Okay, so this chapter'll feature a bunch of time skips, so I'm sorry if that turns some of you off from this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. It belongs to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.

...R.I.P. Monty :-(

Kuro trekked and trekked and trekked some more. He was alone again as he had left the house of Taiyang, Qrow, Ruby, and Yang.

That was three years ago...

Kuro had stayed with them much longer than anticipated. He stayed for a total of one year as opposed to the one night that he had originally planned. The reason for his extended stay: his friendship with Ruby and Yang.

Ruby was like the younger sister that Kuro never had. She was, to be blunt, downright adorable and he usually fought the urge to just hug her senseless. Although, he was a bit weirded out about her insatiable appetite for sweets despite Taiyang, Qrow,and Yang's advice that she eat healthier. That was something that she vehemently denied to Kuro's great amusement.

Yang, on the other hand, was fun to be around. Her rowdy mannerisms always brought a smile to Kuro's face. Although, Kuro noticed that she was a bit... huggy (Yeah, like that's totally a word). One minute she'd be acting like her normal rambunctious self and the next Kuro would find himself within her crushing grasp as she kept getting stronger every day. Another thing was that he wished that she would settle for not shamming her finger up his nose to wake him up every morning.

When Kuro told everyone that he had to leave, the girls were devastated. Ruby had started to cry and begged him not to go and Yang wasn't that far behind. It took one more day out together for them to accept his departure. Before he set off finally, Ruby had given him a crayon drawing of the three of them to remember them by and Yang...

...Yang settled for a peck on the cheek, leaving him a red faced, stuttering mess for the next half hour.

Now at the age of eleven, Kuro arrives at the city of Vale. The dark gray clouds gave everything a depressing look and foreshadowed heavy rainfall. He silently complained about the choice of weather and whatever omnipotent being that's up there having a dark sense of humor. He had made it to the center of town when he heard a commotion. After turning a few corners, Kuro bore witness to a rather sad sight.

Walking down the road towards him was a large crowd of people. But these people weren't ordinary for he saw numerous appendages that usually only belonged to animals ranging from ears to wings to tails (and one guy with a REALLY really long neck). They collectively held up signs with words of protest as they yelled out towards everyone until their throats burned.

As they came closer, Kuro could feel their words fading towards his field of hearing and abruptly stopped and gawked as many others did. He had a look of sadness on his face as he read the signs.

'Stop this harshness!'

'We are people, too!'

'Liberty to Faunas!' That last word struck something within Kuro.

'So that's what they're called? Faunas?' Kuro thought morbidly. He remembered hearing people making racist comments about Faunas and he even believed that one of them tried to make him see things through their eyes. But Kuro would rather see things from a third party and refused.

As soon as his reminiscence was over, one thing had finally caught his eye. Or rather... one person: a girl. She had dark, shoulder length hair and amber colored eyes. On top of her head were two black cat ears which Kuro thought were absolutely adorable. She walked a considerable distance behind them, but was just as determined as the rest of the crowd. Her raised voice was screaming out for equality amongst their people and humans.

The crowd of Faunas marched onwards towards a large building. The Schnee Dust Company Building. Soon after they reached and surrounded the building, the guards had appeared to try and ward the crowd off. The Faunas were quite persistent. They would not go down without a fight. The one Faunas girl stopped and looked around to see if they had gotten through to at least someone in the surrounding area. Soon, her eyes lay upon a certain boy in a red coat and a red scarf who was looking at the crowd with a look of sadness and sympathy.

Unfortunately, her attention was turned towards a new batch of guards carrying a yellow, gemlike object. They threw the gem which revealed the common crowd control item called Dust. This one, in particular, causes loss of consciousness if inhaled. Kuro instinctively reached for his bow once he heard the crowd coughing violently. He almost drew it when he saw one container of Dust fly towards the cat eared girl. With no time to waste, Kuro ran in her direction and shoved her away, causing her to drop onto the ground and drop her sign. Dust spread all around Kuro and he ended up inhaling it.

He started coughing much like the group of Faunas who were falling one by one from the Dust in the air. His legs started to give out and he fell to his knees, still coughing and wheezing. He used whatever strength he had left to crawl onto the sidewalk as his vision slowly blurred and turned black. The last thing he saw before blacking out was a pair of concerned and terrified eyes.

