Next Gen: Young Justice x Naruto OC

Side Story: Aim

Side Story: Aim
(Before the Gala)

Arrowcave, Star City; 18:29 EST:

"Why do you call it the Arrowcave?" Akira asked as she watched her adoptive father. She was in the corner on a work table as she focused on sharpening her blade over a whetstone.

The two were in the basement of the Arrowcave as Oliver worked on his quiver arsenal and Akira was doing some maintenance on her weapons. Dinah was out for a meeting and the two were left on their own. And Roy, being the young adult that he is was nowhere to be found. Oliver wasn't necessarily having the best of luck when it came to bonding with Akira.

Dinah obviously had the feminine aspect that made it easier for her to connect with the young growing girl for them to speak about. They had their girl thing here and there. And Roy has always been close with Akira for some time now; their bond was definitely that of siblings. So they had their sibling hangout and shenanigans once in a while. But for him, where did he start?

It's not like he was dealing with some normal teenage girl. Instead of school drama, phone addicted teen with 24/7 boy problems (well... not really), he got an extra-dimensional, ninja-healing vigilante who can barely exude her own emotions without being overtaken by the spirit inhabiting her. And he didn't know which he would prefer to deal with.

"Why does Batman get to call his lair a Batcave?" Oliver questioned back as he examined a shaft from behind his welding goggles.

"Because bats inhabit caves for their homes, thus making sense," Akira stated as she examined the edge of her blade before setting it down and moving onto the next. "If anything, you should have called this place the quiver."

"That's... actually better," Oliver grumbled (if you know, you know).

He had brought up his concern with Dinah and she suggested that they should spend some time together to just get to know each other. So that is what he did. He spotted her heading down to the Arrowcave and asked what she was up to. When she told him that she was going to do some maintenance on her gear, he thought it was the perfect opportunity to spend some time with her. Dinah had girl time. Roy had sibling bonding. Oliver wanted to have his own thing with her too.

The silence, however, was making things more awkward as it seems to grow more in presence. The only sound being the scraping of Akira's blade on the whetstone or Oliver's occasional welding of his arrows.

He was beginning to panic internally as he couldn't figure out what he was going to say next when the young girl finally broke the silence. "So... what are you working on?" She asked curiously.

Nearly dropping the welding stick, he let out a breath of relief before flipping up his welding goggles. "Trying to create some more trick arrows. The villains are getting more creative, so I have to up my game as well."

Akira tilted her head in curiosity and interest. "I've seen a few of your arrow array, but what do you have so far?"

Suddenly, Oliver, found his opening. "You know how to shoot, right?" He recalled their fight against Savage.

She nodded curiously as she watched him grab his quiver, arrow, and the shaft he was working on. "Come on, I need to test this out anyways."

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They found themselves at the archery range section of the Arrowcave. He had given her one of the spare bows and arm guards to protect her forearm from the friction. "Depending on the situation, I load my quiver with different arrows that would work best against the villains I may be up against. But these are my everyday essential ones."