Rogue Huntsman
Neighbors
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"I'd… rather stay here…" Arex slowly replied, brushing stray strands of ebony hair out of her face as she leaned her head back.
Anoel watched her sister tuck her hair behind her ear a moment later, burning orange eyes still regarding her from the other side of the room as she waited, "Are you sure?"
"Well, yeah. I've sorta made a business here," Arex replied, tilting her head to look around the room, "People buy my weapons and the bakery's doing well, more and more custom orders are coming in by the week."
"All of that severely cuts back on your training, though," Anoel sighed, tapping her fingers against her slender cheek, "You have a semblance, but you don't use it."
"I don't have to," the girl replied quickly, "It's not like I need to, anyway. I'm proficient enough as it is with it."
"You used 40% of your aura just tapping into one of your semblances in your reserves. You call that proficient?"
Arex donned a meek smile, "Good enough?"
"Hardly," Anoel hopped off the workbench and planted her feet on the ground, "How do you think I'd feel if you ever got into a confrontation and lost? Or worse…"
"I'll be fine, Anoel. I may not be proficient with my semblance, but my affinity-"
"Isn't going to save you against certain foes," Anoel interjected, crossing her arms beneath her chest and shifting her weight, "You may be capable of a lot of things with your fire manipulation, but you aren't going to get far without your semblances falling in line with your affinity on the side. They need to resonate, not clash."
Arex let out a slow breath, finding a few rebukes in her… but she knew how much merit her sister held. It was just…
She never liked change.
"You want me to go back to Beacon with you…?" Arex asked, running a swift hand through the strands of her hair out of habit. Anoel gave her sister a curt nod before the younger girl continued, "Isn't there an initiation phase? How would the headmaster take it if you dragged in a new member of your own?"
Anoel just smiled, "He was the one who gave me the 'go ahead' when requesting permission to start recruitment."
"He did?" Arex asked skeptically, getting another nod from Anoel, "Proof?"
A quick reveal of a thread of messages between Anoel's scroll number and an administrative account were enough proof for Arex to believe her sister.
"Why me?" Arex asked softly, "You could go find anyone else, anyone proficient and actually skilled. What's the point in dragging me along? I'm just a-"
"Baker? Cook? Blacksmith?" Anoel walked up to her sister, an action that caused the younger girl to pull her legs up and against her chest, "Do you really think I believe that… even for a second?"
"You could pretend to," Arex offered, giving one shoulder a small shrug.
"I refuse to," Anoel crouched down and brought herself to the eye level of her sister sitting against the door, "You're so much more capable than this. You just haven't had the opportunity to test yourself."
"I've never wanted to…" Arex trailed off, lowering her voice as she let the last words slip from her lips, "What if I hurt someone again?"
"I'll be there this time to stop you if you do," Anoel spoke softly, dropping all hints of anything superficial in her tone and emotions. Leaving everything genuine behind, all for her sister, "You were born with an affinity, sis. You have so much more potential, so much more than I can ever dream of reaching. You can't just chain yourself down like this after one incident."
"She didn't survive, you know…" Arex muttered, turning her gaze to the floor and off to the side, "I went to visit, to see if she was getting better. For a long time, I thought she was… until…"
Anoel gave the girl a sad smile, "You were only trying to protect her."
"I ended up doing the opposite…"
"There was nothing else you could've done," Anoel sighed, pushing the front of her hat up completely as she rested her hand on Arex's leg, "Fire can be the hardest thing in the world to truly control. And when it draws strength from your emotions as much as it pulls from your aura, it can be nearly impossible," she gently tucked some freed strands behind Arex's ear, "Not unless you let it grow with you. Let it fester inside you as you train it, it'll be easy to control if you give it a chance."
"Can you control it… if I can't…?" Arex quietly asked, pure white irises taking hold in her eyes.
It was the color Anoel hated most on her sister…
She was afraid.
"Until you surpass me, I can guarantee it," Anoel responded, turning her sister's face toward her own, "You have my word."
Anoel's word was the strongest pact the two could possibly make, even if it meant risking her own life.
Arex slowly drew in a shaky breath, pulling her chin away from Anoel's fingers to dip it downward, "Thank you… when do we leave?"
"As soon as I get a kiss from you."
Arex immediately pushed back against the door and held up her arms, "I-I thought we were past that!"
