I lied.

Chapter 19: A Lap To Lay On

Early in the morning, Gin was once again residing in the forest near the academy. But unlike usual, he wasn't practising his swordsmanship and was instead meditating in a seiza on the grass floor. However, to say he was at peace would be an incredibly wrong statement despite his calm expression.

Gin wanted to forget the words of his aunt from last night. Discarding it as the oxygen-esque need to lecture the young that all adults seem to have. But they clung to him like mud. Even his sleep was disturbed by them regardless of whether he listened to his audiobooks or not. In the end, he just decided to start his early morning exercise even earlier than usual. Though by that point, it might as well just be called a late-night exercise.

And yet, even that wasn't enough to make him feel better. So, he ventured into the Emerald Forest to slay some Grimm, which ultimately backfired because killing only a couple of them was enough to exhaust him and it reminded him that anyone from Team Juniper or Team Ruby would've fared much better.

Why? Why did that piss him off so much when it was nothing new?

Gin knew that he was strong but he wasn't an exceptional Swordsman. Even after Gin and his parents left his clan… left the clan, he was constantly reminded of that fact by his own best friend. Not that he held anything against Jaune. If he did, it would be because of the blond's ugly mug more than anything.

He smiled for only a second before it disappeared from his lips, which then parted for a sigh. It seems that not even slandering Jaune could lift his mood.

Regardless, he had already come to terms with his mediocre talent for the sword. But so what? He was still a competent Swordsman. And with his Semblance, he was a force to be reckoned with. The kind that could single-handedly turn the tide of a battlefield.

Was it an unfair power that didn't relate to his capability and couldn't be considered true strength? No, of course not. Only the weak would think that. After all, a Semblance was a manifestation of the soul. A powerful Semblance was the characteristic of a strong soul. Denoting that a person was strong. Yes. It was so simple that even a child could understand it.

You are more than just your Semblance, dear nephew.

.

.

.

Am I really…?

"Boo!" A voice suddenly resounded next to him.

Gin immediately rolled away while grabbing his weapon. In a seated position, he partially drew his sword in a defensive stance until he paused upon realising who it was. "Velvet?"

The perpetrator in question stood there with a mischievous grin, "Wow, I can't believe that that actually worked."

"... Neither can I," Gin sighed before slumping into a cross-legged seat.

"Yeah, I thought it was impossible to sneak up on you and Fox," Velvet gleefully skipped over to where he sat. "What got you so distracted that you didn't sense me?"

"I'm just tired, I guess," As if to emphasise his words, an involuntary yawn escaped his lips into his fist. "I didn't sleep at all last night."

Velvet hummed, looking like she was planning something.

"Hey Gin," She began softly before her words gained more confidence. "Maybe you should get some sleep. It's still early so we have time." Velvet sat behind Gin in a seiza and patted her lap. "Here I'll help. Lay your head down here."

Gin turned to her with surprise. "... You're pretty bold this morning, huh?"

"Do you want it or not?" Velvet sounded a little embarrassed.

"Of course, I do," Gin quickly laid his head on her before she changed her mind. He was almost immediately drowned in a wave of exhaustion. "Whoa, this is better than I could've ever imagined." Once again, he found himself thanking Fox who chose not to join them in the morning for the Aura training that Gin promised. He was awake at this time too but he was content with a different time for the training. What an absolute bro.

"I'm glad you like it," said Velvet with a slight blush. "So hey, why didn't you get any sleep last night?"

"I saw a ghost and got scared."

Velvet gave him an unimpressed frown, "Be serious."

"She was really tall and ugly. Also, she smelled bad."

"I'll get up if you don't tell me."

"You know, that was meant to be a subtle hint…" Gin felt her rising from her seat. "Alright alright! Fine, I'll tell you. Damn, you are REALLY bold this morning."

"I just want to help you, ya knob." Velvet pouted.

"You could do that more easily by going on a date with me."

Velvet blushed at that. She had no idea how he could say things like that so casually and with a completely straight face. "You have detention with Miss Goodwitch remember? And it's suicide to skip one of her detentions."

"Yeah, but you're worth it."

With her face bright red, Velvet angrily pulled on his cheeks. "Stop trying to change the subject! Final warning."

