I'm back! I actually fell asleep halfway writing this since it was so late at night. Ahahaha..ha... Anyways, it's still pre-cannon. Sorry if this is a bit vague in some areas. I want to know what you guys think, so tell me by review, PM, favorites, or follows. It shows me you want more. :3
Thanks to those who followed (ILovepenguins24), and added my story to their favorites (Otaku2448, ILovepenguins24)!
Anyways, to the story!
"You stance is unbalanced!"
"Yes!"
"Faster!"
"Yes!"
"Your left side thigh is vulnerable to an attack like that! Cover it if you're going to use that move!"
"Yes!"
"Don't get distracted by others, watch your opponent!"
"Yes!"
"Don't pull back your strikes, make them quick and lethal!"
"Yes!"
"Aim for their pressure points and organs!"
"Yes!"
"That's enough for today."
"Yes," Alima gave a bow to Shambal as sweat dripped from his short hair, "Thank you for today!"
He rolled his eyes, "It's already been nearly a year. Stop thanking me everytime we spar.." Shambal went to ruffle her hair, but as usual, she jumped backwards. He sighed in false exasperation, "So stop bowing and calling me 'sir', 'sire', 'mister', and everything else and go take a shower!" He gave her a grin as she looked at him with a blank face.
"Yes!"
Shambal watched the boy run to the showers, a smile starting to grace his lips as he watched him do so. He was a quick learner and was only- Shambal blinked. After all this time, he'd never asked how old he was or when his birthday was, did he? The male smacked himself for his stupidity.
He walked to the bathroom he was using, away from the training area in his plot. With no doubt, Alima was taking a shower. The running water proved it.
Shambal knocked on the door, "Alima, I'm coming in."
He opened the door to see Alima nude and... He quickly slammed the door closed, surprising the boy behind i-. No, he shook his head, a look of horror on his face, not a boy. Definitely not a boy.
"Sir," Oh god, how the hell did he not notice before? Her face was quite sharp and had a bit of a deep voice, yes, and he had bought the child male clothing that fit hi-her perfectly fine, but for Solomon's sake her name was freaking Alima and her voice was still quite high! "Sir, are you alright?"
Shambal quickly snapped out of it, "Y-Yes, I'm fine."
"Then why did you slam the door, sir?"
He tried not to scream. Was she mad or just highly oblivious? "Alima," He started slowly, "What sex are you?" Maybe he was just imagining things, maybe he was just forgetting to look down and thought that Alima didn't have a dick. That could be possible. Yes, he was sure that was what had occurre-
"Male of course," He sighed in relief, "Oh, you must have looked and saw that. Don't worry, Fritz said I'll grow one when I'm older."
Shambal quickly slammed his face into the wall in front of him multiple times, crying to Solomon. Not only was that boy a girl, h- she was oblivious to things like how gender worked. And who was this Fritz? Was he her friend or someone she was forced to kill?
He sighed. He had to think about it later. Shambal first needed to get things straight to her... But how the hell was he supposed to do that?"
Shambal wasn't a girl himself, so how in the name of Solomon was he supposed to show her that she was not a boy? Shambal groaned in pain. She was going to be a worse pain in the ass now, wasn't she.
...
"..So Alima never knew she was a girl? Even though she grew long hair before?"
"In those times, males with long hair wasn't all that uncommon. And she figured it made her look more.. she figured it was an aspect people liked so she was forced to grow it at the time with her family."
"..But Fritz... He told her that she was going to grow a penis when she was older?"
Her Grandfather nearly burst into laughter, but held it in, "Yes, he actually did."
"Fritz is too overprotective of her."
"But it worked out since she was never raped, no?"
"...Please never say that word again. It makes me uncomfortable when my grandfather says it right in front of me."
...
"Alima.."
"Yes sir?"
"How old are you? And when is your birthday?"
"It was a month ago sir. Why would you ask such a meticulous question? And I'm nine years old sir."
