Chapter 2: Routine

"As I said sir, I am very sorry to have bumped into you, I should have looked where I was going more carefully."

Eren was physically shaking at this point. Mikasa stood a few metres behind growing more defensive by the second, she hadn't wanted to see the little shit of a captain for a while.

"Well, you little brat, I heard you squabbling from the other corridor so perhaps you should learn to act your age first, or do you need me to show you physically?"

Levi was smaller than Eren but stared up at him with devilish eyes, relishing in the thought of giving Yeager a good discipling.

"He said he was sorry, what more do you want?"

Mikasa was by Eren's side in a heartbeat, glowering at the captain with her equally as deathly eyes. Levi widened his eyes at the audacity of the new recruit to talk back to him so quickly without even flinching.

"You must be Ackerman. How dare you speak back to your superior officer!"

Levi did his usual technique of raising his voice slightly and increasing the menace of his stare it was his most effective way of making the subordinates squirm. Ackerman, however, looked unimpressed by his strategy, her eyes were practically un-readable, but her facial expression showed she was bored. This angered Levi intensely; who did she think she was?

"He won't do it again, he's said that, may we please leave otherwise we will be late for training, wouldn't sound too good if a superior had kept the new recruits from appearing on time for the Commander."

Mikasa clicked her tongue in defence, she was challenging him. Levi was bewildered by the response, was she trying to blackmail him? Intriguing as it was, he would not allow subordinates to talk so freely especially on their first day, this girl needed to be taught many lessons. It was then that he realised she was the one he had hand-picked, which meant one on one training sessions, he couldn't wait for the fun to begin.

"Go you little brats, but you're all on stable cleaning duty for a week, and I swear it better be absolutely spotless, otherwise I will personally make you eat horse shit. Now scram."

Eren and Armin, who had remained silent the entire time, nodded excessively in response while Mikasa simply returned Levi's glare with her own, before grabbing Eren's arm and whisking him away.

{Levi's POV}

So that's Mikasa Ackerman, what a spunky little thing she is, absolutely no discipline but that's the fun part, oh you poor little flower, better get used to pain, because you just arrived straight to hell.

"New recruits of the 104th cadets, welcome to the Survey corps, today you will embark on your first day of training as scouts! Work hard and prepare yourself to become great soldiers, to bring this country to victory against the titans!"

Commander Erwin addressed the new recruits personally outside of the barracks. Most of them were overwhelmed with excitement, Connie in particular who was virtually bouncing up and down, except Mikasa, her expression hadn't changed all morning.

"Now we assessed your scores presented by Instructor Shadis carefully and have designed a specific programme aimed to help each and every one of you. You will be taught by some of the most elite soldiers this country has. Today you will be learning the basics from Squad Leader Hanji and Squad Leader Zacharias, direct your questions to them. Now fall out!"

"Oh wow, Squad Leader Zacharias, I heard his nose is the best in the business, the man can literally smell a titan approaching, amazing!"

Connie was practically drooling at the thought.

"It is pretty incredible to think we were only in the training camp a few weeks ago and now we're being taught by the most elite soldiers as members of the Scouts!"

Armin chirped up from beside Eren. Eren was focused solely on becoming the best solider they had ever seen and was so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice Mikasa prodding him in the arm.

"Earth to Eren, are you there?"

Mikasa rolled her eyes and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Ow, Mikasa what the hell?"

"You were stuck in an intense daydream. Be careful today, you don't have to go crazy on day one, I don't want you getting injured."

Mikasa looked sternly into his eyes and he knew his behaviour earlier that morning had been unacceptable, so he simply nodded sheepishly in return.

"Well hey there new recruits! I'm Zoe Hanji, it's such a pleasure to meet you all! I can't wait to start training you and I hope we all have a great time! I'm in charge of all the titan experiments here so if you have any questions or… desires be sure to come to me straight away! So exciting!"

Hanji was bouncing up and down ecstatically in front of the cadets, making them laugh nervously amongst themselves.

"I'm Mike Zacharias, train hard and you'll do well."

Short and sweet just like the man himself.

"Oi four-eyes, you've got one of mine."

Everyone's head snapped to the right to see Captain Levi approaching on horseback leading another horse with him. Eren and Armin both took large gulps and began to quiver slightly whilst the others, except Mikasa, were awe stricken.

"Well goooood morning, Captain Levi! What a wonderful surprise to grace the new recruits with your heavenly presence!"

Hanji giggled slightly making Levi glare even more than usual.

"Cut the crap Hanji, I need the one."

"Psst, Mikasa what do you think he means? Is he taking one of us?"

Eren's eyes were suddenly wide with alarm as Mikasa shrugged uninterested.

"Mikasa Ackerman, you'll be training with Captain Levi for the rest of your training, he has hand-picked you based on your incredible training scores! Lucky you! Good luck and have fun!"

Hanji cheerfully beckoned Mikasa to follow Levi much to her horror. Mikasa's eyes were now a burning inferno, there was no way she was going to spend everyday training one on one with that asshole. The rest of the cadets gasped in shock, mostly jealous that Mikasa got to receive special training from the Captain. Mikasa stood incredibly still with no intention of moving.

"Mikasa what the hell are you doing get over there before he kills you!"

Eren worriedly whispered to her giving her a little shove in the process.

"I don't want to."

Mikasa stood her ground firmly, Levi was speaking with Hanji for the moment and hadn't noticed her stubbornness.

