Chapter 4

"Alright kids, gather around!" Carmine Winchester called out to her Primary class. Kids from all corners of the classroom came running over, some smaller, some taller, some younger, some older.

The pony-tailed teacher's lips curled into an easy smile, and she had to fight to stop laughing at how all of her kids were behaving.

'This is definitely my favorite part of the day.' She thought to herself as she looked out over the fifteen or so kids that were now sitting cross-legged around her on the ground. Carmine leaned back into her comfy teacher's chair, watching as her students all stared eagerly at her. None of them could go a few seconds without saying something, which made the others shush them, ironically making even more of the kids shush them back. 'Storytime is always their favorite time, too.'

Funny enough, storytime was also one of the hardest times for her to figure out what to do, seeing as her kids were all of varying ages. Patch Primary never had enough students enrolled, to the point where they couldn't even split them into different grades. The teachers had to supply "appropriately-leveled" material for each of their students.

Right now there were only 2 separate classes. There was her class, which had 12 kids ages 5-8. They were always pretty rowdy but she could always get them to calm down by putting on her "scary teacher" face.

Then there was the only other class in the school, which was taught by her older colleague, Robert Ross. The man could be a bit of an ass but that was only when it came to her. He thought that she was "too much of a youth" to be able to teach well, from the moment that he'd heard her name. The black-haired man was sprightly and looked young for a man in his late 70's, considering that everyone that met him thought he was actually in his early 50's. The perks of being a retired Huntsman. Aura kept you looking younger than you actually were.

The "old fart", as she liked to call him, had brown eyes that always softened up around kids. As soon as they saw her, though, his eyes would immediately change into something more like steel. Having lived through the Great War as a teenager, Robert Ross saw anyone that was younger than 50 as being too young to be teaching others. Considering the fact that the Color Revolution had taken place when he was a teen, it was easy for him to figure out who was "too young" for him to trust, aura or no aura. Practically anyone with a Color Name was out of luck in getting into his good graces when it came down to deciding who was good enough to be a teacher.

Lucky for her, it wasn't his decision.

Unluckily, however, he was the only other teacher at the school. His class was full of well-behaved kids that were getting ready to go to Signal Academy. Basically, kids that were anywhere from 9 years old to 11 yrs old were under his jurisdiction.

'I'll show him who's the better teacher!' With that last thought ringing in her head, it was like a lightbulb went off in her head.

"Ok, class. Today we're going to be reading a favorite of mine." The red-haired Winchester began as she reached into her bag of books sitting next to her on the ground, fumbling through it a little before her hand finally grasped the one that she'd been thinking of. "Today we're going to be reading a folk tale!"

All of the kids quickly went quiet. Their eyes were wide open in wonder as they leaned in closer.

"This is the story," Carmine loudly whispered for dramatic effect, "of the Enchanted Forest!" A dark green book burnished with realistic-looking artwork of leaves was reflected in the eyes of the children.

There was only one thought that rang out in their heads.

'Whoooah. Cool.'

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A nudge shook Ruby out of her awe, and she turned to see her faunus brother looking straight into her eyes.

'Yo sis, why's Miss Winchester smiling so much today?'

Ruby shrugged and sent a thought back to her 7 year old twin. 'I don't know. Maybe someone gave her a cookie today?'

Kit just rolled his eyes. 'Don't you think we would've known if she had cookies?' He thought back in response. The orange-haired fox might've been mute, but he never needed to sign when it came to his twin. They always knew whatever the other one was thinking, after all.

The black-haired twin tilted her head a little as she thought about it, before realizing that her brother was probably right. Kit would've been able to smell cookies on her since he was a faunus, and if Kit knew, then she would've known too.

As the story started, neither of the twins gave it more thought.

They'd have bigger problems afterward.

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Carmine Winchester cleared her throat as she opened up the dark green book. Within seconds, the entire class was hypnotized by her voice. The classroom disappeared, and in its place was a sleepy little village.

Once upon a time, there was a small village. People walked from place to place with a big smile on their face. Some were short, some were tall. Some were big, some were small.

Kids ran around having fun, doing all kinds of weird things under the sun.

Little Blue wasn't like the other kids. He always liked running around outside the village.

His Momma told him "Don't go into the forest", as she had a mother's intuition.

But Little Blue never liked to listen, treating his mom's words more like a suggestion.

So the very next day he went to the forest, looking like a very weird tourist.

Then the next day his Momma told him, "Don't talk to strangers!"

So the very next day he went to the forest and talked, talked, talked to all the plants, big and small, until he met someone with ears like a fox.

The man had nine tails swishing back and forth. Striding past Little Blue, he just walked into the jungle and disappeared from view.

'Who's stranger than that?' Thought Little Blue, so off he went, to talk to Mr. Fox-Man too.

But as soon as he saw him, got close and drew near, Mister Fox-Man disappeared!

Confused and afraid, Little Blue tried to turn around and run away.

But before he could get far, the trees all gathered 'round and a voice sounded out.

"Little Blue, Little Blue. Didn't your Momma tell you not to go to the forest?"

He turned and turned, but couldn't see from where the voice came.

"Well, Little Blue, I suppose it wouldn't have mattered," The voice whispered. "After all, just that wouldn't have put you in danger. But Little Blue, didn't your Momma also tell you not to talk to strangers?"

As soon as the voice rang out, the Fox-Man appeared with nary a noise but Little Blue's shout.

Day turned to night, and when the night grew old, Little Blue was found….without a soul.

