA, noting the time. "It's 7:30 in the morning already?" she asked out loud. She left the training room, guiltily looking at the ice that was starting to melt, leaving growing puddles.
She found herself back in her dorm room, the exhaustion getting to her. It had taken a lot of effort not to call upon her Sword, or Tsubaki-mon would really become an ice palace. It felt like the trip from the training room to her dorm was a distant dream.
The aura usage didn't help her hunger in any bit, and she dragged herself to the shower, depositing her blue coat onto her bed. She glanced at the mirror, her reflection baring slightly blue lips as she looked like she hadn't slept for decades.
It was very likely her shower used up most of the hot water in the dorms, and she didn't regret one bit.
Making her way to the dorm's communal kitchen felt like forever as she trudged over there in civilian clothing, which was a pale blue t-shirt covered by a darker blue sweater partially unzipped, and navy blue jeans held up by her uniform belt. Her fleece windbreaker was laid on top of her sweater to give better protection against the elements.
Her entrance was greeted by seeing Fushimi at the center table, the man in the middle of eating breakfast. It looked like he had a permanent scowl etched his face. He looked up when she came in, not commenting on the woman's exhausted slump. She walked over to a cabinet in the small kitchen, picking at a box of cereal, honey nut cheerios by the looks of it, and getting a bowl, making her breakfast and sliding the bowl with a passive gesture.
Aneko sat on a chair flicking through her PDA, going through her own anime collection looking for something to watch. She settled on an old Naruto episode, laying the device on the table flat, the hard light projector turning on at the motion, and she settled into her breakfast.
Fushimi gave the woman a disapproving look, and when she noticed his stare, his eyes narrowed.
"What, you don't like ninjas?" Aneko asked sardonically, fed up with the man's nonverbal attitude, "I'm really getting sick of your shit, Fushimi-san." She paused the video with a wave, bringing her attention to him fully.
"I can't believe you're Captain's kid," Fushimi said, the first words spoken since Aneko had arrived.
"And I can't believe you're Misaki's husband in my time," she retorted, and Fushimi froze, shock evident. "Let alone my mentor. I guess mom was right when she said you were an acquired taste as a kid." Aneko sighed, before spooning cereal into her mouth.
"Your world is weird," Fushimi decided, not even bothering with the information.
She chewed thoughtfully, swallowing, "You two have a cute kid, though. Went to my alma mater. Adorable." Aneko picked up her PDA, going into her photo gallery.
A hologram of a teen with hazel eyes and dark blue hair appeared, wearing a high school uniform consisting of a uniform suit jacket and a slightly unbuttoned white shirt, a bright red tie around his neck. He wore thick glasses, his dark blue hair slightly brushing his eyes.
The picture depicted the boy flipping a throwing knife, the blade airborne as his hand poised to catch it. The knife was identical to the ones Fushimi used in battle. His eyes were narrowed with concentration, a slight smirk on his face, and a flicker of red could be seen on the blade in the air.
"Yata Yuuma. You were insistent that he didn't take your name," the woman told him, going back at her cereal, "Science comes a long way. We perfected rewriting genetic code of sperm and eggs to allow same-sex couples to have children. It turns out a kid with two parents with red aura inherits that ability."
Finished, Aneko let her spoon fall into the empty bowl with a clatter, "He's with the Interrogation Squad, back home. Sometimes I request for him to step in for an absent Squad 1 member. He's a destructive force on the battlefield. He is your son, after all."
Aneko stood up, washing the used items, and turning back to the table as she wiped everything dry.
Fushimi just sat there, silent as ever. It appeared that he was coming to terms with the idea that an alternate version of him had a kid and married Misaki of all people.
"I'll see you around, Fushimi-san. Have fun with finding the Colorless King," she said as a farewell, but a, "Wait," from the young man made her pause.
"I know it was you," Fushimi spoke up from his seat, having turned to stare Aneko in the face. "Hm?" she responded, "Do you now?"
"I know your voice. You're the one who saved that HOMRA member," the Clansman elaborated, blue meeting red. One of his fingers twitched, and if Aneko wasn't wrong, he was itching to summon one of his knives.
"So what? In my world, this happened already. I wasn't King, then. Dad was. Totsuka Tatara should've been dead," Aneko said nonchalantly, "Anyway, the Captain already knows. That's why I'm 'shadowing' your Squad, under my request. If that's all, I'll see you around." She walked away briskly to avoid any further questions.
With a parting text to Munakata to tell him she was going to be in the city, she left Tsubaki-mon without a backwards glance.
AN: I'm going on a short hiatus, its finals week!