"Is she dead?" Elise asked.
"I think so." Kris nodded while staring at her leader who was laying braless on her stomach across the couch. Draped over her was a very thin fleece blanket. She then reached out and poked her.
Quietly, Kagami groaned back.
"Welp. Not dead." Kris placed her hands on her hips and looked back the the brunet.
Cheyenne rolled her eyes and crouched down beside the jadette. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I'm thirteen again." She groaned back while rubbing her face into the cushion. "I regret my life choices." She huffed.
"I know she's joking," Kris leaned over towards Elise, "but that's a pretty dark joke. And that's coming from me."
"Yeaaah." The brunet nodded slowly.
Shaking her head, Cheyenne ignored the two of them. "Do you want anything? Tea maybe?"
Kagami slowly shook her head. "I honestly just want to go to bed." She took a deep breath. "I want to sleep and never wake up. It's more than just my back burning... it feels like my aura itself is on fire."
"Tattoos are like that." Baren walked over with a steaming cup of tea in her left hand. Her right sleeve was limp at the moment. "They have to pierce through your aura to mark your skin."
"That's right." Cheyenne sat back. "You had a cherry blossom covering your right arm, didn't you?"
The old warrior nodded as she set the cup of tea down on the coffee table.
"Hold on a minute!" Kris held out her arms. "How the hell did YOU get a tattoo? Nothing can even pierce your skin!"
Baren stiffened as she closed her eyes. Exhaling, she stepped back. "I was rather young and hadn't unlocked my semblance yet." She turned away and began to walk towards the kitchen. "I was angry at my parents and had it done. It wasn't too hard to find someone in Mistral to tattoo a child for the right price. And then I could never remove it."
Elise choked on nothing and placed both hands over her mouth. She tried not to laugh but clearly didn't try hard enough.
Shifting, Kagami glanced over her shoulder at her mentor and raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She lightly chuckled.
"Yes." She hissed. Glaring back, she pointed. "Now drink your tea. It'll help boost your aura. Hisato created the blend."
"Oooh, Hisato~" Kris teased before sharply yelping and ducking down as a chair was thrown over her.
"Next time I won't miss!" Baren snapped.
Blinking a few times, the redhead grinned from ear to ear. "Heh."
Cheyenne shook her head with a small smile. "Okay. You heard her." She grabbed the cup of tea and stood. "Sit up."
"Ugh." Kagami groaned. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her chest while sitting up.
Trailing up her spine were two jade colored dragons that spiraled in between each other. Their heads rested between her shoulder blades and their whiskers and talons covered every one of her scars from years ago as well as the recent one that was on the left side of her neck.
"I don't want to." The jadette groaned while hunching forward and clutching the blanket. Her skin was still slightly red and puffy on the outside of her tattoo.
With a heavy sigh, Elise plopped down on the couch beside her. "You know, I used to really want a tattoo. I thought they were super cool. Now... not so much."
"You're not helping." Cheyenne glared in her direction while holding out the cup of tea towards Kagami.
Sighing, she reluctantly grabbed the cup with one hand and took a small sip. She breathed in deeply before exhaling as her aura shimmered as it grew stronger.
"Hisato really knows how to make tea, huh?" Kris leaned over to look at the liquid. "Wonder if he could make coffee. Imagine having a thermos of aura-to-go when hunting Grimm. Sounds helpful."
"Only you." The Faunus shook her head.
"Something like that does sound like it could come in handy." Kagami quietly thought to herself while taking another sip. "Maybe not as a drink but little gel capsules."
"Little pills filled with concentrated special matcha tea that boost aura?" Elise laughed. "That sounds like something out of a cartoon."
"But imagine if he could make that." She smiled at her.
"I bet Baren's boyfriend could do it~" Kris hummed with a grin. She suddenly yelped and dropped to the ground with both her hands over her head as a kitchen knife flew through the air and stabbed into the wall.
Kagami blinked a few times before whipping her head around to the kitchen. "Baren!" She shouted and gestured towards the knife lodged into the wall with her cup of tea. "If we keep putting holes in the wall mom is going to notice!"
"Midori will get over it." The pinkette glared coldly for a moment before stepping back inside the kitchen.
With a heavy sigh she set her tea down and reached up to rub her face. "How many does that put us at now?"
"Three." Cheyenne answered. She looked up and eyed the hole in the ceiling. "Yours from your gauntlet." She eyed the wall behind a desk. "Elise's from when she was showing Gurin how to wield a katana. And now..." She eyed the hole that Kris was hiding with a potted plant.
"It's fine. See." The redhead clapped her hands together. "No one will ever notice." She glanced in the direction of the kitchen before slowly stepping up to her friends. "She also missed." She whispered.
"Why do you insist on nagging her on?" Kagami eyed her while taking another sip from her tea.
"I dunno." She shrugged while sitting on the arm of the couch. "It's fun I guess?"
Shaking her head, Cheyenne sat down on the other side of Kagami. "How long is this going to take to heal?"
"Two weeks." She took a deep breath and slowly moved her shoulder blades around. She winced and gulped down more tea. "Hopefully. He said my aura was strong so it should only be two weeks."
"I'm sure you'll be fine within a week then." Elise nudged her with a smile.
Once her dragon tattoo had healed, Kagami was back up on her feet doing what she did best. In the front yard of her parents home, she slowly circled around with her arms up. It was a warm day on Vytal so she was barefoot on the grass in shorts and a sports bra.
