To guest "potato" (?), her maturity and intelligence is mostly because I'm like that, honestly!
Other guest, "si" means "self insert", as in the writer putting their own traits or memories over top of a character. "nii" is an honorific that means "older brother".
lunarlegend11, You'd never guess how smiley and excited I got when I saw the length of your review!
The "reading emotions" thing is coming from auras that are visible in the manga, actually! The sensing thing is partly because of how much certain things or people are given emphasis, and partly because of my own paranoia and hypervigilance. When I'm not with people I explicitly trust, I'm able to tell when someone is approaching me or when someone has been looking at me sith too much focus from any angle. The idea of Yuuki being empathic to some degree is interesting, though. Food for thought!
I tagged this story as "friendship" because I don't understand romance or its motivating emotions, and don't intend for it to be a focus in this story. It might appear, but it won't be initiated or knowingly reciprocated by Yuuki, because as a self-insert, I'm giving her this quirk of mine. Romantic situations or intimate situations with romantic subtext make me uncomfortable. I don't currently know if I will be writing any romance, but if I do it will be subtle or drama-free, and it will definitely not include a love triangle. At all. No love triangles.
That said, I hope to hear from you again, my fellow ace! It was really nice to read your review and answer some of your questions (though some I can't answer on the basis of spoilers). I'm glad you think my characterization is correct, and I hope to continue making it so!
There's a woman, and it's dark. She's smaller than the woman, who is cradling her close. There is a hitch in breath, and the scent of blood. Yuuki turns, facing the door of the darkened room.
"Mother? Mother, I smell blood," Yuuki worries, trying to struggle free. There's no give, and suddenly the scent of blood is worse. "Mother?" Her voice is frightened, and Yuuki turns back to the woman. There's blood running down the woman's face, and her face is in an expression of pained pity and resigned love. Yuuki can tell something is happening, but her senses fail her.
"Not now." The voice is incredibly close and does not belong. Yuuki swirls, and the scene disappears. In front of her is a small pond, surrounded by a forest. It's very dark in the trees, but there are small fireflies flickering just above the surface of the pond. Yuuki looks around, but can't spot anything at first before creeping closer to the water.
A few feet beneath the still surface, there's a casket. It looks to be made of glass and silver, and she can see herself inside of it. Her eyes are open, but more reddish, and her face is twisted in an expression of mixed fear, anger and anxiety. There's a sound behind her, glass clinking and grinding together, and Yuuki turns. There's a vaguely human figure there, comprised of shards of glass and grains of sand. Yuuki can make out a single amber-brown eye, and sallow skin.
"It's too early right now," the figure reprimands. There's the sound of grinding glass above her head before it surges forward-
Yuuki jumps upright in bed with a choked gasp. For a second, she sees shadows swirling along the walls unnaturally before they vanish to their correct places. She quickly does her best to subdue her breathing into as quietly as she can get it, and tucks her knees up close to her chest.
She feels watched. Hunted. She doesn't want to be alone, but Cross is out tonight and Zero is mad at her, still. Well, she's pretty sure that Zero's still mad at her. She doesn't really want to risk bothering him and making him hate her more.
"I'm hungry," there's a distant, feminine whisper. It's so quiet and almost completely subvocalized and she forcibly ignores that it might have come from inside of her head. She bolts out of bed and leaves her room. She stalls in the hallway before walking to the kitchen, creeping past Zero's door as quietly as she can. She gets a cup of water before turning on heel and making her way into the living room and curling up on the couch, sipping at her water slowly. Yuuki can hear a door open and then feet padding in her direction, and spots Zero in the doorway from the hall to the living room.
"Zero?" Yuuki murmurs, peering at him cautiously. His eyes narrow slightly and he approaches where she sits on the couch, standing in front of her for a minute before crouching down to look into her eyes. They're slightly dulled, a little red.
"What's wrong?" Zero asks eventually. His voice doesn't have any inflection, but his eyes are worried.
