Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

'Today is the day, going to get my partner.' Naruto thought as he sat on a bench in front of a set of lockers and changed into his normal clothes. His weapon draped across his back, him wondering if he would even have to use the weapon. The only time he would need it were when it was dangerous for him to throw kicks at his enemies, like those with spikes around their vital areas... or when he fought talented sword users like himself who could react in time to move their swords in the way of his kicks.

When kicks didn't work, use the sword.

Iron's locker was WAY on the other end of the spectrum, while Naruto was in the 600s in lockers, Iron was locker number 10. That meant that Naruto was pretty much on his own for the moment, and he could hear Ruby and Yang coming closer... Blake was not too far away... and that Weiss girl was nearby as well. The people that either confused him, he wished to ignore, or make him jumpy, were ALL gathered in one place around him... and here he was, without his people-go-away-inator... Iron Lee... to keep people away.

People-go-away-inator... now that sounded like a dream machine, something that made everyone who made him feel uncomfortable... just walk away from him.

Naruto head crashed into his locker when he was roughly pushed from behind, and he groaned in pain when he was pushed again and smashed into the locker, before falling flat on his ass, right on the ground. The back of his head smacked into the bench, he had known somebody was behind him, and he had trying to be as quiet as possible... but he had just figured that the person... people... were passing by to find their lockers. He didn't think they were going to push him, Naruto touched his forehead tenderly.

"Look at him, I've heard of freaky girls with stupid ears, but not even freakier boys with them. Are these even real?" The voice, a male voice though he already sensed the gender of the person behind him, asked. Naruto's right rabbit ear was gripped, and Naruto let out a groan of pain as he had his ear pulled on with a lot of unneeded force.

"Please stop." Naruto said as he looked around behind him. It was a taller guy, same age as him, with cropped brown hair and blue eyes. The guy was muscled, and wearing what looked to be very expensive armor, with a evil looking mace as his weapon. He had a bird design on his armor, and he was grinning at the people around him as he tugged on Naruto's ear, and got more winces from him.

It would seem these people were friends, even before coming to this school.

Great, Naruto was dealing with a group of bullies.

The guys behind him were a green haired guy with a mohawk, looking rather... short and thin with a spiked shoulder plate and green vest. Most of his head was shaved besides his mohawk actually, and he was still looking amused at this situation.

Next to him was a fancy looking guy in a black suit, with bronze armor over it, and his eyes closed. His hair was sandy blond, and he seemed to be rather... it was harder to tell his emotions but he wasn't opposed to what was happening at the moment. He was still an active bully, and he was enjoying seeing Naruto suffering from having his ear pulled. If he tried to pull it away from the teen, then it would only hurt him that much more.

The final guy had slicked back long blue hair, and he had a more dark gray armor on... only the mohawk guy lacked knight armor., Everyone else wore pretty much the exact same thing, but in different colors. This guy was no different, he was wearing matching armor with onlu slight differences... all of them had birds somebody on them... showing they might actually be some kind of gang that enjoyed teaming up against Faunus... after all, a Faunus all alone was an easy target for a group of people.

"Look at him, barely even fighting back." The front man said as he pushed Naruto against his own locker, letting go of his ear. Naruto didn't look at any of them, he only closed his locker and started to walk away. The blue haired one stuck his leg out and tripped Naruto with a sweeping motion, with Naruto's forehead colliding harshly with the ground. He grunted in pain, before they literally started to step over him with their feet stomping on his back as they went on their way, laughing at him.

Naruto groaned in pain and held his head, he looked at his hand, before he saw that he was bleeding. He had taken a few harsh head wounds, Naruto checked his ear and saw that other than the painful throbbing, there was no real damage to it. Naruto wiped the blood off his head, before he took out his medical kit from his locker. He used some of his wound glue, before he found the wound on his head and glued it shut. His bangs covered it up nicely, nobody would notice that he had taken a pretty bad cut on his head. Naruto dusted himself off, before he closed his locker with his kit back inside.

"Why did you put up with that?" Weiss asked, having seen the entire thing, but it had been over before she could do anything about it. She had been the only person who actually saw it and cared, well she didn't know Naruto so she didn't really care if he was alright or not... but she had never seen somebody actually take a beating when they didn't have to, and without getting visibly angry about it.

Naruto looked away from her for a moment, his body language told her that he was actually pretty shaken up by what just happened.

