Sorry this took a while to get out, just back in for the last semester of school.

-Y.A.R.N.


Jaune hit the floor with a loud thud before he quickly rolled sideways as the foot of his assailant slammed into the dirt where his face would have been. Jaune quickly rolled to his feet and raised his arms as he wasn't using his weapons, not even his shield was allowed. He had been thankful for his sparring with Ren, so far his agility and moves picked up from that training was what keeping him from being pounded to paste. Even so, Jaune constantly backed up and was beginning to panic, he couldn't hope to block the strikes his opponent had thrown at him. His arms were already bruised and he couldn't even use his aura to help him cushion the blow (as per Yang's instructions). With a pained grunt he was sent skidding back, barely able to keep on his feet rather than tumble back.

Yang grinned at him, "You're doing surprisingly well, Vomit Boy! I guess Ren really taught you some moves."

Teams JNPR and RWBY were watching with much interest, surprised at seeing Jaune still on his feet after ten minutes of physical sparring. Most of the other first years would have been down and out before five minutes had even passed.

"You have no idea, Sunfire." Jaune panted, despite the warnings his logic was screaming at him, he grinned, "I can still go on unless you want to stop…"

Yang charged forward, raining blows down on the hapless blonde knight. After a particularly vicious blow sent him tumbling into a tree, Jaune knew he had no choice. He was going to have drop this boxing stance that was focused on blocking, he was only good for blocking when he make a construct of aura or with his shield; Jaune was too lithe for blocking. He rolled his shoulders for a second and skipped sideways, opening into a new stance. He opened his hands and held them out at different lengths in front of him, and lowered them into a more relaxed pose; taking his own stance he had been practicing with Ren.

"Oh…using your other stance, huh?" Yang said.

Jaune didn't nod, or give a form of response; He centered himself and took a deep breath, 'Don't respond. Focus. Feel the different pressures from the various strike points from her body. Where she tenses, where she plans her next strike.'

Ren smiled, "It's a good thing he has kept practicing."

'Jaune really has gotten better…' Yang thought fondly, 'He isn't the loser kid who was piggy-backing on others anymore. I can feel the pressure from his stance even from here.'

Yang charged and Jaune pupils dilated as his adrenaline spiked. Yang threw a punch at him and Jaune swayed his head out of the way. He spun away and around her attempting to disengage from her immediate range. Yang swept her leg across the ground attempting to knock his feet out from under him. Jaune somersaulted over the legs and crouched on the ground almost like a panther. Jaune barely raised his front hands off the ground as he gently swayed on the balls of his feet. Jaune dashed to the side and Yang ran to intercept. She began to throw punches and kicks at him. Jaune redirected the strikes, not even trying to take the brunt of the strikes and instead sending them slanting away and swaying his upper body to evade. She threw a punch which he directed away and swayed away from an uppercut.

"Nice!" Yang complimented.

"Smart move." Blake commented, "He knows he can't match her strength wise, so he is practically abandoning his guard and focusing on evasion."

Yang lashed out with a kick that hit Jaune's midsection with a loud crack that made everyone except the fiery blonde wince. Jaune gritted his teeth as he threw a hammer chop that hit her side. Yang grunted slightly and winced, but smiled in an amused fashion. She threw a punch and Jaune jumped back, letting out a painful gasp as he dropped a hand to his new injury.

"Not bad, I almost felt that one." She commented.

"*Hah* sorry I am not much of a hand-to-hand combat guy… *Pant*" He managed.

Jaune's knees wobbled and Pyrrha who had been watching the match, decided her leader had been through enough, "Alright, enough. Jaune is about to collapse."

Jaune sighed and his body began to glow faintly with his white aura as he forced it through his damaged body, "Maybe a break wouldn't be a bad idea."

Yang shrugged, "Fair enough, no point in this if you're about to collapse as it is."

Jaune grunted and prodded at his injured side as he sat down, "Ow…Jeez Yang, I would tell you to lighten up, but you're already holding back…"

Yang grinned and gave Jaune a slight rap on the forehead, "True, little grasshopper."

"Yang…" He whined, swatting at her hand, despite his recent fight, he was grinning.


[Days Later]

Pyrrha and Yang were walking to class when Jaune appeared around the corner holding a stack of papers and talking to Ruby, who had a stack of papers like his.

"Hey Vomit Boy! Hey sis!" Yang said cheerily.

Jaune rolled his eyes, but smiled, "Hello Sunfire, hey Pyrrha."

Ruby grinned, "Hiya, Yang and Pyrrha."

"Hey Jaune, you ready for the outing tonight?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh yeah! Almost forgot about that!" he said, eyes widening for a moment, "I would slap my forehead, but my hands are full. Anyway, let's go Ruby, we need to get these to Obleck's office."

