That's My Cadet (LEVI X OC)

Graduation

Third Person Perspective

After the encounter between Ichika and Reiner, she pushed herself harder than ever. She trained day and night, letting Kaiyo watch over Sakura, which made her very upset. She'd perfect her skills, be better than him, be better than the girl she thought hr left her for. 

Ichika would spar with the biggest guys, learning their weaknesses and taking advantage of them. Being one of the smaller girls in the class, she was stealthy. She wasn't just driven by rage, but by revenge. Reiner had left her to be a single mother in the walls surrounded by titans while he ran off with some blond girl Ichika didn't care to learn her name. 

Ichika had more drive than when she joined. She joined to avenge her mother, but now, she was going for herself. She wouldn't just protect Sakura from the titans, but her father as well. 

4 years of intense training paid off for her. She became stronger, faster, and one of the top 3 students in the class. With all the babysitting her brother had to do, he was lucky to make it in the top 10. 

Kaiyo was the opposite of his sister. He was tall, about 180 centipeters, while his sister barely hit 155. He was a lot stockier than his smaller sister as well. They both had brown wavy hair and their mother's grey eyes. 

Kaiyo was also the nicer sibling and when Sakura wasn't present, Ichika was unpleasant. Just seeing her daughter's father again made all her emotions come back. She was only joyful around Sakura, otherwise, she had a blank stare and wondering eyes.

Currently, the siblings were packing their things from their room with Sakura. She was now 8, growing faster and faster every day. As she grew, she could definitely tell her height was either from her father or her grandfather, as she was tall for her age, at least 138 centimeters. 

Sakura dreamed of today, being able to leave the cabin and see the world again. She'd see it every now in then from the window or when her uncle took her out late at night. 

"Blossom, could you put this on, please? It's the closest to your size." Ichika gave her daughter a military uniform, just to get her from point A to point B without much suspicion. Her mother had to continuously sew clothes for her that would fit, her long legs needing special tailoring for pants. 

"Mommy, are we going outside today?" Sakura took the clothes from her mother and began changing while her uncle stood outside waiting for the two to finish packing.

"Yes blossom, we are leaving the cabin for good." Her mother knelt down to her to help straighten her jacket and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You are going to live in a big cabin and leave whenever you want." Ichika gave her daughter a sorrowful smile, thinking back to the conversation her brother had with her last night.

"Why don't you just join the interior with me? We both have good rankings to go where we want to." Kaiyo leaned against the porch railing looking into the dark night. His sister did the same thing on the other side of the porch.

"I made up my mind. It's best if I go to the scouts." Ichika stared directly at her brother, even though he didn't return the stare.

"I don't understand why. You and Sakura would happily be together, she wouldn't be hungry and could make some friends."

"Kaiyo, you made a promise to me when she was born. That no matter what you'd do what's best for her, to protect her. This is the best thing to do." Kaiyo finally looked at his sister with concern on his face.

"Sakura won't leave you, you know that-"

"She needs to see the world. I can't keep her crammed in a room for the rest of her life. It's best for her if she stays with you." His sister walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kaiyo, I made a promise to her. That she'll finally see the real world. I am going to go and help the scouts clear the path to making that happen.  In the meantime, I need you to be there for her and keep her safe. I trust you more than anyone to take care of her for me."

"Fine, but promise me you'll come back." Kaiyo embraced his sister and kissed the top of her head.

"I promise."

Ichika took Sakura's hand and helped her out of the cabin. She pulled her daughter's hood up and signaled her brother they were ready to leave. Once they got close to the boats, Ichika pulled her daughter in for a hug. 

"You be a good girl, alright?" Ichika had tears in her eyes and squeezed her daughter tightly as if it was the last time she'd ever see her. 

"Mommy, what's going on?" She stared at her mother, she wanted the truth.

"Uncle Kaiyo is going to take care of you while mommy goes and gets our home back." Ichika played with her daughter's hair that draped in the front of her chest.

"You're leaving me?" Sakura let go of her mother and ran over to Kaiyo. "You're just like my daddy, he left too!" She watched her mother drop to her knees and stare at her daughter with tears in her eyes.

"No blossom-" Before she could say anything, Sakura cut her off.

"Uncle Kaiyo, I'm ready to go." He was shocked. His niece hugged his legs and pulled on the bottom of his jacket. 

"Okay Sakura, let me say bye to your mother." Kaiyo stepped away from his niece for just a second, knelt in front of his sister, and embraced her. Immediately, she hugged him back. "I will keep my promise with you, Ika. Please come back to us."

"I will, I promise." After a few minutes, he let go and took his niece to the carriage that'd take them away from Ichika. She waved goodbye until they were out of her vision. Once they were, she let the tears roll down her face.

"Sweetheart, let's go." She wiped her tears and saw Reiner standing a few meters behind her. She looked away from him and headed towards her destination.

I promise blossom, I did this for you.

A/N~

Wow, I didn't realize how short these chapters were when writing them. These don't even reach 1,500 words and the ones in my newer book hit an average of 3,500, yikes.

I might combine the first three chapters because of their length of add more plot, not sure yet.

-lizzie-senpai <3