11 Chapter 11 - Growing Up II

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-Ikiru POV-

From the moment I first opened my eyes, I was trying to understand. Months later, I managed to understand. Who I was, what I was and where I was, these were the things I was most curious about. The woman who was my mother was called Mikasa. She never left me alone, she was always observing me. And there was Levi. During the months I lived, I never saw anyone else but the two of them. Mikasa and Levi talked a lot with me. But I couldn't understand them, I knew I was much smaller than them because when I looked at them, they were much bigger than me.

A month after my birth I started to make sounds, trying to imitate my mother and Levi. There were three words I heard the most. They were 'Mummy', 'Mikasa' and 'Levi'. When I could stay awake, I tried to say these words the way I heard them. From the moment I was born, it was as if I knew what I had to do. First I had to speak, and then I had to act like my mother. My mother was my role model. At two months old I started crawling, at four months old I said 'Mummy' for the first time, which made Mikasa smile so much that she kissed me every second for a week.

And finally, when I was six months old, I started walking. From the moment I started talking, I would ask my mum about everything I saw. "What is this? Why is this called that? Where is that? How does this work?" Mum answered every question patiently. As long as Mikasa was with me, nothing could make her unhappy. The first time I called her Mikasa instead of Mummy, she liked it very much. She told me to call her 'Mikasa' from now on and that I was only allowed to call her 'Mummy' on special occasions. The mansion we lived in was very big. After I could walk, I went around the whole mansion under Mikasa's supervision.

When I was eight months old, she let me go out of the mansion. That's how I learnt that the manor was in a huge forest. When I was one year old, I started studying with Levi. He taught me to read, write and many different things. I always felt something different about Levi. When I asked him about it, he was surprised. "Young Ikki, that feeling must be your Quirk. As for why I make you feel different, I'm not human. The body you see is an android. Although it has an organic appearance, it is actually a machine. I am an artificial intelligence," Levi said.

After that, Levi and I talked more about my Quirk. Mikasa was always with us. Although Levi was my teacher, he was also my doctor. He regularly checked me, observed my growth and gave me advice to make me stronger. It took us three months to finish the basics of training with Levi. After that, he started to teach me about the history of the Ackerman Clan. I was happy to know that the clan I belonged to was so deep-rooted.

The fact that my family was so strong, that they had superpowers before Quirk, made me believe that we were special. I received a full year of continuous training in clan culture and traditions. I was trained in etiquette, courtesy and of course assassination. Except for assassination, other subjects were practical training. The assassination was theoretical training. My mother kept telling Levi that I was too young to start training. But these arguments ended when I was three years old. I wanted to start training, but Mikasa didn't insist any longer.

Mikasa spoilt me very much. I knew this because I could see the irrationality of some of my behaviour, but no matter how absurd my requests were, as long as I asked, Mikasa would agree. Until I was three years old, I was being taught by Levi and I was also being taught by Mikasa. Mikasa's education was very different. She went on and on about relationships between men and women, about her superiority and mine, about how I belonged to her and she belonged to me. Everything Mikasa said made perfect sense to me. Knowing the relationship procedure the clan had followed in the past, it was obvious that my mother, Mikasa, would be my wife. I loved her very much, so I was very happy when I found out. Mikasa was very happy with my reaction and blushed every time I called her by name. Levi did not interfere with Mikasa's education and argued that it was necessary. So I trained until the age of three.

I wanted to train my Quirk, but for some reason, whenever I tried to use my power, I felt a blockage. Levi said that this was a common occurrence in Quirk's awakening after childbirth. But that answer didn't satisfy me. I wasn't like everyone else. I was superior because I had more intelligence, strength, and resources than others, but that wasn't why I felt superior. I felt superior because of my clan and my mother. Mikasa'a told me what I was meant to achieve. I had to be above everyone else, for my clan, for myself and for Mikasa.

So I began to train my body under the supervision of Levi and Mikasa. Mikasa was my partner and Levi was our master. The training began at the hell level and became increasingly difficult. I was able to keep up because my bloodline was awakened. I would do a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and squats, then run ten kilometres. This was just a warm-up. I had an hour to complete all this. After warming up, I would practice fighting with Mikasa, or rather, I would get beaten up. I thought my mother, Mikasa, would be soft on me, but after our first match I realised I was wrong.

Her face was contorted every time she hit me. She looked both sad and excited. When I saw her licking my blood off her hands, I wanted to taste her blood too, because Mikasa's face looked so dreamy. So six months passed. Every day I improved my body until I couldn't move and fought with Mikasa. Although our fights were one-sided, it was because of the difference in strength between us. I knew my battle instincts were higher than Mikasa's, and Levi realised it too. Mikasa, on the other hand, thought of nothing but tasting my blood in training. Whenever I finished my daily training, she would carry me in her arms and take me to the healing bath Levi had prepared for me.

She always got into the bath with me and washed me when I was too tired to move. Even if I wasn't tired, I knew she would wash me. I knew that when she touched me she felt as peaceful and happy as I did. Six months passed like that. One day, when we were doing our daily training, I felt something strange. I was in the middle of a run and suddenly I felt uneasy. I stopped immediately and checked my surroundings. We were training in the forest of the mansion, so there were trees all around me. The forest was very dense, trees were everywhere. When Mikasa saw that I had stopped, she asked, "What happened, Ikki, why did you stop?" Before I could answer, I saw the ugliest creature I had ever witnessed in my short life. It was coming at me from the sky.

I reacted immediately, I ran towards Mikasa and shouted "Run away from there!". When Mikasa saw my reaction, she reacted instantly. She teleported to my side, grabbed my arm and teleported us two hundred metres away again. All this happened in two-tenths of a second. After Mikasa saw my reaction, she went into battle mode. I could feel it because an incredible bloodlust was radiating from her. When I looked back to where we had just stood, I saw the ugly creature. It was five metres tall, wolf-like. It had hundreds of eyes on its face. Its mouth opened in the shape of a cross, and there were countless teeth in it. It had no hair on its body. A festering liquid oozed from its body. It had five tails.

I turned to Mikasa and asked, "Do you see what I see?" Mikasa had been very confused since I told her to run away. She knew I would never play such a joke on her. But even though she was alert, she could not sense or find any danger. As Mikasa's blood flow increased abnormally, Levi was also in our position. "I can't see anything, Ikki. I don't know what's going on, and I don't understand but don't worry, I'll protect you no matter what!" Mikasa said, knowing she wasn't lying. But she couldn't see what I saw and feel what I felt.

Whatever this monster was, it was very dangerous. After the training I had received last year, I thought this monster had a Quirk mutation, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Just as Levi was about to ask what was going on, the monster attacked me. It was too fast for me to react. I could neither move nor warn Mikasa. The monster's sword-sized claws were about to pierce my heart. My whole life flashed before my eyes. "This can't be, I can't die, Mikasa can't die!" were my last thoughts. When I woke up later, I would learn from Mikasa what happened at that moment.