Caleb followed after Katsuragi cutting it close as they reach the Tea Ceremony room and barely wait before they, or Katsuragi, barrel through the spinning door as Caleb waits for it to slow down as he steps in front of the wood, stopping it from closing as he steps in.
"Katsuragi!" He could hear Ikaruga scold Katsuragi as Caleb stepped into the secret hallway before the mechanism can catch up and close it as he follows Katsuragi's path and exits the second spinning door into the Shinobi Room.
"Caleb-chan~/-kun!" Asuka and Hibari yelled as they saw Caleb come in, Yagyu immediately clicking her tongue as she glares at him. Meanwhile, the pinkette and brunette surge forward to meet him.
"Welcome back." Asuka says as Hibari nods, the two crowding him as he manages to push them back gently, but to Yagyu he might as well have punched them back but she held her anger back.
Caleb yelps as he ducks a series of kunai and shurikens that nearly hit him as he glares back at Yagyu. "Hell was that for?"
"Yagyu~." Hibari pouts as Yagyu simply shrugs.
"Just making sure you're paying attention." She says. Before the two could get at it, Caleb feels his insticts go off as he covers his mouth as a smoke bomb went off, surprising the other shinobi as Caleb stepped out of range from the smoke bomb.
"Caleb-san." Kiriya spoke as he stepped out of the large gray cloud slowly filtering out of the classroom. "You're here."
"That I am. What am I here for, if you don't mind me asking?" Caleb says as the smoke seems to filter out as Kiriya nods.
"Not at all. We're going to be having a class in genealogy and you're going to join us." Kiriya says as Caleb blinks at him along with the other students.
"Y-You do know I have amnesia right? Sure, I remember their names and their faces, but anything beyond that…" Caleb says while shrugging with his arms spread.
"Besides," Katsuragi pipes up from her kneeling position when she was being scolded by Ikaruga, "Shouldn't we be training?"
"Breaks are also an important part of training." Kiriya explains as Katsuragi seems to want to argue but stops and sighs.
Meanwhile, Hibari raises a hand, "Um, Sensei, what will we be doing with genealogy?"
"You'll be making a Shinobi family tree. See if you have any shinobi ancestors, and learn what you might have inherited from them. That's what I want you to discover." Kiriya explains as Caleb sucks in his lips and looks away.
He knows he got the strip of silver hair from his Silverbrow blood, or from his father's side since he can distinctly remember his dad having it, while his mother...he's never looked like his mother. Though people said they could see the resemblance.
Sitting down, Caleb begins to draw his family tree as Asuka raises her hand. "But how far should we go?" She asks.
"From the earliest shinobi up to yourself, or in Aridam-san's case, earliest warrior up to him." Kiriya elaborates as Asuka nods.
"Okay, got it!"
Like Caleb, she begins to work, placing pencil to paper and writing for a bit before raising her hand. "Okay, I'm done!"
"Same." Caleb adds as Kiriya looks at the two, practically identical papers. Both of them were three generations with Auka's having her grandfather's, her parents, and her name.
Caleb, on the other hand, had Reshar, his parents and him. Though only his mother had a name, 'Kanae'
"My mother is a shinobi, like my grandpa. My father's a civilian, so he wasn't completely happy with me becoming a shinobi. But I want to be a strong one, like my grandpa." Asuka explains, jubilant with pride lacing every word.
"Reshar was an old warrior in our family." Caleb explained, to Kiriya's interest. "Dad never told me much since his brother knew better," Caleb's expression darkened as he looks away and practically hisses out, "the less said about him, the better," before returning to his usual expression, "but he could fight and my dad knew how to as well. Mom was normal, I think." Caleb says with a shrug.
"Oh, can you tell us more?" Kiriya asks as Caleb shrugs.
"Well," he says as he holds a hand to his chin, "dad had this...room where he had a bunch of…" he squints, practically closing his eyes, "pictures? No… um, I-I remember seeing people like Michael Jackson and singers...records? I don't know." He gives up with a shrug.
Ikaruga glances at his family tree and can't help but wonder why he'd be so willing to simply let it be as empty as it is. Willing to let the questions about his family go unanswered.