With a wave Jaune and Ruby departed and Yang turned to Pyrrha, "What outing?"

Pyrrha blushed a bit, "Well it's more of an unofficial date."

Yang felt a bit angry, but shook it off, "Ohhh, how'd he ask?"

"He didn't, neither did I…really…" Pyrrha murmured.

"Explain please."

"I told him we should have a small bite to eat and discuss strategy and stuff. Hopefully I can turn it into more of a date-like conversation if I play the cards right." Pyrrha said.

"Oh, okay." Yang said, feeling oddly relieved that Jaune was unaware that it was supposed to be a date, 'Of course I just don't want him to be embarrassed, that's all. It wouldn't be fair for Pyrrha to trick him and be too forward.'

Yang was just looking out for one of her friends and/or pupil, in a way.

That's all it was.


Yang was distractedly poking at her dinner, stabbing the food and pushing it off the fork, Blake was sitting next to her and noted her silence was going on for longer than two minutes, rather than teasing the only available 'couple' at the table.

Obviously something was wrong.

"So what's got you depressed?" Blake asked casually.

Weiss and Ruby broke off mid-conversation to listen in. Team JNPR had already arrived but Jaune and Pyrrha had both gone to town on their little 'not-date'. Nora stopped chatting with Ren (Ren was actually just listening) and looked at Yang.

Yang looked up, a bit surprised, "I am not depressed! I am just wondering about how Jaune and Pyrrha are doing on their little acting."

Weiss frowned, "How does that even concern you?"

Yang waved her hand in an offhand manner, "Well, it's supposed to be some sort of 'not-date' date, according to Pyrrha. I am just wondering if and how Jaune is taking the bait, if Pyrrha is laying it out."

Nora giggled, "Pyrrha playing pretty aggressively as of late. I asked why, but she didn't think she was doing anything different."

Blake shrugged, "I dunno, people tend to ignore it if they are doing something out of character, even if they think about and realize it, they want to remain ignorant."

Yang snorted, "Really, that makes us all sound like idiots or cowards who can't handle the truth of a matter."

Blake shrugged, "Most people are."


Yang stepped out for a glass of water when she noticed Jaune and Pyrrha were walking back to the dorm. Jaune grinned as he chatted while Pyrrha was laughing, an uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Yang ignored it and forged on forward, she needed to check with the infirmary to see if she was coming down with something; she hated being sick. Jaune waved eagerly as he passed by.

"Sup Sunfire?" he asked.

"Not much, you guys almost are past curfew." Yang said.

"Yeah, well Pyrrha insisted that we go for a walk, it was nice, but we didn't talk much strategy though, but hey, what can you do? At least it was a lot of fun." Jaune said shrugging.

"Okay Jaune, let's get to bed, I don't want to get caught by any of the professors this late." Pyrrha said, blushing a bit.

"Ah, okay then. Night, Sunfire, sleep tight." He said, yawning as he finished.

"Likewise, don't let the bed bugs bite." Yang said smirking.

Jaune flashed a grin, "You got it."


Jaune was walking in the hall when he fell, thanks to a foot stretched out in front of him, courtesy of three upperclassmen.

"Wahh!" He cried as he hit the floor with a thud.

"Watch where you're going freshie."

Jaune had the urge to fight, but bit his lip so hard it began to bleed a bit, "Yeah, whatever."

'Peace, they'll leave you alone. Peace, they'll leave you alone.' He chanted in his head.

He got up and was shoved again. And again.

Fine.

Let's see if his training actually got him anywhere.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR ASSHOLES' ISSUE?!" He yelled, shoving them off.

"Hey, fresh, keep your mouth in line, otherwise you might find yourself waking up in the hospital!" one of the upper classmen growled.

"Make me." He replied icily, subconsciously shifting into a more defensive stance.

One of the upperclassmen threw a punch and Jaune ducked under it and retaliated with an uppercut, catching the student under the jaw. Before the student could focus himself, Jaune threw a left hook and a high kick. As the student went down in a heap, Jaune took a boxing stance and dodged several punches and kicks. He blocked the other student and bunted him in the direction of this approaching teammate, who stepped sideways and attacked Jaune with a punch. Jaune activated his aura and the student yelled in pain as he punched the boy's forehead.

"You guys don't even hit a quarter as hard as my trainer." He growled and kicked the student in the ribs.