After slipping back to the land of the conscious again, Kuro jolted up only to find himself in a tiny, makeshift bed in an abandoned warehouse. He was wrapped in newspaper to act as blankets. His mind had a relapse of events: walking into a huge city, the crowd of people protesting, guards throwing stuff at them, and then... the girl with the cat ears! His mind was screaming at him to get up and go find her, but he found out that he didn't need to-

"Are you okay?"

-because said Faunas girl was already sitting next to him, patiently waiting for him to wake up. She didn't wait for Kuro to respond as she placed her hand on his forehead. Kuro rose an inquisitive eyebrow before gently grabbing her hand (he internally grimaced when she flinched from his touch) and finally speaking.

"Wait... Don't we have his backwards? And why are we in an abandoned warehouse?"

"You were the one who passed out from... you know..." the girl deadpanned.

"Okay, but what about where we are right now?"

"I... live here..." she said sadly.

"Oh, geez! I'm so sorry... uhh..."

"Blake. Blake Belladonna," Blake introduced herself.

"Okay then, Blake. I'm Kuro. And I'm sorry for asking such a bad question..." Kuro apologized

"It's okay. You asked a question, I answered."

"Well, I don't want the answer if telling me makes someone sad." Kuro said with conviction. Blake stared at him incredulously for a few moments.

"I guess it's now my turn to ask a question..." she said coyly.

"Well, shoot."

"Why did you help me back there?"

"Because..." Kuro drew a blank. "Actually, I'm not sure. Why do you ask? Was I not supposed to?"

"You do know that I'm a Faunas, right?" Blake asked with a gleam of hope in her eyes.

"Yeah, so...?"

"And you're a human..."

"Yeah, so...?" Kuro repeated.

"Don't you hate me... Us?" Blake asked grimly.

"Well, no I don't hate you. Why would I? We've only just met. As for hating Faunas: again, why would I? Is it really a crime to be so different from others?"

"How do I know you're not lying?" Blake's expression darkened, both surprising and scaring Kuro.

"Well, what do I need to do to prove that I'm not?" Blake was about to answer before Kuro cut her off. "Oh, wait! I know!"

Kuro grabbed Blake's hand and pulled her back to the outside. He ran with her back towards a mini market in the city. He looked both ways before turning to face the cat Faunas hiding behind a dumpster.

"Stay here. I'll be back soon," Blake nodded hesitantly and Kuro sped off. After about five minutes, he returned with one hand behind his back.

"Blake, I've a present for you. Two, in fact," he said with a warn smile. Blake rose an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"You'll have to close your eyes first," Kuro replied while swaying a little bit. Blake rolled her eyes before closing them as per Kuro's request. Her ears picked up the sounds of Kuro's sneakers hitting the pavement as he walked closer. The next thing she felt was something wrapped around her cat ears and her shoulders. She then felt Kuro lead her in another direction before stopping.

"Okay, you can open them now." Blake slowly opened her eyes and stared into a mirror inside the store Kuro had disappeared into. She gasped at what she saw. Up on top of her head was a pretty black bow that did well to cover her Faunas ears and matched perfectly with her own dark hair and around her shoulders was a dark gray coat with a fur rimmed hood that vaguely matched Kuro's red one. It was a few sizes too big, but she knew she would grow into it eventually. Blake turned and looked at Kuro in disbelief.

"So, what do you think? Pretty fitting, huh? And that bow one your head will do wonders for letting you get around the city without anyone knowing what you are! Cool, huh-"

Kuro couldn't say anymore because Blake had already thrown herself at Kuro, hugging him tightly. He could see her trembling and feel her tears staining his coat. Any bystanders watching couldn't help but go "Aww" at the scene before them. Kuro blushed crimson before tapping Blake on the shoulder.

"Uh.. B-Blake... People are wa-a-atching..." Blake didn't listen to him as she just hugged him tighter.

"I love it. Thank you so much, Kuro. You're the first person that's ever been so kind to me..." Kuro frowned at this and, after he got his blush under control, hugged Blake back and gently rubbed the top of Blake's head while being careful not to move her new bow. This resulted in her purring, which tickled Kuro slightly. He bit back a laugh before whispering sweet nothings to her to get her to calm down.