Meanwhile, Katsuragi and Yagyu are both deep in thought, occasionally their pencils would move and they'd write something, but they weren't doing much.
Meanwhile, "I've got too many to count. This sucks." Hibari complains as Caleb looks at her.
"Mind if I see?" Caleb asks and Hibari nods.
"Sure!" She tilts the paper and Caleb blanks as he looks at the amount of people there are.
"Damn." He mutters under his breath, "That's a lot."
"Right~." Hibari moans as she slumps forward before returning to the assignment.
Out of boredom, Caleb sketches on the side of the paper random things while everyone else was working.
That is until Kiriya caught his attention as he spoke to Katsuragi. "What's wrong Ikaruga? You're not writing."
That seems to snap her out of the funk she was in as she looks back down at her paper and apologizes. "My apologies. I'll continue immediately." She says as she looks down at her paper with a familiar look to Caleb.
It's the look of complicated circumstances. Caleb's own being a prime example since he makes a similar face when talking about his uncle. He detests him, but he's also somewhat thankful he taught him how to fight. Granted, Caleb would have no problem seeing the man simply die, but he finds that a bit hard to believe.
But Ikaruga isn't Caleb, it'd be more accurate to say that Ikaruga is the opposite of Caleb. Where Caleb is violent and aggressive, Ikaruga is calm and focused, the picture perfect young lady, a contrast to the rougher Caleb.
In the end, Caleb can't help but note how everyone has their own problems as he returns to his sketch, blinking as he finds it strange how the chicken scratches we was making began to resemble Ikaruga at some point. In the end, he decides to finish it while waiting for instructions.
Also, making sure to keep away from Katsuragi's curious gaze. He's willing to deal with the perverted girl, but giving her even more ammunition to try and tease him? No thank you.
Regardless, Ikaruga's gaze stays on her own family tree, guilt welling up in her chest as her face changed slightly, her expression hiding most of it but not to Asuka and Caleb. With a heavy sigh, he turns to Ikaruga as Asuka follows and leans forward, worry clear in her expression. "What's eating at ya?"
"Is something wrong, Ikaruga-senpai?" Asuka asks as Ikaruga looks between us and smiles while shaking her head.
"Oh, it's nothing." She says while forcing a smile that fooled Asuka, but not Caleb.
"That so?" He said with a noncommittal hum and narrowed eyes, conveying all he needs to in one sentence as Ikaruga's smile twitches.
"I-It is." She answers, unsure as Caleb simply hums as he returns to his sketch, the sound of pencil scratching against paper once more the singular sound that rings out in the room. Considering it's a room where only two-ish people have no real familial drama or tragedy going on, then the silence it's something that's understood, practically needed at that point.
"'Kanae' huh?" Katsuragi reads over Caleb's shoulder as he quickly moves to cover the side where Ikaruga's sketch is located. "What was your mother like?"
"Do you have no-." Caleb was about to ask whether she respected privacy but was quickly reminded that this is a pervert he's talking about. So no, she probably doesn't care about privacy much. "Never mind." He grumbles as he holds a hand to his head and sighs. "You don't."
And everyone was looking over in interest, even Ikaruga was glancing to Caleb to his exasperation. "Is that really something you should be worried about?"
"But we're curious~!" Hibari whines as she tries to give him puppy dog eyes that usually work against Yagyu. Thankfully, he was smarter than that and turns-
"Pft!" Caleb sputters in shock.
"Katsu-nee!" Hibari and Asuka yell simultaneously as Ikaruga gapes and Yagyu glares at him, like Katsuagi deciding to flash her chest was his idea. Obviously.
Within seconds, Katsuragi had a new welt on her head, Ikaruga, Asuka, and Hibari, to everyone's surprise, glaring down on her as she prostrates herself, occasionally shivering. "I'm sorry."
"Even for you that's too far." Ikaruga says with a sigh. "Now think about what you've done."
"I'm sorry." She repeats before shifting so her prostration is in Caleb's direction. "I'm sorry to you too, Caleb."
"I...don't really know how to answer to that. So I won't. But it's forgiven." He says, waving it away as silence overcomes the room once more until Katsuragi interrupts once more.