Naruto looked at his feet, and he walked away from her without saying anything, not even sure WHAT he was suppose to say to her. He didn't know how he should talk to her, what he should say, and he was still shaken up... he didn't WANT to talk to anyone right now. He had just been bullied, in a hallway with people, and not a SINGLE person helped him. He didn't expect help, but still, it hurt on the inside that nobody even tried to offer him a hand to get up.

Weiss bristled when he ignored her, though he was just too shy to say anything at the moment, and moved towards him.

'Please don't follow me.' Naruto thought as he moved faster, and she reached out and grabbed him by the arm. Naruto stopped and looked in her general direction, but he winced for a moment when he saw the anger in her eyes.

She was pissed she had been flat out ignored, it had nothing to do with human or faunus, she just hated being ignored.

"Hey, what is wrong with you. Answer when somebody asks you something, were you raised in a barn?" Weiss asked, and though she did not mean for it to come out that way, her words sounded extremely racist to Naruto... the fact that she was a Schnee made her words have a bit more of an impact that she believed. She was talking to a faunus, and asked if he was raised in a barn... which while to a human might mean one thing, meant something completely different to a faunus.

Also, he did NOT like being touched by people!

"No... please let go." Naruto requestioned lightly, she was starting to REALLY make him lose his nerve. He had JUST been bullied, he did NOT need her being so pushy with him right now. Even Weiss was able to see how unsettled he was, and let go of his arm with a forced sigh. She still wanted her answer, she wanted to know why Naruto hadn't atacked those people for hitting him... something she fully expected a faunus to do with her limited knowledge of the race. She didn't have a good history with faunus, and was simply curious as to why Naruto didn't go feral on them.

Naruto turned around, before he saw that Ruby and Yang were already there.

"Morning Naruto!" Ruby greeted with a wide smile on her face. Neither she, nor Yang, had actually seen the bullying take place.

"These are your friends?" Weiss asked Naruto, and he looked away from everyone.

"Yep, we are pals! I bet we can even finish each others-" Ruby started out with her cheery attitude, fully expecting Naruto to play along and say 'sentences' to prove a point.

"Good morning Ruby, and Yang... I have to go now." Naruto said in a hurry as he moved passed them.

"Naruto, my rival! What a fine morning it is!" Iron shouted out, and a small smile came over Naruto's face as he walked over to his friend.

"Aaaaah, you're no fun... you were suppose to say sentences." Ruby said as she walked over to them and stopped by her locker, getting out her weapon with a smile. She placed it on her back, before she stretched her arms out a little. She could notice the fact that something was off about Naruto, but she had no idea what it was.

'Okay Yang, this is your chance... your first and second impressions, not that great... smile and make sure you don't scare him off.' Yang thought to herself as she attempted to NOT look like somebody was shoving a handful of thumpnails down her shorts. Her face was still red, after seeing Naruto it became that way... and she wanted to make sure she had a big smile on her face when she started a conversation with him. She just had to remember everything there was to know about talking to boys, and teasing them... yeah, if she could show off her fun side, she was sure that Naruto would think better of her.

'Weird, he isn't even telling them he was made into a victim just now.' Weiss thought as she turned to walk away.

It was weird... everything she knew about faunus told her that Naruto would have tried to fight back against what just happened. He had been timid, passive, and instead of fighting back, he simply tried to get away from the problem without making a big deal out of it.

'His ears are hanging down, and...' Iron thought as he rubbed the back of Naruto's head with a fake grin on his face. He was able to ruffle Naruto's hair enough, and he could see the slowly healing cut, as well as feel a wet spot on his hand from a cut on the back of his head. '... blood, he is bleeding. His eyes are downcast... somebody bullied him when I went to my locker.' Iron thought with a deep frown on his face as he gripped his fist tightly.

He was pissed off now, but not at Naruto for not telling him.

Naruto would rather simply take the beating, and hope that the bully gets bored with him when they realize they won't get him to react, than to make a big deal out of it and start a fight... a fight that Iron KNEW that Naruto could win. These people thought that Naruto was weak because he never fought back, the only times Naruto ever willingly fought were against Grimm, and in sparring matches or during training with somebody he trusted. He was strong, and it took a LOT more willpower to not throw a punch, than it took to throw one.

"Hey Naruto, lets become partners!" Yang said with a giant grin on her face, shouting it out in his sore ear.

"Wh-what?" Naruto said in surprise, not expecting the shout in the slightest. He backed away from her, and Yang paled.