"Oh?" Anoel hummed, tapping her chin for a moment before leaning forward, her sister once again finding herself trapped, "I never had any intention of dropping that little pleasantry I can squeeze out of you. You'll probably enjoy it…"
"A-and what about y-you?!" Arex replied, "Y-you wouldn't even care."
"You're right, but that's just because I'm not the one between the two of us who's into girls," Anoel responded with a cheeky grin, "Of course, that doesn't mean I don't love you."
"This is completely different!" Arex nearly let her voice fall into a quiet squeal, finding Anoel's delicate hands placing themselves on her pulled in knees.
"Honey, this is Remnant, we outnumber men two to one. They have laws in place that allow polygamy… and so much more…" Anoel slowly pushed Arex's knees apart, sneaking into her sister's guard before she could find the strength to close her legs, "Which means even the wives can love each other."
Arex bit her lip, her hands pushing against the ground at her sides all the harder as she felt her sister's body push up against her own, "W-what about-"
"Incest is legal, Arex. You should've done your research," Anoel lowered her voice into the husky, rich tone she used before, letting each word slip out in a breathless whisper, "Our population's too small and too at risk to restrict any possibilities for reproduction. Anything goes."
Arex's blush was steadily rising, unaffected by the simultaneously rising heat in the metal door against her back, "B-but that d-doesn't mean you have to… d-do this… with me…"
"Arex…" Anoel slowly breathed out, tilting her head as she leaned forward, nipping Arex's ear with her soft lips, "didn't I tell you that I love you?"
"I'm back!" Anoel's voice called through the door, something I was aware of forty-five minutes ago the moment she stepped foot back on campus. Her self-indulgence in an unnecessary introduction was accentuated by the door unlocking and swinging open, revealing herself in the doorway.
She had a girl in her arms.
"You lied," I grumbled, tipping my scroll in her direction as she took a step inside. She dropped a large duffle bag by the dresser, followed by a setup of newly washed bedding.
One glanced showed it to be completely black with minor lime green detailing.
I returned to what I was doing as I felt her shrug, but my eyes were busy reading my screen to look back at her, "Eh, things just went more smoothly than I thought they'd go. Honestly, I thought it'd take more convincing…"
"It probably helped that you kidnapped her," I returned, hearing the door swing closed and Anoel take her strides to the furthest bed to my right.
There, she laid the girl down to rest, taking the newcomer's sneakers off a moment later before resting them at the foot of the bed.
Kitsuki sat quietly on own her bed between the two of us.
"She agreed before she fainted, which means this was a voluntary offering of her body to the mercy of my will," Anoel replied curtly, taking her new strides with an exaggerated sway of the hips. Something she did when coloring her words with needless sexual connotation.
"Why is Arex here?" I asked, flicking through my scroll. There weren't any active jobs today, none that were lucrative, anyway. Most of it was petty thievery, reconnaissance, a couple package drop-offs, but nothing involving the killing of anything.
Those were always the fastest… and paid the most.
"She's our new teammate… for now," Anoel slipped in those last words as she made her way over to her own bed.
It wasn't until I felt something large begin to get dragged across the room… then proceed to seal itself against the edge of my bed that I gave her a questioning look.
"What are you doing?" I asked, looking past the blackness of my sheets and blanket to the black and gray sheets of my partner's bed.
It was pushed against mine.
"Well, seeing as Kitsuki's got herself a sleeping partner now, I figured I might as well claim you as my sleeping partner to keep the room symmetrical," Anoel punctuated her sentence with a patting of her hands, as if they were dusty from all the work she just did.
She then pushed Arex's bed against Kitsuki's on the other side of the room.
Kitsuki probably didn't even know what to say right now… she was likely going to decline all of this, considering she only let Anoel sleep with her the first night due to a storm.
I was wrong.
"Are you sure she'll be okay with it?" Kitsuki signed out, watching Anoel walk back and forth inside their dorm room from her frost-white sheets.
"Oh, trust me. She'll be okay with it. She likes cuddling by the way, so don't be afraid to get acquainted," Anoel replied with her trademarked cheeky smile.
Something was entertaining her… entertaining her greatly.
My luck seemed to be running low today. First, Yang challenged me to a duel. Something I was hoping to put off until later… but that'd only make things worse. I got her worked up during initiation and made her fear for her sister's life in my hands.
I had no intention of getting involved at all… had it not been for that one feather. Everything deserved to die after that.
