A Few More Levels
Chapter 11: Shinobi Troubles
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"So tell me Gnai-san, why do I have to come with you again?" Haku said, boredom and exasperation clear in her voice. Her piercing amber eyes drilling holes to the orange haired teen in front of her.
Gnai turned towards her, blood red eyes filled with mischief. "To spend time with you of course! The boys get to have a night out with you, so why can't I have a girl's day out with you?" The girl pouted for emphasis.
Gnai, just like Haku, is a teen with androgynous features. Her shock of orange hair was cut short, barely brushing her slim shoulders with some of her bangs sitting at the middle of her forehead in a 'V' while the side bangs hugged her rosy cheeks in order to showcase her large sparkling ruby red eyes. Her colors are very eye catching, paired with her lightly tanned skin and Gnai knows that she does look good. Very unlike her petite friend who's so clueless to why people admire her so much.
"Please stop doing that, its scary." Haku deadpanned.
Gnai continued to pout even more. "Mou~ Stop being a meanie butt Haku-chan." The pout was replaced with a smirk and a hand was suddenly cradling the raven head's chin. "But I guess it's alright as long as it makes you happy my Ha. Ku. Chan~" Her half lidded eyes zoned towards Haku's lips, her voice drawling in a sensual purr.
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!!!!! That's so hot even if they're both guys!!!" A teenage girl cried out, she had been eyeing the two beautiful people when she first saw them walking together.
Her friend beside her quirked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I think those two are girls, they're too pretty to be boys."
Another girl stepped in, "That's the point! What makes it more hot is that we don't know if they're extremely cute boys or really handsome girls or whether one of them is a girl and the other is a boy! Don't you think that it's exciting!" She said to the sceptical girl from before while all the other girls nodded at her explanation.
"I... ah, guess so?"
As for Haku, she's completely unaffected and utterly unimpressed. She expertly ignored the swooning females in the background, and shoved the other's face away from her.
"Now that's just creepy Gnai-san." Haku said while walking away from the older girl, not bothering to look back at the redhead. Because if she did, the girl would take it as a go ahead to do her 'advances'.
Yes, that's right. Haku is not completely oblivious to flirting and such, she just chose to ignore it.
(Or most of the time she wouldn't recognize it as flirting if it didn't hit her in the face, she didn't realize that Gnai was flirting with her until her (un)friendly albino friend Hana pointed it out.)
It's easier if she just ignores it, though sometimes it only encourages some people to do it again and again until she finally explodes out of frustration.
Though usually the most persistent ones gets a smile from her other older sandy haired friend Side that would get them to back away. A threat of bodily harm and face reconstruction from Hana would get them to not even look at her. The social ruination threats that came from Gnai, Aoih and Jiro is a sure fire way for her to not see them again. The infinite blackmail materials from Geon would see them stir clear at the sight of her. And lastly, the Subtle push of a pinky finger courtesy of her older brother.
Emphasis on the word Subtle.
Those above mentioned are the most effective methods of getting rid of the butter(flies) hanging around her without her doing anything.
"Oh don't be like that~ I haven't seen you since forever."
Haku took a turn and continued walking. "We saw each other yesterday and the day after that. I don't know what you're talking about."
"But Aoih-kun and Side-kun was with us, can't I get an alone time with you?" Gnai caught up to her and peered down towards her face, her eyebrows wiggling suggestively. The older girl is a good six inches taller than her and Haku knows that the carrot top know that she doesn't like it when people look down on her.
She's not short thank you very much, everyone's just too damn tall!
Without looking to her companion Haku answered. "Technically, we can't have an 'alone time' with each other since Earth is full of living creatures." She gave a sideway glance to the dumbfounded girl.
"And the definition of 'alone' is that you are by yourself. Which by extension if we're together, there can never be an 'alone time'." She looked ahead once again, not an inch of emotion on her face, but there is something dark stirring in her amber eyes.
"Unless every life on Earth has come to an end, you can never really be alone. Plus," The far off look in the raven haired teen's eyes made the other wince internally, it's her main reason why they are hanging out together today.
To get rid of the dark haze that had clung to her friend since the last two weeks. Haku going on a tangent and saying more than ten words per sentence is a clear sign to this behavior.
With an unknown emotion in Haku's voice, she whispered, "The pain of being alone is not an easy one to bare."
(Naruto, anyone?)
For a moment Gnai thought that the girl's eyes flashed an alarming red (much brighter than her own), but when Gnai blinked it's the same warm amber that she's used to.
She must've been seeing things. Yeah, that's the only explanation for that and besides, Gnai didn't get much sleep last night so that's probably it. She stayed up giggling on what she and Haku would do today and ended up awake for hours.
With a laugh, she dismissed the thought and busied herself in lighting up the mood. After all, this is what they've all planned.
To keep Haku away from work, let her relax and get rid of those pesky gloominess away from her super adorable, oblivious, apathetic, sarcastic and youngest friend.