"Um…Mikasa, I think it's probably best if you go without putting up a fight, I mean it is the first day and all he'll do is make your life hell from here on out if you resist."

Armin looked up at her sympathetically; he was looking out for her.

"Thanks Armin, maybe just this once."

Mikasa sighed heavily and left her position in the formation, making her way slowly over to the Captain.

"Bye Mikasa, see you later!"

The cadets all waved her goodbye before walking off with Hanji and Mike, leaving the two glaring at one another.

"Bet you regret your little tantrum this morning right about now?"

Levi coldly talked down at her.

"Not particularly."

Mikasa returned the stare and approached the spare horse preparing to climb on.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Levi's voice had a new tone to it, almost excitement, he was already enjoying tormenting her and she knew it.

"Are you blind? I am getting on the horse."

Mikasa rolled her eyes.

"Don't talk so freely to your Captain, did I say you could get on the horse?"

Again, Levi was trying hard to maintain his composure and not smirk as the girl stood glaring at him intensely from the floor.

"Well why did you bring a spare horse with you then?"

Mikasa was growing angrier by the second from his games.

"That is for me to know, Rule number one: never question me. Rule number two: never speak unless spoken to and Rule number three: any form of back chat or attitude will result in immediate discipline. So, sort your shit out, now."

Mikasa continued to glare but remained silent.

"As Hanji explained I picked you because you apparently show great potential and require specialist training, that only I can provide, be grateful. But the training starts here and now, first things first you need to build stamina. I will go on horseback to our training area and you will run after me, think of it as a warm-up."

Before she had time to complain Levi took off full speed for the spacious fields ahead. Mikasa was determined to prove to him that she wasn't to be taken lightly and accepted the challenge.

*25 minutes later*

"I thought you were meant to be good that was barely 4 miles, pathetic."

Levi shook his head in disgust at the arrival of his subordinate. Mikasa was panting heavily and took a few moments to regain her composure.

"Right, we'll be doing a basic overview of all your previously taught training so I can assess your skill set, which already seems to be embarrassingly low. First up is ODM gear training, I have set up a course in the trees for you to manoeuvre around. The faster you do it without hitting any obstacles, the better."

Mikasa nodded obediently for the first time.

"Ready and go!"

Mikasa soared through the air like a flash of light, it was hard to keep track of her from the human eye perspective, but she was in her natural element, performing tasks with ease like she had done for her entire life.

"Okay, not bad Ackerman, better than you shambolic running that's for sure. Onto the next exercise."

Mikasa smirked slightly as she noticed the Captain's facial expression change into one of interest when she finished the task.

"Yeah, I'll show you shorty."

Mikasa mumbled under her breath before following Levi to the next station.

"Next is your swordsmanship test, there are several titan figures set up as you can see, you will be judged on your speed and skill in killing each one."

Mikasa looked up at him and nodded, they held eye contact for a few seconds before they both frowned and hurried to get on with the task.

"Go."

{Levi's POV}

She was good, that was fairly obvious, he had never seen a new recruit with such raw skill and talent, apart from himself. It was just a shame she was such a brat at the same time. What had that stare been just now? Why had I given in to it for a few seconds, what the hell is wrong with me? I'm Captain goddamn Levi for fuck's sake. Get a grip.

Mikasa landed swiftly beside him having finished the task in record time.

"Not bad again Ackerman, your speed was decent, but you lack a certain level of finesse when handling your blades. Remember that."

I looked down to notice her glaring once again at me with those small, black, endless eyes, what was she thinking? I wonder what goes through her head on a daily basis? Why do I even care?

"Okay finally for the conclusive test: hand to hand combat, against me. Don't be too scared, but also don't expect me to hold back."

I felt a smirk forming slightly at the corner of my mouth.

"What is there to be afraid of? You're just another human what could you possibly do to me right now that would be worse than what a titan could do?"

Again, with the incessant back chat. But I couldn't help but contemplate what she had said, is that really how she views people? As non-significant objects that just survive aimlessly without inflicting any damage to others? Or maybe she's experienced such trauma that she isn't threatened by anything humanely related at all. It was all very intriguing, but again, why am I even wasting thoughts on this?

"Right prepare yourself and go!"

Immediately she lunged forwards at me not holding back one bit. However, her main issue was she was too obvious in what her points of attack were, and it was easy to predict which moves she'd do and when she would do them. I decided to give her a little more time before dumping her on her ass, to see if there really was anything in there. Nothing changed so I suddenly spun around her and positioned my foot around hers in a fluid motion and leaned to grab her legs, preparing to flip her over onto her back. It was all very quick, and she had no hope really, my leg was in position before she could even register what was happening. Too easy.

Suddenly, I felt a solid grip on my other leg and before I could lean to grab her legs she had latched onto my free leg like a mad woman. The next moments were a blur, a large force tugged at my leg sending my upper body flying upwards and down all in time for her to grab my torso and flip it around her raised knee, kneeing my in the back in the process. Before throwing me, coldly on the floor, she seemed very pleased with herself, but I was ready to wipe that smirk off her face. From the floor I caught her leg with my foot and yanked it forward catching her arm in the process and pulling hard, sending her flying. The only issue was I hadn't thought about where it was, she was flying to and before I knew it, she was face down, lying flat on top of me. Our faces were inches apart as her eyes, bewildered with shock, met mine instantly. Well fuck, I'd really messed up now.