0019. TRAINING
KAIA HUMMED AS she had her back leaned against the wall of the bus as Aiden was in the seat behind her, his arms resting on the seat as he leaned over it, watching her with a smile as she had her headphones on and was currently listening to a playlist that he had made for her. Kaia ignored him, not wishing to admit that she was actually enjoying the music she was listening to, it wasn't her usual music that she listened to, but it wasn't horrible.
She was sorting through the weapons they had available as while Aiden had spent most of his money on the lights, she invested in getting them more weapons, or was going to once she marked off what she needed to order. She was wearing gloves considering most of the stuff they had was rusty and the last thing Kaia needed was getting cut and rushing off to the hospital for a tetanus shot.
Aiden grinned, watching as she nodded her head along to the beat of the song playing, humming it under her breath. He felt accomplished in the fact she was clearly enjoying what she was listening to and he had a feeling she would.
"Don't you think it's a tad ironic that we chose this place as our shelter because of the high walls, yet now we have to fortify those walls?" Tyler questioned as he was filling up a water container with fresh water.
Aiden snorted, his eyes finally peeling away from Kaia's form as he looked towards Tyler who was three rows ahead of him. "Yeah, well we didn't exactly predict that the phantoms could scale a concrete, thirteen-foot wall."
"And we didn't choose it just because of the walls." Ashlyn piped in as she was currently looking over a list of their supplies. "We have various tools and materials here, there's an electric generator, and we're able to bring items we need during the day because my dad owns it." She glanced up from the list and towards him with a raised eyebrow. "You votes just the same as the rest of us did to use the graveyard, so stop whining."
Tyler scoffed, "I'm not whining, just pointing out the irony." He shrugged as he set the now empty water jug in his lap, leaning onto it. "I'm still not sure it was worth the effort it took just to get here."
Aiden hums, glancing down at Kaia, who wasn't paying attention to the conversation going on as she was blasting the music into her ears and sorting through the box. He thought back to his, Ben's and Kaia's rush here, they had a lot of trouble but since there was three of them, they had each others back when they made their way towards the convenience store they agreed on meeting at before making their way to the graveyard.
"Well, we're here now, so let's just make the best of it and move on." Taylor said as she was sat on the seat opposite of Kaia, helping her organize the weapon box.
"Agreed." Ashlyn nods, glancing at the girl. "Another benefit of the graveyard though is that we're able to set traps around the area during the day as well."
Kaia had been learning and practicing self-defense since she was around six. It had been a way for her to try and grow more confident in herself after her sense of self had been completely shattered only a couple months before she started doing it. She used it as an outlet to let out all the emotions that her six year old mind couldn't wrap her head around or understand to know them to be anger, betrayal and grief.
Sure, Kaia had ballet and gymnastics, but they never got her emotions out the same way that throwing a punch at a dummy could. It was something that she grew a slight passion for and it eventually grew alongside her motivation to workout and take care of herself because she learned from a young age that no one was going to stick around her long enough for them to take care of her, so she needed to do it herself.
From self-defense grew her getting into a variety of things, boxing, kick-boxing (this one was partially Ashlyn's parents making her so Ashlyn would have more motivation to get into it, though it didn't stick for either of them), karate, and even fencing, though that one didn't last long before she got bored of it.
If there was one thing she genuinely adored throughout her life, it was fighting, in some way, shape or form. She hated verbal fights, unless she was the one in it, as screaming voices were something she just heavily disliked, it was why she hated it so much when Tyler lost his temper and his voice raised. But still, she didn't hesitate to tell Ashlyn's parents, and her mom who was going to help out with training whenever she could, that she was also going to be partaking in the class.
Though, as for the others, everyone ended up getting permission for Ashlyn's parents and Kaia's mom to teach them. Kaia, her mom, Aiden and Ben had all sat down that night after their meetup in the graveyard and video called the cousin duo's parents in order to talk to them about it. It had taken some convincing due to Ben's past with violence, though once Kaia and her mom had talked to them and explained how self defense could help Ben learn to protect not only himself, but others as well, in a far more controlled manner than he was previously taught, they were far less reluctant. It also helped that their parents had grown to trust Kaia's mom, especially after she offered to help make sure Aiden and Ben were okay while the parents were gone.
For Logan, his grandparents had to meet Ashlyn's parents and Ji-Soo in person first before anything was finalized. The twins were the least complicated out of the bunch, they had just gone home that night and the next day, they said it was okay.
So now, that led them to now, a month later, and still all of them ending up getting the crap beat out of them each and every time they faced off against the three adults.
Kaia breathed out, just barely dodging the strike her mom had thrown at her. On the other mats, Tyler was going against Ashlyn's dad with Ashlyn and Logan on the sidelines, waiting for their turn while Ben was going against Ashlyn's mom with Taylor on the sidelines. Then Aiden was waiting on the sidelines, cheering her on as he was paired up with her to work with her mom on fighting.
Ji-Soo threw a high kick that Kaia blocked as she had her arms crossed in an x motion across her chest as she pushed back against her kick, causing Ji-Soo to stumble a bit and Kaia instantly took advantage of that as she dropped low, her leg kicking out and attempting to knock her down, but Ji-Soo was just as fast as Kaia, even at her older age as she jumped back, dodging Kaia's attack. Kaia gritted her teeth in annoyance, rolling to the side as her mom made the move to attack again.
The two had been at this back and forth for almost ten minutes now, with neither of them gaining the upper hand towards each other. Ji-Soo's years upon years of experience in various fighting styles versus Kaia's natural athleticism, agile nature and gymnastics experience that made her a near expert and maneuvering herself out of tough situations. It was an annoying stand off that while Ji-Soo was heavily enjoying, Kaia was growing very much annoyed.