She's gotta live up to the role of being the 'Mother' of their group somehow you know, and being the 'Mother' sure isn't easy.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. How come me, asking for an 'alone time' with you, started of your classic smartassery 101 explanation to dark emo all of a sudden." She narrowed her eyes to a glare but the smile on her lips gave the expression away. "I don't know if I should be impressed or be annoyed with you right now."
The haze from before dissipated for the time being, a new shine alighting her irises. Haku scoffed, "Why not both? You change your mood constantly enough."
Gnai was about to say a witty reply but something white and yellow zoomed in, almost knocking her off if not for Haku's supportive hand.
"What's Sai-nii doing around here?" The ravenette asked no one in particular, her eyes focused on the fast moving blur in the crowd.
At the mention of Haku's brother, Gnai withheld a shudder, remembering the time when she first met the man. The girl could still remember the cold emotionless eyes staring down at her thirteen year old self along with the guys. The promise on those dull brown eyes froze them on the spot despite the smile on the man's unassuming generic face, if anything, it made him all the more sinister.
Saitama might be a doting older brother to Haku but to them, his nothing but a cold hearted demon with an even colder set of eyes.
Saitama was more lenient to Gnai when he learned that she was actually a girl. But when he learned that Gnai doesn't mind whatever gender she flirts with, he would always give her the look.
It's certainly effective.
Shaking her head, the orange haired girl laughed nervously as she takes a quick look around the crowd to make sure that the bald man was nowhere in sight. Seeing that there's no generic faced egghead, Gnai sighed in relief and immediately took the hand of her younger friend.
Gnai gave Haku a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Come on Haku-chan! The oversized hoodies are not going to run towards us." The older girl said while tugging the petite teen towards their usual clothing store, but because she wasn't really looking where she was going, Gnai bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to —" Gnai rubbed her abused forehead that took a hit from a pointed chin. She raised her head to look at the man properly (the hard muscles she felt gave it away) to see silver eyes bearing down at her in annoyance. The purple markings on the man's cheeks made his silver eyes even more noticeable and Gnai noted with a faint blush on her cheeks, that the man was quite handsome if not for the scowl marring his face. He was a few inches taller than her with his bangs framing his face and his black hair done in a top knot. The young man's dark street clothes fits his dangerous aura quite well and she later notes that the clothes he was wearing was the same brand that both she and Haku wears. That and the sword strapped on his back.
"Aren't you going to get out of my face?" The dark haired man intoned, his voice laced in annoyance and impatience.
Looks like he's one stylish jerk with asshole on the side. Definitely takes out his handsomeness.
Gnai's eyebrow twitched but nonetheless smiled. "I didn't mean to bump into you, I wasn't really looking where I was going," "Tch. Obviously." Wow, he really has some attitude. Her eyebrow twitched again. "I apologize for it."
The man sneered at her. "You better be woman, just watch where you're going next time." With one last look, the jerk went on his merry asshole way.
.
.
.
Or he did if it weren't for a snide remark.
Haku scoffed. "Haa, you weren't looking where you're going too Ninja-san." The man froze when the teen casually referred to his profession like it was just the weather, at that moment, he was thinking about how the other could've possibly know that.
Little did he know that Haku was just referring to his shirt (the shirt says 'Nin nin De Gozaru' which basically means 'I'm a Ninja') and not exactly what he is.
He turned his head towards Haku but didn't bother to face her entirely, a hand subtly posed near the handle of his sword. "Can you... say that again?" He said, silver eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Oh," one delicate eyebrow went up. "I didn't know you have hearing problems as well as your visual defect." Haku said drily, entirely uninterested even with the subtle threat on her person, it caused the other ravenette to growl lowly, silver eyes turning into slits and cat like.
Meanwhile, Gnai is panicking silently at the current situation. The air around the man screams danger and that couldn't be good for Haku, not good at all.
Haku lets go of her hand.
The dark haired man stopped growling as his lips quirked upwards into a 'child-like' smile that barred his pearly white teeth in full display. "Is that so? I couldn't hear you clearly up hear because you're so..."
Gnai crossed her fingers behind her back hoping against hope that the guy wouldn't say, what she thinks he's about to say.
Please don't say that word. Please don't, it would be much better if you just don't...
With the 'smile' still in place, turning fully towards Haku, the young man spoke with a gleefully playful tone while he loomed before her size at a distance, his shadow casting over the petite teen, "sssmaaaalllll~~"
Oh shit! He said it.
Subconsciously, the people in the busy sidewalk stirred away from them, the crowd suspiciously talking in a much lower register than before and the air seemed to be frozen in place.
The orange haired teen could only close her eyes somberly, her free hands posed in prayer.
I pray for your soul and your pretty face. Before it (A/n: She's talking about his face.) goes to heaven, I'll be sure to remember your face for the rest of my life. May the Goddess of beauty take it from her all encompassing arms.
Without further ado, Haku did something to make it clear that nobody and she means NOBODY looks down on her and calls her smaller than the single-celled Protozoa during the Precambrian Era.
