Episode 2: Yang Xiao Long I
«Sir Kirito»
"I ran into Kirito again after you left me this morning, Yang," Ruby said. She was writing a letter to her friends at Signal. "He lead me to the main hall after you ditched me."
"Drunkle Qrow's best drinking buddy?" Yang said. "The new combat professor?"
She looked around the room looking for this Kirito, but all she saw were guys who were grappling with each other to catch her attention. Geez, she wasn't into guys who liked wrestling with each other so much. A blond guy who wore a blue onesie walked in front of them, and Yang stared a few moments in morbid fascination, before she turned back to Ruby.
"I don't understand, Yang," Ruby whispered. "Usually I feel really awkward when talking to guys, much less a teacher."
"And?" Yang said.
"For some reason, I felt really comfortable with him," Ruby said. "Like we knew each other for years."
"My dear sister Ruby Rose. Do you mean to tell me, that you have a crush?" Yang said.
Ruby flushed cutely.
"Whaaaaat?! Of course not, Yang!" Ruby said, arms flailing around.
"Surely, you don't have a crush on your teacher, Rubes," Yang said. "So tell me, what's he like?"
"He's about your height, wears a black coat over a black shirt, has messy black hair that covers one of his eyes, and has three swords," Ruby said. "The black one's called Elucidator, the aqua marine blade is Dark Repulser, and the last one's a rapier judging from its guard. Its name is Lambent Light."
Wow, Ruby seemed to really have the hots for this Kirito, judging from the way she remembered everything she learned about him. Yang let Ruby chatter on, and peered around the room. She needed to see if Kirito was here, and if he was... Well she needed to know what he was like for herself.
There!
Yang spotted Kirito sitting beside Professor Goodwitch under a window. Yang almost missed them due to the way the shadows concealed their forms. The teasing smile on Kirito's lips and Professor Goodwitch's flat stare all but confirmed that they were really colleagues. And that Kirito either had balls of steel or a lack of self-preservation to banter with the most terrifying professor in Beacon.
Yang thought that it was the former. He looked like he couldn't be older than 18 and yet he was already skilled enough to be the combat instructor of the best combat academy.
"And then I ran over this crabby girl's luggage!" Ruby said as Yang took notice of a white haired girl storm over to Ruby.
"YOU!"
"Eep," Ruby said as she scurried behind Yang. "It's happening again!"
"Do you have any idea what kind of damage you caused!?" The white girl said as she balled her hands into a fist and shook them close to Ruby's face.
And do you have any idea what damage I will do to you if you continue to talk to my sister like this?
"I'm sorry," Ruby said.
Yang spied Kirito approach with a bucket of popcorn held in his hands, no doubt drawn to the yelling girl. Professor Goodwitch shook her head and muttered something that Yang couldn't really hear from so far away.
"We were lucky that we weren't expelled due to that crater you caused!" The girl said.
Kirito stood a few meters behind her, and slowed down his pace.
"Look," Yang said, grinning. "I'm sure that you just got off the wrong foot."
"Why don't you try being friends?" Yang continued.
"Great idea, Yang." Ruby held out her hand for a handshake. "Hello! My name's Ruby! Let's be friends!"
"Great, we can go shopping, paint our nails, and talk about cute boys like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there." The girl gestured to a blonde in an onesie. "And tall, dark, and edgy." She said while pointing at Kirito that now stood directly behind her, enjoying his popcorn.
She heaved a mighty sigh and spun around to face him.
"Do you have nothing better to do than to ruin my day?" She said.
Kirito was locked in a silent scream as his bucket of popcorn was removed from his arms by the girl's flailing arms.
Yang's grin reached her eyes.
The world seemed to slow down as the bucket of popcorn crashed head-first on the floor, its contents spilled over.
Kirito knelt on the tiled floor, and placed his hands almost reverently over the spilled popcorn.
"My popcorn," Kirito whispered, head bowed. "It was innocent."
"Kirito!" Ruby said as she hooked her arms under his and pulled him up.
The white haired girl froze. Darkness seemed to coalesce on his face, leaving only his manic eyes visible.
"You alright, Professor Kirito?" Yang said.
This was going to be quite the show.
"Weiss Schnee..." Kirito said. "Do you have any idea what I had to do to acquire the ultra-rare corn that I used to make that bucket of popcorn?"
"I apo-"
"It only grows once every century in the hottest desert of Vacuo!" Kirito said. "In an oasis teeming with hordes of Grimm!"
Ruby and Yang gasped. No wonder he was mad. The poor white-haired girl paled.
"It took Winter, Qrow, and I to even reach the corn!" Kirito threw his arms up in the air. "And believe me when I say that those two are the most childish of adults when they are together! "
The girl became even paler than her hair.
"I had to split the corn between them. Qrow used it to brew the rarest drink in all of Remnant, and I didn't even take a single sip," Kirito said and looked Weiss right in the eyes.
Ah, Yang realized. That must be when Qrow came home with a bucket of corn and sealed himself in his room for days muttering something about a drink of the century.
"I know what your punishment shall be, Weiss," Kirito said.
Was it detention every day?
Yang thought that was a bit cruel for a bucket of popcorn though.
"Every single day after classes, I will train you," Kirito said.
Weiss' color returned. She opened her mouth in shock.
"Pardon?" Weiss said.
Yang would have said it herself. Just how was that punishment? If anything, it was a favor.
"I will train you to be even better than Winter," Kirito whispered and fingered the rapier sheathed behind his waist. "And she of all people should know how sharp my blade is."