The last student grabbed a candelabra from the hall and swung it at Jaune. Jaune ducked and rolled back, covering his arms with aura. One of the upperclassmen got up and grabbed Jaune's arm; Jaune punched him. Before Jaune could turn thought, the candelabra hit him square in the stomach. Jaune hit a table with crash as the table collapsed. Jaune shook off the pain, rolled, and grabbed one of the table legs and batted away the candelabra before chucking it at the other student and knocking him out. He began to block the candelabra with his arms covered in aura, even getting in a few hits despite the candelabra's range, but stumbled on a piece of the broken table as he stepped back. Jaune tried to steady himself but next thing Jaune knew the candelabra whipped across his face and there was burst of pain on his face as he fell back.

The upperclassmen raised the candelabra as he growled, "Nighty night fresh."

Jaune raised his arms over his head, tasting the metallic tang of blood in his mouth as a loud clang echoed through the halls.

Jaune opened his eyes and saw a familiar blonde, hair glowing with unbridled fury as she blocked the metal from hitting his body with one of her gauntlets.

"What? The? Hell? Do? You? Think? You? Are? Doing? To? My? Jaune?" Yang very nearly snarled.

The student didn't even get a chance to scream as Yang threw a punch into his face and there was a loud crunch. She threw the candelabra down and stalked forward intent on beating the students into a bloody pulp. Jaune quickly got up and grabbed her shoulder.

"Sunfire, it's okay, it's not worth getting in trouble over!" he said.

She glared at the downed form of the students, who were crawling away, "But they-"

"Hey." Jaune said softly, grabbing both of her shoulders and forcing her to look at him, "I am fine, okay, Yang?"

"Jaune, you're not okay! You're bruised and bleeding!" she yelled, getting ready to chase down the fleeing upper classmen.

"My aura will fix those in a jiffy! Just calm down Sunfire." He said staring into her red eyes.

She blinked and sighed as her eyes returned to their normal lilac color, "Alright." She sighed.

He smiled, "Thank you, for helping me."

She smiled, "You weren't doing too badly, but when you got knocked down I lost it."

He frowned, "Yeah, that table piece rolled farther than I expected."

Yang was suddenly hyper-aware of how close Jaune had pulled her when he was trying to calm her down. She could faintly feel his breath on her chin and lips. She unknowingly licked her lips and leaned forward to-

Just then professor Ozpin walked around the corner, pulling those three upperclassmen in tow, "Jaune, Yang? Were you the one who assaulted these students?"

Yang sprang away, whirling to face the teacher and three students as Jaune stood beside her.

Yang eyes nearly turned red again, "No! They were bullying Jaune! He was only defending himself!"

"Be that as it may, I will have to punish those involved in the fight." Ozpin sighed somewhat unhappily, knowing Yang and Jaune were probably right.

Jaune cut in, "Yang was only helping me to my feet! She didn't participate at all!"

The upperclassmen punched by Yang retorted, "That's bullcrap!"

"Language." Ozpin said sharply, "Is this true Ms. Xiao Long?"

Yang was torn, she didn't want to call a liar and get him a more severe punishment, but she also knew she was at fault.

She lowered her head, "Yes."

Jaune smiled at her, "Sorry for almost implicating you."

Yang frowned at him as he smiled sheepishly.


Jaune and the other students were given a detention, Jaune was helping clean the grounds while the upperclassmen were made to sit under Glynda Goodwitch's watchful eye and complete assignments. Jaune didn't mind, he finished pretty quickly and made his way back to his room in order for a quick shower before he went down for dinner. As he walked down the hall he was yanked into Team RWBY's room. He saw Yang throw him on the floor. She sat on Blake's bed arms crossed and expression cold.

"Um...hi?" Jaune somewhat-stated, somewhat-asked.

"Why?" Yang asked, she got to the point immediately.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you let me get in trouble too?"

Jaune sighed, "I felt that you didn't deserve it, especially since you were only trying to help me out."

Yang frowned, "Even so..."

"No buts, nothing too bad alright, I just had to clean up and do some dirt work, I did plenty of that back home, so I am alright." He grinned sheepishly, "You already have plenty on your plate I am sure. Trust me, it's no problem, I have been trying to keep ahead on my work as of late, so I had some free time anyway."

Yang still wasn't convinced, "Still I wouldn't have minded, I am sure it would have beaten homework in interest."

"Sunfire! You actually need to study, don't lump it on your sister and team to help, I am sure if you actually try to get the material it won't be too hard to understand!"

"You sound like my dad!" Yang complained.

"Eheh, sorry. I just don't want you left behind at all, you deserve to be the best." Jaune said smiling brightly, "Anyway, I am going to take a quick shower, I want to get a chance to eat some dinner."

He gave her shoulder a firm squeeze and was about to leave when she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug, "Thank you."

He froze for a moment before he blushed and stuttered out, "Um… i-it's no p-problem!"