.
.
.
.
.
She kicked him in the nuts.
Well... she wasn't really aiming for that, Haku was actually aiming for his right knee but he moved the last minute so it got redirected between his legs. They were both moving pretty fast so they can't really stop their momentum.
The ninja hadn't thought that the amber eyed teen would be able to follow his swift movements and the teen thought the same, the resulting collision sent white hot pain through the man's body making his eyes rollover and him almost blackingout.
He swears that it was far more painful than the what he calls the 'incident-that-never-happened-nor-be-named' incident or what he also calls 'paradise-jewel-rush' incident that was brought by a certain man named Saitama.
It was humiliating and it still is, specially that a shota boy lolita got the jump on him.
F-fuck...
Haku didn't mind it though, it still managed to get the job done.
By that, she got him to kneel before her, quivering and shaking while holding his family jewels. The look on the ninja's face (was he crying?) almost made her laugh. Almost.
The slight twitch of her lips and the gleam in her eyes tell otherwise.
Gnai could only gape at the exchange. But after a moment she recovered, feeling rather conflicted, the red eyed teen doesn't know if she should laugh or pity the man.
The crowd was finally noticing the exchange and most of the men is taking pity of the guy, some even holding their respective region as if protecting it from some unseen force. The women and children however is in between laughing and taking pity of him, which only serves further humiliation to the professional assassin.
When he recovers, he vows to himself that he would slaughter all of them.
Let's see if you all would be laughing once I tear you apart limb from limb.
"Haa, look who's—" Before she could finish her sentence, something... unfortunate happened.
"Kyaaaaaa!!!!! That guy's a pervert!" Someone cried, loud and shrill.
"He's attacking that poor girl!!!"
A man who was talking to his phone called out to the crowd. "Somebody call a hero and get this bastard arrested!"
Haku's clothes was hacked open, her gray sweater is now currently sporting a diagonal slash that starts from her left shoulder and ends at her right hip. At the time Sonic was moving to lop off Haku's head, Haku moved to kick him and got the sword redirected, slicing through her shirt but never touching her skin, one could say that she did that on purpose but no-one could ever tell. The bandages binding her chest fell towards the ground revealing a glimpse of her—
There goes my perfectly clean bandages, now I really need to buy new ones.
"Haku! Are you alright?!"
Gnai didn't know what exactly happened but she immediately took off her hoodie and shoved it to the nearly half naked girl, the orange haired girl positioned herself protectively in front of her friend, her crimson eyes no longer holding a hint of fear.
Her red irises stared down at the assassin with burning anger and abject horror. "Now you've gone and done it Saitama-san is going to..."
Through the haze of the pain Sonic's ears could only focus on one word that the teen had uttered.
Through gritted teeth he forced himself to speak. "Y-you know of the man called S-Saitama?" Slowly the black haired male stood up from his kneeling position with his legs shaking beneath him, but through great effort and experience he managed to stand up again without crumbling down.
"W-what? Y-you know... but ho— Saitama-san is going to, oh shit, shit, shit, shit..." And there goes Gnai's brain running off to the sunset of blood and despair.
The said sun being shaped liked an egg with a set of bland eyes.
Haku, knowing that her friend wouldn't be back 'till later, decided to intervene. "You know my big brother?"
Sonic's eyes widened at the knowledge, he didn't expect that the infuriating pretty boy— ah, girl would be related to his sworn rival of all people.
Heh. I could use this little shit to lure that bastard out. The 'childish' smile went back full force and his malicious aura intensified. Unbeknownst to him, piercing amber eyes narrowed at his person. Then, I'll kill him for all this humiliation and kill everyone else who dared to laugh at me.
"Now Missy, your brother and I have to finish something. So I'm sorry for what I'm about to do." He took a tentative step towards Haku but a meaty hand clamped down on his right shoulder.
The hand came from the annoying presence he felt circling around them earlier.
"Now, now, I'll stop right there if I were you." A gruff voice said from above Sonic.
"Now what do you think," Sonic started, eyes glaring daggers at the buff man wearing a yellow tanktop with black random stripes. Interestingly, his hair and his eyebrows matched it. "you're doing?" Sonic shrugged off the hand on his shoulder.
"I'm upholding justice and arresting a perverted pedophile the like's of you, bastard."
"Get out of my way before I decide to kill you too." Sonic growled at him.
"Its the class C Hero Tanktop Tiger!"
"Yeah! He's sure to beat the crap out of that pervert!"
The larger man smirked arrogantly at him, crossing his beefy arms across his chest. "Hear that? Just come with me peacefully and I wouldn't have to use force. We don't want to break that pretty face of yours don't we?" The man even had the gall to raise his weird eyebrow and narrowed his eyes on Sonic's chest as if looking for something that isn't there. The ninja knows exactly 'what' he was looking for.
How... HOW DARE HE SAY THAT TO ME?! Sonic's eyes darkened as his killing intent shot through the roof. I'll cut him up so badly that he'll be nothing but minced meat and blood splatter!
