Skeleton Flowers [Shingeki no Kyojin]

✾ Chapter 2 ✾

Life at the Cadet Corps training continued on for the following months, and Izanami found herself slowly but surely settling into a routine. She was certain that she could appear as the least motivated individual in the entire fourth division but the desire within her chest in regards to getting the chance to see the outside world continued to grow more and more as she spent her time at training.

There were several things that the trainees were made to undergo within their cadet training; they were taught not only how to deal with pressure and the Three-Dimensional Manoeuvre Gear, but also study etiquette, laws and medical knowledge of not only humans but also what they knew of Titans.

Izanami had never gotten the chance to formally study any of this but the moment that they were allowed in the libraries, she found herself spending longs hours in there with Armin, browsing through everything.

At the same time, Izanami had found herself making friends for the first time outside of her little group. She had yearned to learn the name of Reiner Braun, who had become a big part of her daily life during the cadet corps once they had become acquainted to each other.

Reiner was a very giving presence for the trainees, reaching out to help any and all no matter what they struggled with. Izanami liked to spend time with him even when she needed none of that.

It was interesting to listen to Reiner talk about his experiences from his home in the small village in the mountains of southeast Wall Maria. There was always a longing in his voice when he spoke that Izanami could not relate to at all but it was still something that absolutely intrigued her.

There were times when Reiner would ask her more about her own past but Izanami had not spoken much about anything beyond Shiganshina. It would take some time for her to indulge him in that part of her life, knowing that it may very well drive him away from her if he didn't like what he heard.

"So, you have always lived in Shiganshina?" asked Reiner curiously as he and Izanami sat together one morning, doing the loads of laundry as their duty that day. "With your family?"

"... not quite," Izanami admitted. "I was only there for two years before the fall of Wall Maria. I lived with Mikasa, initially... and then we lived with the Jaeger Family. My family passed away a long time ago,"

As she returned back to washing the pillowcases, Izanami wondered what Reiner would think if she told him that every person that she lived with and allowed in her heart had all died within months of her arrival at their doorsteps. Izanami was a living curse amongst all humans.

However, surprisingly, Reiner was not intrusive and he didn't probe too much into her past in the gossipy tone that many boys took while talking to her about this interesting 'story'.

No, Reiner had been kind. He had reached out to place a hand on her shoulder and when she had turned her head around to look at him, he had given her a gentle smile to comfort her.

"You have family here now, right?" Reiner said. "If you ever feel like you want something or just want to share, you can always talk about it. Even if others won't listen, I'm here for you,"

For a moment, Izanami could do nothing but stare at the boy in surprise but then she felt her cheeks start to feel warm and her lips slowly stretched into a shy smile as she averted her eyes away from him, "... thank you, Reiner,"

Reiner was such a shining presence – Izanami thought of him as the sun. And because he had been so nice to her, she didn't mind it at all whenever they were assigned duties together. More so, she preferred if he was the one that she needed to work with in comparison to other boys at training.

Mikasa had been curious about this sudden and unexpected friendship between the two of them, and had even sat down to inquire about it from her younger sister in regards to the boy.