Chapter Text
Zanka was perfect.
The perfect son, the perfect student, the perfect future hell guard.
Or at least, that's what his classmates think.
And they are damn correct!
Zanka entered his classroom, all eyes on him, his average classmates looking at him in awe and jealousy after the scores for their last test were announced, and he, like always, like he SHOULD be, ended up as the top of the class.
His lips wanted to break out into a wide grin, but he held himself back, his classmates can’t know how proud he is about his perfect score. they can’t know the sleepless nights he spent pouring over the material like his life depended on it, and it practically did, Zanka would rather throw himself into a well before showing his family something that they deem "unacceptable".
After sitting down at his desk, Zanka began going over his plans for today mentally, because the last test was quite recent, there weren’t any more tests this week. So Zanka should work on his physical prowess, after all, academic achievements don’t mean anything to his family if he isn’t also a talented fighter.
At the end of the school day, Zanka made his way over to his usual training spot- a backyard behind his residence. Unlike the other students, who slept together in small, shared dorms, Zanka had a comfortable hut all to himself. After all, being a Nijiku came with its privileges. Zanka shuddered at the thought of living with those average idiots- Living with them meant sharing his precious clean space with a bunch of messy, sweaty teenagers… maintaining hygiene and order was incredibly important to Zanka, but he suspected his classmates didn’t share his sentiment.
After arriving at his training spot Zanka picked up a staff from a nearby rack, before starting his drill. At this point, Zanka could go over his forms while asleep, but Zanka drilled his forms again, and again, and again.
Every small mistake, every small delay in each thrust of his staff, was an inexcusable blemish that needed to be corrected.
And so, Zanka trained.
...
Jabber was lost.
It wasn’t anything new, he got lost a lot, so Jabber wasn’t really worried about puny concerns like “where is he” and “which route he needs to follow to get to the meeting spot”. His employer can wait.
However, what CAN’T wait is the giant fucking wall he just found that practicaly screams “scale me”.
Jabber grinned while activating mankira, he scaled the walls looking like a giant, humanoid spider. It didn’t take long before he reached the top. As he looked down, Jabber found… trees? His ever-present grin faltered for a second as he blinked in surprise. Trees are quite the rare thing, It seems like his instincts were right when they told him to climb good ol’ wally. Ohhh, maybe those trees are poisonous! It’s unlikely, but a guy can dream right?
Jabber’s wondering stopped when he heard a rustle from the bottom. It seems like he has a little friend! Jabber started his descent from the top of the wall using the trees, making sure to be as quiet as possible as to not startle his new “friend”. At the end, he managed to see him. Jabber made sure to hide behind the leaves before looking at the guy beneath him.
A guy who looked around his age, wearing what seemed to be a uniform. A pretty boy with brown and blond hair. He swung around a staff, drilling proper forms for a technique, his foot-work immaculate. Jabber never really learned to fight officially, his knowledge and strength came from hands-on experience and trusting his instincts. But he still had to say, the dude’s drilling was beautiful, almost resembling a dance.
Jabber felt his grin growing more manic, usually he didn’t really care for normies, but maybe he will make an exception for this guy-
BAM!
The guy Jabber was watching whirled around without a warming, smashing his staff into the tree Jabber was perched on. The impact traveled through the trunk, knocking Jabber down to the ground.
Jabber landed flat on the ground, blinking in surprise before pink eyes rose up to meet blue ones.
...
Zanka looked down at the stranger. As a Nijiku, he was trained to always be vigilant of his surroundings, so he felt it when a gaze was cast upon him, when a strange rustling of leaves that wasn’t the handiwork of the wind swished around the backyard.
However, he expected some “secret” admirer from class to show up, (Zanka was always aware when someone from class admired him or had a crush on him. Even though he was never interested, since romance is a distraction, he still basked in the attention nonetheless), but this guy was very obviously not a hell guard trainee.
Other than the fact he never saw him before, the guy doesn’t even wear the school uniform. His clothes seemed to be stitched together from a bunch of rugs, and were dirty. Actually, the only part of him that wasn't dirty was his hair- dreads that seemed to be well taken care of. And the worst part? The guy REEKED.
Zanka forced down the growing urge to pick up the stranger and throw him in the shower, and instead he started to interrogate him, trying to sound like kyoka.
“Who are you, and who do you think you are? Tryin’ to break into the hell guard academy?”
The stranger finally snapped out from his dumbfounded state after being dropped down from the tree, yet he didn’t seem to be impressed by his kyoka imitation. Instead, he seemed to be a little disappointed.
“The place where those arrogant normies with a stick up their ass learn how to be annoying? Man, and I thought I went somewhere interesting! Anyway, pretty boy, wanna fight?”
While Zanka was processing the insane words that were coming out of this guys mouth, the pink eyed stranger stood up in a flash, delivering a kick that Zanka blocked instinctively with his staff.
“You a fighter eh?! Come on! Lets fuck each other up!”
The dreadhead’s eyes started to glow as his rings extended into claws, a manic grin decorating his face.
“What?! Yer a giver?!” Zanka never actually fought a giver before, despite being trained to fight them. If he could arrest a giver that broke into the academy's grounds… Maybe then his family would praise him.
Zanka felt all fired up, lunging with his staff to knock his opponent out, but he dodged and countered, forcing Zanka to step back in order to not get hit. That guy was far stronger than his classmates! But a hard won fight makes the victory make victory taste all the sweeter…
...
Meanwhile, Jabber was feeling giddy, He knew the guy was fun! It’s been a while since a normie was able to give him a run for his money. He shuddered in excitement while thinking how fun this guy would be if he was a giver. The guy in question looked at him in disgust, not stopping his onslaught of attacks as reprimanded him.
“What yer so giggly for?! Ya aint gonna have this stupid smile on your face when i put yer ass in prison!”
“Damn man, why so aggressive mr.bad attitude? Tell me your name!”
Mr. Bad attitude merely snarled at him before swinging his staff again. Too bad he is a hell guard trainee, all of them fight the same more or less, since they train in the same way, even though this one was better than the others. Though, there was something different about him… something fun, though he couldn’t really put his finger on what.
Anyway, it seems like Mr.Bad attitude made a mistake. He traded a strong blow on Jabber’s stomach for a scratch on his cheek.
Jabber felt the beautiful pain travel his body as he flew back a meter. At the same time, he heard a body fall to the ground. As he stood up and walked over to the student, he saw him glare at him with wild fury.
“What?! You are still conscious?! I knew there was something special about ya! Names Jabber”
“Ill. Kill. You…”
“Really? Aww, how nice of you! That thingy will keep ya down for a while though”
As Jabber looked down at the boy that struggled to get up, he suddenly realized what got his attention.
In his eyes… an endless fire burned brilliantly.
Jabber never went twice to an opponent that disappointed him, yet he found himself speaking again.
“I will come back to fight you, then you can try to kill me again, Mr.Bad attitude”.
“Zanka…”
“Eh?”
“The name is Zanka”.