With that thought, his face turned placid, not giving away any of his murderous thoughts and with one raised eyebrow he was about to reply, if not for the harsh gust of wind that almost toppled him over. Tanktop Eyebrow or whatever was blown away by it.
Pathetic. Tch.
When Sonic glanced back up to investigate the meaning of the force; he saw a very familiar billowing white cape, that awfully cheerful (unfashionable, if he must say) dandy banana jumpsuit, a pair of (painfully) memorable red gloves and red boots and of course, that irritatingly shiny bald head. One thing is different though.
.
He looks absolutely furious.
Tanktop Tiger was still getting ahold of himself, his head was pretty much suffering from its meeting with the pavement. He wouldn't be able to get up until later.
Meanwhile, Gnai is panicking to an impossible level, she wants to run but she can't just leave her friend right now.
(THEY STILL HAVE SOME SHOPPING TO GET DONE AND NO ONE GETS IN THE WAY OF HER SHOPPING WITH HER BESTEST GIRL FRIEND. EVER.)
(Not even her scary demon of a brother.)
Haku didn't even bat an eyelash when her brother came flying from out of nowhere, though the look on the man's face is concerning.
(Somebody's going to stay at the hospital for a few months, Haku would bet her chocolates on it.)
It's not an easy feat to anger Saitama, it takes a special kind of dedication and the right words (just call him baldy and see what happens) to get through his diamond hard skin.
Or it could be done by just simply doing something he deemed unacceptable to his only precious sister, Haku.
When Haku realized why the man was angry she held herself back from facepalming.
Stupid Siscon. The teen couldn't help the insistent twitching of her right eye. I can take care of myself dumbass.
A red glove settled on the ravennette's shoulder, "Tell me," narrowed dark brown eyes settled on amber brown eyes. "who did this to you?"
"Nobody, I tripped and snug myself on that metal pole over there." The girl pointed at the hazardously designed metallic contemporary statue thing outside a newly opened art gallery. Its spikes were really concerning and if you look closely, the supposed 'flags' adorning it were actually teared pieces of cloth of different color.
It was something alright.
"I'm not dumb, and you're not a klutz either. And if you really did tripped right there then," Saitama slightly opened the jacket Gnai hastily lent Haku. "this tear shouldn't be so diagonally straight and there are supposed to be threads sticking out from it otherwise, it looks more like it has been cut by a pair of scissors or something really sharp." He said while running a finger from the smooth tear on Haku's shoulder.
Saitama lets go of her shoulder and clenches his fists. "Now tell me Haku, who did this to you?" A palpable dangerous aura came from the man, his sharp features shadowed.
Bystanders were quick to take hurried steps away from the five were the action is centering on, all of them instinctively knew that if they stayed within the minimum of ten feet, they might get caught in the crossfire. They didn't know who the man is, but his presence alone could make anyone cower, the cold fury etched on his face only adds on the fearsome picture.
They didn't dare to ask who he was or why was he interrupting a hero's work, they're safety was more of a priority for them than curiosity.
Sonic only watched the sibling's interaction quietly, the foreboding feeling started to swell in his gut.
Haku pointed an accusing finger between the bald man's nose, almost poking one eye in the process, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Who're you and where'd you take my dumbass brother?"
"It's me Haku, Saitama."
"No. You can't be him, you're too smartass to be him."
An obvious vein popped right under the man's brow. "Haku, this really is me. You can check my head if you want." As he said those words, he felt a slight nudge at his head and a bit of pain, more like a pinch, but it was gone before he even blinked. Haku's eyes were blown wide.
"No." She started shaking her head in horror. "No, I refuse to believe that a dumbass who can't even find a pretty obvious cookie jar that he himself bought would be able to say those same words three minutes and forty two seconds ago. My dumbass brother wouldn't be able to make that connection," she pointed at him accusingly once again. "and you're a smartass."
Saitama had had enough, he took a swipe at the girl's head, which she absentmindedly dodged, unknowingly letting the blow go towards someone else.
That someone else was Tanktop Tiger who had recently gotten up from his earlier smackdown. Now, he would need more time for recovery at the direct hit.
(Ha, wasted.)
Small hands gripped Saitama's caped shoulders and brought him down to her height. "Is that really, really, really you... Sai-nii?" The scared look in her too large eyes and the small quiver in her pouty lips, managed to calm him down and Saitama barely stopped himself from slapping his own face repeatedly for it.
His little sister isn't supposed to look like that (though it was admittedly cute), no one is allowed to make her scared, even he himself is no exception.
His hands hovered frantically for a moment, then he finally decided to placed both of his gloved hand on each side of her face. "Come on now Imouto-chan, don't look at your Onii-chan like that." Saitama said softly, his eyes kind.
Another headache, this one more painful than the first, rang through his head and like before, it was gone before time he blinked his eyes.
"Do you believe me now?" He asked carefully.
