Strikes, powerful and firm, were laid into a simple wood training post cushioned by leather padding. One after the other, they flew out without pause, each with perfect form and precisely hitting the same battered spots across the post.
Beside Raven, at a much smaller post she'd set up for me and a similarly smaller wooden katana in my hands, I attempted to replicate her motions. Everything was wrong about it. My swings were slow, katana lacking that same sound as I cut through the air. I barely managed to strike the same places and there was no impact behind the blows. And, while I started out fine, my breaths soon picked up, repeated slashes slowing.
I know I shouldn't be frustrated. I was barely more than a toddler trying to swing around a weapon. A lifetime of memories in a comparatively cushiony world where the closest thing to a fight I'd ever been in was a bit of playground rough housing probably didn't help.
Of course anything I managed was going to be complete ass compared to a professional huntress.
Didn't mean I had to like it though. Best I use the growing frustration as fuel to keep at it.
Soon, Raven wrapped up her routine, stepping behind me.
A sharp sting forced an involuntary yelp out of me, Raven's hand delivering a harsh slap to my back. "Aura up." She ordered.
A dark red tinted my vision for a moment. The show always made it look so effortless, even Jaune, the weakest character at the start of the series, apparently able to use it immediately after having it unlocked. Reality, unfortunately, did not follow that same logic. That or Jaune was some kind of super talent.
Whatever the case, forming a full body aura shield, the most basic form of manipulation according to Raven, was fucking difficult. The warm energy naturally rested at my center, a constant companion now that it'd been unlocked. And it resisted any change from that.
Forcing the energy towards other parts of my body? A bitch of a task that required absolute focus. Keeping it there? Easier but a slip up would see me back at square one. Forcing it to manifest beyond my body? If the first step required absolute focus, that demanded I be some kind of monk who'd become one with the universe.
All in all, more difficult than I had been expecting.
"I didn't say stop." Red flickered across my vision as Raven spoke, her voice drawing my attention. More flickers followed as I raised my katana up. I managed one swing, wood barely sinking into the post's leather cushioning.
"Crap." She said, just as dissatisfied as me with the lack of impact. I raised my belt again, another sharp sting hitting my back. "Aura up."
Just keeping an aura shield active was hard enough. Maintaining that focus while also trying to mimic the strikes she'd been teaching me? Hell, I'd tried to walk around my room with the thing active but couldn't manage more than a step before it slipped out of my control. The method she was using to train me was like throwing a child in the deep end of the pool.
It was still tame compared to what awaited me in the afternoon. A few harsh slaps to my bare back or the one sided beatings she called fights? One was far more painful than the other.
Eventually those slaps did stop, Raven heading inside for breakfast. I could smell Tai's cooking from here. Right about now I should have a full stomach, going along with whatever pastimes he had in mind before he headed off to work, not dealing with all this pain and-
I shook my head, ripping my gaze away from the kitchen's window and tightening the grip on the katana's wooden handle.
I thought the threat of danger would be enough but apparently knowing what kind of shit lurked in this world wasn't enough for my dumbass brain to hunker down and accept what needed doing. Everyday had turned into a battle of will.
Sticking to my choice and dedicating most of the day to whatever training Raven had in mind or the easy carefree life of a child.
I managed another lacking swing, my efforts focused on minimizing the flickering of my aura shield without slowing my slashes.
This was one of those scenarios where the obviously right decision wasn't the easy one. I hated situations like that.
I kept swinging and swinging just as she ordered. I wasn't to stop until she said so or I couldn't move my arms anymore. Shitty training to force a child to endure. I may have asked for it but I sure as hell wasn't going to stop bitching about it.
It was the only thing I could do really. Plus, while it made me more frustrated, said frustration made it easier to keep going. A weird form of catharsis, I guess.
"You should take a break, kid." A gruff voice, one as familiar as my parents', came from behind as I finished another slash. Qrow now sat on the steps of the backdoor's porch.
Dark hair, red eyes, a stubble around his chin. He looked and sounded like the show depicted though that wasn't to say he was exactly what I expected. His small flask sat at his hip like usual and more often than not a whiff of alcohol could be caught from the man near the end of the day, but I don't think I've ever seen him drunk or doing drinking of any kind while the sun was still up.
To be fair, by the time of the show his team had been broken up, sister out in the wilds, Summer dead, and Tai busy with fatherhood. Anyone's vices and coping mechanisms, healthy or not, would be intensified by those sorts of things. The knowledge that came with being one of Ozpin's agents was just icing on that cake of suffering and tragedy.