When Blake's sobbing died down to occasional sniffles, he peered out the closest window and saw a small bakery. He realized that buying Blake's new clothing cut his current Lien supply by half, but he didn't care. If it made his new friend happy, then screw the money.

As if on cue, Blake's stomach started grumbling and she let out an embarrassed mewl. Kuro snickered and she punched his arm, even more embarrassed. He then walked away towards the aforementioned bakery, Blake not at all behind him.

Once inside, the duo was greeted kindly by the owner and his wife. Kuro greeted back and perused the menu to see if they had his new favorite treat: strawberry shortcake (which one of the locals in a previous town had introduced him to and now he was totally hooked). He then asked Blake if she wanted anything much to her surprise and she simply asked for a muffin. Kuro turned that into a dozen muffins. The two grew embarrassed though when the owner's wife told Kuro that he was a good boyfriend and the husband gave Kuro a discount to help out on their "date". After leaving, Kuro sighed.

"Whew... Well, that happened... I can't believe she actually thought we were boyfriend/girlfriend..."

"You don't seem to be excited about it..." Blake said bitterly.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Humph! Nothing," Blake stated harshly before walking off back to her "home".

Once they arrived, Kuro handed Blake her muffin while he cut a slice of his shortcake using the blade of his bow. They sat in comfortable silence while enjoying their treats. Blake even muttered something about wanting tuna, making Kuro laugh saying that she really can't fight her instincts.

The sky darkened as day turned into night. Kuro and Blake noticed this and both gave simultaneous yawns.

" We should probably hit the hay now... Oh!"

Kuro reached into the bag he had from the first store he went to and pulled out two sleeping bags: one black and one red. He started out by unrolling the black one and patted it, signalling that that one was for Blake.

"Thank goodness that I bought these sleeping bags for plot relevance. Really helps with this fan fiction."

Blake had no idea what this "fan fiction" was, but decided not to question it. She merely sated her body's desire to rest by entering said sleeping bag, immediately feeling comfort for the first time in years. She heard light snoring from behind her, letting her know that Kuro was asleep. She, however, couldn't as conflicting thoughts rolled in her mind.

'Am I... being selfish? Here I am receiving food, clothes, and a warm place to sleep from this... wonderful human (where did that last bit come from?) while the White Fang are out there fighting for equality..." she turned around to see Kuro's sleeping face, a tiny smile adorning it. She took in his current appearance. So blissful. So innocent and unaware.

'So cute... STOP IT, BRAIN!'

She had stared at his closed eyes for a bit while finally coming to a conclusion.

'Tomorrow... I'll spend the day with him and then that night I'll tell him that I have to go...' Blake finalized before taking off to the realm of sleep.

The next morning, Blake woke Kuro up, asking him to spend the day with her. Kuro agreed without hesitation. Throughout the day, they visited many places, making memories of each. Blake had even marked this as the greatest day of her life, but she knew it wouldn't be perfect when the sun had gone down to reveal the waning gibbous moon. Kuro and Blake sat on the docks, testing dangling over the moonlit waters.

"Thank you, Kuro." Blake said out of the blue. Kuro turned his head to her, his silly smile still present. Blake saw this and her own smile faltered a bit.

'Stop looking at me with that smile. You're making this harder than it needs to be...' Kuro didn't notice it and merely asked.

"Hm? Why are you thanking me?" Blake placed a hand over her heart.

"For everything you've done for me. You showed me so much kindness. So much that I think that I'll explode... And that's why this choice was hard to make..."

"What choice?" Blake stood up in silence while fighting back tears. She let out a deep exhale before looking Kuro, who also stood up, in the eyes.

"I've decided... to go back to the White Fang..." she stated hesitantly, not looking Kuro in the eyes after saying it.

Kuro's eyes widened and he felt his heart shatter. This was his third friend (if you can call it that since they've only known each other for a day...) and now she's basically saying that she's leaving him. It was heart break to say the least. His eyes began to water and a few sniffles were made apparent. Blake, not know I g what else to do, hugged Kuro while rubbing his back. They said nothing until Kuro broke the silence.

"Why, Blake? Why do you have to go?" he said in between sniffles.