Haku could only nod wordlessly, worry bleeding off from her person.
They stayed like that for a full ten seconds until Haku decided to let go of the hero's shoulders and sent a mental message to her brother.
"Sorry if I thought you weren't you, Nii-san."
"Its okay, I understand."
"God, are you guys done with the drama?" A voice interrupted their staring contest.
But they both ignored the ninja.
"OI!"
A hand grabbed the infuriated man's shoulder and he glared at the owner. Gnai only shook her head and motioned her free hand cutting against her throat and pointed at the siblings then shook her head again. He roughly removed her hand and crossed his arms over his chest.
He would let them have their fun and after that, the ninja would make it clear to the hero that he could triumph over him.
He better say his last goodbyes now before it's too late.
"Sai-nii, why were you running around earlier?"
"Oh that, I was looking for something heroic to do. Yesterday, Genos told me that if a B Class hero doesn't do anything heroic within a week their rank gets lower. Because I'm the last one on the B-class, I'll get bumped into C Class if I don't find anything and this is the last day of the week."
Haku nodded in understanding. "Haa, so you didn't know about that until yesterday?"
"No. I learned it the day before yesterday."
A moment of silence passed through them, Haku's dead stare makes it clear that her exasperation level is at its peak.
The girl deadpanned. "I take that back, you're still a certified dumbass." Gnai's resounding facepalm cut through the air and Sonic gave her a 'have you gone crazy?' look.
The orange haired teen is used to it, she has to, with the type of company she keeps. The crimson eyed teen could practically feel the smartassery coming along.
"Why do you keep mocking me? Is it 'Mock your Brother's Day' or something? Because I'm not informed." Saitama crossed his arms over his chest, irritation clear in his face.
"No," Haku started, eyes half lidded and sleepy. "there's just a lot of things to mock you for." She said it all with a bluntness and subtlety of a nail through your pinky toe.
By that it means, none at all.
Sonic whistled at the huge obvious burn, he decided to let it play for a while, (not that they care) the little sister proved to be an amusing individual, he'll let her live this time.
Gnai is currently sporting a deadpanned face because she was dead on through her assumption. She just knows that there's more to come.
Haku isn't done yet. She knows.
Silence reigned as glaring red arrows struck his back and pulsing veins popped on Saitama's forehead. "I was just being honest." Haku said innocently, causing another onslaught of arrows (with the word honesty) piercing through the bald man's body, his eyes shadowed. Sonic held back a snicker.
The man stayed quiet and Haku thought that she would get a loud disagreement from him like he usually does. It seems like he's a bit out of it.
Time to let out the big guns.
"Haa, guess you can't handle the truth." Haku finished, a giant red arrow piercing through Saitama's back, the word 'TRUTH' was written in bold and capital letters.
The assassin laughed openly, Gnai held herself back from doing so. The other humans in the vicinity ignored them altogether for their strangeness.
The man, teeming with arrow heads, shook his whole body and angrily took out the arrows in a quick motion, he then turns to the one responsible for all the 'truth' arrows with gritted teeth. "What the hell Haku! I'm no dumbass," "Yeah, you're a super dumbass, get it, because you're a superhero." Haku interrupted blandly but Saitama continued.
"And stop this behavior young lady. Is that how you talk to your older brother?"
"Obviously, I'm talking to you right now, not the air."
"Can you stop smartmouthing me for just one second?"
Haku went quiet.
...
...
"There, a second, just for you. I'm an easy person to talk to." Just as requested, she spoke after one second. Sonic's laughter echoed in the background. This girl is a riot!
Gnai was laughing through her hands, her shoulders shaking with the effort. It's funny to see someone else being the butt end of Haku's smartassery and dry sarcasm, though it's not funny being the butt end of it. She wonders where the other girl gets that kind of blunt honesty and balls to pull it off, because if the older teen was at the end of Saitama's glare, she would've melted in a pile of crap. Because that's (he calls them crap) what Saitama calls them.
She seriously doubts that innocent Haku understands dark and dry sense of humor so she would just label Haku as someone explosively blunt as a homing missile on its target. Its accurate, direct and destructive.
Saitama raised his hands up in the air in exasperation, calling in strength to whomever's up there. "Arggg... Why are you being so difficult?!" He brought his gloved hands at side of her face, squishing Haku's cheeks together.
Haku stared at him, dead in the eyes with seriousness, it looks ridiculous with her squashed cheeks and puckered lips. "Bwut everhy bewing ish compwex won itch owrn."
("But every being is complex on its own.")
"Godamnit!" Saitama lets go of her cheeks and raises his hands once again, Haku pays him no mind as she massages her sore cheeks. "I give up!" His brows furrowed together in concentration. Thinking back on how it all started and how did he even get here, arguing with his sister.
It took him a solid minute to figure it all out. His jaw clenched so hard that you can audibly hear his teeth clacking together, pulsing veins visible in his forehead his features sharpening, shadowed by the angle that he tilted his head.
