18 Chapter 18 : Overcomer

*A/N*: Ayo yesterday no one joined the server, are y'all scared of ghosty heh? Anyway I post daily pics if you want to see... ya know, that kind of pic. Oh and there's a poll for your favourite girl (it helps me choose for later) and the future hero name.

https://discord.gg/pRaqNADp7C

Anyway thanks for the stones guys! I feel like I'm gettin' stoned more here than with a blunt, so keep it coming! It motivates me a lot!

Oh and a small reminder because I saw a few guys talking about Mc's age, he's 9 as of now... So you can expect some characters from the main cast to be born around now...

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In the outskirts of Hiroshima, in an abandoned factory, 2 kids were busy doing 'things', while on the ground one long trail could be seen.

"Faster!" Shouted Rumi.

*BAM*

And not even a second later she sighed, again… Seeing Kurai standing back from the cushions after the dust settled.

"Fail!"

"Duh, I know…It's more difficult than I thought, even after 5 years of training… I thought that I could do it, but I lack something." Kurai dusted himself off.

This surprised Rumi, "5 years?" She contemplated. 'Like me... I started training at 4 too, well, not the same intensity as him.'

Those last few years they spent together she really understood how strong he was.

Indeed a bit more than 3 years passed since their fight in that alley. 3 long and fruitful years for both of them.

"Come here and rest, we'll resume after!" Rumi patted the box at her side.

She also started recalling how their relationship was at the beginning... It was pretty rough, no, it was better to say that she was the one to make it rough.

She didn't know what changed in him, maybe it was after their first fight, but he seemed to want to befriend her, still she kept her guard up.

He also was quite shameless, from her point of view, because he very rarely called her with honorifics, except for -chan a few times. Which infuriated her more than anything at that time.

The first few weeks were the most hard to deal with for Rumi, a lot of girls actually crushed on Kurai, and seeing him staying with her made her days harder. Surprisingly, it stopped somehow...

But she had to admit that even though he was a pain in the ass, her days and nights were better. They improved a lot more. It changed a lot from being alone, now she had someone to keep her company. That was the reason she actually took it upon herself to respond in kind to his advance.

Her nightmares diminished. That was what pushed her.

"Hah."

A small laugh escaped her mouth when she remembered that time, and how she was then the one pestering Kurai to fight. She slowly took notice of it; how much fun and pleasure she had when she fought against someone stronger. She still couldn't put a word on it, but this 'thrill' was what helped her reduce, albeit just a little bit, her nightmares.

Kurai, head down, resting from his Shunpo related training, glanced up at her.

"Um? What is it?" He asked.

"Nothing, I just remembered something, hihi!"

"Oh…" Kurai shrugged and went back to analysing his previous performance in his mind, but he was quickly interrupted again, by a pull on his sleeve.

An embarrassed rabbit was tugging on it, "Say, can I pat you again?" Even though she was embarrassed, she kept her straightforwardness all those years. She was still as direct as before, and unfortunately still confronted people directly, without caring about anything.

"Sure." Kurai didn't mind, only his closest people could do it, Rumi was the third one for now.

This was another change brought by their friendship, which made them closer than what they initially wanted.

"Yay!" She smiled, and patted her thighs.

"Come here!"

Kurai transformed into a cat, but compared to before, his form now reached maturity, opposite to his human body who was still growing up.

He was now reaching half a meter of length, his black fur even more majestic than before, giving an astonishing contrast to his golden eyes, he delicately settled on her lap and went back to his thoughts.

Rumi didn't disturb his concentration and only started petting him gently with stars in her eyes.

Actually this closeness is related to their fights, Kurai soon noticed that there was something strange with her. At first she didn't seem to appreciate him, but then suddenly she asked for fights recklessly.

Even though he didn't know about her nightmares, yet, he still could feel that she was hiding something. Maybe he acted on impulse or because of his curiosity but he wanted to know, so after a few weeks, when Rumi asked him about how he escaped from their first fight, he decided to do a bet with her.

He told her back then that if she managed to land a hit on him, he'd tell her the truth. His cat form wasn't something top-secret anyway, but it didn't mean that he'll willingly show it to people... So he made her earn it.

After all, it's only when people think you shared your 'secrets' with them that they'll start telling you theirs... Unfortunately, Rumi didn't say anything, but Kurai was willing to wait.

So he left her 3 tries, but he got played by her this time.