Shambal heaved the urge to strangle the girl for her obliviousness but decided against it, "We should go out and celebrate! I know it's late, but we can still have fun for your birthday!"
Alima made a face, "Why would I do such a frivolous thing for something as common as my birthday?"
He gave her a patronizing look, "Now Alima, birthdays are important and it's not frivolous. You need a break birthdays are the days people are born. Without them, they wouldn't be here."
She snorted, "Yes, just as the name consisting of the words 'birth' and 'day' describe the meaning of the entire word so terribly, one would think it was not the word used for it, but for the days of their death."
Shambal pulled her cheeks, "Don't get cheeky you little brat. We're going to go tomorrow, so dress accordingly to going out."
She pulled a blank face, knowing she wouldn't get anywhere arguing with him. She was also still indebted to him after all, "Yes sir, just don't gamble today. I"
...
Alima did her best. She really did. She tried to live up to Shambal's expectation of being a normal child for a day. She didn't know how normal was supposed to be, but she knew for a fact that children were supposed to smile and be happy. She didn't want to pretend though, so she just kept a blank face as she met with Shambal outside his house.
"Alima, what do you think you're wearing!?"
She gave him a questioning look. Why would he ask that? Alima was wearing a black long sleeved tunic that showed parts of the top of her shoulders and slung down to her collarbones, folding there a few times before going straight down to her hips. Her pants the typical Arabian puffy traditional ones that were white going down to her sandal-adorned feet, hugging the tops of her ankles so they wouldn't flail around. Whatever skin showed at the top of her tunic was covered by bandages that went up to stop at her neck, her hair as messy as usual. A blue rope was tied around her waist loosely multiple times, holding the tunic down and her pants from being easily pulled down, a short sword sheathed and hanging down on her left side given by Shambal for her birthday earlier today.
She watched in groan in irritation, something he did a lot, but gave her a smile right after, "Well, is there somewhere you want to go?"
Alima's eyes lit up a bit, her face not changing except for the small twitch her lips gave, "Can we just walk around? I want to see how Reim is like."
He blinked, but gave her a grin, "Why not."
...
"Alima had a lot more fun that she originally thought she would as she went out that day. Shambal had lost her a few times, seeing her admiring something from food to people making things as entertainment to draw people into buying things and even people interacting in general. She was curious of everything around her.
"That day she had fun with Shambal as well, playing games and eating, talking. She had all sorts of new experiences she would have never had without someone there, but for some reason, when she sat down, she felt... as if what she was doing then wasn't enough."
"Wasn't enough?"
"Yes, it seemed, she felt chained down to Shambal for some reason. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't forget the fact that Shambal was doing this for her potential, something that she felt wasn't there at all."
"So Alima wanted to do something for him?"
"Such a smart girl Nevaeh, but that wasn't all. She wanted to travel around the world one place to another, just like she'd promised Fritz sometime ago. And for that to happen, she needed to leave after the year ended.
"So she got into more battles, trained further into the night, and got better at her improving magoi manipulation."
...
She promised she wouldn't kill anymore, but she did it.
Alima didn't mean to. She never meant for anything to happen, but it seems everything happens to her that she never meant for to happen.
A small chuckle rose from her throat as she looked at the tangle of limbs in front of her, "Ha. Haha, hehahahaha. Hahahahaha, hehahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
She couldn't help it. She was a monster.
She's a harbinger of death, no one could stop it. Not even herself.
Alima's name is wise? Then why couldn't she stop even death from coming to everyone around her.
She wasn't special, she wasn't loved, she wasn't different, she wasn't human, she was just... there.
…
"But she isn't a monster. I bet she... just didn't know what to feel about the entire thing. I mean, she was still just a child."
"That may be true, but as Shambal had figured out, Alima was a quick learner and took everything in around her, causing her mental age to rapidly increase, though her body aged with time's side. She felt as if she'd lived for at least more than thrity years at the time."