Right, some perverted asshole cut off her damn shirt and exposed her to the public. I was asking which bastard did it.
The killing intent was back with a vengeance, pressing hard on the humans in the vicinity. Sonic stopped laughing and Gnai almost doubled over, choking on her spit. Cold sweat gathered at the side of her face and the teen felt like an animal in front of her natural predator.
Haku just stood there looking casual and right at her element. "Haku, stop stalling and tell me who did that to you." Saitama said, but more like ordered with the way he said it.
Unblinking, Haku crossed her arms "I can take care of myself." She sighs, long and exasperated. "But if you insist."
The teen lifted an unenthusiastic arm towards the apprehensive ninja's way. "It's that dude over there."
The tension increased tenfold and Sonic placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, body ready to spring into action in a moment's notice.
Was it just him, or the man seemed more dangerous and sharp all of a sudden.
"So it was you..." Saitama started slowly and the assassin's body coiled with the dark intent on the bald man's voice.
The hero focused his unfathomable dark brown eyes at the professional assassin, Sonic took a step back, drawing the sword on his back and took his stance, an excited grin on his face.
"Jack o' Lantern Panic!"
Sonic facefaulted and so did Gnai, the teen knows that the man's memory wasn't top-notch when it comes to names. Until now, the hero keeps getting their names wrong.
(Aoih's was just plain funny, the man calls him Aho (idiot) for goodness sake.)
Haku just facepalmed.
"What?" Saitama tilted his head confusedly. "Wasn't that your name?" He closed his eyes in concentration, trying to recall the disgruntled ninja's name.
"Panic, Panic. It sounded like one of those mainstream bands, Panic at the Fiasco or something." The man cluck his tongue together. "Who the hell cares! You!" The jumpsuit wearing man pointed at him accusingly. "Keep your Loliconning hands to yourself! My sister might look like one but there's a big difference."
He glared at him, filled with righteous anger, gesturing widely at his sister he continued, "She is stacked! She might be small and it might not be obvious but she has big boo— urk!"
.
.
.
.
.
"Don't call me small, you cue ball." Haku said blandly, like she didn't just punched her brother's groin.
The newly recovered Gnai gaped at her. She's really doing a lot of gaping nowadays, she should really stop doing it though.
Sonic, who was already up and ready to swipe the hero's head off, couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling out of him.
Serves the bastard right.
Saitama was frozen still, doubled over and clutching his crotch area, if you listen close enough you can hear heavy breathing coming from him and his teary eyes were closed in pain.
"W-why? H-H-Hakuuuu..."
Now feel, what I have felt. Serves you right. Pftt... Hehehe... cue ball. I've decided, I'm not going to kill the brat... for now.
This is my chance. Without hesitation, Sonic ran towards the man, and in just a millisecond he was behind Saitama with his sword drawn out, poised to slice his head off.
"By the way, it's Speed of Sound Sonic bastard!"
The sword sliced through the air with Sonic's swing, making a wooshing sound as it neared its target. Haku remained unmoved even by the threat on her brother's life, but her eyes never left the agile man's form once, she trusts her brother enough to keep himself safe.
For the whole ordeal, the bystanders only saw Sonic in his initial position, disappeared, then appeared again at the doubled over the bald man's back as if he was teleporting. It was then, they discovered he was holding a sword and was going for the kill in one swing.
Someone let out a strangled scream and a choked gasp, the buff man on the ground twitched and Gnai held her breath.
.
They didn't really expect the clunking metal noise that reached their ears nor the pieces that fell on the ground after the assault.
They expected a rolling head and a lot of blood splatters, not a broken sword and a still breathing human.
The look of surprise in Sonic's face is clear as glass but it disappeared in a smirk and in a blur of movements that is too fast for a normal human to track, he retreated and sheathed the broken sword on his back.
Spitting some of the left over steel, the man straightened his stance, countenance serious. "Can't you see I was undergoing in something? That's just plain rude Panic-san."
An eye twitched at the wrong call. "It's not Panic, it's Sonic. Now you know how it feels to be punched down there, I call it karmic retribution."
"So what? That was an accident before and I said I was sorry okay. That doesn't mean you get the right to strip my sister and then try to behead me, isn't that too much?" Saitama said, waving out one red gloved hand in a careless gesture.
Another eye twitched. "It was just a coincidence that she was your sister and I wasn't really aiming for her shirt to fall off, I was aiming for her sh—"
"Shorts! You lolicon were aiming for her shorts!" Saitama growled, nose flaring with tick marks all over his face, the dark aura of death shrouding him.
Sonic looked incredulously at him, giving him a general 'Are you fucking stupid?!' look. "Wha— her shoulders dumbass! I'm not a pervert either!"
"But you didn't deny that you're a lolicon! I know that my sister is hella cute both ways, but for the record, she has those," he made a round gesture on his chest area "under all that baggy clothing and I know that you saw that earlier!"