"... Bad dream, I think," she answers after a second, not bothering to mention the specifics, or the unsettling whisper. Zero frowns at her before sitting down on the couch next to her without another word. Yuuki doesn't shift or speak, not really feeling up to acting socially or very kindly. But the longer Zero sits with her, the less hunted she feels, and the more the pain he'd previously inspired in her chest fades. "Are you still angry with me?" Yuuki asks after awhile, her voice very quiet and hesitant.
"No," Zero eventually explains after a glance at her face. "...I didn't mean to snap at you."
"It's alright. I understand," she denies his implied apology, before uncurling a little to extend a hand toward Zero in the dark. She doesn't touch him, letting him decide if he wants to touch her, his earlier accusation and anger still lingering.
He studies her face for a second before shifting his shoulder and allowing her palm to come into contact with it. A small coil of tension releases in her chest, and she shifts around and presses against his side, ducking her head under his arm so that her head is pressed into his ribcage. He stiffens, and she hears his heart rate stuttering and settling into a quick rhythm. It's a long while before his arm curls slightly, softening around her shoulders and upper back, his heart rate slowing.
Yuuki drifts off to sleep listening to his heart beat, just a hint of old, crushed and rotting flower petals brushing close to her senses.
She wakes at the loud sound of Cross' squealing. Zero is still in the same position, though he's now stiff, and Yuuki pulls up and away from him. Her neck and back are incredibly sore from the strange position, and when she scrubs her hands over her face, she can feel the remnants of tears. A glance to Zero shows a stiff expression and bags under his eyes. Ignoring Cross, who's shrieking about how 'Zero and his daughter are so close and adorable', she frowns at Zero in worry.
"Did you sleep at all, Zero? I'm sorry for falling asleep on you…" She apologizes mournfully. He studies her face for a moment before shrugging, looking a little uncomfortable but not angry.
"'S fine." He stands and stretched, rolling his shoulders and shaking out his arms. Yuuki gets to her feet quickly, and studies him for a moment. He's stretching in a way similar to martial art stretches- similar to the way that Cross had taught her to stretch.
"Zero, did you train to fight?" Yuuki asks after a second. His eyes flick to meet hers and she's given a small, reluctant nod. "Want to spar?" There's an increase in wailing from Cross, and they both give him their attention.
"-ignoring meeee!" He cries, crocodile tears falling dramatically as he collapses to his knees. Seeing their attention on him, he crawls forward to Yuuki, teary eyed and wobbly. "Yuuukkkiii!" His arms wrap around her pajama-clad legs and she hesitantly reaches down to pat his head.
"It's okay, father, I'm sorry for ignoring you," she soothes. "I just needed to talk to Zero, you know." He sniffles and his nod rubs his face against the side of her leg. Yuuki sighs in fond annoyance as she realizes that Cross mustn't have been receiving his preferred level of tactile affection lately, with the move, unpacking and taking care of Zero's nightmares and self-harming actions. Her eyes slide to Zero, who seemed to have been waiting for that and nodded his head. There's a quick spark of anticipation and happiness in Yuuki's chest at Zero's agreement and she realizes that it's also been awhile since she's trained with Cross, lately.
She's going to need to set time aside for spending time with Cross, she figures. To train and just spend time together. She feels a little knot of tension that'd been in her that she hadn't noticed loosen the longer Cross is in contact with her, as well, confirming her suspicion.
I'm definitely going to need to set time aside more often to train,Yuuki decides, pulling back the force of one of her kicks for the twelfth time. It isn't that Zero isn't strong, because he is, and he's also pretty fast, but Yuuki is used to fighting Cross, who's a full adult and superhuman, besides. There's a massive power difference there, and Yuuki keeps using both momentum, gravity and her entire strength in her strikes. Her first kick had shown her that doing so was a mistake, as Zero had flown backwards maybe four feet before managing to stop himself. There'd been an instant flash of regret, but then he'd come back swinging and she'd fallen back into fight mode.
She wanted to spar with Zero, not beat him to a pulp.