It played out as well as I hoped, in the end. I caught the headmaster's eye like a pyre's towering flame on a dark sandy shore, which is near impossible to look away from until it's reduced to solemn ashes.
That was what I was banking on. Now that I was in his sights, it was going to be easy to convince him I was worth keeping… which was more than enough leverage to threaten, something I can push at a later date by leaving the Academy.
I'll either be pushing his hand… or earning his trust. Either way, I'll get what I came here for.
Nothing else mattered, but I wasn't going to be responsible for the death of other students. If they were dying on the field, that was fine. That's the claws of grimm and their own inconsistent abilities.
But because of me, directly, was not acceptable.
Her hatred toward me was only going to fester. And sooner or later, Yang was going to get either herself or people around her killed due to what I did.
Her beating on me was the simplest solution.
And she enjoyed it.
"Do you really think it's okay for her? I don't even know her… but I get the feeling that I do. Why is that?" Kitsuki signed out meekly, taking small glances to the girl on the bed against her own.
Anoel waved her hand dismissively, "Arex has that effect on a lot of people. She's really easy to get close to and befriend. She just has that air to her… due to no small effect from her affinity, of course. It's partially because of the passive heat that flicks off her skin all the time."
"She has an affinity?" our kitsune quickly signed out, her fox ears noticeably perking up to new heights as I saw all three of her tails begin to move.
"Yup, just like you, foxy," Anoel hopped up onto Kitsuki's bed to lightly tap her on the nose, then sat on her heels and glanced toward Arex's sleeping form, "The heat makes people feel more at ease. It's not the uncomfortable kind, but it's the kind that warms you not only on the inside but on the outside too."
She was skirting around the explanations here and holding back on the details. It was annoyingly non-descriptive and vague… but I got the feeling that was on purpose.
"She's a walking heater," I supplied, stealing an amused smile out of Anoel and rousing a tiny, silent giggle out of Kitsuki. It was… odd, to see it and not hear it.
That wasn't even supposed to be funny… in the slightest with any regard even remotely relatable to the connotation at hand.
"Just wait until winter, you'll see," I continued, closing my scroll now that I was done with it. It wasn't giving me anything to do. The job list I was looking into was updated live, so I knew jobs would eventually show up.
I just had myself on the notify list for any jobs that arose that pertained to hunts. They were often always the most dangerous, which was why few accepted them.
Which meant the pay was tremendous…
Easy lien for an easy job.
"Is this the Arex you mentioned before?" Kitsuki asked, turning her gaze back to my partner as she flicked one of her ears unintentionally.
"The very same," Anoel replied with a smile.
No shit, Sherlock. How many people do you think exist in the world with that name? It's not even-
"She taught Niro how to cook and bake. Skills he actually asked for," Anoel continued, sending me that cheeky smile again.
Stop that.
"I was bored, I had nothing better to do," I responded lowly, slipping off my bed and standing. It was getting loud in here and the occupying members of my team were particularly attuned to speaking about me right now.
It was best I leave them alone to do that.
I turned to leave but caught a small chasing pulse rushing through the carpet of the floor. I traced it to its source, leading my senses to pick up an accelerating heart rate.
Arex was waking up.
What the hell did she do to her anyway? Arex is known to have a ridiculous amount of energy to go about her work, day in and night out. She doesn't sleep often, and when she does it was only for the purpose of changing the date of her mental calendar.
How the hell did Anoel put her to sleep like that? She's completely exhausted…
Anoel's eyes turned to see where mine were staring, and her currently golden irises pickup up on a tiny shift in Arex's position on the bed beside them.
"Oh, looks like someone's finally coming to," Anoel spoke quietly, notifying our silent teammate of the obvious, all of us watching as Arex slowly rolled over.
This was going to either be entertaining… or the opposite.
Either way, the newly born nevermore outside deserved to die… and it did, disintegrating mid-flight several hundred feet in the air as I flexed my gloved hand. Ahrulian didn't even spark with aura… it was that easy.
Very rarely does anything ever get through my barrier of wires. It was my field of aura strands, programmed to destroy anything I didn't allow entry… anything at all.
Kitsuki's tails soon came to a quiet standstill, something akin to a fox's growing anticipation as her ears twitched atop her head. Her golden-orange eyes were eagerly watching whatever this girl's next move would be…
Something told me they'd get along just fine, if she looked at her like that.