The men that were still watching the shenanigan blushed at the hero's brash implication towards his sister's chest, and he was being loud too. The women (including Gnai) tutted and glared at him for this, he doesn't need to broadcast it to the public because what about his poor, sweet looking sister's shame.
The subject of their argument, Haku, stood indifferently at the side, eating strawberry milk parfait from the cafe beside where they stood. She got hungry okay, they were taking too long.
She just hopes that they start fighting and get over it already or she's gonna walkout, go shopping by herself, because she doesn't like walking around almost half naked, Gnai's jacket notwithstanding.
Sonic wore an upgraded version of the 'Are you crazy?!' look, which is the 'Holy shit! You are crazy!' look, but there's a slight redness on his cheeks. "Y-you don't say that stuff out loud about your sister, moron! And how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a pervert nor a lolicon!" He brought out modified shurikens from one of his hidden pockets. "Enough of this!" His face formed a scowl.
"Exploding Shuriken!"
With great precision, the shuriken came whistling towards its destination, only for someone else to be hit by its surface causing it to explode like its namesake.
Tanktop Tiger fell in a burnt crisp. His signature hair still burning. Haku helpfully put it out by pouring water from the flower vase on the table of the same place she bought her parfait. The flames went out.
Nailed it.
"Gnai-san, I think it's better if we just go already. They need to sort their own stuff." Haku waved a hand in front of the ginger head. "Gnai-san?"
Blinking out of her stupor, she looked nervously to both men. "Come on, they're grown ups, they should settle their own thing."
"A-ah, I guess?"
Haku snorted, "Haa, let's go. I really need to by new clothes." The girl physically dragged the older teen with one hand, casually walking away from the on coming chaos.
She swears that her brother likes taking charge of anything related to trouble. Isn't he supposed to be a hero now?
"You better handle this or I'm dumping laundry on you instead of Genos-san, got that Sai-nii?" She mentally told her brother.
"Yeah, yeah. I won't forgive him for doing that to you, I'll teach him a lesson."
Haku couldn't help but roll her eyes as she focused on listing off the stores that has a great discount with nice shirts. "Whatever. I'm going to shop for some clothes with Gnai-san, I'll be back to prepare dinner with Genos-san."
"Alright, take care." Saitama didn't look back towards their direction, he knew that the two teens were already apart of the crowd at this point. Closing his fist tightly and a look of severity on his face paired with his simpering anger, he posed as an intimidating figure.
His ready to pawn Sonic's ass.
"Hn."
Saitama's eyebrow twitched "Don't 'Hn' me young lady!"
"Hn. I'm cutting you off." "HAKU—"
And that's the end of their conversation.
*-*-*-*-*
Sonic got his ass handed to him in a gold platter.
He was sent to jail for sexual harassment, child abuse, public disturbance, mass attempted murders (from the idiot bystanders who didn't fucking run and just stood there) and illegally carrying his weapon in public.
The ninja was sent, still unconscious in the same cell of a well-known Class S hero, Puri Puri Purisoner and was dubbed Sweet Dumpykims by the said hero for the 'very sweet' and 'childish' smile that he has on his face when he was still knocked out.
(The others swears that it was neither sweet nor childish. That smile could only come from a demon and the guy was still sound asleep)
Sonic swears that he didn't screamed like a girl when he finally regained consciousness and saw the remarkable cleft chinned hero near his face, cooing.
But he doesn't deny the fact for almost poking out the man's eyeballs and then almost breaking the larger man's neck in one maneuver.
"I thought he was a monster." Sonic justifies his actions, with bluntness and wholesome honesty.
When asked why he tried to take Puri Puri Purisoner's eyes out he said it with the same straight face, but with an almost puzzled air around him. "I felt like I was wronged somehow." Then he looks away and tunes out everything around him.
He clenched his hands into a tight fist, thinking back at his fight (if its even considered one) with Saitama.
The man himself was stupidly strong, batting away and dodging his customized shuriken like it was nothing. He was particularly irritated when the man focused on saving the morons who just stood there waiting for their ass to be killed. Because he was a HERO.
(Why do people crowd around even though there's a clear sign of danger? Tch. Humans and their ingrained stupidity.)
Sonic knew that the bald man could've finished it already with one punch but he certainly didn't. But Saitama sure did gave him bruises, broken ribs and a swollen cheek for 'harassing' his precious sister.
Come on, how would he know that the annoying boy, er— girl, could be related to him?
They didn't even look anything alike. Saitama look as boring as hell and his sister, Haku or something, was anything but plain, though a bit too developed for a twelve year old kid.
(From a grocery store, Haku almost crushed the watermelon that she was holding. The brief flash of irritation confused her but she chocks it up as a sign for her oncoming period (she started having them last month, she's still trying to get used to it) and noted down that she would need to buy liters of strawberry milk, lots of chocolate and maybe add in her extra spicy chips. Those three always calm her down and keep her away from her 'fudge y'all I'm an irritated bitch' mode. This store better have her favorite brand.)