Indeed in his poor choice of words, he didn't think about that loophole. '3 tries' doesn't mean that she had to try 3 times in a row.

So, she clearly used that to her advantage to learn from her fights, losing twice, going to train and coming back after a few days for the last try. Her improvements were astonishing, and only thanks to 2 fights at that...

Kurai was really impressed by her genius adaptability, by her obsession and her will, because all thanks to that, in the last try, she actually did it, and hit him with a kick.

And as a man of his word, he showed her his cat form, making the little rabbit girl's eyes shine brighter than the sun. Ever since that day, she occasionally asked to pet him, feeling somehow special about it, because she knew that she was the only one in her school doing that.

Their constant fights after school became quite frequent for a while, before Kurai got tired of it.

Rumi could still remember that time when he called out to her with a straight face saying: "Don't you know something else, muscle-head?"

A tick mark appeared on her forehead when she remembered this part, 'Ah, I really want to pinch him right now.'

As if sensing her nefarious thoughts, Kurai's golden orbs glanced back at her but Rumi dodged his gaze and looked at the ceiling.

If her first year in elementary school was marked by fights with him, her second and now third year were more chill. The fights led to training sessions instead or simply outings where both of them had fun.

Whereas in the fights/training they had, Kurai kept focusing on physical strength and on further improving his hand-to-hand combat thanks to Yoruichi's memories. (He only started training Shunpo recently, after reaching a threshold in his physical strength.)

Rumi, on the other hand, trained her body too, absorbing like a sponge his knowledge just by looking at him or learning from her defeats & errors.

That wasn't all, Kurai showed her other ways to have 'fun', ways a bit more naughty…

Like… Pranking people, classmates or teachers. Which brought them more infamy than anything, like being the renowned 'troublemakers' of Fukuromachi elementary school, still Kurai didn't go too far, knowing his parents.

So, he had to settle for the 'old' way, simply, going to the arcade. Something Rumi never thought of doing but nonetheless had fun destroying Kurai every single time. The poor lad didn't take into account that even though arcades were a retro thing, the games inside were more futuristic compared to his time.

Still, Rumi greatly enjoyed his time with him, and the more fun they had, the better she could rest during the night. Kurai too found this time with her pretty good, it was a good mean to escape from the school's boredom. And Rumi was a cool friend to hangout with.

"Oh!" A dejected cry instinctively escaped her mouth when Kurai jumped out of her lap.

Before even landing he transformed to his human form, standing tall, well taller than 3 years ago. Looking down straight into her eyes, primarily because the bunny girl didn't grow that much.

"Aight! I'm ready, this time I'll succeed!" He grinned.

Rumi, instantly forgetting her previous sour mood, answered him with a toothy smile too, cracking her knuckles and neck, "Aaah, finally some venting material appeared!" She said cheekily.

"Ooh- I take it that you're ready for another defeat?" Kurai started doing little jumps in his position.

Rumi prepared a low stance by bending her knees, bringing her center of gravity closer to the ground, "Nah! Today I'll show you a new super move!"

He raised an eyebrow, "Um… So, are you ready?" His jumps became faster and faster.

"Yea—" Before she even got the time to answer Kurai blinked before her, directly, she had to block his palm strike with her knee and jump back to a more safe position.

Kurai dusted his legs off, "Not enough…"

This was Kurai's attempt to apply Shunpo to his move-set. By the books, and from Yoruichi's memories, Shunpo was only going from point A to point B with the least amount of steps.

But Kurai learned those last five years that he couldn't replicate it, the cons of being human instead of a soul.

Even though this skill was offered to him on a plate through Yoruichi, he didn't feel well about it.

How could he call it 'his' if the only thing he did was to try to replicate the movement.

That's why he developed his own version of Shunpo, for humans, taking into account Shinigamis' footwork, and his own idea.

Which consisted of multiple quick kicks to the ground, and maybe in the future, the air, thus propelling his body forward, though he lacks control for now.

Mainly after a certain speed, he had a lot of difficulties to stop himself.

The momentum gained when he was being propelled just accumulates more and more, and simply kicking in front of him can't stop his speed. Or if it did, it'll tear his muscles.

Still he could more or less succeed, and go, by human standards, at an outstanding speed.

Meanwhile Rumi, hearing him, deadpanned, 'Not enough?'

If it was someone else instead of her, they wouldn't even be able to see him. Much less react to his attacks.