Jaune patted her clumsily on the back, pulled out of the hug, waved awkwardly, and hurried out the door. Yang fell back on the bed, exasperated and slightly embarrassed for some reason. Warmth blossomed in her chest as she remembered his embarrassed expression, and laughter bubbled up into her throat at the feeling of him freezing up when she hugged him. He was really cute, and kind as well.


Jaune sword flashed as it clanged against Cardin's mace. Jaune didn't even try to overpower him and spun away, Jaune hooked two fingers through the loops of his knives and threw them at Cardin. He swung his mace and knocked them out of the air with a sneer. The sneer abruptly gave way to a shocked expression as he saw a two crescent moons heading straight for his face. A white hot burst of pain spread all over his face and he tumbled back. Jaune rolled over him using his shield and Cardin's aura dropped into the red.

"Enough! Good work, Mr. Arc." Glynda called.

"Thank you ma'am." Jaune replied smiling, color high in his cheeks.

Cardin got up and scowled angrily, 'That scrawny blond…"

Though he still owed Jaune, he resented the fact that Jaune was becoming better than him in leaps and bounds due to his trainers. Cardin intended to slam his mace down in a show of anger, but it slipped out of his grasp and flew towards the blonde knight. Jaune had his back turned and was unaware of the threat.

Cardin eyes widened in alarm, "Oi! Jaune! Watch out!"

Jaune turned to see the mace approaching him at an alarming rate. The mace struck the knight across the face with a loud crack. Jaune gave a cry of pain and tumbled off the stage onto the floor below with a thud. Everybody froze for a second in horror, staring at the dark pool forming around the motionless knight's head. Goodwitch didn't hesitate and dashed forward after breaking through the initial shock, completely ignoring the grey armor-clad hunter in training.

Yang screamed first, "Jaune!"

The knight's friends made cries of shock and horror as they crowded around him, Yang shrieked, "Someone call a stretcher!"

They called a stretcher in and quickly began to wheel him towards the infirmary. Both Teams JNPR and RWBY abandoned the classes to wait for their friend. Yang was in a state of near hysteria, Pyrrha couldn't stop pacing, Ren was trying to calm himself and a worried Nora, Blake drummed her fingers on her knee, Weiss was seated and staring at the doors, While Ruby was trying to calm Yang down. An hour later the doctor came out smiling slightly.

"He will be okay," He said, "he came to pretty quickly and the first thing he asked for was the license plate of the mace, nearly broke his neck but his aura was patching him back up at an fast pace, almost nothing for us to do when it came for the head blow, a few bandages and some rest will heal the head. The neck will need a day or two with a brace."

"Oh thank god." Yang sighed, slumping into a seat.

The two teams crowded into the room to see Jaune with his eyes closed and propped up on the bed, pale but unarguably alive. He was hooked up to a blood bag but was otherwise was okay. He opened his eyes and looked at them his expression brightened.

"Hey guys." He said weakly, "Sorry to worry you."

Yang shook her head, "Why are you sorry, you idiot? If anyone will be sorry it'll be that idiot Cardin…"

"Sunfire, leave him alone, it was an accident, besides he warned me, if I hadn't turned it might have popped open the back of my skull and then I probably would have a sheet over my face." He said tiredly.

Everybody cringed and Yang restrained herself from slapping the injured knight upside the head, "DON'T. JOKE. ABOUT. THAT."

"Sooo…" Ruby said awkwardly, "How long are you down for?"

Jaune shrugged, "A day or two, nothing too bad, my aura was keeping my head from spewing too much blood out, but they want me here taking it easy. I don't see why though, I feel fine."

Pyrrha shook her head "Jaune you nearly broke your neck, you must at least of had a major concussion. You shouldn't try to move at all."

"Well fine…Can I at least get food from the cafeteria?" He asked hopefully.

Yang responded, "Sure, I'll it to you, alright Vomit Boy?"

Jaune glowered at her trying not to roll his eyes.


Yang was in her dorm room staring at the ceiling, thinking about Jaune.

Not bad, right?

Wrong.

She had been watching him talk with Pyrrha, smiling like the goofy teen he is when and unrecognizable feeling rose up in his chest. She frowned and wanted to pull Pyrrha away from him and make him smile, she wanted to be where Pyrrha was. She didn't understand what the problem was either, Pyrrha was a kind and loyal person. If anything Yang should be grateful that she wasn't a stuck up jerk because of all her achievements. These confusing thoughts and feelings played mayhem in her head when Yang suddenly realized exactly what she was feeling.

Jealousy.

And if she was jealous of Pyrrha (who was talking to Jaune), that could only mean one thing, which was scary in itself.

Yang Xiao Long, arguably one of the most powerful brawlers to ever enter Beacon...

...was falling for Jaune Arc, the oblivious, cute, and goofy blonde knight.

Lord Monty Oum in heaven, she was in trouble.