This...took forever to write out...I had writers block for the longest time on this chapter, adding the stress on trying to get my grades up to be able to graduate (Stupid Algebra 2) along with the master portfolio and Senior banner, then you have a whole bunch of shit you just don't know where to start with.
the nly good thing that happened so far is sakura con.
So, sorry about the really late update.
Chapter 6: welcome to the corp's.
"...Is this really necessary?" I asked as I stared down at the pair of scissors in Levi's hand. Levi only raised a brow at that, giving me a look while I inch away from my new captain. "...that's...really not necessary...Heichou..."
"What are you talking about? Of course it's necessary." he retorted like I was an idiot. He stepped forwards while snipping the scissors menacingly. "Now, hold still."
This all started this morning when I woke up. My hair was really wild when I woke up, and I was brushing it out to tame it when Heichou, wearing his gear, walked into the spare room we were able to find to talk to me about our morning gear training- apparently I was the only one who woke up early like him- that was forgotten once he saw my hair. He walked over and took the brush out of my hand and said I was taking to long and quickly brushed the back of my hair for me. He had stopped and did nothing for a few moments, when I looked back I saw him frowning at my hair, he had some of it in his hand and was thinking of something. Then he handed me back my brush telling me to wait there before he left the room. I wondered what he was doing, but he was my captain, so I had to listen to him. It didn't take long for Levi to come back, his room was a few doors down from mine, and by that time I had put my hair up in it's pony tail. That's when I saw the pair of scissors in his hand, with a glint of determination in his eyes as I stood up and faced him. Which lead to this...right here.
"..." I blinked before sprinting towards the window at the side of the room, grabbing my gear on the way, before jumping. I could hear Levi yelling for me to come back, like that would ever happen, then the sounds of his footsteps.
"KAZU! GET BACK HERE!" Levi ordered just as I was able to latch onto a nearby tree and propel forward. I chanced a glance over my shoulder only to see Levi also jumping out of the window, I'm pretty sure he was muttering a cures at me under his breath, latching onto a different tree then my own. "KAZU! I CAUGHT YOU BEFORE SO THERES NO POINT IN RUNNING!"
"With all due respect, Heichou, we both ran out of gas! That's the only reason you caught m- Heichou you shouldn't be pulling out your swords!" I said slightly nervous for me life when I saw the two swords in Levi's hands. Along with the scowl sent my way, '….Oh shit.' and with that thought I picked up speed to not be in range of Heichou's spinning action when he fought titans. Because honestly, that's just fucking scary. Now the question was, what the hell did I even say to get Heichou so mad...again. I know for a fact that I never mention his height, 'learned that lesson..' and didn't make a mess of anything. '...maybe I hurt his pride or something?' I thought with furrowed brows, then glanced back at a gaining Levi. 'maybe I should ask?' because what could happen if I just asked? I decided to do just that, and with a nod, looked over my shoulder at him. "Heichou?" I called out, gaining Levi's attention. "Did I hurt your pride by correcting yo-" I didn't get to finish that seeing as a sword lodged into the tree next to my fucking head. 'I'll take that as a yes then.'
Levi was obviously offended at what I asked, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. It's only been a week since I've transferred over towards the recon corp's, and already Heichou is mad at me. Eren did say I was never a people person, and that me being blunt was not always a good thing. 'In fact I'm pretty sure he said it was never a good thing...' the thought of Eren made me frown, god I missed him. And yet it's only been a week. 'he'd probably kick my ass if he new I was thinking all of this.' I thought with a sigh.
"Kazu! Get back here!" Levi snarled as he threw another one of his swords at me, almost hitting my hand, as I ignored him and kept going from tree to tree, exhausting my gas since I was able to jump the distances between them.
"Maybe the swords are a little...overkill, Heichou?" I called down when he swung underneath me and tried to grab me while coming up, avoiding that sword he replaced."...Levi, why do I have to cut my hair?"
"Because, if you're going to be in my fucking squad then you will be neat and tidy like the rest of us." he answered while crossing his arm's. I stopped on a few branches over from him, starring at him with confusion.
"Petra has long hair."
"She's a fucking female and you aren't, besides it's only to her chin length where yours is to your waist."
"Levi are you discriminating my sex?"
"No. I'm telling you that I don't want long hair in the goddamn shower drain in the men's showers!" he snapped at me. I huffed and crossed my arm's.
