A/N

Hope you don't mind me creating a whole village of OCs over here, but we never really got to see much about Ignacia and its residents.

For the naming of foods/characters, I went with Chinese/Japanese simply because Nya wears a cheongsam (a Chinese garment) in the show and because of the whole ninja thing obviously. But it won't be too deep other than that, most things will be imagined by me so I'm not claiming to be an accurate cultural expert or anything.

I hope you enjoy my idea of the village going forward.

Enjoy :).

♡♡♡

He fiddled with the screwdriver in his admittedly sweaty hand, pacing around the shop until he ran out of breath.

"The Four Weapons," read the sign above it. For a lonely blacksmith shop on top of a hill, it sure was a strange one. But it was also where the girl lived, at least according to the lady from yesterday.

He looked at the screwdriver again, like it was taunting him.

He did want to return it, but butterflies filled his stomach every time he thought about speaking with her again.

He was a generally nervous person, sure, but something was different that time.

He took a peek inside the shop, only seeing another boy his age in there, messing with the swords behind the counter.

As goofy as his actions were, he did look scary with his spiky hair, scarred eyebrow (though not as bad as the notch on his), and of course, the fact that he was holding a long, sharp katana in his hands.

Slowly, he went inside, the boy stopping immediately as he did so.

He straightened his back, his eyes following Jay's every step as he approached.

Jay gulped, preparing for the worst.

"Hi," he said.

"If you're here to talk to me about prophecies like that old guy from before, then get out," the boy said firmly, not breaking eye contact.

His eyes widened slightly when realisation hit him.

He was his future teammate?

He was the girl's brother?

No, maybe he had come to the wrong house... There were plenty of lonely blacksmith shops on top of hills, right?

Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask...

"No, no, I'm just a normal stranger," he lied through his teeth with an awkward grin. "Um, is your sister here?"

It was as if alarms had gone off in the guy's head; just his gaze told him that he had messed up.

"Out," he simply told him.

"Excuse me?"

"Out."

He poked him with the katana, holding it behind his back as he lead him outside.

"Wait, I just wanted to return this!" He held the screwdriver up for him to see, but he just snatched it out of his grip and sighed.

"I'll return it," he said. "Are you happy now?"

He was finally out of the shop.

But instead of standing up to him, he put his hands in his pockets and sighed.

"Yeah..."

And as he walked away shamefully, all he could think of was the new friend he had lost.

♡♡♡

From the moment she had left the restaurant, her mind was too occupied to think properly.

She was all too curious to find out even more about the strangers, specifically the one that had stood up for her.

And that vision...

No, not now.

Nya hated feeling like the damsel in distress, everyone and their mother knew that.

But just this once, she couldn't help but appreciate his courage. I mean, her brother's friends had always been jerks no matter which way she sliced it.

Yet, her brother had no idea.

They weren't the best people, but they were good actors, after all.

Whenever she stayed in her little world, it would only make her appreciate having her own room.

Well, having anything out of the ordinary was a luxury, especially in a village like that.

Her brother never really explained why he wanted to move in their parents' room. Ms Bao would always joke about how he "didn't want to deal with girl business" now that she had gotten older, but she always brushed it off as a harmless tease.

Whatever the reason, she was thankful for having her own little (literally little, the room could barely fit their two beds when they were younger) space to lose herself in.

She hugged her pillow and tried to rest when a knock was heard on the door.

Her brother smiled as he entered. "Hey."

"Greetings, porcupine."

Her laugh didn't last as he pulled out her screwdriver from his pocket.

"So... I'm assuming your porcupine brother shouldn't give you this," he said, smirking as he fiddled with it playfully.

It all came back to her. She jumped out of her bed, snatching it from his arms.

She smiled at him thankfully. "Where did you find it?"

He rubbed his neck nervously, his words struggling to come out. "You know... one of my... friends found it."

She didn't seem to notice his stutter, though. Instead, she sat down on the bed, looking at the tool almost... disappointed.

"Oh," she said with a frown, yet the smile never left her lips.

He raised an eyebrow, gears grinding in his brain. "Did you expect someone else?"

She couldn't hold back a nervous grin. "Me? No..."

He sighed, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Nya..."

"I know, I know... I was just curious about them, that's all."

"You know you can't just talk to strangers like that. You don't know them, they don't know you..."

"Yeah, stranger danger and all that. I know." She looked down, focusing on the screwdriver as she listened.

He turned her face towards him, placing his hands on her shoulders gently.

"Promise me to be safe, alright?"

"Kai..." She looked away. "Okay. I promise."

"Great."

He stood up, dusting himself off as he removed his coal-stained apron. "I'm gonna go hang out with Lei and the others for a bit. Can I trust you to keep the shop?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks. I don't think anyone will come by anyway, we're closing in like an hour," he said.

Suddenly, he scooped her up in a hug, spinning her around as he ruffled her hair. "You're the best little sis, you know that?" he said as she giggled like a little girl.

"Same to you," she said as he let her go.

"I'm the best little sis?"

"Haha," she did a fake laugh, but her smile was all but fake.

He threw his apron on her small workbench, rubbing his face in hopes of cleaning it. And he almost succeeded, but it wasn't like his friends were going to care about some barely noticeable coal stain on his cheek.

"Bye Nya. Thanks again."

When he finally left the room, her waving hand fell, instead reaching to pick up his dirty apron from her table.

In hindsight, she should have chewed him out for just leaving it there like that, but she couldn't bring herself to kill the mood.

She checked on the metal bird underneath; it hadn't gotten dirty, luckily.

She picked it up alongside with her toolbox, grabbed a blanket to drape over her shoulders, and finally walked out.

She set everything in place on the counter and ran back inside, grabbing an old stool and placing it behind the counter as well, giving her her own little makeshift workbench, one wider in size.

Of course, the weapons and armour behind her was not moved an inch, just in case something were to happen.

The sun was starting to set, but she didn't notice, for the candle she had lit helped her see every little detail of her invention.

When she heard footsteps, her eyes darted towards the entrance.

When she identified the figure, she smiled, discreetly rushing to fix her hair.

He finally smiled back, the warm, fading light luckily covering the red tints on their cheeks as they stared at each other nervously.

"Hi," he said, holding back a grin.

She waved at him. "Hey."