Arex's legs loosely curled up as she rolled onto her side, facing us. After a few moments, her lax fingers lightly closed in on themselves as she started to find her way back to the world of the conscious.
White irises were the first ones I saw, before they quickly switched to orange as her eyes connected with three different sets staring her way. She looked embarrassed, evident by her legs curling up further.
Kitsuki gave the girl a small wave, an action that only brought confusion to Arex's eyes.
The girl in the green light sweater slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, quickly noticing the lack of edge to her bed. Cautiously, she rubbed whatever sleepiness left out of her eyes as she gazed back at the girls in front of her… flicking her gaze to me for merely a moment before returning to them.
"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Anoel asked, having her childish fun as she laughed lightly, "This is Kitsuki Aeolus. You two are going to be partners."
"Hi," the kitsune in question signed out, something that caught Arex's eye immediately.
The forger before us stared at Kitsuki's hands for a few moments, transitioning her gaze down to her bed as she slowly took a breath, "Hi."
Her voice was as soft-spoken and reserved as I remembered it being.
"Can you… read this?" Kitsuki slowly signed out, catching Arex's eye again.
I felt Kitsuki spare a tiny smile when Arex nodded her head.
I also felt the wind her tails began to whip around as they slid in a triple crossing pattern atop her sheets.
Don't get so excited, fox.
This wasn't worth my attention anymore, so I made my way to the door and opened it. I made it one step out before I had to force myself to stop, turning back for a moment, "I'll leave you three to get acquainted. You all know me anyway."
They should by now.
I closed and locked the door behind me, pocketing my scroll a moment later before I turned to leave. Of course, my luck seemed to have been taking an off-day… it would seem…
A very annoying fact that keeps coming up.
Considering he was here… him, of all people. I was trying to erase his presence from my mind… but I guess it's a more permanent blight than I previously thought.
He was closing his own door, swiped his own scroll… and for some reason, it all felt too clean, too easy. It was all superficial, which only built onto the twisted concept of his being. His darkness ran deep, something that couldn't be ignored… and contradicted every image he strived to put forward.
He was our neighbor…
I wondered if there were rules against killing one's neighbor.
As if only now he realized I was there, he lifted his head to greet me. Another annoyance, considering he knew I was here far longer than that excuse of a show of innocence.
"Oh, hey there. You're that guy from Miss Caza's class. Niro… right?"
Ahrulian's fabric pulled taught as I clenched my fingers into its palm, tightening them further as I kept any urges from going awry, "I could say the same to you, but it's best not to bother."
My jaw tightened, not wanting to even attempt to recall his name. Unfortunately, it was already engraved in my head.
Dante.
"Wow… um… you seem a bit agitated. Something happen earlier?"
"Just enough to ruin my day," enough to make me want to shatter something's skull. I guess I didn't blow off as much steam as I thought I did… when I ripped up the Emerald Forest earlier.
"That bad huh…? I gotta say, that was some really impressive work in the Emerald Forest earlier with how you fixed the place after… well… annihilating it really. How'd you manage that by the way?"
"Things are easier to put back together when they remember the state they were in before they break," I replied, keeping my voice low and even. I didn't need this guy prying into my capabilities.
"True enough," he replied, "but that still doesn't answer the question. Did you do it using those threads of yours? Or was it an ability of your Semblance?"
I wonder how far he'd go down the hallway… if I punched him. Actually, I know how far he'd go. The question is… how fast can I accelerate him from zero to Mach 3 in a single hit?
"Neither," semblances don't have abilities, they have aspects and properties that build into a complicated design that can change and evolve itself as the soul develops. Nothing about them is simplified enough to call any one trait an ability.
Not to mention, my threads aren't even a direct result of my semblance. They're derived from my weapon, which solidifies aura into the physical form. I just choose to make strands because they're versatile…
There was no other reason.
"Darn… Was sure I had it… Guess I have to take a better look next time. If there is one that is," he let his words trail off, but I had a feeling he knew there'd be a next time.
Especially if I'd be forced to be in the same class as this guy for an entire year.
I was seriously tempted to test my theory… maybe I can get him to accelerate in approximately 0.37 seconds, given his apparent weight and mass distribution.
Just give me a reason, Dante… just one…
"We're in the same class, but don't count on being able to figure anything out," I began to move forward, he was in the direction I needed to go.
I was tempted to go the other way just to get him out of my sight and presence.