"...I don't leave hair in the shower drain, if anything that's Oluo." ah, he gave me that idiot look again, the one where he scrunches his brows together and creates wrinkles. "You know, if you keep doing that with your eyebrow's, you'll get permanent wrinkles."
"Like I fucking care."
"But you'll ruin that handsome face." oh, he's scowling, and is his cheek's gaining color? "Heichou? Are you blushing?" he glared at me with his lip's pursing a bit. "Now it looks like your pouting."
"Strife, get your ass down here!" he yelled with a twitch of his brow. I shook my head, I wasn't stupid enough to fall for that. "Strife-"
"What happened to calling me Kazu?"
"-shut the fuck up-"
"language, Levi."
he narrowed his eye's at me, making me wonder what he was going to do. I got my answer when he shot his gear at the tree I was in, and quickly pulled himself up with a smirk on his face.
Humanity's strongest indeed.
I backed away from the round house kick sent my way when he landed then sidestepped the punch aimed at my face. "Heichou, why must you be so violent with me?" I questioned with a small raise of my brow.
"Because you don't know how to listen to your goddam superior's" Levi retorted while he swiped my feet from underneath me, making me land on my back with a surprised grunt, then he sat on me. And pulled out those scissors from his back pocket, reaches over and grasps my pony tail and snippet it off. He let out a huff of satisfaction along with a nod, while I on the other hand felt sadden by the lost of my pony tail. Eren said I looked good with it and it suited me, so I kept my hair growing over the years just for him. But, I guess should be glad, it was a hassle to take care of. He threw my pony tail somewhere and slid off, "Now sit up and turn around so I can make this even."
Reluctantly I did as asked. "whatever Heichou want's." so I turned and let him snip away at my hair, "Can I at least keep my bangs?" I asked since they were the only long part left, he paused for a moment, probably to think, before resuming with a hum. "Thank you heichou~" I drawled out.
"How the hell did you stand having such long hair?" I heard him mutter. I shrugged lazily.
"...Well, Eren liked it." I responded, "He suggested I should cut it before our training started if I couldn't manage it, but I did. And now it's gone because Levi wanted to cut it off." he scoffed at that. Then it went silent for a moment as I waited for him to finish up my hair, I decided to reflect on my life since I was born...And that was a long time to reflect on. Levi call's me a brat, but I'm older then him, I have been alive for such a long time that I remember seeing the very first recon corp's squad venture outside of the wall since they had built it. And that wasn't even the oldest memory I had, the oldest was when there was no such thing's as titan's roaming around, only when there were my kind and ignorant human being's. I remember when I was able to roam around free and hunt until my desire was satisfied, I remember the taste of blood that I would consume, the flesh of my victim's as I ripped through tendon's and bones alike to eat my meal. My stomach growled and my body ached for those day's where I was allowed to hunt the human's, the thrill of seeing their scared faces as they realized that there was more then just titan's roaming the outside world of their precious wall, before ripping out their throats with my teeth. Aaaah, the good old day's. I thought with a wistful sigh escaping my lips.
But, now that I reflect on my past, I realize how much I changed since then. I use to kill any human being just for the sake of killing, I intentionally lead titan's to group's of human's that dared to venture out of their cage and sat back to watch. I even use to pick up a soldier or two and throw them into the awaiting mouth of a titan. ….wow, I really have mellowed down since then. I thought with a small hum. I should fix that, I probably will in a few day's because we were going to patrol the wall, I'll just kill a few dozen titan's then to satisfy myself.
"There." I heard Levi huff out, he seemed proud about cutting my hair. I took out one of my blades and used the surface as a mirror to see what I looked like now. It was cut neat and short like Levi wanted, but only where my long hair use to be at, now from the base of my neck forward my hair went one direction and got longer in obvious layers. My bangs were still the same, long enough to reach just a little past my eyes with the sides long enough to reach my shoulders. I shook my head and thought it felt weird without all the weight of all that hair, humming I reached up and ran my hand through it.
"...you give surprisingly nice haircut's.." I mumbled before putting away my blade and standing up.
"...Really? Because that was my first time trying to cut someones hair." he sniffed before turning and latching his wires onto a tree, "Let's go!" he ordered when I stared at his back.
"...What if you made my hair worse?" I questioned when I followed.
"Not my problem." he answer quickly and sped up. This made me slump my shoulders, of course, it's Levi what should I expect.