"So, Kanae, your mother, what was she like?" Katsuragi's slightly muffled voice pipes up as Caleb groans once interest is back on him.
"Really? You're that curious?" He asks as he lets his paper falls as he sighs, turning his notebook to a different page as he begins to sketch on it.
"Obviously. I'm curious!" She retorts before she realizes what she's doing. "It's fine, right?"
"Yeah." Caleb answers with a groan as he finishes sketching. "Here, it's not the most accurate thing but this is how she looked like." He says as he reveals the image of what he recalled of his mother.
She was a very gentle woman, her hair tied and off to the side that if they were a bit more insensitive, they'd have pointed out how the hairstyle is practically a premonition. But they didn't, instead they couldn't help but appreciate both the subject and the artwork. "She seemed very beautiful." Ikaruga notes.
"Very pretty." Hibari says with a nod and Asuka does the same, even if something nags at the back of her head the longer she looks at it. Even Ikaruga felt the same while Yagyu was impassive.
"Yeah." Caleb says with a shrug. "From what I remember, she was pretty stern but loving. Practically fearless in reeling in dad when he was getting reckless or doing something stupid. She could sing well, but dad was better."
"Really?" Ikaruga asks as Caleb nods. "Who would have thought?"
Asuka, meanwhile, scrunches her face as she tries to remember why it all feels so familiar, for some reason. Caleb's silver strand of hair, Michael Jackson, Kanae, both parents dead. It feels like it's at the tip of her tongue, like it's something she's familiar with, but she just can't find the right word for it. It's exhausting. She held a hand to her chin as she practically glared holes into the floor while trying to figure it out. In the end, she sighs as she leaves it for later, maybe she should visit the shop with Caleb and then her mother or father might know. Maybe even her grandma or Hanzo.
Still, she returns her attention to Caleb as she perks up, "Oh right, you were really good at karaoke that one time."
"With Hibari?" Caleb asks as she stiffens up once she realizes her mistakes, the others looking away as she got the message. She's on her own as she bears the brunt of Caleb's confused expression and Hibari's weirdly intense stare. "She's the only one I've sung in front of so how would you know?"
Little did she know that Caleb was completely aware that they were spying on him and Hibari that one time. Hibari on the other hand… "Yeah, Asuka-chan, how do you know that?"
Poor Asuka was left to scramble for an excuse, and even then, it was barely enough.
Soon, it was lunch time and the others moved outside for lunch. Well, Caleb just stared as he took a bite out of his sandwich once he helped setup a mat. "Dried squid? Again?"
"Do not make light of dried squid you basic bastard." Yagyu retorts with a sharp glare as Caleb's brow twitches and he glares right back.
"Shut up, seafood." He retorts as Yagyu's glare intensifies.
"That doesn't even make sense."
"I hope you become a fish so you can be eaten by a squid."
"And I hope you become a worm so I can feed you to the fishes."
As the two glare each other down, sparks practically flying from between them from the intensity, Ikaruga mutters, "Oh. Look what I've gone and done."
"'Sup?" Caleb asks as he turns to Ikaruga, ignoring Yagyu's triumphant harrumph lest he be tempted to restart their little argument all over again
"I seem to have forgotten my tea. Gimme a second." Ikaruga begins but Caleb gets up first.
"Don't worry." He says as he finishes his sandwich. "I'm practically done, I can go get it."
"It's fine, Caleb-san." Ikaruga tries but I shake my head.
"I insist. It's a small walk anyway." Caleb insists as Ikaruga tries to find a reason to refuse but couldn't find any. Sighing, she relents.
"Alright." She explains where to find the tea and the cups as Caleb nods along, memorizing the instructions.
He set off, taking note of anything he finds for future reference once he decides to go after the Umbral Awn as he opens the door and pauses.
Someone's inside. But all the girls are out and Caleb doubts he'd be able to even sense Kiriya if he decided to hide.
Reaching a hand into his bag, he glares as he manages to find the location of the intruder. "Step out, or else I'll make you."
"Okay, okay," a male voice spoke to Caleb's surprise as he stepped out from the shadows, "settle down."
Caleb could have paid attention to many things, from his ratty appearance to his sickly pale skin, his vague resemblance to Ikaruga, or the chains going around his arm, instead, they were on the sword in his hands.
