Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
May 15 2xxx - Izumi Pov.
"Everyone has their outfits, right?" Aizawa asked, looking at us. "Obviously, wearing them in public without supervision is prohibited. And don't lose them either." He said boredly.
Finally, the day of the internship had arrived and the entire class was at the train station with our suitcases.
"Was it necessary for you to co, Ruby? Didn't you say Sumr was coming to pick you up?" I asked calmly while we waited for our respective rides. Ruby smiled.
"It is. She'll co to the station to pick up, and then we'll go sowhere else. She has sothing last minute to look into, but she didn't tell where." Ruby said with a shrug, I humd softly.
"Izumi, that's ours." Azula said simply, and I imdiately approached her.
"Okay, good luck with your internships, both of you." I smiled at Taylor and Ruby, and the pair smiled.
"Likewise." They said at the sa ti. I let myself be dragged by Azula, following along with half of our classmates. Now we had a short journey to get to Tokyo.
The journey to Tokyo was uneventful, we just chatted lightly during our drive.
"I guess this is where we get off." Azula hissed, impressed, as she looked at the tall building in front of us. There was a huge Draw Sword Guild symbol on it, clearly indicating who it belonged to. "And this is where we part ways," Azula said simply.
"Thanks for the ride." I smiled gratefully.
"Don't worry, just try not to get lost until you find a guide," Azula said dryly with an amused smile. I rolled my eyes. Of course, now all the jokes will be about my inability to find my way.
"I'll try not to," I said just as dryly before walking over and kissing Azula softly. "Once again, thanks for bringing , and good luck with your internship. See you in a week," I said with a smile.
"Sa here." Azula replied with a smile of her own before turning around and raising her hand to hail a taxi. I guess we're a bit far from the Endeavor agency. I took a deep breath. I arranged the briefcase with my costu in my hand, along with the backpack with my clothes and swords on my back, and started walking in the direction of the building.
No one stopped from entering, so once I was in the reception room, I approached one of the operators who was behind a long desk.
"Hi, I'm Izumi Miyamura from UA. I'm here for the internship." I said with a smile. The woman behind the desk's eyes widened slightly.
"Ah, Mr. Miyamura, I was told to expect you. We've got everything ready for your week-long stay. If you'd be so kind as to take out your scroll, please." The woman said with a gentle smile. I did as she asked, and she carefully took it and placed it on a device. It took her a few seconds before handing it back to . "Very well, Mr. Miyamura. Your scroll is now registered in the building's system and will serve as a credential to enter so of the restricted rooms and your designated room."
"We'll send you a ssage with everything you need to know to continue your stay for the rest of the week. Tis and locations where you can enter without supervision. Necessary information and a map of the building. And a few other things."
How efficient.
"And lastly, you will be assigned an S-rank Hunter as your teacher for the week that your internship lasts. She will be in charge of all your training and your team. You must follow her and her orders, and speaking of her, she's coming from right over there-" The receptionist pointed to the side with her finger, and my eyes widened slightly. "-Miss Kanae Tawata will be your ntor."
Well, this got interesting. I couldn't help but smile widely.
------------
Taylor Pov.
I distractedly watched Izumi's back as he walked away. Next to , Ruby let out an amused snort. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"He doesn't realize what he's doing." Ruby pointed at Izumi. I looked at him and let out an amused smile as I watched Izumi walk. He was practically unaware of how he walked, but the others noticed it imdiately.
He normally wore his hair long and loose, along with his glasses to hide part of his face, but his walk was equally striking. His chin was always up and forward, never looking down unless absolutely necessary.
A normal person always looks sideways toward any kind of audiovisual stimulus that catches their attention, or if they're looking for sothing, people also look around, either searching for sothing or unconsciously. Like an escape route in an ergency.
But Izumi doesn't. He doesn't look around; he doesn't look anywhere but at his target, When he enters a room, he doesn't look for exits; he doesn't have to look for his target; he enters with his gaze fixed on his destination. Nothing makes him look away; it seed like pride or arrogance to not be aware of things around him, but the most terrifying thing is that Izumi always knows what's going on around him even without looking, so that arrogance was well-deserved.