Kaia threw a punch that her mom caught, bringing Kaia in close before she kneed her in the stomach and Kaia groaned as she is forced to stumble back and in that moment, her mom ended the fight as she swiped her clean off her feet. Kaia coughed as her back roughly hit the mat and she panted, laying there for a moment as her eyes flutter shut to focus on catching her breath.
"You okay?" Ji-Soo's voice rang out right above her as she felt her mom crouch down beside her before she felt her hand brush stray hands off her face. "Your punch was predictable, you have a habit of looking at where you're going to attack before you attack it."
Kaia groaned, her arm coming up to fall over her eyes. "I'm fine, and thanks, I'll keep that in mind." She said, her arm falling to her side just as quickly as it came up as she glanced towards her mom, flashing a short smile.
Ji-Soo smiled back at her as she offered her daughter her hand, helping her up. "You did great today, sweetheart, I'm so proud of you." Ji-Soo grinned, cupping her daughters face in her hands, pressing a kiss to her forehead, smiling wider as she feels Kaia melt into her touch. "You lasted far longer than you did last week, I think within the next month or two, you may even win against me for the first time."
Kaia snorted, pulling back to stare up at her mother, "only if I get lucky."
"Kai!" Aiden bounded over to her, his arm finding itself thrown over her shoulder as he grinned down at her. "You did great out there!"
"See, even Aiden agrees." Ji-Soo said as she grinned, glancing between the two, her eyes lingering on the arm that was wrapped around Kaia's shoulder, that her daughter wasn't pushing away.
Over the past month, Kaia seems to have come around to Aiden's love for physical touch, though she never really initiated anything herself. She didn't love it, hell she didn't even seem to like it, but her toleration for it grew to the point she didn't automatically shove him off, instead would shove him minutes later when she could no longer stand his touch.
She still hadn't come around to calling them friends, but she's stopped outright saying she doesn't like him. Though she hasn't yet admitted she actually likes him, but at least she wasn't saying she hated him. Still, Ji-Soo was proud of her for the slight progress she was making. She couldn't wait for the day she finally called Aiden her friend or even realized that she and Aiden held a connection that stemmed a bit further than just friendship. But she'd take her calling them friends.
"Okay, how about we stop here for today?" Emma called out, letting out a groan as she stretched her sore arms out.
Ji-Soo hums, glancing towards her two 'students', "you two okay with that?"
The two share a smile, Kaia finally shrugging his arm off, "yeah, it's fine." Kaia agrees lacing her fingers as she stretched them above her head as she walked over to the others, catching sight of Mike capturing Logan in a choke hold, but ignored it as she plopped down on a tire beside Ashlyn as Aiden squeezed himself in the tire beside her as Tyler, Ben, and Taylor stand around them.
"You kids want to come in and play some board games?" Emma suggested as Ji-Soo joined her side. "I'll make sandwiches."
Kaia honestly wanted to accept, she loved Emma's sandwiches, but no, she couldn't, none of them could.
"We can't..." Taylor carefully said. "We have to study for midterms."
Kaia nods, "I need first." She says and Ji-Soo nods her head in understanding.
"Ah of course, another time after midterms then?" She smiled and the group of teens nods in agreement.
Emma nods, "we'll just... uh- bring the sandwiches to you then."
Ji-Soo nods, walking over to her daughter and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "I'll see you later tonight, I have to head back to work for a bit, someone messed up some of our storage files and I need to go fix it up."
Kaia nods, "alright, see you later, momma."
Ji-Soo smiles at her daughter, turning her attention towards Aiden, ruffling his hair. "Make sure her brain doesn't blow up from studying too much."
Aiden grinned, nodding his head. "Yes, ma'am."
She then turned to Ben, "make sure these two don't tear each other apart, please?"
Ben smiles lightly, nodding his head as she ruffled his hair to, though he had to bend down in order to let her.
"The rest of you guys have fun studying!" Ji-Soo tells the rest of them, waving as she joins Emma and Mike as the trio of parents go to leave.
"Study hard!" Mike tells them, waving before the three all leave.
The moment the three close the side door behind them, Aiden lets out a laugh, "that midterms joke was great."
"It wasn't a joke you idiot." Tyler scoffed, glaring down at him.
"Yeah, mid terms are next week, I don't know about you, but I'm not failing those." Kaia glares at him, "so I swear if you distract me from studying, I'll gut you."
Aiden grinned at her threat, "sure you will, you say that every time and I am still very much not gutted."
Kaia rolled her eyes, "not for long..." She muttered under her breath before Ashlyn suddenly stands up from beside her. "Huh? Ash?" Kaia quickly got up, walking after Ashlyn as the ginger rushes off towards between two buses and glances around the corner. "What happened?" Kaia questioned the girl, resting a hand on her shoulder as she looked around the corner as well.
"Did ya hear something again?" Aiden questioned as he joined Kaia's side, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he looked around, catching sight of a crow resting on a broken car before them.
Ashlyn was tense under Kaia's hold as she let out a breath. "... I thought I did-" She shakes her head. "It's just a bird though."
"You got worked up over a crow?" Tyler scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked over Kaia's shoulder to catch sight of the bird.
"It didn't sound like a crow, I thought it was a footstep." Ashlyn frowned as her eyes narrow in on the crow.
"Maybe you just got it mixed up with your parents walking away?" Taylor suggested, trying to make better of the situation.
Ashlyn sighs, "never mind, let's just finish setting up the traps."
♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ : author's note
i. i'm sorry there isn't much that happens this chapter, but i had to split this one and the next chapter up as it would be too long if it was all in the same chapter
ii. what was your guys favorite moment in this chapter?
iii. ANYWAYS i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! please remember to vote, comment and to have a wonderful day <33