Anyway, something's off with that girl. Her gaze were too old and jaded. The silver eyed man could tell that she was dangerous just like her brother, and she masks it well with apathy and indifference.
(Dangerous people could tell someone of their own kind no matter how subtle they are.)
Earlier, when her friend bumped into him, the kid was already on edge, ready to swing at anyone who sets her off, which was the reason why he also became jumpy.
A mistake on his part for getting driven by his instinct.
If it weren't for her friend springing to give her the jacket, the girl's attack might've grazed him. Sonic felt, more than he saw her hand pierced through the air but it immediately averted when her carrot haired friend covered her.
And he wouldn't notice that at all if he wasn't looking at her intently beneath his eyelashes, their was no intent behind her movement whatsoever.
(Not to mention that he was also pretty occupied with his... thing (OMG! It fucking hurts like hell!) to be able to dodge properly, her preemptive strike had done him great damage.)
No hint of any malicious threat nor plain annoyance on Haku's part.
Just reflex to attack someone with no emotion at all.
A skill that a master assassin would have and even the silver eyed man was yet to have it. Sonic tends to get carried away during his kills, he can't help it, the rush of adrenaline going through his body, pushing himself to go even faster than before, performing, perfecting and inventing new techniques to improve his art, drives his excitement to the max and places the same radiant smile on his face.
It makes him curious who that Haku girl really is, and he has an inkling that she and Saitama aren't really siblings. Basing on her age she shouldn't be capable of erasing emotions completely, it's a feat only highly skilled mercenaries are capable of and it made him question how a civilian teen could pull it off like it was nothing.
Sonic narrowed his eyes at the rusted jail bars in front of him, a small smirk stretching in his lips, making the large man wearing a knitted sweater swoon beside him. The girl is a mystery, and he intends to crack it open like he has done in so many others. He would hack her open and see everything she has to offer, to satiate his building curiosity, but he wouldn't be doing that until he see to it that her brother is defeated.
His curiosity could wait, he needs the taste of victory from defeating his greatest rival yet.
*-*-*-*-*
"Hey Genos-san."
"What is it Haku-san?" Genos looked up from his chopped onions to give his full attention to his mentor's sister. He noticed that she was acting off lately so he had tried to alleviate her stress levels by helping around and doing some of the chores.
When he started living with them, the blonde learned that the other teen works for multiple part-time jobs to help in footing the bills and it touched him that she does this in order to make Saitama's burden lighter. Haku had told him about how she and Saitama weren't actually siblings, that she knows that he already knows about it but she tells him either way so he wouldn't have to worry about her not knowing the 'secret'.
Genos was a little worried about that for days now and Haku might have noticed it and told him not to worry about anything.
She told him how she wouldn't pass off any gig that could earn her some money, just so she could help Saitama and not be a burden, after all, the man and his family took her in and treated her like she was apart of them, that she would do anything to repay them for their kindness. That she values her family more than anything.
What stuck to him echoing every now and then in his processor was the fact that she considers him part of her family now since the day Genos came in and declared that he was her brother's disciple.
Haku, he finds, is very kind despite her apathetic front. At this point, he is learning why his teacher had such devotion for her and it points back to her being such a caring individual.
"You can just call me Haku or Haku-chan now since we're family. I mean, you can if you want to."
"Then if so, can I suggest this proposition to you?" Genos stared at her large amber eyes and for a moment he saw her short dark hair turn longer, the tiny smile turning into a beaming wide grin and rich amber eyes turning into warm chocolate.
When he blinked the image was gone and it was Haku again staring at him imploringly. "I would also like to be called by my name if you will, Haku-san."
The smile stretched wider and warmer, revealing the dimple on her cheeks, her eyes crinkled slightly. "That's Haku for you, remember that, Genos."
Genos was left staring for a moment, memorizing everything he saw and living it to the file he would tackle later.
"Alright then, Haku."
"That's more like it." She grinned and went back to mixing her cookie batter.
Genos also went back to his chopping and the kitchen was devoid of any noise except for the sound of a knife hitting the chopping board and the rattling sound of a wooden spoon to a mixing bowl, the sound of an old mecha anime theme song rang in the background from the living room, followed by a thud and swearing.
"Why won't they just end it right now! Stop self-reflecting and just kick that Kaiju's ass already!"
They both ignored Saitama's voiced disappointment to the protagonist and continued on their cooking. Genos moved on to let the discounted pork to simmer and Haku finished decorating her cookies and was placing them in the oven.
"Genos?"
"What is it?"
"Were going to spar tomorrow, be ready, same place as last time you fought Sai-nii."
"Ah. Okay."
*-*-*-*-*
A/N: Hi, I ain't dead yet but college life is doing it just for me. Anyways expect more delayed than the already delayed updates because of this. I'm still adjusting through the whole change of lifestyle and sleeping pattern so bear with me please.
Genos vs Haku is happening in the next chapter and someone else is also gonna show up, you guys are free to guess who that is.
I bet you wouldn't expect this person.
See you guys again on the next chapter!~