It was a little scary when you realized it, and it was sothing I tried to emulate with my insects, sothing that ca quite easily to , oddly enough.
Then there were his steps. He made absolutely no noise when he walked. The only noise Izumi's body made was the friction of his clothes most of the ti. His footsteps seed soft and delicate, but no, there was an almost crushing weight to each step he took. He seed genuinely sure of where he was walking, as if he couldn't go wrong.
Which was really ironic now that they knew the truth with their DTD.
Every movent he made was completely fluid, almost as if he were dancing, which was very likely the answer. He carried all of his sword styles and used them almost unconsciously as he walked. All of his muscles seed relaxed, as if there were absolutely no problems around him, as if he were completely sure that nothing around him could hurt him.
And it might have been so, despite Izumi's thin and barely muscular body, his muscles were full of power and were noticeable in every movent, Izumi could go from a state of total rest to impressive explosive strength and speed in an instant.
And he could do all of this unconsciously, even when he was walking.
"He's sexy," I told Ruby honestly with a stupid smile on my face. Ruby giggled.
"Yes, he is." Ruby gave a knowing smile. I chuckled.
"Well, that's my ride Ruby. See you in a week." I said simply as I watched my train approach.
"Aaww, so soon?" Ruby complained. I smiled sadly at her.
"Unfortunately, yes. I'm sure Sumr will be here soon, and you'll forget about us." I said encouragingly, Ruby snorted.
"You don't need to comfort , silly." Ruby laughed playfully. "But I appreciate it. Now go. You have to go back to your suspicious store." I sighed tiredly.
"Izumi better make so sense of this once he gets here," I said tiredly as I started to walk away. I could hear Ruby's laughter behind .
"You can always ask for compensation from him." Ruby said with a lascivious smile. My eyes sparkled slightly, and a smile grew on my face.
"You know Ruby, I'll keep that in mind," I said honestly as I gave her a final nod. Ruby waved as I left.
I sighed once I was inside the train with my suitcases. I saw a couple of classmates boarding the sa train as mine, but I simply took a seat completely alone.
The train ride was much shorter than I thought, so once I got off, I set the GPS on my scroll to guide to where I was supposed to go.
I stood in front of the shop, almost wanting to believe it was a cursed joke from Izumi. The shop looked like a traditional Japanese shop/house, sothing I'd grown accustod to seeing during my ti in Japan. If I rembered correctly, they were called machiya. At the top, there was a piece of almost threadbare fabric that said Dragon Head Shop.
I took a deep breath and walked into the store without knocking. My eyes widened slightly. Despite the exterior looking almost abandoned, the interior was completely different. For starters, it was much larger than I expected and much better maintained than it looked; everything seed almost new. But most importantly, I didn't think it would be a gun shop for hunters.
But there was sothing truly eye-catching in the center of the room: the skull of what looked like a dragon. It seed almost as tall as and had six twisting horns and a horn on its nose. Honestly, it was an impressive sight, but I highly doubted it was a real dragon skull. Still, it was a nice addition to the store.
"What do you want?" The abrupt question made turn around imdiately. I hadn't heard the person behind approach.
He was an old man. Old, was the first thing that ca to mind. He was really old. At least 80 years old. But even so, the old man's posture was completely firm and steady, without the slightest tremor or anything that betrayed his age.
He had white hair due to age, and a scar across his left eye, which ran right through his eye, but oddly enough, it was completely healthy. Was he wearing a samurai kimono? It was White with intricate designs, frayed at the bottom and sleeves, and slightly open at the front with a navy blue obi holding it in place. He also had a blue scarf that completely covered his neck. And to my surprise, he had wooden geta, sothing I hadn't noticed because he didn't make a sound when he moved.
"I'm here for the internship," I said, clearing my throat. The old man stared at .
"So it's you," he said simply before shrugging and throwing a piece of old cloth at . I instinctively grabbed it before it hit . "Start cleaning up everything dusty," he said simply. The old man walked over to a wall, sank down onto the floor, leaned lazily against it, and closed his eyes.
I blinked a few tis, not understanding what was really going on. Izumi… did he really make co waste my ti with an old man?
"Is this a joke?" I asked slowly. The old man opened one eye to look at .