"Because, Kuro, I can't just selfishly abandon my race just because one person is so good to me. I need to be there to help our cause. And it's a hard objective, but not impossible. But we need all the Faunas we can get."

As if on cue, shouting could be heard coming from the city beside them. Blake and Kuro looked on in sadness. Kuro steeled his nerves before looking at Blake, tears still in his eyes but a hard expression was on his face.

"Well? What're you waiting for? An invitation? Your people need you, Blake. Go!" Blake nodded and ran forward, but not before Kuro grabbed her hand.

"But... I want to give you something to remember me by, okay?" he said as he moved closer towards her. He then removed his red scarf and wrapped it around her neck.

"You're giving me your scarf? Why..."

"Like I said: I want you to remember me. And that scarf will totally help with that! I'm gonna call it 'The Cloth That Binds Us!'"

Blake merely giggled softly before pecking his left cheek.

"Goodbye, Kuro. I'll never forget you..." she turned and walked away with Kuro waving at her.

'I get it. This is a sign... That there's still hope for us Faunas. Thank you, Kuro... You helped me see that by being there for me. By being... my first real friend...' Blake thought as she ran her hand across Kuro's red scarf. She looked at Kuro from the side only to see that he had already left. She smiled despite herself as she integrated into the crowd of White Fang members.

'I'm so glad I got to meet you.'

Six Years Later...

A seventeen year old Kuro walked impatiently around the airship flying directly towards Beacon. The airship itself was luxurious, furnished with deep carpets, couches and even vending machines. Kuro mainly hung around the vending machines for two-thirds of the trip. He whistled a tune to himself with his hands behind his head in a chill position. His time alone was interrupted by the sound of retching. In front if him was the gross sight of a blond boy hunched over a waste bin, releasing the contents of his stomach while everyone who passed grimaced. Kuro groaned and went over to the poor guy and rubbed his back.

"Seriously, Jaune... You just had to forget to pack the stomach medicine..." Kuro chided. Jaune merely stared back at him with a disgruntled expression. Kuro could've sworn he saw his face turn green.

"It's not my fault! You could've reminded me or Mom and Pop beforehand!"

"We DID! Joseph and Juniper did more times than me." Jaune groaned.

"Damn it... Hurrgg-!" Jaune felt another round come on and Kuro let his surrogate brother's back and turned around muttering.

"I can't believe we're somewhat related...

For you confused people out there, Kuro had been adopted by the Arc family when their only son, Jaune, had befriended him and learned that he was orphaned. The two got along swimmingly, despite Kuro constantly making fun of him for his motion sickness. To this day, they have been "brothers" for three years and had both applied and got accepted to the prestigious Beacon Academy.

In terms of apparel, Jaune wore a simple black hoodie and blue jeans. He had chest plate armor and shoulder pads. He wears two belts in a cross fashion with a small pouch strapped onto one of them. He wears brown fingerless gloves and has his family's sword, Crocea Mors, strapped to his side along with his shield which doubles as a sheathe for the sword.

Kuro, however, went through a major fashion change. His hair had grown considerably as he now wears it in a ponytail. He wears light blue ear piercings, three on each ear. His battle wear consists of a black, sleeveless, high collared, zip-up vest, over which he wears another one, this one brown with flame motifs coming from the bottom ending at just his midriff. He has two belts wrapped around his midriff and over the brown vest. Both vests are skintight, showing his lean yet muscular build. He wears black wristbands with one red stripe and studs on top of the single stripe and light blue, fingerless gloves. He wears a long, black cloth around his waist with white edging, a studded belt with a pale gold buckle, baggy black pants tucked under white and cyan boots with his name emblazoned on the tongue with four emeralds on the counter, black laces, a black lining just over blue soles, and black heels with a thick, red metal on the back. His most prominent choice of clothing is a red scarf around his neck, similar to the one he had as a youth. Walking away from the degenerate, vomiting blond, Kuro rounded a corner nearby.

He stopped abruptly when a projection of a woman appeared and spoke about a recent robbery involving Roman Torchwick.

...Kuro grimaced at that accursed name. His face turned into a dark scowl as he clutched his neck through his scarf.