Gin sighed even as his cheeks were still being stretched.

"... Hey Velvet," He began slowly and Velvet finally released his cheeks because she felt the shift in his tone to something more serious. "What would you do if you… wanted to be something but didn't have the necessary ability to be that thing?"

Velvet paused. That wasn't quite what she wanted to hear but she realised by now that she was trying to squeeze water from a stone so she would have to make due. Plus, she could tell that this question was much more than a simple curiosity for Gin so she deliberated on her answer for quite a while. Gin was getting uncomfortable at that point but before he could change the topic again, Velvet finally gave her answer.

"I would probably… most likely, I would give up," She revealed.

"... I see," Gin muttered.

"Yeah, sorry," Velvet gave a wry smile. "I know the right thing to say would be to never give up but… honestly, I'm all too familiar with that scenario. I'm not the kind of admirable person who can persevere through everything. Or most things really. I didn't even want to be a Huntress at first because I thought it would be too scary and hard."

"Oh? Were you forced into it?" Gin asked with a frown.

"Not really. My mom is a Huntress so there were some expectations for me to follow in her footsteps. Especially with how I resemble her so much. In fact, my dad's human and she's faunus so I got my ears from her. I basically look like her clone."

"Oh hey, I'm basically a male clone of my mother too." Gin grinned, "It's why I have such a pretty face. I was blessed with her beauty."

Velvet giggled into her hand. "She must be one hell of a looker."

Gin nodded with a grunt. He looked quite proud at the praise of his mom.

"Anyway, so yeah, my mom wanted to be a huntress too but she didn't push for it when I refused. I wanted to be a lot of other things instead. A singer or musician, a teacher, a photographer and a lot of other things." Velvet blushed a little from shame, "I was really fickle as a kid. But I gave up on all of them in the end. I only really decided on being a Huntress when I was fourteen."

"Seriously?" Gin was quite surprised by that. He also noted that it sounded similar to Jaune's situation when they first met.

"Yup. Usually, the latest for kids to start Huntsmen training is twelve. So you can understand why my parents were really against it, especially with how fickle they knew me to be." Velvet paused for a few seconds with a far-off look, "... But I was determined that time. Or rather, I was just so tired of being weak and pathetic. I wanted to change and be more like mom, confident and strong." she grimaced, "I don't think I've managed to do that even now, unfortunately."

"Why would you think that?" Gin asked with furrowed brows. "You must have succeeded because I've never once thought you were pathetic or weak. And I'm not exaggerating that even a little bit."

The faunus seemed surprised by his praise with how earnest he sounded. Then she huffed and a bright smile adorned her face as she looked down into Gin's alluring red eyes. She didn't know if he was using Aura to see her expression so she tried to convey her gratitude and sincerity with the simple words, "Thank you, Gin."

The blind boy felt a shiver coursing through his body and he gulped. "Y-You're welcome," he said with a dumb smile before he cursed himself for stuttering. He tried to play it off as a cough and continued talking to distract her from it, "Well, it's only natural. After all, I've had first-hand experience with your strength."

Indeed, their first spar was something that Gin would never forget. Velvet suddenly whipped out a tangible hologram of Steel Seer and mimicked his fighting style with her Semblance called Photographic Memory. It probably would've been a perfect copy if they had the same physique.

It was weirdly validating to lose against it because he personally felt how strong the style is. He wasn't particularly bitter about having his hard work copied so easily because it was with a Semblance. Not like he had any right to complain about unfair Semblances. He supposed that he should at least be mad that someone used his fighting style better than him but that was to be expected from a senior like Velvet. Besides, she was too cute to be upset with.

Velvet giggled, "Yeah, that spar was really fun. We should do it again sometimes."

"Only if you're prepared to lose," said Gin with a challenging grin.

Velvet returned it with her own grin, "Maybe if I give you a handicap." They stared at each other with narrowed eyes before they fell into laughter.

"Right so back to what I was saying," Velvet continued. "I managed to convince my parents and got enrolled at a combat school older than my classmates. The first few years were really miserable and I… wanted to quit honestly. But I didn't want to disappoint my parents and prove them right so I kept with it. Now, I'm glad that I chose to be a Huntress in the end. Because thanks to that, I got to meet my team and they're the best thing that ever happened to me. I wouldn't trade them for the world."

