I sat up so fast that I hit my head on the bottom of the bed above me. I fell back to my pillow and grabbed my forehead, 

I groaned in pain, rubbing my head already noticing a welt forming. I looked around and saw my clock, realizing that I had woken up late. I groaned and cursed, I had missed morning training. I wiped the sweat off my brow and took a deep breath as I went over the dream while I still could, trying my best to calm myself down. 

'I hate that nightmare,' I thought as I groaned in annoyance when I realized I had to get up. I looked around the bare wooden walls and saw the rows of weapons, some old iron swords, staffs of different types of wood while some were studded, there were also a few silver weapons for hunting werewolves and undead too. 

I got out of my bed and and stood up, stretching, and wincing at my sore muscles and the few wounds from the arena last night. I turned to my mirror and went over the cuts and gashes on my back and chest sighing in relief as I saw they had mostly stopped bleading. That was until I turned and stifled a  groan. The sheeys were covered in dried blood. I just hoped that the blood hadnt seeped through to my mattress. It didn't get any better when I heard a voice that annoyed me almost as much as the stains. 

"Emi is going to freak," The white haired girl on the bed above me said. She laughed at me as she sat up stretching and wrapped her white monkey tail around her waist, "How are you going to explain that Ash?" 

I didn't say anything as I quickly pulled the sheets off the old mattress and threw them out the window. I'd throw them in the forge later. 

'So how are you holding up Jade, I saw you take a few bad hits in the last round?' I asked, scanning over what I could see of her small body for any injury's.  

"No worse than usual," Jade responded as she rolled her shoulder and winced in pain. "I really hate three on one fights." 

'What, is the Monkey queen scared of a...' I was cut off by an escrema stick that I bearily managed to dodge. 

"Shut up," was all she said and I decided it was better to listen. 

 I turned to my chest and mirror and grabbed a gray shirt before pulling it on with less difficulty than I was expecting. I pulled on my old brown leather jacket checked to make sure Nico didn't steal the throwing knives I keep tucked into the insides. Then I checked my brown cargo pants for blood stains while stepped into my worn pair of leather traveling boots.  

As I tamed the beast I called my hair, I checked the welt from headbutting the bottom of my bed and saw it was already gone. I sighed, thankful I healed so quickly. 

The same couldn't be said for the other wounds on my body. I looked at the deep gashes and cuts that had been disturbed and started to bleed slightly. 

'Hey Jade I need a hand,' I said. She looked over at me tiredly before groaning before getting up and grabbing a first aid kit. 

"I swear, your healing is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Jade said while she opened the kit. I sat down infront of her and pulled off my shirt again while she pulled out a pack of sutures and started to stitch the wounds closed. "You heal from broken bones and bruses almost instantly, but cuts and scratches don't heal nearly as quickly without help." 

'I know, I'm so jealous of you and Nico,' I stated begrudgingly. It would be nice to heal from flesh wounds as easily as I healed from other things. 

Jade worked in silence as she finished up my back and started stiching the gashes on my chest. 

'Thanks again Jade, I really appreciate it,' I said. I wished i could thank her with my voice, but i wouldnt know where to begin actually speaking, 'and I'm sorry for waking you up.' 

"Its nothing," she said as she finished the last cut and tied it off. "There, and try to go easy on the stitches for as long as you can, let's hope they're healed before the fight tonight." 

'Your not fighting tonight?' I asked in confusion, that wasn't normal, she usually tried to take multiple fights a week like I did.

She shook her head in obvious annoyance, "No, I tried to get one for tonight but they said someone important asked for you specifically and that all other fights were canceled."

This made me frown. People asking for specific fighters wasn't uncommon, but that was only when the person asking paid out of pocket and it wasn't cheap. Plus there is the fact that I'm not the best fighter in the arena. The only thing I have going for me is how easily I can read people's next move and how unpredictably I fight.

'That's concerning,' I said as I ran the many different scenarios in my head, very few of which were good. 'Thanks for the info Jade.'

She nodded before yawning and going back to bed as I went back to my hair. I stared at myself in the mirror. I have medium length jet black hair and piercing blue eyes. I'm not unattractive, my looks don't really buy me much in this stupid kingdom, especially since the humans had destroyed... 

I started to twist my black ring as I pushed the memory from my mind and looked around. I turned to turned to Jade when I noticed the two empty beds, 'Where are Carter and Nico?' 

"I have no idea," Jade said without even rolling over. She clearly wanted to sleep in but sadly that wasn't going to happen, "Its not my responsibility to keep up with them." 

"Hey," I heard someone say from the doorway, "You're gonna miss breakfast." 

I turned to see the guild master's aid slash babysitter, Kai, his crimson hair was perfectly styled with two red fox ears sticking out of the top of his head, and his dark green eyes shone with amusement. He had six fox tails swinging behind him and an aura that radiated kindness and strength. 

"Alright, I'm on my way," Jade grumbled while walking into the bathroom. I grabbed my silver dagger from my night stand and put it in the sheath in my boot.  