"You have my sincerest apologies, Professor Kirito." Weiss bowed. "But with all due respect, how exactly is this a punishment?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kirito smiled. Yang thought that smile was terrifying and from the way Ruby buried her head into Yang's back, she did too.
Weiss seemed oblivious to the threat hidden in that smile as she left with a subtle skip to her steps.
Kirito turned to face them. "You alright, Red?"
"Yeah," Ruby said with a cute smile. "Thanks, Kirito!"
Kirito? My, you certainly move fast.
"Hi, Prof!" Yang said with a grin. "The name's Yang. Ruby's older sister."
"Hmmm..." Kirito hummed even as his eyes took in her form. "You look nothing alike."
Yang knew that she was much more developed than Ruby. Her hair and eyes were also of a different color. But she doubted Prof was looking at her hair or eyes right now.
"We're half-sisters," Yang said. "So... Prof, I heard that you helped Ruby this morning."
She leaned in, breasts swaying close to his face.
"I think that deserves a reward," Yang said.
He raised an eyebrow. "I've seen better."
He'd seen better!? Was that an attempt to hide his interest? A challenge? Or did he already have a girl? Or did he like flat girls so that was why he offered to train Weiss? Or did he like Ruby? Or was she not pretty enough?
Yang leaned back, stunned.
"Anyways, Red," Kirito said. "I think I broke your sister."
He smirked. "Do fix her will you?"
His cloak billowed as he turned around and strode back to Professor Goodwitch.
Ruby suck out her tongue at Yang.
Oooh! Making fun of your sister, eh?
"Hey, Rubes." Yang smirked. "Aren't you jealous that Kirito and Weiss are getting sweaty every day? All alone-"
"Yang!"
«Sir Kirito»
Trivia #1: I was originally going to upload A Glimpse In The Past I: Kirigaya Kazuto as the second chapter but, I thought that would bog the story down.
Trivia #2: The first lesson in writing that I embraced was to always assume that your readers are smarter than you so you don't need to coddle them with exposition but rather, bombard them with thoughts and dialogue.
Trivia #3: Kirito does have a legitimate reason for not calling Dark Repulsor A Piece of Shit. It was actually subtle foreshadowing.
Trivia #4: I have a habit of cutting out unnecessary details and dialogue. So word count will be short. But there's more between the lines, if you will. Sometimes, less is more.
I know that you're pretty busy people so I won't force you to review. But since dcalu2001 has mentioned Trivia #3 in a review...
«Sir Kirito»
Omake idea from dcalu2001
«Sir Kirito»
"And this one is called The Piece of Shit dot dot dot Dragon Shit!" Kirito said.
He brandished the blade with his left hand.
"Oh my god! Is it really made of dragon poo?" Ruby said."Dragons are real?"
Kirito grinned and began a tale of whimsy and adventure.
"Of course, Red." He gestured at the sky, "Once upon a time, there was a castle in the sky. It was named Aincrad."
Ruby grinned. Story time!
"There in the castle, lived a blacksmith by the name of Lizbeth," Kirito said.
A female blacksmith? She must have been like Ruby then: a girl who made the best weapons.
"And one day, a visitor came into her shop," Kirito said. "He was not an ordinary visitor, Red."
"He was a knight in shining armor?! Came to sweep Lizbeth off her feet?!" Ruby said.
"Gods no, Red," Kirito said. "He was in fact, garbed in the darkest cloak, and although he was quite fetching."
He waggled his eyebrows.
"He was not interested in romance," He said. "For you see, he was interested in one thing, and one thing only."
Ruby leaned in, enraptured by her teacher's captivating prose.
"He desired the strongest sword in Aincrad," Kirito said. "And so they set off on a quest to retrieve it."
"And the two fell in love after the visitor saved her?" Ruby said.
"What the hell, Red." Kirito threw his hands up in the air. "I already told you that he was not interested in romance."
"Sorry..."
"Anyways," Kirito coughed. "They came upon the lair of the legendary guardian of the greatest sword."
Oooooh!
"It was a might dragon! His roar struck fear into the heart of the blacksmith!" Kirito said. "But the black swordsman was not fazed."
Ruby closed her eyes. She could imagine a dragon, roaring at the blacksmith and the cloaked visitor, as the visitor stood in front of her. He was ready to give his life to protect hers.
"The man slew the beast!" Kirito slashed the air. "And looted his treasure room for the rarest ingredient in forging the greatest sword!"
"And?!"
Kirito chuckled. "It turned out that the material was actually dragon shit and Lizbeth screamed in disgust."
"Kirito, my lad!" A stout man dressed in a burgundy suit said. "That was quite the tale!"
He grinned. "How would you like to hear another one, eh?"
"Oh, I would love to Professor!" Ruby said.
"Hey, Peter." Kirito walked away. "I'll go ahead, alright?"
"Of course, my lad!" Peter said and turned to her. "Now, I shall tell you a tale about a handsome young man, a sterling Adonis known only as... Peter."
Ruby didn't know why, but she was feeling a strong desire to murder Kirito. The man blabbered on, committing mass genocide of air.
"And so there I was, stuck in the Grimmlands, with only a toothpick as my weapon!"
Kill me...
«Sir Kirito»
Poor Ruby...
Anyways, let me clarify. The only thing that Abridged!Kirito is taking from Canon!Kirito in this story is the name Dark Repulser. Everything else will be, including his characterization, from the abridged series.
See ya!
Edited on June 3, 2019. What is up with this date...