Sora shook Yukio softly, waking the still groggy boy up. Damn, chakra depletion was seriously bad huh?
"Hm? Big bro? Where are we?" Yukio yawned as he got up, stretching his arms wide before looking around. "Wait what? This is my house…"
Sora stood up, following Yuu over to the dining table, leaving Yukio behind. Making the younger boy struggle to his feet, his body still a little weak from the chakra depletion.
Yukio's mother had placed down multiple bowls of what looked like Braised Gizzard Stew, the smell was honestly delightful and made Sora's mouth start to water. It also seemed to make Yukio fully wake up.
As Sora sat down, the woman stared at him, looking him up and down. Focusing more on his hair and eyes, probably due to his hair being similar to Yukio's and his eyes also being different from anyone else's.
"What is your name, kid?" She asked, her tone and way of speaking a lot different than he had expected.
Sora fumbled for his words, more focused on the food than any questions, but he didn't want to be rude. "My name is Sora Hino, I am 13 years old." He said in the most polite way he could muster.
The woman chuckled and replied. "Great, you can call me Aki." She didn't ask Sora any other questions and just started devouring the food she had made.
Sora gave her an incredulous look, she ate and spoke just like Fuko. He sighed and looked down at his dish and then at Yukio. This kid genuinely looked drunk, Sora didn't think that he had even fully realised that Sora was in his house eating with his family right now.
…
…
On the other side of the village, Fuko was sitting at the top of a building with her head resting on her hand.
"Hmm… I wonder what Sora has been up to these past few days, I haven't seen much of him." She sighed and stood up, stretching.
"Girl, don't you want to be strong? If you take my advice and seek outside assistance then you can become strong." The voice ripped through her brain, making her flinch.
She rolled her eyes. "Gosh, if I knew that would've made you able to communicate with me, I never ever would've done it." She scoffed and leaped off the rooftop, using chakra to land softly on the ground.
Strolling around the village, watching the children run around and ignoring the voice in her head, she looked around curiously for Sora.
She went to his little training ground, not there. She searched the alleys, not there. The stores he usually went to, not there? "Where the hell is the kid?" She looked around a bit more, stopping at their house to make sure he hadn't gone home yet.
Checking his room and noting that he wasn't there, she then left their house and hummed thoughtfully. "I'll do one more lap." She said as she started walking through the village once more, looking for Sora.
She walked past the ramen store, the place that Sora was talking to that white haired boy, the place where Sora had gotten in trouble and then she approached the place where Sora had gotten into his first ever fight. She chuckled at the memory, she had watched it happen without interfering.
Sora was around 6 years old, she was 14. He has always been neglected by their parents and never had any friends. To be honest, he could've easily made a few friends if he tried. But Fuko knew his personality was quite… intense.
The first time Sora had the chance to make a friend, he had flat out told the kid that he wasn't special enough to even look at him. Making the kid cry, but Sora didn't seem to care at all. Every time someone would reach out and try to be his friend, Sora always took it as an insult or a threat. He had been ostracised from the very beginning, if someone suddenly expresses interest in him… of course he isn't going to take it positively.
Ever since Sora was a baby, Fuko had doted on him. Since everyone else didn't approve of him, she had to love him extra. Even if he would always push her away. She kept getting involved in his life, making sure that he was always okay.
She didn't know what was wrong with Sora, but he just didn't care about anything. What others would say to him, he never took any of it to heart and always believed he was correct. So even if others call him names, why would he react if they don't mean anything to him?
It's like calling someone named Sora something like Ren. Why would he respond? That's not his name. And so, even if people would call him a heretic… he never did anything heretical, so why would he respond?
Fuko knew Sora very well, probably better than he knew himself. She knew that despite all of that, he still fights. Not because he is offended by what they say, but because they dare attempt to insult him.
She had absolutely noticed his… superiority complex. Obviously.
She had observed him from a distance all of his life, making sure that he was never in any real trouble. But these days she hadn't been keeping too close of an eye on him, he had shown time and time again that he is more than capable of protecting himself.
And that's where his first ever fight comes in. The child he had called uninteresting had returned with 3 of his friends, attempting to throw insults at Sora.