Although, setting his anger aside, Kuro took a minute a look over the woman's appearance. She looked no older that in her early to mid thirties. He saw her platinum blonde hair done in a neat and professional fashion, her enchanting green eyes hiding behind square rimmed glasses, and her pale complexion with a stern and focused expression. She wore a simple white blouse and black skirt hemmed sharply just above the knee.

'Oh, I bet she's a real life of the party...'

"Good afternoon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I am a professor here and would like to welcome you to Beacon Academy. For a while, we have experienced a wondrous time of peace and now it lays on you as future hunters and huntresses to uphold it. We will be arriving at our destination soon, so please make proper preparations for an easy landing."

'Don't gotta tell me twice...' Kuro thought continued on his way before colliding with something and falling on the floor with a subtle thud.

"Ow... Hey, watch it, will ya?!"

"Ugh... Hey, now. No need to get testy..." Kuro said as he grimaced from the fall and rubbed the back of his head.

"You know what? I'm about ready to-" It was then that their eyes met. Kuro's ultramarine eyes met a calm and gentle lilac. He stared at the young woman with back length golden hair in front of him. Her attire consisted of an orange scarf around her neck, and a brown leather jacket under which was a yellow t-shirt marked with what appeared to be a burning heart. The jacket was open at the front giving a generous view of her sizeable cleavage.

'I'm going to do my best to keep looking straight...'

Anyways... the rest of the blonde's outfit was her lower legs being covered by her knee high platform boots and on her left leg was tied a single piece of blue cloth. Around her waist was hung a strange half-skirt, it covered her behind but left the front open allowing view to her black short-shorts.

Kuro looked astonished on the outside, but on the inside he was cheering. He'd recognize those eyes anywhere. It's freakin' Yang! He was ecstatic to finally see a familiar face around here. Although, the problem was: Does she recognize him? He pushed away this question in favor of standing up and offering his hand to her. Yang accepted it, but still held that annoyed look on her face.

"S-Sorry... I guess I really wasn't paying attention to where I was going..." Kuro blushed and scratched his cheek in embarrassment. Yang, on the other hand, settled for studying him thoroughly. Her eyes had a glint that said she liked what she saw. Upon seeing Kuro's blushing face, she immediately picked up on who was and a sly smirk decorated her flawless face.

"Well, you always did have two left feet..." Yang mentioned.

"Yeah, that's usually... Wait, what?" Kuro stopped mid-sentence when he felt a pair of soft lips on his cheek. After a while, the feeling went as away and Kuro's eyes grew extremely wide.

"You remember me, don't you? 'Hedgehog?'" Kuro grimaced at being called by his stupid nickname before sighing.

"Yeah, I do. 'Ember...'"

"Lame..." Yang said flat-toned.

"Hey, it was either that or 'Sunflower.' Take your pick..."

"Sunflower sounds cool."

"Okay, then..."

"KURO!"

"What the-AAAAAAGH!" Kuro had zero time to react before a black blur pinned him to the carpet floor. Taking a moment to sit up he saw a familiar head of short black hair that faded to red coupled with shining silver eyes with held a gleam of admiration. She wore a dark red cloak that ended to around her kneecaps. The rest of her attire was a corseted skirt of red and black with a plain black belt with a rose buckle. Kuro deduced since Yang was here then that meant this girl was-

"You've grown up a little bit, Ruby." Ruby lifted her head and angrily pouted at the older boy.

"Yeah, right! Try 'a lot!'"

"Sure, whatever, Rosebud..."

"Nice to see you, too, Hedgehog..." Ruby bopped Kuro's head, just like she did whenever she thought Kuro was asleep during their year together. Kuro, accustomed to this, simply rolled his eyes before forcing Ruby off of him.

"So, why are you on an airship heading to Bea-" Kuro connected the dots on this one. "...No way.." he gave an amused smile.

"Way. Rubes here got accepted to Beacon, too!" Yang explained as she slung her arm over Ruby's shoulders.

"Wow! Well, that's a thing..."

"Hey! No stealing lines now." Yang chastised and Kuro rolled his eyes. "Though more importantly-" Yang's tone took a seductive turn, somewhat scaring Kuro. She then traced a finger sensually up his left arm, copping a feel on his chiseled features.

"I'm more interested in these big arms you've got. And the things that we could do with them..." she whispered that last one in his ear, making him freeze.