It didn't take long for us to arrive back at the barrack's. We both went different way's, seeing as I still had the urge to kill something, I went towards the recon's training grounds that held the fake titans. They weren't as effective as the feeling of tearing through real flesh, but it would have to do. As I past other soldiers I noticed that some of them were starring at me, I rolled my eyes at them as I started to hum under my breath. Every time I come out of the barrack's people stare, I'm not sure if it's because of my hair or eye's, or the fact that I was recruited by commander Erwin and Levi while still in training, but it has started to get annoying. 'Humans...' I thought with a snort. I stopped by the trunk of one of the tree's and removed my gear. I wanted to go at it like I use to, before I was dragged into this fucking wall against my will.
Scaling the large tree's, I made it to the top before giving out a whistle as the signal to start for the ones controlling them. Jumping off, I let myself free fall before landing on a branch and kicking off of it, twisting in the air towards one of the dummy's already in sight. I jumped tree to tree until I was near enough that I launched myself with enough strength in my legs to reach in a matter of second's, then I spun forward and as my head neared the fake neck, I opened my mouth and tore out the 'weak' spot in one go. It's not as neat as the blades, but it still works all the same on a real titan. The taste of leather was appalling so I spat it out as I jumped off another tree to find more.
Levi P.O.V.
I was only gone for a good half a fucking hour, and yet when I came into my office my desk was unable to be seen because of all the goddam paperwork covering it. I glared at the pile, wishing it would just burn so I wouldn't have to deal with it, but sadly nothing happened. Huffing in irritation I immediately set off to work. "...The fuck?" I muttered when I saw a letter on top of my work, it was from the inner wall. I raised a brow at that, what the hell do those pricks want now? Opening it I saw the seal of some noble family, I don't remember much or even care about them, but I remember that this family was close to the lard of a king. "Dear, Lance Corporal Levi, it has come to my attention that you have acquired a cadet under your care, and I would like to propose a proposition to you so I may acquire cadet Kazu Strife as a personal body guard for my daughter..." I read to myself and sighed in irritation. Then it goes on about the reasons as to why it would be a waste to keep Kazu here, and how he would be happier in the inner wall's away from me- US- and yadda, yadda, yadda. Scowling I crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the trash bin. That was the sixth letter since Kazu had come into my care.
"Fucking noble's, thinking they could just buy a person." I grunted while starting my work. I didn't understand why the nobles...well no thats a lie I do understand why the nobles have been sending me fucking letters to try and convince me to let them have Kazu. What I don't understand is what could possible make them think I would even consider letting him go.
As I read and signed the endless paperwork, I remembered the day I first saw Kazu. When the wall was broken, the corp's had just gotten back from a mission outside, and we were immediately sent out to hold back the titans while trying to evacuate the citizens. I was able to make it to the wall ahead of everyone, I had killed...15 titan's? Maybe it was closer to 20, but when I saw that 7meter looking around for something it intrigued me. I had sped up to kill it, thinking that a person was about to be eaten, I knew I wouldn't make it but I had to at least try and save the person. So imagine my surprise when suddenly the titan started to shake itself violently, then disappear into bones. Someone had killed it, but I didn't see anyone go up to it, not the glint of the blades, or the sounds of the gas, the sound of blades cutting into the flesh. So, I was confused. Titans didn't just die like that, but I didn't have time to think when I saw a 15meter bend down and smacked something into a building, it was distracted by something so I took the chance to get behind it and readied my swords.
That, was when I first saw Kazu. His white hair stood out from the red of the brick wall, he had blood dripping down from his head, and his gaze was on the titan in front of him. He didn't run away, he didn't even look fucking scared of it as it reached it's hand out towards him. Kazu looked ready to kill it, I didn't understand. Was he retarded or something? He should be trying to get away from the fucking thing that was trying to at him, not stare it down and stand around like an idiot. I remember being very annoyed by that, and yelled at him to get down before I killed the titan. Once my feet hit the ground I walked up to him and demanded what the fuck he was still doing here, standing around like an idiot. My first thought was that he was going to cry, because usually people cry whenever I talked to them like that, but yet all Kazu did was stare at me with his blank face. After a few moment's he answered with an 'evacuating', and I expected him to leave after that. But all he did was stare at me some more, I don't even think he was paying attention to anything at all, I couldn't believe it, there was a child standing around for no reason with no worry what so ever even with the fucking titan's inside of the wall. I must have been glaring at him or something because then he explained why he didn't move, his leg was broken. After inspecting it I had to carry him and it wasn't long that we reached the boat's and I shoved him into someone else arms before turning to leave. But he stopped me because he wanted to know my name. He was weird, you don't regularly ask the name of the person who had been cussing at you while carrying you against your will with...some kind of glint...in your eye's.