"See, that's further proof that you aren't pathetic or weak," said Gin. "Despite starting much later than everyone else, you didn't quit and became strong enough to get into Beacon Academy. That's an incredible feat."

"Thanks," Velvet scratched her cheek with a shy smile. "I guess I kinda turned out to have a knack for it."

. . .

Gin hummed, "Yeah, You're more talented than I could ever be…"

Velvet noticed the slight shift in his tone.

"… Does that have something to do with why you couldn't sleep?" she asked.

Gin frowned. He was too obvious this morning for some reason. Before he could change the topic once again and conceal his weakness, Gin realised how shameful that would be.

Because that was like spitting in Velvet's face. She, who revealed her past and bared her vulnerabilities to him for the sake of helping him with his problems. It was only fair for him to return the gesture. Otherwise, he would be no better than a coward.

So, with some hesitation, he told her. Beginning with his clan briefly to explain why the sword mattered to him so much before arriving to the previous night where he met his aunt. The strongest person he knew who crushed his spirit. He had to leave out some details like his Semblance out of necessity but they didn't really matter to his story.

Velvet looked sympathetic to his plight, "I'm sure your aunt wasn't trying to be malicious."

Gin sighed, "Yeah, I know. I just can't help being pissed about it."

Velvet smiled, "But not at her, yeah?"

Gin vaguely hummed with a somewhat petulant expression.

Velvet couldn't help but giggle at how cute that looked. "So, are you going to continue being a Swordsman?" she asked.

"Well, I want to," said Gin.

"Because you want to be acknowledged by your clan?"

"Hell no," Gin quickly denied. "I couldn't care less about what they… think." He was surprised by how hollow those words sounded even to his own ears.

Fucking hell, was Velvet actually right? Did he seriously have a desire for their acknowledgement? He wanted to deny it, but if he truly didn't care about them then he wouldn't have tried becoming a Huntsman to spite them. Of course, that was just one of several reasons for his choice, but the fact that it was even one of them was proof that he cared.

Maybe that extended to his Swordsmanship too and why he so stubbornly wanted to be a Swordsman first and foremost. Yes. If he wanted to truly be rid of the clan and its influences, then perhaps he should start by renouncing the sword.

. . .

"Say," Velvet began hesitantly. It seemed his reaction and sudden silence made her worried, "your aunt said that you should try something different, right? As in, trying to be a Huntsman first and a Swordsman second. Who knows, maybe you'll find that you're better at it and enjoy it more. Kind of like I did."

It seems that even Velvet didn't think he was a good Swordsman. Gin gave a sardonic chuckle, "You think so? I'm not even that good at slaying Grimm and I doubt a different weapon would make much of a difference."

"You'd be surprised," Velvet smirked. "But I'm not saying you should change your weapon and fighting style. More like, you should expand your options and evolve your fighting style. Besides, you should also consider the mental aspect of it too. I'm not positive but I think that the mindset of Swordsmen and Huntsmen are a little different."

"Huh… I think I kind of understand what you mean," said Gin.

Velvet nodded, "Yeah. After all, you don't need honour or respect when killing Grimm. Forget people, they're not even like animals. They're just pure evil so there's nothing morally grey about hunting them. You could even torture them or commit war crimes on them and it'd be perfectly fine."

"What?"

"What?"

Velvet looked and sounded so innocent while asking that, like she genuinely didn't think she said anything wrong. Sweating a little, Gin pursed in his lips and decided to move on.

"Nevermind, you can continue," he said.

"Right. So my point is that you can play dirty when fighting Grimm. For example, throwing dirt in their eyes or other methods for blinding them. Sneak attacks are good too. Well, not the kind where you hide and sneak up on them because I don't think that's even possible since Grimm can sense us. Wait, you don't have an Aura technique to hide yourself from Grimm, do you?"

"Of course not. You can suppress your Aura to make it harder for other Aura users to sense you but you can't outright hide it and that's what it would take to hide from a Grimm," said Gin. "Though, that's exactly what Ren from Jaune's team can do with his Semblance. He's invisible even to me when he does that unless I sense him with my Realm."