She's pretty sure that Zero has noticed that she's mostly favoring kicks (which is due to her arms usually being occupied with Artemis), and that she's also holding back (because after that first strike, he hasn't gone flying or skidding again). Though he hasn't really said anything or shown any sign of holding it against her. Well, other than upping his aggression level, which doesn't feel like anger- more like acknowledgement. Yuuki's face is calm, though her eyes are bright and her lips are twisted into a small grin. Zero's face is also mostly calm, though it's slightly pinched and confrontational, his lips pulled into a stern line and his eyes slightly narrowed. She'd think he was angry about how the fight is going, but with every moment, his body loses some of its tension and his movements get smoother..
Yuuki is pretty sure she's not as strong or as fast as Zero, but despite that, she's gotten more hits to connect than Zero. Mostly because her reflexes and senses are sharper, and she's used to fighting against Cross, who's much faster and stronger than them both by a large margin. She can't tell if he's used to fighting bare handed or with a weapon, but if he's half as observant as she is, he should know that she has weapons training with a staff or long weapon. Her hands keep moving as though it's in her grasp, moving in synchrony and occasionally completely out of sync with her legs or what momentum could explain.
It's after an hour that Cross interrupts them. Yuuki collapses to lay down on the grass, groaning quietly under her breath as Zero hunches over, planting his hands on his knees and inhaling deeply. She's not incredibly tired, but she doesn't really want to keep moving for a little while. Cross' disapproving face appears in her line of vision, though, so she reluctantly pulls herself into a stand and moves through her post-fight stretches and then walks in little circles, Zero joining her after a few more minutes of catching his breath. Cross goes into the house, telling them that he will be making dinner, resulting in twin grimaces, before Zero's walk moves him alongside her.
"You're good," he tells her once they've completed a few circles.
"I've been training with Cross since I was maybe nine? I'd hope I'm good! You're really good, too! I would have been creamed if I wasn't so used to Cross' speed!" She compliments. "How long have you been training?"
"... How old are you? I've been training since I was ten," he answers eventually.
"I turned twelve in December. How old are you?" Yuuki feels like these questions would have been better asked earlier in their relationship, but isn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Zero wants to talk to her, is holding a conversation for the longest time she's known him, and she won't spoil it.
"I'm turning thirteen in October, so twelve," he tells her after a little thought.
"Oh, so you're a little older than me! What day is your birthday? Mine is on the 25th."
"...The 24th." His voice is a little lower, more subdued. Ah, did I say something wrong? Frowning, Yuuki thinks to herself for a little bit before changing the subject.
"Do you enjoy fighting?" She asks after awhile. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself."
"...No." The reply isn't very sure, though, the answer indefinite. Yuuki flicked her eyes over his face, looking for an explanation there, but could find nothing but a small bit of pinched confusion. As though he'd never really thought about it before.
"Hm," she hums before lifting her arms, gripping her wrists and bracing them against the back of her neck. "I think I like fighting. I haven't been in any real fights, though, so I can't say for sure. But sparring is always fun and exciting." Zero looks at her with a skeptical face.
"You like fighting?"
"Hey, what's with that tone?" She exclaims indignantly before laughing. "But yeah, I'm pretty sure!" She confirms before a call from Cross has them turning and making their way into the house and to the dining area, which is directly connected to the kitchen. They both hesitate in the doorway in spotting the food on the table. It looks like a setup for curry, but the curry sauce doesn't seem quite right. Frowning as she approaches the table, Yuuki realizes that it isn't proper curry sauce, but a soup that's taking its place.
It shouldn't be too bad. Giving Zero a reassuring look, she takes her seat at the table as Cross swirls up and sits down, as well.
edit: sorry, I didn't want to do two author's notes but I needed to do this one at least this time.
to the guest who pointed out the repeating paragraph, thanks! I didn't realize that was there.
to guest leia, thanks for mentioning the repeat paragraph and telling me there were grammar mistakes. In mobile there's no auto spell check and it's difficult to watch how I type because I do it so fast. I can't see where they might be, but that might just be because, once again, writing on this site via mobile is kind of iffy.
Everyone and everything else will be addressed in the next legitimate chapter, which will be out either midday today or early tomorrow, as I'm finishing it up. It just needs some double checking, mostly.