Hien.
"That sword doesn't belong to you." Caleb notes as his hands clench into fists, light pops ringing out as the man scoffs.
"What would you know? The sword doesn't belong to Ikaruga. It's mine. It was supposed to be mine before she stepped into the picture." He growls out, vitriol in his voice.
Onii-sama…
Ikaruga, listening in couldn't help the pangs of guilt and shame that rang out in her chest as she listened to her older brother speak. After all, he was telling the truth, if she didn't come into the picture, then maybe-.
"Watch your fucking manners or I'll teach them to you by force." Caleb spoke, anger in his own voice as even Masamune, Ikaruga's brother, seemed surprised by his reaction. Ikaruga most of all as she's never seen Caleb be this aggressive. "I don't know much about what the hell's going on, but if that sword ain't in your hands, then it ain't yours to keep. So drop it and don't come back or I'll beat it out of your hands."
"Who the hell are you to tell me what to do? What to do with what's mi-."
A loud slap rang out as Ikaruga stepped out of her hiding spot to see Caleb holding Masamune by the collar as he glared down at him, leaving her frozen in the aura behind him as he spoke. "Yours, huh? Well let me tell you something, that sword is no one's but Ikaruga's, it's in her hand. She's practiced with it whenever she could, she's taken care of it, and she knows more about it than you ever would. Get it?"
He heaves him up as he holds him by his collar as he rears back his arm. "You can cry, pray, or you can even train with any other weapon until the only thing capable of stopping you is God himself. But Hien will always be Ikaruga's sword. She's earned it. You know it, she knows it, the sword itself knows it. That's why it's not reacting to you, right?"
"Wh-What are you-?!"
"That's all I needed to know." Caleb said as he shifts to deliver a devastating punch to Masamune as Ikaruga steps in, grabbing him and stopping him as she finds her voice.
"Caleb-san. Stop this foolishness."
"The fucker tried to take your sword." Caleb answers, his eyes still on Masamune, waiting for Ikaruga to either loosen her hold on his arm or even let go entirely so he can finish the punch he was planning.
"He's also my brother." Ikaruga admits as Caleb gapes at her.
"...That's supposed to stop me? What kind of brother," he hisses out the last word while shaking Masamune, "tries to steal from his younger sister? He is the older one, right?" Caleb asks as Ikaruga nods.
"J-Just, please, let it go."
"Let it go?" Caleb asks as he turns to Ikaruga, outraged. "Let it- Have some self-respect!" He retorted, throwing Masamune to the side, Hien no longer in his hand and in Caleb's instead "He tried to take your sword! Your heirloom. And I'll rip off your fucking tongu-."
"Caleb! Stop threatening my brother!" Ikaruga says as she glared down Caleb and he turned to her.
And for a second, through sheer presence he overwhelmed her as he spoke.
"Your brother that tried to steal from you?! That blames you for everything except for what you did?! I don't care what the hell is going on, I don't care about your fucked up family dynamics. But you're a warrior. A shinobi. You wield that sword with pride. With grace. With everything it deserves to be wielded with! So why don't you defend yourself with that same pride? Huh?"
There's a silence in the Shinobi Room as Ikaruga is unable to look Caleb in the eye as he manages to calm down. Sighing, he begins to step out but stops. "...Sorry about the outburst. It's just…" His hand goes to his bag that holds his swords, "...no. Nothing. Sorry." He says as he steps out before turning back. "Except you, limp dick." He says while pointing at Masamune. "Get your ass out."
Masamune, still shocked-still, doesn't react until Caleb is gone from the general vicinity. "Who the hell was that?"
"...A fellow student." Ikaruga lets the statement hang as she turns to her older brother. Despite how rough he was about it, Ikaruga could tell that none of what Caleb said was meant to be cruel or hurtful. It was simply his belief as a warrior that he was trained to be. Not to mention…
It's like how Mother and Father said. Never let go of Hien.
"I'm sorry, Onii-Chan." Ikaruga says as he looks at her brother with a bit of shame. "My underclassmen are good people, if not a bit aggressive." She mutters that last part as a warm feeling bloomed in her chest. "I hope we can see each other again, in better circumstances."