"Yang! Kuro's feeling very uncomfortable right now!" Ruby yelled at her sister.

"You think that, but I know otherwise..." Yang shifted her hand all over Kuro's chest and down to his abdomen.

"And I know that you're probably letting hormones do the talking for you. Please stop."

"You're no fun..." For the third time, Kuro rolled his eyes.

"Well, I try," Kuro merely responded as the airship finally touched solid ground...

Kuro was passed by Jaune, who pushed through the entire crowd of people in frantic search of a waste receptacle to deposit the rest of his breakfast. Kuro sighed and face palmed and was about ready to go after him until a sneeze and an explosion was heard. Kuro examined to the left and saw Ruby standing dazed in a crater and a girl in white yelling at her. Jaune had already arrived at the scene, so Kuro merely shrugged and headed off in another direction.

Later that night, after going through an introduction by Glynda and the headmaster, a not-so-old-but-not-so-young man in green named Ozpin, the students were required to sleep in the ball room of the academy. Kuro was in the bathroom brushing his teeth as he remembered their words. His sleeping attire was a simple white beater, black shorts, and his red scarf still draped around his neck. He let his hair loose and it came to just past his shoulders.

"Tomorrow's the big day, Kuro... and I am FREAKING OUT!" Jaune panicked from beside him. Kuro rolled his eyes and rinsed his mouth of any remaining toothpaste as he stared judgingly at the blond.

"Relax, Jaune. We'll be fine... I hope..." Kuro walked away from Jaune back to the ballroom and hoped that Jaune hadn't heard that last part...

"You HOPE?!" Apparently, he did. Kuro groaned and face palmed. He turned around to retort but froze when he saw Jaune's choice of sleepwear: a simple, blue... onesie...

"Did you seriously brought that stupid onesie with you?"

"Hey! It's comfortable! It's doing its job!" Jaune said as he motioned his hands up and down his sides.

"Whatever. And of anyone asks, we don't know each other..." Kuro walked off, completely ignoring all of the guys in one side of the room flexing for the girls on the other side.

"Don't hate the onesie, bro!"

Later...

Kuro tried going to sleep when he had heard a voice from the girls' side of the room. Turning around to the side, he saw Ruby, Yang, the white haired girl whose hair was now undone from her off-centered ponytail, and another girl with long, black hair and half lidded amber eyes reading a book. Something clicked in Kuro's mind at the sight of the black haired girl, most specifically the black bow seated on top of her head.

'Is that...? ...Nuh-uh. Shut UP! No way! This is awesome!' he thought as he neared the four girls, the former three noticing his arrival.

"Hey, Ruby. Hey, Yang. Hey... uhh..." Kuro tried to think of her name.

"We've never met before." she deadpanned.

"Thank you, pretty lady..." Kuro said sincerely, completely unaware of the girl's deep blush.

"Her name is Weiss Schnee," Ruby told him and he nodded.

"Okay, then... What's the big problem here? I almost fell asleep when I heard screaming."

"Well, Rubes wanted to talk to her new friend, but Ice Queen here started yelling at us."

"Don't you two know how many people were trying to sleep?! And now you've gone and woken this one up with your pointless conversation!"

"I have a name..." Kuro muttered inaudibly, offended about being seemingly ignored by the three. Not that it mattered to him anymore since there's one other reason that he came. He quietly walked up to the girl who was reading and sat beside her. An awkward silence followed until Kuro broke it.

"So, I see you've kept my scarf, huh Blake?" he whispered as he had noticed that she was wearing a red scarf around her neck. Blake took her eyes away from her story and darted them towards the boy, cracking a small, but genuine smile.

"I never went without it..." she whispered back as she squeezed his hand before bringing hers back to her book. Kuro smiled brilliantly and finally thought to himself:

'Things are definitely starting to shape up.'

And... prologue's done. ...Yay...

TBH: I just winged it in this chapter. I hope it turned out okay, though...

For those of you who are confused, Kuro's mentality before going to Beacon is still of a child wanting attention. As such, because of his lonely nature, he seeks solace in any other person and that's where Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Jaune come in. Despite only knowing Blake for a day, Kuro values her as a friend to the point of appearing clingy.

~ Peace!