Then again Rumi's quirk amplified her instincts and senses, along with her physical abilities.

This time it was her turn to attack, contrary to their first fight where the place they were fighting was surrounded by buildings on both sides, serving as footholds for her. The factory was flat, with only iron beams supporting it.

The factory being big, and them being in the middle, made her attempts to reach the walls too much effort-consuming.

But compared to 3 years ago, her fighting style improved tremendously. Her hand-to-hand combat style was more kick based, but she learned to use her hands more. She didn't know where Kurai learned his innumerable fighting style, still, she tried to 'steal' the most out of it.

Rumi, now close to Kurai, initiated a descending left hook. The latter only dodged by stepping back. From his point of view her punch lacked everything; strength and speed.

That's also why he was prepared for something more.

When her punch hit the air instead of his face, Rumi didn't stop it but let the momentum of her punch take her body to the ground, and just before, with the support of her right foot, she spun until she had her back to him.

Then, rooting her right foot on the ground, she sent a hook kick with her heel to the back of his head.

Seeing the heel of the rabbit dangerously approaching his face, contrary to the expectations, Kurai smiled. Even though her feet could literally destroy concrete, he showed her a genuine smile.

"Not bad, the combo has a good fluidity, but it's not enough." He deviated her foot with his elbow and directly threw another palm strike into her belly.

Rumi saw that but she didn't have enough movement range or time to dodge so she only contracted her abs and tanked the blow.

She let it send her a few meters back to escape him, when she landed on the ground she clutched her stomach, feeling the pain of his blow.

In a fight, true equality meant not holding back even when your opponent is a girl, and Rumi was thankful to him for that.

She looked up at him, expressing her joy through her laugh with that always-smiling-face, "Ahaha! And I'm not done!"

Looking around her, she saw that she was back to back with an iron beam, she slowly got up, keeping her smile. She then started sprinting toward him, making Kurai put his guard up, but around half of the distance she turned back, straight toward the beam.

With her powerful legs and speed she climbed the vertical beam, and just when she felt her foot slip under gravity she jumped out, doing a back-flip to face Kurai in the air.

She shouted, "Luna Fall!"

Her impressive drop kick aimed perfectly at his head looked threatening, but Kurai only shook his head.

He could see so many flaws in this move already, but to humour her, he stayed immobile and prepared himself to receive it.

*BAM*

The concrete under him crackled like a cobweb, and even his feet sank a few inches into the ground. Fortunately, he absorbed most of the shock with his legs and arms.

"Sooo, this is your special technique, huh?"

He locked his eyes with her, both sharing a grin, "Flashy, but very predictable, bad guys won't just stay immobile."

He threw her, "Let me show you a real super move, something unpredictable!"

Even though she was still processing his advice, she instinctively put her guard up, curiosity gaining the best of her. It was the first time that Kurai was about to show her one of his super moves after all.

She lost sight of him pretty much directly, but she heard his scream reaching her long ears:

"Tickling technique: it's over 9000!"

He even used his newly created version of Shunpo to go behind her before she could react and started tickling her all over. Even when she was literally rolling on the floor and crying, he still continued.

"Ahaha! Sto— Bahah! I can't— AHAHa!"

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Rumi and Kurai were now laying on the ground, both sweaty, the top of their heads touching each other, funnily enough Kurai had his head perfectly in the middle of her ears, even though they were tickling his sides a bit but he couldn't say anything after what he did to her.

"Like I said, if I was a bad guy, I would've escaped, I had plenty of space to do so. 'Luna Fall' needs to be used in a restricted place or when your opponent is dumb enough to stay under your drop kick."

"Uf-Uf… I see." Trying to catch her breath Rumi acquiesced.

Like every other time they finished sparring, Kurai reviewed the fight and advised Rumi.

"Anyway, I felt your strength rising again…"

"Duh, can we talk about your speed then?"

"Hehe! No we can't! I just—" Kurai was interrupted by the ringing of his mother's phone, she lent it to him for the times he couldn't call them with the computer.

"Yes?" He answered the phone.

On the other side, his father's excited voice greeted him, "Kurai! Kurai!...—Giving birth now!" He couldn't hear him very well because of the background noise, seemingly from a hospital.

'Don't tell me!'

"Mom is giving birth?!" He shouted while getting up, surprising the rabbit girl laying beside him with his outburst.

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Aye the one who finds who's going to be born gets a reward...

...A virtual kiss from your handsome author...