With that, she reaches up to a strand of rope and pulls, opening a trap door as Masamune attempts to say something, and instead gravity catches up to him and he falls as she pulls the rope again, closing it as she sighs. Closing her eyes, she looks at Hien, still her sword and it will always be.
Finally, she opens them and puffs her chest out. Right now, she has an underclassmen to scold for using such uncouth words, not to mention threatening her older brother. Even if she still feels the guilt, the shame of it all.
Sometimes, she wished she wasn't around, maybe then her brother would be happy.
"Ah, Ikaruga. Is Caleb here?" Asuka asks as Ikaruga perks up and turns to the brunette before she relaxes.
"No. He just left. Tell me if you find him, I have to have a conversation of my own with him." Ikaruga says as Asuka shakes his head.
"Did he get in trouble again?" Asuka asks with a fond smile as Ikaruga giggles.
"Maybe." Ikaruga says as she shakes off all the lingering feelings. "Let's head back outside."
"Oh, before we go back, please take a look at this." Asuka says with a smile as she reveals a paper she folded up. Unfurling it, Ikaruga grabs it and looks it over as her mouth hung open.
"Ah…" She trailed off as she looked at the family tree. Except, it wasn't a normal family tree. It was everyone in the class, Katsuragi as the father, Ikaruga as the mother, Yagyu, Asuka, and Hibari as the children and Caleb.
Caleb has no identification, not for a lack of trying as there are mutliple lines scribbled out which show that Asuka had to think it over very well, in the end deciding to put Caleb in as a distant relative but still close.
The five of us are practically family and Caleb," Asuka says before shyly scratching at her own cheek, "w-well he's fitting in, even if he does argue with Yagyu a lot."
At that point, Ikaruga watched as she looked at where her name belonged. Amongst friends as tears fell freely for the first time in a while, in the place she belongs. Her vision blurs as she tries to wipe it away but it's futile.
"Wha-Ikaruga, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Asuka asks, worry lacing her voice as she begins to get flustered. "Did something make you sad?"
Shaking her head, Ikaruga smiles. "I'm not sad at all. I'm crying because I'm happy." Turning to Asuka and giving the sincerest smile she could give, Ikaruga says, "Thank you, Asuka."
Though Asuka herself could only stare at Ikaruga's expression in bewilderment.
"Phew." Katsuragi said, wiping some fake sweat from her brow. "I'm glad that's over."
"What is?" Caleb asks her in confusion, "I left after the whole...genetics thing, did something happen?"
"No." Katsuragi answers. "Just that we were called out for individual fights and I am pumped." She says as she skips down the street. "And while Asuka and the others were worrying over their own fights, I took that as the perfect opportunity to slip away and get you that ramen I promised."
"Shouldn't you be training?" Caleb asks as Katsuragi shrugs.
"I wish. At the moment, I can't go any further, whether it be my kicks, punches, or anything really." She admits, looking downcast as Caleb turns to her, "Not even what you taught me, at the moment, with as little time as there is between now and our fights tomorrow, there's just not enough time for me to really 'improve'." She says sadly.
Caleb nodded, after all, he could relate, far better than she probably thought.
"So," She perked right back up, "let's get some ramen, unwind, and I'll be ready for my fight! Just watch me!"
"Interested in the fight I might be, but I'll be fine not watching it, thank you very much." Caleb retorts as Katsuragi rears back her head and laughs.
"C'mon, live a little! Watch a cool fight or two!" She says as she stops and performs a few kicks and punches.
"Sure. I'll do that when I can do it from a safe distance." Caleb says with a fond sigh. "Now, where's the ramen stall you talked about, I'm getting hungry."
"Right, right, follow me." She says as she grabs Caleb's arm and pulls him along and he resigns himself to his fate with a sigh, ignoring the looks he got from other people.
Soon, he and Katsuragi were seated in a small ramen shop. "Oi! Give me a tonkotsu ramen with extra pork!" Katsuragi yelled for everyone to hear.
"Miso with extra pork." The far calmer Caleb ordered at a far more reasonable volume,
"Got it!" The chef said as he began cooking, leaving Katsuragi and Caleb to their own conversations.