Oh, and there was his semblance. Hopefully I didn't end up with something like that.
"Your old man finished cooking an hour ago." Qrow said.
An hour ago? Had I really been here bitching to myself and swinging for that long? It didn't feel like it.
"Mom told me to keep going." I said, the conversation alone causing my aura shield to flicker. Huntsmen really ran around, talked, and fought while maintaining this thing?
"Yeah, and she's not exactly what I'd call teacher material. Come on, a little food won't hurt you." My stomach grumbled at the mere mention of food, the aroma wafting from the kitchen's now fully open window difficult to resist.
"I'll just throw it up." I muttered, turning back the posts and refocusing on my training. Easier to resist the temptation to quit if I was already in the middle of torturing myself. While I continued my swings, the the backdoor opened again but I ignored it. Another distraction I really might give in.
"I always figured he was more like you than Tai with how quiet he is, but I didn't think it went this far."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Yeah, well, lets hope he doesn't end up exactly like you or he's going to struggle with anything that isn't fighting."
"Tsk, asshole."
"Love you too, sis."
With that, Raven, who stepped out from the house, abandoned the short exchange with Qrow, the sharp slaps to my back and her constant corrections returning.
XOXO
Once upon a time, Tai kept a twenty-four hour watch over me. All the compensating he had to do for Raven' s lacking parenting skills had called for it. But now that I was older and not so dependent on the constant eye of another, he'd taken a job at Signal to fill his time, leaving Raven to watch over me.
Something he likely regretted with the start of this harsh training.
The best part about Raven being the one eye on me? She often left me to my own devices. Right now, she was off in the shower, having ordered me to stay in the living room, T.V and scroll set up so I could play games.
To be fair to her, it probably doesn't seem like all that bad of an idea. I've always done what they've told me without causing any form of trouble which played a role in enforcing her lax approach to babysitting. Plus, there was that semblance of hers to consider. If she could open portals to people she shared a bond with, did she always have some dim awareness of where they were?
It was tempting to indulge in a bit of gaming. It'd always been the perfect way to relax after a hard day and I'm pretty sure getting beat to hell and back by my own mother leaped right over hard.
Still, I was no longer in the living room. Rather, I'd quietly made my way up to room Tai used as an office and currently stood before the large bookcase kept in one of its corners. Tai kept the thing stocked, every row filled with all sorts of things. Naturally as a teacher of future huntsmen and huntresses, a majority of the material was related to things they'd need.
I tried getting my hands on one of them before, but Tai hadn't been receptive to that idea, opting to buy me more childish stories that glorified the feats of huntsmen and downplayed what Grimm were capable of.
Aura was what I was interested in. Raven believed in firsthand experience over all else, her explanations always lacking, assuming she supplied any, while Tai was pretty busy with work, not able to go fully in depth when I started going to him after I started training. That and he still seemed pretty reluctant about the whole thing.
Now was a good time to make another attempt at reading about the subject myself. Surely no one would stop me.
I craned my head back, struggling to pick out the titles along the spines of the upper layers. Why did everything have to be so high up? Was this how short people felt?
"Which one do you want?" I jolted, hearted drumming against my chest as I turned to my side. Raven stood there, looking upon the books beside me, her hair only partially dried and workout clothes replaced by a casual plain shirt and loose pants. Had she left the shower running just to get the drop on me?
"Something about aura." I said, just rolling with it.
She looked down at me, brow raised. "Why?"
"You suck at explaining things." I said bluntly. All that talk about relying on instinct and learning by doing might work for her, but I had no way of being sure I was getting better or doing anything right. "And I don't want to bother dad while he's working."
A faint exhale left her nose as she reached for the upper shelves, pulling free one of the thicker books. Rather than handing it over she placed it on the desk pressed against the wall beside the bookcase.
"Go bathe and come back for it." She said as she made her way out of the room. She stopped at the doorway, a glance shot back at me, a slight frown in place. "If you don't understand something, come to me."
Strange.
She went years being this cold distant figure that didn't bother with anything more than necessary to paying me plenty of attention. Plenty for her anyways. And all it took was a few days of training to cause the change?
Maybe, and this was a massive maybe, I was being a little too judgmental when it came to her. The show didn't go into detail, probably to maintain some semblance of being youth friendly, but Raven and Qrow were raised among bandits. The murder and pillaging kind of bandits. A lifestyle like that couldn't have been easy.
Maybe the whole cold front had more to do with uncertainty than being a real decision on her part. She had a rough personality through and through, even that offer of help, a first from her, had been accompanied by an expression I wouldn't exactly call friendly or reassuring. In her position it might've been better to just keep distance rather than expose her child to the worst parts of her.