She also just wanted to show off her tattoo in general.
She slowly breathed in and lunged forward. As she ducked underneath a punch, she brought her own fist around to strike.
Catching her hand, Midori softly grunted and swung her other around.
Her daughter brought her other arm up and let her fist hit her forearm. She sharply exhaled and slipped around her before bringing her leg around in a roundhouse kick.
Midori felt the girl's foot barely graze over chin as she backstepped. She quickly reached out and snatched her ankle before she could pull away and hauled her up and over her shoulder.
Kagami widened her eyes as she was thrown. She flipped herself around in the air before landing on her feet with a soft thud. Panting softly, she looked up with a smile.
Smiling back, her mother slid a food behind her and readied herself. "Now focus." She closed her eyes and exhaled. When she opened them again, they were a dark brown.
"Wow." Elise watched as her leader locked her eyes with the former Huntress. "They're both something." She mumbled.
"Oi, you're telling me." Aza nodded as he watched the two of them gain a blue glow around their hands and forearms because translucent dragons appeared.
Kris blinked a few times as she looked between the two Monomanes trading dragon empowered blows and Elise and Aza. "Come on." She leaned back. "Why can't I say something?" She scowled. "They're both too useless to do anything."
"No." Cheyenne whacked her on the back of the head and scowled. "Don't you even dare."
"But Cheeeeey."
"No." She hit her again. "You let both of them be."
"Fiiiiine." She loudly groaned.
"Your family is so cool." Kit quietly spoke as she felt with air tremble around her from the two sparring.
"Yeah." Gurin nodded as she watched with an amused look. It looked like she wanted to jump straight in even though she knew she would get thrown across the street. "Someday I'm going to be even stronger than that." She grinned.
"I wouldn't doubt that." She softly laughed back. Looking over, she noticed Baren and Hisato walking back towards the house.
The old warrior walked up to the young blonde with something long wrapped in cloth in her hand. "Learning anything?" She asked while eyeing the jadettes.
"I think." Kit nodded back while gaining a curious look. "What is that?" She leaned over to look at what she had.
"A gift." She got down onto her knees and sat on the grass. "For you." She placed it down in between the two of them. "So you're not stuck using that old training stick the rest of your life."
"Huh?" She raised both her eyebrows before her eyes widened. "Wait, so is it..." She trailed off and reached out to unwrap the cloth. Her eyes only grew wider as she saw the metal staff inside.
"Yes." Baren nodded. Grabbing the weapon, she twisted it at the center. As it broke in two, the two pieces both separated in half by a chain creating a pair of nunchucks. "It was more recently made so it uses Dust as well." She connected the nunchucks at the center and the chains tightened the other pieces into a single staff again. "But that can be a later lesson we can learn."
Kit's eyes sparkled as she gently wrapped the weapon back up and pulled it close. "Thank you." She lowered her head.
"Hm." Hisato walked over beside Aza. "So where's your boy?"
"Finally working a real job." He crossed his arms. "Took him long enough. The island has really appreciated his help with his semblance. I'm just glad he's out of his room finally."
"Hm." He nodded back. "Well good for him for finally finding his place."
With a heavy exhale, Kagami dropped her mimicry and took a second to catch her breath. She was able to hold it for longer but she still couldn't do it forever.
"Now focus more this time." Midori narrowed her still brown eyes. "Focus on what you remember my eyes looking like. Don't look, remember." She began to move around her.
She breathed in and out a few times before deeply inhaling and closing her eyes. She thought quietly to herself while trying to picture the world around her.
Taking a deep breath, the former Huntress stepped in. She brought her fist back and sent it forward with a sharp cry as a dragon encased her arm.
Flashing her teeth, Kagami snapped her head up and sent a punch back in retaliation. Their knuckles both collided with a shockwave but while Midori held her ground, her daughter stumbled back.
The younger jadette gasped a little and shook her arm around. "Ow!" She winced and closed her tea green eyes. With a frustrated and low groan, she bared her teeth and lunged forward again to strike.
Calmly, Midori blocked her normal punch with her dragon empowered hands. "Perhaps we should try again tomorrow." She lowered her arms while letting the blue dragons fade and her eyes return to normal.
"That's what you said all the other times before." She groaned and stepped back. "Why is this so hard to learn?"
"Because it's the final mastery of our gift besides using two semblance at a time which I still don't know enough about." Her mother stepped over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Being able to use any semblance at will is not something that should come easily to anyone. It would be a dangerous ability for someone without care and compassion to have."
"I know." Kagami took a deep breath before slouching. "It's just frustrating. I know I can do better. I know I can."
"We can always be better." Midori corrected her. "There is always room to grow stronger even if we feel like we're the best in the world."
She faintly smiled back and nodded. It sounded a lot like something Baren would say. Sometimes she could really tell her mother had trained under her. It had grown a lot more obvious in the past few months too. Feeling her stomach grumble, she rolled her shoulders back. "When's Aero supposed to come back from the store? I'm starving."
"Do you think she'll ever do it?" Gurin looked up at Baren. "Do you think she'll ever be able to copy a semblance without looking someone in the eyes?"
Looking over, the old warrior hid a smile as she stared at Kagami. She nodded slowly before looking back at the little girl. "There is no doubt in my mind that she will be given time."