'Good morning your highness,' I said and biting my tongue to keep from laughing at what the he was thinking and earning a growl from Kai. 

"I told you not to call me that." He said as I walked towards the door and winced at the sunlight. Kai was the rightful heir to the late kitsune kingdom. He's the reason Apollo endorsed this place. Basically taking in kids from the street and into the ATF or Adventurer Traning Foundation, basically they give the kids with nowhere else to go food and somewhere safe to sleep until we reach fourteen. 

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Once kids from the ATF turn fourteen or fifteen, they generally leave, either to the guild or they try to find work or spouses. Kai is one of the two that funds the ATF with the large amount of money he and his sister Emi managed to bring from the fox kingdom. He's going on nineteen now and is one of the strongest adventurers we have. So with the help of me and a few of the older kids we teach some of the younger kids how to defend themselves, and if they have special abilities or their demihumans, we teach them how to control their abilities. 

"Where were you last night, Birger raised hell when he figured out that you left?" Kai asked while completely ignoring my question with an annoyed look on his face. 

Birger is the priest that sponsors the ATF and is probably one of the main reasons people don't burn this place down. He's a nice enough guy but he's a real stickler for the rules so we don't really get along that well. 

'I had some stuff to do,' I said simply, 'And since when do I listen to priests.' 

Kai just sighed in annoyance as he walked towards the door. As I was about to follow a ball hit me in the back of the head. 

"Sorry Ash, we didn't see you there," I turned to see two young werewolves running towards me running towards me. I smiled as they shifted back to their human appearance, two kids around seven, one with shining blue eyes and spiky blond hair and one with straight black hair, black eyes and sharp teeth. 

"It's fine," Duncan said as I threw the ball back, "Your shapeshifting is looking better, are you still having problems staying as a human?" 

"Not any more," The blond said, "The suggestions you gave us is really helping." 

'Come on, lets get some breakfast,' I said, motioning them to follow him inside. 

"But wont they be mad?" The black haired boy said sounding kind of nervous. 

"Don't worry, we're late too," Kai said as we followed him towards the building. "Just say we were doing some one on one training." 

Kai he pushed the door open fully knowing we were about to have a long day. I saw the other children smiling and waving at us as we walked through the halls, I even noticed some of the younger girls drooling over the two werewolf boys. I smiled back and kept walking. 

"Do you know where Emi went last bight?" He asked, and when I didn't answer he shrugged and started walking to a table. We looked around and noticed most of the older kids were already gone, probably to a dungeon or on a quest, even Birger was nowhere to be seen. But I looked around and saw that my little brothers had grabbed a table and were waving us over and Nico was currently having a shouting match with the raven haired fox girl in a purple kimono named Emi. I sighed when I realized that this was quickly escalating into more than an argument. 

I debated if it wouldn't be better to take the meals to go, but I grabbed Kai and said goodbye to the werewolves as we walked over. 

"You never do anything right," Emi yelled at the wolf boy, "how do you expect to be able to beat a windego if you rush in..." 

She quickly shut up when she saw me and her older brother walking up and sitting down. 

"What was this about a windego?" Kai said with a raised eyebrow. 

"So Ash, how'd the fight go last night," Carter asked trying to save his brother by changing the subject Kai glared at him. I was fighting the urge to punch my little brother for rating me out, even though I never told him where I was going last night, but decided ignoring him would hurt worse than any punishment. He knew that I had to do some jobs for the guild and a few small solo fights for the arena. The rent just keeps getting stacked on by the Lord's new tax. 

'So, how is studying going carter,' I asked, Carter is Nico's twin brother and it is pretty obvious. They were both werewolves, but they're different. Unlike most, they were born from a feral pack and couldn't transform. They both have fluffy black wolf ears and tails swinging behind them and the same emerald green eyes. The only physical difference between the two is that Nico has a large streak of white in his smoky black hair.  

But their personalities were completely different. Nico is an adventurer, he also dreams of making a name for himself in the arena. With his regeneration, he is well on his way to achieving that dream. Carter on the other hand isn't a fighter, he dreams of being an alchemist and can already . 

"I'm making pretty good progress but i cant get my potions to fully repair damage to the body yet," Carter said while pulling out a bottle filled with a red liquid, "its still only twenty percent as effective as healing magic, but I've been selling some of my potions and helping out at the guild infirmary." 

'That's great Carter,'  I said, ruffling his hair and black wolf ears, he swatted my hand away before grabbing his book and walking away. 

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my neck and put me in a headlock. I looked over my shoulder and saw a mess of long spiky white hair. The next thing I noticed was the cheeky grin with sharp looking canines and glowing red eyes that shown with a competitive light. 

"You weren't watching your back Ash," Jade said as she slightly tightened her grip on my throat. "Your getting soft." 

I broke the illusion I'd cast and went back to eating as Jade realized she was choking Nico who was really confused on why he suddenly couldn't breath. Emi burst out laughing ad I looked at Jade with a smirk on my face. 