Probably a bit of copium, but it was a little funny to think she might've spent years wondering how to talk or directly deal with me. Funny in a sad way but still funny.
That aside, I didn't just have a book on aura but her permission to read through it. Some reading material used by teacher was bound to be extremely useful alongside all the firsthand experience I was getting.
I followed her out of the room, doing as she said and gathering everything I needed for a shower.
XOXO
A slash. A stab. A sweep for my legs.
I backpedaled and jumped away from Raven, breaths quickly growing ragged as I struggled to stay even half a step ahead of her attacks. She stayed on me no matter where I went around the backyard, not swinging nearly as fast as she did while practicing on the post, but each blow still packing enough power to leave bruises. The one's already forming on my throbbing forearms were a testament to that.
I leaped over a kick meant to sweep my legs from under me only for her katana to slam against mine. Rather than trying any sort of resistance, I followed the momentum, grunting as I rolled backwards onto my feet. Only to find her a step away from me, quick to put me back on the defensive, no chance given for me to catch my breath.
She was better. Faster. Stronger.
Even without all of that factored in, the massive difference in reach ensured that I had no chance of hitting her.
One of her stabs hit home, sinking into my shoulder, a sharp sting forcing me to wince. My flickering aura didn't soften the blow at all. The dull pain that followed loosened my grip on the katana, but I quickly resecured it.
If I dropped my weapon she wouldn't stop.
I asked for this. I asked for this. I asked for this.
The repeated mantra did nothing to ease the burn spreading across my emptied lungs. The numbness of my shaking arms as I struggled to fend off what I couldn't dodge. The sharp pain slowing the rest of my body.
But it kept me going. Fleeing from her harsh blows and trying to assert some control over my still resistant aura.
As I ducked beneath a swipe, Raven prepped a stab. I threw myself out of its path.
I could see them.
She was slowing down and overly telegraphing her movements, maybe subtly giving me a chance to catch my breath, but if I did that I'd just to stay on the defensive.
I tightened my grip on my katana as she stepped forward.
I wouldn't be beating anything by blocking and running. I had to take advantage.
Raven's grip on her katana tightened, the single arm she used to swing it about beginning to inch backwards.
A stab.
I rushed forward, shifting my head as it shot forward, the wood grazing my cheek. Before I could swing, her body swayed slightly, weight shifting as her right leg left the ground. I couldn't stop my charge, too much momentum carrying me forward, so I doubled down. Raven's foot shot forward as I swung.
The force sent me back, my katana failing to even reach her clothes.
I needed to-
My feet suddenly left the ground, Raven crossing the distance between us so quickly that I couldn't even step back, her hand wrapped round my neck and lifting me by it. No amount of struggle loosened her grip, Raven bringing me close.
Very close.
We were face to face, her eyes narrowed.
"Tai." She called out. "Bring me a mirror."
"A mirror?"
"Just do it." She ordered forcefully. Despite being just as confused as me, Tai, who'd taken to watching over these practice sessions on the weekends, headed into the house, leaving me with Raven. "How do you feel?"
I stopped struggling. Something must've been wrong. She wouldn't stop training over any ordinary injury.
"I-"
I felt like shit. The throbs, the aches, the numbness. All of it was fighting to be at the front and center of my attention. But there was something different about all of it. None of it felt worse per se. More detailed maybe? The aches of my shoulder, down to the throbs of my elbow, and the numbness in my fingers. I could feel it all, able to tell where each sensation started and ended, which spots were worse off, and what could handle more punishment.
And Raven. This close I could see the pores on the fair skin of her face. Each fold of her furrowed brow. The slight upward twitches of her lips.
Was she holding back a smile? Her of all people? Why?
"I feel different." I admitted unsure of how to explain it. Why could I suddenly make out such small details?
"And your eyes?"
"Fine, I guess?" It was one of the few places she didn't hit so in comparison to the rest of his body it felt no different than normal. Nothing to really notice even with this strangely sharp perception of mine.
Tai returned, mirror in hand as he joined them.
"What do you want with this?" He voiced both of our thoughts as Raven took it from him, the handheld mirror angled in front of me.
Specifically my eyes.
The deep vibrant red, normally a perfect reflection of Raven's, had deepened in color, more closely matching the blood red blade of her actual katana. That alone wouldn't have been enough for the shock that jolted through me.
In each eye, a single black comma like symbol slowly rotated around my pupils, their synced rotations speeding up as I noticed them.
The Sharingan.
"The boy has unlocked his semblance."