Velvet hummed, "Maybe you can create a new technique that does exactly that. You're really good with Aura control, aren't you?"

"That's…" Gin paused. He was going to say that it wasn't possible to make new techniques until he remembered the previous night. He probably shouldn't have forgotten the Aura Technique that his aunt revealed because of how notable it actually was. Unfortunately, it had been overshadowed by everything else Kyouka had said.

But now that Gin was thinking about it, maybe he should contemplate those words more carefully. He was already considering her advice to renounce his sword after all, so ruminating on the more positive parts of her dressing-down would do him good.

"Hey, now that you mention it, I just remembered that my aunt said something similar," said Gin. "I had always thought that there were only three Advanced Aura Techniques, the Aura Arc, Ripple, and Realm. Everything else were just minor techniques. Simple manipulation of Aura that didn't require much training. But last night, my aunt showed me a new advanced-level technique that she created by herself. Then she told me that I could do the same since I… had talent with Aura."

"Yeah, exactly!" Velvet nodded enthusiastically. "Two different people were thinking that so it must be true. You should definitely try investing in Aura control, more than you already have anyway and try creating new techniques. This may just be the thing that you're looking for!"

Gin was a bit taken aback by how excited Velvet was for him. An honest smile grew on his face, "Thanks, Velvet. I'm really grateful."

Velvet smiled back, "Yeah, of course. I'm always happy to help. I can lend a shoulder anytime. Or a lap."

Gin gave a hearty laugh at that.

"Right so, if I want to start inventing new techniques, I should first try to replicate my aunt's technique. I might be able to perform a rough version of it after several tries but it'll be enough for you to understand how it works," He began pushing himself up from her lap. "It's a pretty clever–"

"Whoa whoa," Velvet interrupted him and pushed him back down. "You don't have to do that right now. You're still tired remember?"

"Well, a little but I'm feeling better than before," said Gin.

"Yeah no. Not good enough," she firmly shut him down. "No more exercising for this morning. Especially not after you didn't sleep last night. In fact, it's still early so you should try to get some sleep now."

Gin wanted to protest. A single night without sleep wasn't that bad and he felt that he would be more tired later if he slept now. However, it would require a will of pure steel for a man to refuse an offer like this. And the boy did not possess such a quality as he was already closing his eyes.

"Alright, I'll accept your offer then," Gin's voice sounded more groggy than before. "Thank you again, Velvet."

"No problem. Now, go to sleep," Velvet smiled even though she was starting to regret her decision to stop Gin from getting up. She wasn't used to sitting like this and her legs were going numb. No doubt that they would feel like murder when she tries to stand up. Damn, the cartoons had made it look so easy. Maybe she could convince Gin to let her take a break for a minute. But then she saw Gin's face and that idea, along with all her regrets, vanished.

It was a beautiful sleeping expression filled with peace and comfort. Like when a cat trusted you enough to fall into a deep slumber. At first, you would worry if it had passed away but when you realise that it was just sleeping, you would feel a joy like no other. For such a proud beast to let its guard down around you to that extent was a truly special moment.

Velvet couldn't pull her eyes away from him.

You know what, she was a Huntress-in-training. She could handle a little discomfort. It was worth it. Especially if it meant she could gaze at the angelic sight beneath her for a long while. After several seconds of staring, she managed to rip her eyes away from him for at least a moment to check the area for any witnesses.

Then she pulled out her scroll and started taking quiet pictures of Gin with a creepy smile.

"So cute and defenceless. Hehehehe."

End of Chapter

I know that this is a shorter chapter than usual but I wanted to change the formula of these chapters. Also, I felt bad taking so long to update. Again. Ugh.

By the way, there's something I need to confess about the romance subplot here. I don't really find Velvet interesting and I originally didn't plan on incorporating romance in this story. I did it for the drama it would bring to his team and that's mostly been done with. I also thought it would be a neat way for Gin to meet Fox. Fun fact about him, I never knew he was blind before I did research for this fic. I noticed his blank eyes in the show but I just thought it was an animation error.

Anyway, I'm a bit worried about the romance subplot. I have an end goal for it but I'm not confident that I'll handle it well. We'll just have to see how it goes so let's hope it's good.