The book slammed shut, startling everybody out of their hypnotized state. All of the kids now had eyes wide open...in fear. The red-haired Winchester looked up at her class. 'Crap.' That was the only thought she had as she took in her students' reactions.

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"Hey Kit, think fast!"

Kit's fox ears twitched, before he spun around and caught the stick that was thrown at him. His silver eyes looked down at it, before he looked back up at his friend in confusion.

Ash grinned as he held a stick about the same size in his hand. "Well, come on! Don't just stare at it. There can only be one!" The gray-haired boy challenged as he held the stick with both hands on one end.

The orange-haired 7 year old gave an answering grin. He held his stick just like Ash, and the two boys started circling each other.

It wasn't long before one of them stepped on a twig, and their stalemate SNAPPED.

The two 7 year olds charged at each other and in less than a second they had already exchanged more than a dozen blows before they backed off from each other again.

"Eh. Not bad, Kit. But I don't think you're really a sword kinda guy."

The faunus just rolled his eyes and smirked as he one-handedly signed back a response. "Like you're any better, dude."

"Pssh! I'm like, waaaay better than you, man! Better be careful, or I'm gonna knock that smile off your face." Ash took off at a sprint before he even finished his last sentence. Dirt and leaves flew out of his path, and just before he reached Kit, Ash took a giant leap and swung downwards!

Kit, as if he saw everything in slow motion, just took a big step to the side and let Ash strike hit the ground before he reached out with a hand and snatched the "sword" out from the other boy's hand.

Grinning cheekily, the fox faunus held a "sword" in each hand, the look on his face making it clear what he thought about Ash's skills being "waay better".

...Too bad Kit couldn't keep that smile on his face for long.

In the blink of an eye, Ash jumped up to his feet and spun into a roundhouse kick, knocking both of the sticks out of Kit's hands. He didn't pause and used the momentum from the first kick to spin into a second roundhouse kick which hit Kit's face with a loud SMACK, knocking the orange-tailed fox faunus sideways onto the ground.

"Ok, so I'm not that good with a sword. Told ya I'd knock that smile off your face, though."

Kit was back up on his feet faster than you'd think. He wasn't someone who'd stay down long, after all. Taking up a martial arts stance, he signed towards his friend. "Better be careful. Sis taught me a thing or two about how to fight barehanded!"

Ash snorted.

"Pssh. I'm not scared. Ruby couldn't hit the broadside of a-"

A fist smacked into his face with a loud WHAM before he could finish.

The gray-haired 7 year old slid back a few feet, his hand covering the part of his face that was just hit. There was a look of disbelief on his face as he stared at his friend.

Kit just grinned as he signed, "I never said anything about Ruby teaching me how to throw a punch."

An eager smile spread out slowly on both of their faces as they faced-off against each other.

'This is gonna be fun!'

That was the last thought in both of their heads as rushed towards each other again, kicks matching punches as they both sparred happily.

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Some time later, both of the two boys were flat on their backs, chests heaving as they tried to catch their breath.

Ash felt something nudge him, and he turned to see Kit exhaustedly signing to him.

"Hey, Ash. Are we friends?"

The grey-haired kicker bit back the sarcastic remark that'd been on the tip of his tongue, too exhausted to mess around at the moment. He was only able to muster up the energy for a single word.

"Duh."

It was awhile before either of them could do anything aside from try to catch their breath from their fight afterwards.

Still, once they did, Ash looked over towards Kit. "What's up, man? Why are you asking weird questions?"

The fox faunus just waved his hand, trying to tell his friend that it was nothing.

Ash just gave him a deadpanned look. "Yeah…" He said, stretching out the word. "I'm not buying it. What's going on?"

Kit shook his head in denial, trying to fend off his friend's concern.

"Listen," The blue-eyed boy said. "You can either tell me what's up, or I go tell Yang."

The orange-tailed faunus squinted his eyes at his friend. "Dude, you'd go and tell on me? That's a low blow, man."

Ash winced. "Yeah, you're probably right. Look, how 'bout this? You tell me what's goin' on, and I'll tell you a secret that I haven't told no one."

There was a pause as Kit's face scrunched up, thinking about it. It wasn't long before he decided to just roll with it.

"People been looking at me funny lately. A lot of 'em won't play with me anymore, too."

Both of the boys lay there on the ground in silence for awhile, just staring up at the trees and the leaves above them.

"Sorry man. People are weird, so just ignore them. Besides, you still got me and Aqua to play with." Ash knew as soon as the words left his mouth that everything he said was a hollow consolation.

He meant every word of it though.

Before he could beat himself up too much about his lame attempt at making his friend feel better, he saw Kit trying to get his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Ash pulled himself up enough that he was facing Kit while leaning against a tree trunk, seeing that his friend had already done the same. He was so out of it that he had to ask Kit to slow down and repeat a couple of his signs before he finally understood what Kit was trying to ask.

"So, what about you? You said you had a secret?"

Ash's cheeks warmed up as he looked away and muttered something under his breath.

Kit just gave him a deadpanned look, which his gray-haired friend somehow managed to catch out of the corner of his eye.

"....I said my last name's Ketchup!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, well, it's a long story. I'm adopted. Cops found me on the street when I was 3. I couldn't remember what my last name was, so I just gave them the first thing that came to my head, and they put it in as my actual last name."

"....So, do you call Mister Ross, Dad?"

Ash just stared at his friend. "Really? You're not going to make fun of my last name? Not going to say anything about how I'm adopted?"

Kit shook his head.

"Nope."

There was a pause before they both gave each other a nod. They might've been friends before, but now they were going to be best friends for life.