They called him things like "weirdo!" and "creepy eyes!", very poor insults. But nonetheless, it got Sora's attention.
She remembered how his eyes changed, they went from being uninterested and bored to pure rage. As a matter of fact, she could even feel his killing intent.
From what she could remember, this was the day he had decided that he was the mortal vessel of God. I mean, this was the first time he had said it aloud.
She remembered him saying something like. "You dare insult the mortal vessel of God?" Before he charged in at them.
His technique was extremely flawed and ineffective, he barely managed to harm any of them. But strangely enough, none of the children could even touch him.
He could see it all, their movements. Not to mention how hard he was to lock onto due to his elusiveness.
The fight lasted a solid 5 minutes before the children ran out of steam. Fuko remembered Sora's expression as he stood there, his little face all dirty from the dust. His little outfit that she had put on him all roughed up. But most importantly, the smile on his face.
Snapping back to the present, she noticed someone who looked an awful lot like Sora in the distance leaving a medium sized building near the center of the village. She squinted, making sure that it was in fact, Sora.
And it was!
She quickly jogged over, noticing Sora's messy face and demeanor. It was as if he had eaten a horse, he visibly looked full. This was definitely a new sight to Fuko, she knew Sora never usually ate much.
"What the hell happened to you? And who's house is that?" She asked curiously, taking a quick peek into one of the windows, but not seeing anything.
Sora burped and waved her off. "Gosh, I just had food at my… uh… friend's house. We were training and he overdid it, so I took him home, they offered me food and I accepted their offer." He struggled to call Yukio a friend, but he didn't really know what else to call him.
Fuko's eyes shot wide open. "A friend?" She asked incredulously.
"Did you need to be so surprised that I have a friend…?" Sora looked at her dejectedly, but he didn't blame her. He himself never really saw the benefit of having a friend and wasn't ever interested in looking for one.
Fuko scratched her chin awkwardly. "Sorry, Sora. It's just I never imagined you'd actually want to make a friend." She chuckled, happy to be talking to Sora after not seeing him for a few days.
Sora put his hands in his pockets and started walking, not wanting to just stand outside of Yukio's house. "I mean, I wasn't looking for a friend. It just kind of happened and I wouldn't even call us friends. We just kind of… know each other and train together." He said, looking at Fuko from the side.
His sister looked at him incredulously and sighed. "That's pretty much a friend. Anyway, what have you been up to these past few days?" She asked.
Sora was about to reply but he looked off into an alleyway, where a dog was growling at a cat. He just stared at the scene, Fuko doing the same.
Before either of them could intervene, the cat leaped at the dog and scratched at its face. Sora and Fuko looked at each other as the dog ran out of the alleyway while whimpering and hollering.
Sora chuckled. "Don't pick a fight if you can't win it, I suppose."
Fuko looked at him, his expression was a lot more human than before. And so, she burst out laughing.
Sora looked at her, then at the cat in the alley. And then he also started laughing.
After a moment passed and Sora had gotten tired of laughing, he shot Fuko in the foot.
With a very small blast, of course. But it still made Fuko yelp and then smack Sora over the head.
"What the hell? That was way more than I did." He said while rubbing the back of his head.
She scoffed. "Don't pick a fight if you can't win it, I suppose. Now answer my question!" She continued walking, not waiting for Sora to catch up.
Sora grit his teeth and walked back over. "I have just been training a bit, you know… I don't want to spend my entire life cooped up in this small, boring village with all these fanatics. Just preparing for that day." He said, with his hands back in his pockets.
Fuko nodded. "Sure, I can respect that. Is your friend going with you?" She asked.
He stopped walking for a second, lagging behind Fuko. He hadn't thought about that, but realistically. "Probably not, no." He said before he started to walk again.
Fuko just hummed in thought, 'that's a little sad. I hope he does eventually get closer with that friend of his. He could really use a friend.' She sighed.
Sora looked at her. "What are you sighing about? Are you also going to leave the village?" He asked.
"I wish. No one has ever left the village, you know. They'd go crazy if two of us just left one day." She shook her head, but Sora could see the disappointment in her eyes.
He didn't like that, he wanted his big sister to be happy.
And with that, the two found their way home and went to sleep.