"People have tried in the past," I continued, "they've all ended up dead by the advances of grimm, or by their own hand," People who try to figure me out, who try to decode me or unravel my secrets, anyone who ever gets involved with me, they always regret ever trying.
"Well… guess I can take my sweet time since I don't have to worry about getting killed, grimm or otherwise."
Unkillable… he says…
"Don't claim yourself to be unkillable, you're not immortal. No one truly is." he was testing my nerves now, grating at them as I clenched my fist a little harder.
"W-Well… I never said I wasn't unkillable…"
He almost let something slip.
"Just saying I'm not exactly the easiest person to kill is all. I have a feeling the same could be said of you."
I grit my teeth. Was that a challenge?
"You have a preconceived idea that you're durable, but you've never met me before," I almost growled, knuckles paling beneath my fingerless glove as I hardened my gaze and stalled, "You wouldn't be able to get back up after something I'm capable of."
"Wow… You definitely must be strong if you're able to say that all scary-like. Which makes me even more curious…"
Correction, make that 0.27 seconds.
"Save the wit for something that matters, and leave your curiosity on the back burner. This isn't something you should get involved with." I began moving again, nearing the moment I'd be within passing proximity.
"For my own good? Or because you have more to hide than what the rest of us see?"
"I couldn't care less about your well-being, but this isn't something to delve into… not when you have any life you wish to keep," he was too stubborn to let this go.
"My life isn't as much of a concern of mine for… specific reasons. If I didn't know better… it feels as though you have a theory you've been cooking up…"
"I do, and I'm about to test it."
If he didn't voluntarily back off on his own, then this'll give him a reason to do so. If he survives this, that is.
I was just about to pass him now, but the tension in my legs wasn't reserved for the purpose of walking. No, they were tensed for something else. I didn't flood any limbs with aura, it would've been unnecessary, this alone was a test high enough to see if he'd even remotely pass it.
I left no window for reaction, none at all. And with that decision, I made one final calculation, one last estimate…
0.07 seconds.
My fist moved and my body repositioned in an instant, removing myself from whatever walking position I had assumed and let the air collapse in on itself behind me in my wake. The swing of my arm wasn't even exaggerated… it was swift, precise, and brutal.
And it cleared the distance fast enough to rip through the veil of air in front of it and break the sound barrier. The air-conditioned space around us stilled… before rupturing, shattering from an ear-piercing concussive blast as a result of an object moving from one position to another at a speed that surpassed sound.
It was akin to the burst of an anti-materiel rifle in sound but its force was several times more lethal… if there's any truth to his words, he'd survive this.
"Whew… That tingled a bit…"
The passing shockwave settled as I saw him still standing in front of me, only just a few feet away now as he shook his heavily bruised right hand, palm in even worse condition. Part of the right sleeve of his long-sleeved black shirt had been torn a little.
But otherwise… he just blocked my attack using his bare hands…
"That really would have hurt… Looks like I was right. You getting a bit antsy meant you were definitely thinking of doing something to me. That, though? Not expected on my part."
Several doors quickly opened in the hallway around us, including my own. I flexed my fingers for a few moments despite them, looking over my glove, before letting my hand fall slowly to my side.
"You weren't lying," I said, letting the situation unfold however way it decided to. Everyone just heard what sounded like a gunshot, after all, "You're durable, but not unkillable."
It only makes me want to try harder.
"You can try again if you'd like… How far you'll actually get, though… well… I'm curious myself to see how far you'd get…" he said with a smile.
For a brief moment, I saw his eyes completely change color. It wasn't just the iris… it was all of it. He wasn't what I thought he was, nobody seems to be these days.
With whatever luck I had still clung to my coat for the day, I walked past him and slipped my hands into my coat's pockets, lowering my gaze slightly as I left him behind, "You can count on it."
My calculations were wrong.
My original plan was for Arex to be a lot more reluctant than she was in this chapter, but I felt that I'd probably stall it out a little too much and not actually get to where I want to be anytime soon.
So, to adjust for that, the pace of this story will be… different than my usual. It's just something I'll have to get used to as it goes on.
More character developments and stuff, hope you enjoyed it.
I do have to wonder how Anoel was able to knock Arex out, though… Curious, isn't it.
Now, I wonder what to do for my team name. I liked the name ELA.
For now, Favorite and Follow.
I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.
Cya XP