Once I told him I left, briefly glancing back towards the strange albino who was being carried to the departing ship.
It wasn't until a week or so later that I realized that I had been thinking about the albino frequently. At one point I had gone towards the refugee district to search for him after I remembered that another titan had broken through wall rose. Something kept nagging at me to see if he was alright, if he made it. Maybe it was because he was the first person besides Erwin to not care about my attitude, or the fact that he didn't seem scared when a grown man would have shitted themselves. Or that goddam voice at the back of my head telling me that he was technically my responsibility since I saved him, yes I saved a lot that day by killing titan's, but he was the one I physically saved myself and carried to safety. I had to check if the little shit was still alive and kicking, a lot of thing's can happen in the span of a week and I didn't necessarily trust that someone would actually look after him.
I found him a few day's later, he was further into the district, away from the crowds, and sleeping underneath a tree. He looked fine, and was dead to the world as he slept, I even went up to him and checked his leg that was broken a week ago and was surprised to see it almost healed completely. It should have taken a month or more for it to even be anywhere close to that, yet here it was, almost fixed just a few day's later. I didn't get to inspect further since he was waking up, so I got up and left before he saw me.
After that I checked in on him once a week, Hanji kept bothering me about where I was going and Erwin was trying to pry the information out of me. I kept my mouth shut, they didn't need to know that I was secretly looking after a child, without said child even knowing.
A whole year I kept an eye on Kazu from the rooftop's, I saw how he clung to a boy with brown hair- which I know realize is that same boy that Kazu was talking to before he left- and seemed to get violent when it involved him. How he seemed to be disgusted by humanity, the coldness he showed most people, the few he had beaten close to death along with the one he did beat to death that some stray animals got a hold of and ate. The uninterested aura about him when he stared at the people who would beg for food. Mugging, threatening, harassment, killing, it didn't matter what he had seen, he always had that same uninterested expression on. It was weird to see a child so disconnected from the world to the point of sneering in disgust at every single person he faced. I lost track of him a few days later after the scouting mission Erwin made once he was promoted to commander, I looked for him since I didn't check in on him for that week yet, but I couldn't find him. I thought that he had either starved to death from the lack of provision's, or that someone had killed him. It wasn't strange during that time for someone to kill for another loaf of bread. I frowned when I had thought that, who the fuck would stoop so low to mug a child for fucking bread? After a few more hours of searching and asking around for him with no results, I went back to the barracks.
I stopped after a month of looking.
"Who would have thought he was in training." I mumbled to myself, fucking meeting him was shocking to say the least, the brat I had watched over for a year I thought was dead had requested to see me. '...he got tall.' I thought, because I only reached to his shoulder at the very least. "Fucking albino..." I grumbled when I remembered him commenting on my height. Ah, now I'm irritated and want to go punch him.
"...Heichou, you are glaring at the wall again."
Ah, speaking of the albino he had just come in. I quickly picked up a pen from my desk and chucked it at him, he caught it between his fingers with a raised brow. I took a good look at him, he had a thin layer of sweat on him, his jacket was off revealing the sweaty white shirt that clung to him, his hair was messy and sticking to him or defying gravity, his breathing was a bit heavier. I scowled at that.
"You stink like horse-shit." I huffed out while crossing my arms.
"...how do I look?"
"Like fucking shit, what else?"
"...why are you mad this time?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
"I'm not mad."
"Yes, you are." he said while walking over, unaffected by what I called him. "the creases in your brow are deep when you're angry." he said while tapping my forehead.
"you'll lose that finger if you don't move it." Kazu raised an eyebrow at my threat, he didn't believe I would bite him. And he was right about that, there was no way I would bite his finger, I don't fucking know where it's been, and I'm not going to take that chance. So, with a sigh, I decided to see what he wanted, "Kazu, what do you want?"
"...Eat dinner with me." he said, causing me to raise a brow at him before looking out the window to see it was getting dark. My eyebrows shot up in surprise, I couldn't have been in here that long...could I? Was I daydreaming about Kazu that much? I questioned my self with furrowed brows trying to figure it out.
"Take a goddam shower and I'll think about it." I replied while going back to my work, I heard a hum before Kazu stepped out of the room, hopefully to shower off that sweat.