"Do I seem to be joking, girl? Clean up everything around you, it needs to look presentable," the old man said before closing his eyes again. I pressed my lips together tightly.
Could I go back to UA and change my application? Maybe go to the Draw Sword Guild. I could also interrogate Izumi about why the hell she sent here.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I have to go," I said simply and turned to leave the store. I heard the old man sigh.
"You only lasted three minutes in the store? I expected better from you if Izumi had chosen you." The old man's words left frozen in place, I turned to stare at him. The old man sighed as he stood up. "Now let's see... what would that idiot Hawk-Eyes do? Oh yeah, try this." The old man walked over to one of the shelves and grabbed sothing from it.
A small dagger, it was almost an insult to call it a dagger; it was a small knife. he gripped it between his fingers and pointed it in my direction.
"Since you're so eager for your training, try not to die." The familiar words made shudder, and I imdiately placed a hand on the bag where Shusui was kept. I stared at the old man when-
DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!
My body imdiately moved, almost automatically. I snatched the bag from where Shusui was and imdiately unsheathed it. The old man hadn't moved; I had simply reacted to his killing intent. My bugs were going crazy trying to suppress my emotions.
"Slow." The word had co from behind . I'd barely blinked before the old man disappeared from my sight. I moved quickly and brandished Shusui behind my back. "Predictable." Now the voice ca from the side. I turned once more only to see the small knife coming towards my neck, practically inches away by the ti I realized it.
I imdiately reinforced my neck with Armor and Aura Haki. My eyes widened as my aura was pierced as if it didn't exist, and my Haki gave way at the slightest push from the old man. I felt my panic rise as a stabbing pain shot out of my neck. I was bleeding.
"Weak," the old man said once more as he walked away. I gritted my teeth and brought a hand up to the wound. It wasn't deep, it wasn't lethal, it didn't touch any veins, it practically just grazed superficially. Still, I couldn't help but feel waves of panic. Who the hell was that old man? I could feel my heart pounding.
"Who are you?" I asked through gritted teeth. The old man moved once more. I kept my guard up.
"Good sword. I suppose Izumi gave it to you." The old man said as he looked at the sword in his hand. My eyes widened when he took Shusui away from ! I looked down at my hands, and I had the small knife between my fingers. "Are you the one who maintains this sword now? Good work, at least you can do that well," the old man said dryly.
"Give back Shusui," I growled softly. Insects began to enter through all the gaps in the tent. The old man didn't even flinch; he simply continued staring at the sword.
"Ah, old friend, you no longer recognize as your companion? So you chose her? That's good, I'm happy for you." What the hell was the old man talking about? Or to whom? There was no ti to try to decipher it; I just needed to grab Shusui and get out of this shop. There was no need to look around; my insects had found a katana I could temporarily use. "Grab it." My eyes widened as the old man casually tossed Shusui to .
I quickly grabbed my sword. A feeling of relief and comfort washed over once Shusui was between my fingers. I had never truly believed that whole idea of a weapon being an extension of oneself, but now more than ever I could feel it. Without Shusui, I no longer felt complete.
Losing her, even montarily, was horrible. It was different from when Izumi borrowed her. I trusted Izumi with my life. I knew Shisui would co back, so it wasn't a worry. But this old man, he took Shusui from without realizing it. He was stronger than , and he was ard. He could have practically taken Shusui from forever if he wanted to, and that was horrible.
"Take better care of your sword. Next ti soone takes your weapon, I hope your arm is still attached to it, even if that arm isn't attached to your body." The old man said tersely before walking over to the wall he'd been leaning against earlier, only to slump to the ground once more and lie down again. "Now, clean up the shop already. We'll have custors later," the old man said again.
I stopped stiffly. What the hell was going on? Who the hell is he?!
"Who are you? How do you know Izumi, and what is your relationship with him?" I asked quickly. I put Shusui back in his sheath but kept it in my hand, my insects are still all over the tent.
"? That doesn't matter. You can call whatever you want—old man, Geezer, idiot—if you wish. And my relationship with Izumi, you an?" The old man opened an eye with an amused smile. "Didn't he tell you? Izumi is my grandson." My eyes widened.
My bugs panicked again in surprise.
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