'Plan failed, abort mission girl, you're scaring him off... crap.' Yang thought, because now she would HAVE to make sure she talked to Iron in private about how she should approach Naruto... because as it was, she wasn't able to do anything that was actually, well, making a good impression. She could see it in his blue eyes... that she was getting lost in... those deep, timid blue eyes filled with emotions... like hurt, sadness, confusion.

Hurt, sadness, and confusion?

'Go on Yang, show him that my youthful flames aren't the only ones that he can turn to!' Iron thought with excitement. He was still going to beat the crap out of Naruto's bully when he fount out who it was, but at least this way, Naruto would realize that he actually had people willing to take his side on these things.

"Yaaaaaang! I thought WE were going to be partners!" Ruby complained to Yang as she walked around Naruto, who started to walk off quickly, before anyone else could freak him out.

"Heheheheh, sorry about that Ruby." Yang said, knowing that Ruby had ruined her chance to ask Naruto what was wrong. Iron palmed his face, before he moved to follow after Naruto. He caught up with him, before he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Calm down, okay? I know you are on end, and whatever happened earlier... don't lie to me, I can read you. Somebody bullied you when I was away. These girls, they mean you no harm... just give them a chance okay?" Iron asked Naruto in such a low whisker that it was barely audible to the human ear, but Naruto could hear him just fine. Naruto looked back at Yang and Ruby, before he looked at Iron for a moment.

He nodded after a moment.

"I'll... try." Naruto told the giant of a man, he couldn't promise anything, but he would... try to give them a chance.

"Oh, and if anyone ever bullies you again, I'll show them not to mess with you." Iron said as he pounded his fists together, and Naruto frowned.

"No, violence doesn't solve anything." Naruto told his friend seriously. There was a reason he didn't fight back, MANY of them. Yes, it wasn't in his nature to fight back, run away yes, but not fight back unless he was left with no choice.

Violence didn't solve his problems, if he acted violent, then he just proved to everyone that faunus were the violent animals they were made out to be.

"Okay, but promise me you will at least tell me who it is okay? If I can't fight them, at least tell me tell a teacher for you... I know you don't to well with talking, so let me do it for you." Iron offered, and Naruto nodded at him.

"Thank you." Naruto said lowly, knowing at least there was one person he could trust at this school. Naruto and Iron slowed down, and while Naruto was uncomfortable around Ruby and Yang, he did tell Iron that he would give them a chance.

"Naruto, would you rather partner with me, or Yang?" Ruby asked with a grin as she pointed to herself. Yang looked at Naruto, and Naruto looked between them for a moment. Ruby and Yang got closer to him the longer that he didn't answer, with more and more expectant looks on their faces.

...

"We don't decide out partners." Naruto told them after a moment, avoiding the question entirely.

"Ha! He didn't pick you!" Ruby called out as she pointed at Yang, who crossed her arms under her bossom.

"He didn't pick you either!" Yang reminded her younger sister, with Ruby pouting at her. Iron laughed at the sibling antics, while Naruto looked between them.

'Please stop shouting.' Naruto thought with his ears twitching, before he groaned when he felt a painful throb in the ear that the bully grabbed. Naruto scratched his head, and he scratched the glue off when the wound had fully sealed up. He only glued it so that it would stop bleeding long enough to heal, and keep from drawing attention to it.

"Oh course, my eternal rival wishes for me, his ally, to be his partner!" Iron called out boldly, and Naruto have him a look that told Iron JUST what he was thinking.

'This, this is why people think we are gay. The stuff you shout.' Naruto thought right at Iron, who could see it in his eyes and his body language. Iron laughed awkwardly for a moment, knowing that it was true.

It was kind of his fault for the misunderstanding through the years.

Chapter End!
Trust me, Cardin and his team will get their payback later, karma is a bitch after all.
Please Leave Me Lots Of Nice Long Reviews, But No Flames Please!

Summer Hare: Yang x Naruto - Tied for 1st
Hunter and Hunted: Blake x Naruto - Tied for 1st
Bitter Enemies: Weiss x Naruto - 2nd
Speed Runners: Ruby x Naruto - 3rd Place
Chocolate Bunny: Coco x Naruto - Tied for 4th
Easter Bunny: Neo x Naruto - 4th Place

Velvet and Winter have been elimitated.
Remember: I count ALL votes, even from previous chapters, so a character that is leading one chapter, CAN lose in the next if their support drops. Remember, more and better reasons means more points, and if you make a new argument in favor of your pairing, more points. So far, Blake and Yang are in 1st, with Weiss following with a CLOSE second.
The winner of this pairing relies SOLELY on all of your shoulders.