Despite the immeasurable pain in her heart, Aibing couldn't feel anything. She was numb to everything. Before, even with an affinity towards the cold, she had still been able to feel. Feel the warmth of the sun, and the affectionate gaze her mother once gave her. However, now, there was nothing. No feelings. No emotions.
She wanted to cry, as she returned to her room silently, but no matter how hard she tried, no tears came out. She wanted to throw a tantrum, like she had when she was Mei's age. But she had no motivation to be mad.
Unsure of what was happening to her, Aibing curled herself into a ball at the side of her bed. This feeling, of not feeling anything, was scary. Even though she wasn't scared, it was impossible for her to be scared anymore, she remained in the ball-shape she had curled into for hours. She didn't know what had changed within her, but she knew she didn't particularly like it.
While her mind was left empty, with no thoughts on how to change her current situation, she remembered the book left to her by He Xioali. She hated books. Everyone in the city knew it. But, there was once a time, where she had loved them. They were the best thing that had ever happened to her life, but she had ruined it for herself on her sixth birthday. When she had impaled the librarian with her uncontrollable ice. Ever since then, she hadn't even so much glanced at a book, let alone open one.
Old memories, that used to make her cry, came flittering into her mind as she opened the book. However, because of the new change in her body, she was able to disregard the once painful memories. She instead looked through the book diligently. And what she saw surprised her.
Inside the book, there were more pictures than words. One could mistake it as a child's book if they didn't look closely. However, it was anything but a child's book! The pictures, and the minimal words, illustrated a Skill!
Skills, are a combination of techniques that allow one to reap massive benefits! When certain techniques are combined, a certain effect will happen. Even one difference, be it hand signals, foot placement, or even a thought, could change the overall effect.
He Xiaoli had explained to her the importance of skills time after time. Because, even one that couldn't use chakra - the thing that enabled one to physically manifest their innate power - could use a skill.
Flipping through every single page of the book, Aibing briefly looked over ever minute detail. Her teacher was prone to pranks, and she sure hoped that this wasn't one of his pranks! But, after hours of searching, she guessed that it was the real deal. But, there was only one way to truly find out. And that, was to practice it!
So practice it she did. Because of her excitement, she forgot about her exhaustion, and she went over the contents inside of the book until the sun rose.
She had been praised as a genius for as long as she could remember, but even still, she could not apply the contents in the old book. Even with eleven hours of practice, she hadn't mastered even the first step!
This skill, she had learned through her reading, was a movement skill. It was made so one could dodge any attack, and was looked upon as cowardly for many. But Hua Aibing didn't care if it was deemed as a coward's skill, she was too excited to have even gained a single skill! Beggars couldn't be choosers after all.
The cock-a-doodle-doo of the Hua's neighbor's rooster alerted Aibing of the time. She had gotten lost in the contents of the book, and only when she heard the roosters cry did she snap out of her state of immense concentration.
She immediately grabbed the book, which she now thought of as a treasure, and carefully placed it in her bag. At this time of the day, none of her family was awake. Her father would've already left to go fishing, and everyone else would be sound asleep for another hour or two. So, she eagerly left her room. But, she was surprised to see someone waiting for her in the small room that could hardly be considered a living room.
"A'Bi," the two-year old Mei whispered with an adorable smile as she spotted her older sister. She had waited up all night, knowing that her sister would try to make her escape early in the morning as she normally did. "Mei wants to go out too!"
However, Mei's determined expression changed once she realized something was different with her sister. In the past, whenever she would ignore her, there was always a hint of sorrow in her ice blue eyes. Yet, now, there was no trace of any emotions at all. The eight year old instead, was blankly staring at Mei.
Aibing didn't know what to do. Still unfamiliar with the lack of emotions when she saw her family, she couldn't think of what to do. Usually, she would ignore the little girl's desperate plea. And it would shatter her heart every time. Especially when she heard the little girl's wails. But today, it was different. She didn't fear the repercussions she'd face if she brought the child outside, but she also didn't care enough to bring her outside. She was at a standstill.
"Please?" Mei begged.
"Okay." Aibing replied. She hadn't expected herself to agree to the toddler's request, but her body had seemed to act on its own. "You can't tell anyone though."
"Okay! Okay!" Mei exclaimed quietly. She rushed to the door to put her shoes on, but she was far too young to be able to do it on her own. Aibing, however, made no attempt to help her. So Mei just stuffed her shoes on, disregarding the laces.
"Where do you want to go?" Aibing asked, unsure of what her little sister liked. It was the first time she was ever conversing with her. So of course she wouldn't know anything about her.
"Mei wants to go where A'Bi wants to go!" The toddler replied with a cute smile.
Aibing was absolutely clueless on how to respond to the two year old. So instead, she headed outside. Mei chased after her happily.
Their mother and brother were bound to wake up in an hours time, so Aibing didn't go far from the house. The two walked around the housing district halfway, before turning around to return home. Everything was sailing smoothly, until the little girl tripped on her untied shoelaces.
"Wah!" Mei cried. Her cry was loud, and was sure to gain some attention. And the one condition that Aibing had declared before leaving with her younger sister, was that no one found out about their little venture.
Mei's small hands reached out towards Aibing, desperate for her to hold onto her and reassure her that everything would be okay - that she was okay. But, there was no movement from her older sister, which made her cry even louder.
Neighbors were sure to awaken from Mei's cries, so Aibing acted rashly. She hurriedly picked up the little girl and ran as fast as she could. She ran unknowingly towards the He estate, where she stopped below a bridge that was hidden in the shadows.
She gently put down Mei, before carefully inspecting the little girl's entire body. A knee was scraped, but luckily no blood was coming from the small scratch. However, there was a bigger problem.
On the little girl's uninjured knee, a thin layer of frost had developed. An expression of horror swept through Aibing's face. But the horror was more so because she still couldn't conjure up any emotions. She should've been scared, scared that she could've killed her sister, and her future, by touching her, and scared that her family would disown her afterwards. But there were no emotions inside of her. In fact, she had only bothered with the crying child because she didn't want anyone else to hear her. Not because of a sisterly bond towards the injured youth.
"Ssh." Aibing coaxed, trying to get the little girl to quiet down. "You're okay. A'Bi's here with you." She mimicked her mother's way of calming down the baby. It was a long shot, but it was the only way she knew of that could possibly quiet down Mei. And to her shock, it worked.
"A'Bi," Mei quietly spoke between breaths, "You made my knee feel good."
It was the first time that anyone had said anything good about her uncontrollable power, and for some reason, it made Aibing collapse with laughter. A crack in the frost around her heart appeared, and a genuine smile caressed her young face as she looked at her younger sister in a new light. She knew the young child's innocence would fade away as she grew older. And when she grew, she would end up avoiding her like everyone else did. But, that didn't mean she had to ignore the little girl just yet.
"Want to see something cool?"