'Nice try Jade, I saw you try to sneak up on me while Nico was talking,' I looked at Nico and smiled, "sorry nico but I had to get you back for Kai.' 

"Why do your illusions still work on me," Jade groaned in annoyance plopping into her seat to pout, her furry white tail monkey tail hanging out of the back of her Gi pants swayed angrily behind her. She yawned and grabbed the bread off my plate before taking a bite. "My eyes should make them useless." 

Jade's eyes gave her a special ability called true sight. It Basically gives her the ability to see through illusions, transformations, and see better in the dark. 

'Hey,' I complained but didn't go for it. She may be short and kind of small, but Jade is crazy strong. If she isn't careful then she will casually pull a door off its hinges or walk through a wall. 

"You know if you keep letting her steal food from you she'll never stop," Emi said with a smirk. 

'Yeah, yeah,' I grumbled as I rolled eyes and reached for my cup of coffee 

"Whatever," Emi said before swiping my coffee and draining the cup. 

'Can everyone stop stealing my food,' I complained earning evil grins from Emi and Jade. I took back my cup but threw it behind me when I realized it was empty. 

Suddenly there was a crash and a scream from outside. Before anyone could blink I was beside the window taking in the scene. 

The guild's carrage had arrived and brought more kids. This wasn't unusual, but then I saw where the scream came from I felt my body physically heat up. Among the new arrivals there was a girl around my age with fluffy white cat ears and two fluffy tails. She was being surrounded by a few of the adventurers that helped protect this place. I couldn't hear what they were saying but what they were thinking didn't help mood at all. 

Kai walked up and looked at me. He noticed my clenched fist, but he caught my arm as I went to jump out the window, trying to pull me back into my seat. 

"Don't do it, Ash," Nico said, "You have a fight later and the guards already have it out for us, we cant afford to be found out." 

I pulled my arm free, opened the window, and jumped out. I landed silently behind the men and woman that were supposed to protect this place. 

'What the hell do you think your doing,' I asked, trying to not show the rage that was building in my chest. 

"Oh, Ash," one of them said, obviously not grasping what I actually thought of what they were doing, "we were just about to get rid of this cat, you want to help?" 

All I could see in the cat girl's odd eyes was absolute terror. One of them put their hand on my shoulder only to have their fingers start to steam and turn black from frostbite. Satisfied by the scream I brushed the hand off my shoulder and faced the 'adventurers' that were supposed to protect us. 

'I'm going to say this once, I don't want to see any of you anywhere near here again,' the tone of my voice telling them just how serious I was, I also decided to actually speak to get my point across, 'If I do then you won't get off as easily as your friend over there, do you understand?' 

They all nodded and ran away as fast as they could. 

"And yet you wonder why the guards always try to arrest you," I heard Kai say like it was an every day occurrence, which it wasn't. He acted like he was pissed, but I could tell he understood and would have done the same thing had i not stepped in. "Check on the kid, I have some errands to run, I'll see you after your fight, and remember, dont let Emi join, i have. Ahard enough time keeping her from going on more dangerous quests." 

Before I could argue he disappeared in a column of fire. 

'How does he do that,' I thought to myself while shivering. 

"So weve got a newbie huh," I turned to see Jade walking over with Emi and Nico who had continued their argument about their quest involving the windego. 

I felt a tug on my sleeve, I turned to see the cat girl. Her long white hair was braided in a style you never see on orphans amd her eyes were two seperate colors, one a shining emerald green and the other a dark ocean blue. I smiled at her but noticed the look of fear on her face. 

'What's your name?' I asked. I could tell by the two tails and cat features that she was a nekomata, or a cat yokai, but that's pretty surprising, I thought they had been wiped out. 

"My name is Elizabeth," the girl said timidly before bowing, "thank you for saving me." 

I was about to tell her not to worry about it when Emi pushed me out of the way with a gust of wind. 

"Hi, my name is Emilia Chie," The fox girl said with a bow, "But you can just call me Emi, nice to meet you." 

"Hey Liz my name is Jade, its a pleasure," Jade said with a cheeky grin. 

"Liz?" Elizabeth said with a confused look. 

"Ignore her, she isn't smart enough to remember full names so she uses nic..." Nico was immediately cut off my the Haymarker that Jade threw his way that sent him flying and threw a nice sized pine. 

"Is he going to be ok?" Elizabeth asked with concern in her voice. She looked confused when Jade and Emi burst out laughing. 

I just sighed and shook my head at the unconscious wolf boy, 'Ignore them Liz, and yes he'll be fine, something like that isn't enough to do him in sadly.' 

"I heard that you bastard," Nico groaned out as he pushed himself to his feet. 

'Alright, Emi can you bring Liz inside to get some food,' I asked to which Emi nodded and led Liz inside. 

"So were headed to the guild right?" Jade asked. 

'Yeah, I have some time to kill before my match tonight so I figured I'd talk to Apollo and see if there were any jobs available,' I explained. 

"Well with how picky you are I doubt there will be many your willing to take." Nico retorted, again trying to get a rise out of me. I just smirked as we started walking towards town.