"She's still a child though. It shows in her actions. You can't just go and live life like that without a reason."
"Nevaeh, you have to understand, Alima's age had increased drastically after Fritz's death. She is guilt stricken by it, but does her best to live life to the fullest extent because he died for that sole reason. Now, a little time skip here and I'll come back to it later on."
"Why?"
"There isn't much information on what she had done at this time. You can imagine what you wish."
...
It's been two years since had seen Shambal. It's been two years since she'd last fought in the colosseum and won fights for Shambal and payed him back, also freeing slaves around, whether they be Fanalis or normal civilians around the city. It been two year since she gave them all the money she'd gained before fighting a few more times and leaving. It's been three years since she'd been freed (two if you count being part of the Yambala Gladiators being tied down).
It's been four years since Fritz died.
Alima forgot how it felt to be around somewhere for over a few days, especially a few years.
She's been travelling by foot from city to city, from country to country, from continent to continent (by boat sometimes). She's met all sort of people, fought all sorts of people and beings, had the time of her life. She figured out she was a girl when she'd stayed with her first caravan and had her first menstrual experience. It was embarrassing, well, it was the mildest word she could find for the rush of overwhelming emotions then.
Since then, she wore the bandages not only around her shoulders and neck, but around her entire chest, stopping right above her belly button. Her outfit had only changed slightly, her sleeves going to her elbows now, her bandages covering her arms from her upper forearm to her wrist, her facial features sharper along with her eyes getting a bit smaller, getting rid of the innocent look to them as they rose upwards a bit more. Her height had risen since then as well, now being 5'4 at the age of 11.
Alima sighed raking a hand through her short hair. Her voice had also deepened instead of rising like usual girls. At least it wasn't deep enough to be called fully male's. It sounded a bit androgynous, though on the deeper side of things. Her hair had changed tints again as well, now nearly looking black, her eyes more of a mix of dull orange and a brighter version, making it seem as if they were alive.
She had woken up from what made the earth rumble, a building appearing out of nowhere next to where she laid.
Now, she had to figure out what it was and why of all places, it had risen next to where she slept in a tree.
Omake: Blood..?
"UWAH!" A yell woke Alima up as she yawned, her eyes opening lazily. "A-Alima-kun, y-you're bleeding!"
She jumped as she heard the boy next to her yell, making the others jump wide awake and look over. Alima furrowed her brows. Bleeding? She looked down to see nothing of the sort, just some stickiness on her pants... and red around her thighs on the white sheets around her. "W-What is this..?"
The boy next to her, Ziang, looked at her with wide, scared eyes and when the men saw where she was bleeding, they gaped before barking out in laughter.
Alima looked at them confusedly, "W-what?"
One of them gave her a playful grin, "Oi Alima, didn't you say you were a guy?"
She nodded, a confused look in her eyes. "Then why are you having your period?" The guys couldn't breath as they all dropped to the floor, their laughter getting louder.
A woman quickly slipped the heavy cloth covering the band wagon open and glared inside, "Why are all of you laughing like hyenas in hea- Oh my lord, I didn't believe it when Sheila had told me that you were not a boy. I thought she was just jealous a boy was prettier than her!"
Alima flushed, "S-S-Sheila-san is prettier than me Lola-san, please don't s-say such things. And wh-what do you mean I'm a girl." Her eyes were wide rather than her usual half-lidded ones, showing how alarmed she was.
Lola giggled, "Well, why don't I show you. Your chest will also be growing soon." Alima furrowed her brows even further towards her nose, "Those were breasts..?" She then muttered, embarrassed, "I thought I was just getting fat."
Another round of laughter went all around, and the only one who had no idea what was going on was the scared, innocent, five year old Ziang, who was scared shitless now. He was curled up in the corner, looking incredulously at the scene.
..He wished he knew what was going on.
Edit: Yeah, so I've decided to add omakes and just have some humor added into this stuff.. or at least try. Hope you guys enjoyed! ^^