"Honestly, what are you doing being so quiet, this is a victory dinner!" Katsuragi says as Caleb raises a brow at her.
"You haven't even won yet." Caleb points out, barely stopping himself from asking why she thinks she's going to win.
"It's called faith. C'mon, have a little bit of it on your senpai." Katsuragi says as she returns to looking forward. "Speaking of, how's your stay in Asakura been?"
"It's been going." I answer, taking a sip from my water.
"'It's bee-' What does that even mean?" Katsuragi asks while Caleb rolls his eyes.
"That it's been going? It's normal?" Caleb retorts as Katsuragi scoffs. "What now?"
"Nah, just," Katsuragi asks before continuing, "hanging out with a bunch of," Katsuragi says as she poses, "beautiful," another pose, "buxom," and a final pose, "and amazing shinobi is normal for you?"
"I wouldn't know, I never hung out with shinobi before. Or many people for that matter, I moved around a lot." Which was true, but a few people are stubborn, very stubborn so Caleb's usually forced to stay in contact with them.
"Damn." Katsuragi says before looking at Caleb, "No wonder you're so gloo-I'm sorry."
Caleb looked at her blankly, interrupting her before she could finish her sentence as his eyes slowly landed on the pot of noodles.
It wouldn't even be that hot, and all it'd take is one swing.
While he'd like to fall to his baser desired of hitting Katsuragi with noodles, he'll have to refrain.
"Whatever." He mutters under his breath. "Good luck on your fight or something."
"C'mon, more feeling! Be a cheer squad."
"Yay~. Yay~. Errrr…" Caleb said without much energy. "Yeah, no."
"Aw c'mon, just imagine it." She says while leaning closer, "Asuka~, Hibari~, Yagyu~, Ikaruga~, short skirts~, tight shirts that barely fit and all it'll take is a bit too much forc-argh!"
With a flushed face, Caleb asked for a coke, shook it, and opened it as he let a bit spray on Katsuragi, enough to get her off him as he chugged the rest.
"Ah! Ahahaha! I found it!" Katsuragi said, uncaring of the little amount of coke on her face. "You're into cheerleader uniforms!"
"Shut up! I have no idea what you're on!" Caleb retorted with a flushed expression as he moved to the side, a slight burp rising up as he hid it with a long breath of air before returning.
"Ha! How cultured, truly," Katsuragi says before her face becomes more teasing but also more curious as she asks, "but~, how would you like one on m-."
"Shut it." Caleb retorted, grabbing his chopsticks, grabbing both and taking some of Katsuragi's ramen before the chef can even finish putting them down!
"Hey, that's my ramen! Get your own!" She said as she tried to shove him aside which he let but he still took some ramen with him as she watched him in shock as he finished slurping on the string of noodles before returning to his. "You're not even gonna share?!"
"Should have minded your damn business." Caleb retorts in between slurps as Katsuragi grabs her own chopsticks.
"Ohohoho~, come here!" She said as she leapt at him, barely making a sound as the chef's back was turned, the two slinging insults at each other under their breaths.
Though the moment, the chef turned, the two were back on their seats, slurping on ramen as Caleb makes an 'ok' sign as the chef nodded and turned back.
Caleb's chopsticks nearly landed in Katsuragi's bowl as he caught Katsuragi's chopsticks with his teeth as the two got to their feet, the two trying to contort to get to the other's ramen while not making too much sound with the ruckus they were doing.
The chef turned and the two were back in their spots, but Katsuragi was visibly lower and Caleb's face was flushed, his hand in her shirt. Her braless shirt, resting his hand on her shirt as he struggled to keep the hormones under control.
Once the chef was looking away, Caleb used that hold to push Katsuragi back, to her surprise, and go for her ramen, only for her to use her foot on his chin and raise it to push him back as she tried for his ramen.
And so the night would go, Katsuragi 'distracting' Caleb with putting his hands under her skirt, into her shirt, or having her hand on his thigh and similar 'distractions'.
Caleb had to go home after Katsuragi, who looked proud, as she left with a pep on her step and he had to hunch over on the stall.
He might have had the most ramen, but he's not sure who won that.
A/N: Here we go, a little bit extra. That said, I had fun writing this.