Hello everyone!

Chapter 8 ready!

Somehow I managed to finish it few days after the last one even If I had to go to work (#AdultLifeSucks)

Enjoyt it!


Chapter 8: Bunny ears

-0-

Beacon life was uneventful for weeks getting used to live with RWBY and learning how to avoid being murdered by them. In the mornings and in the nights, I was the first and the only one taking a shower before the ladies. One reason was to avoid awkward moments with all of us in the bathroom. Another reason was simple: I knew about the amount of time women take to get ready, considering the care Yang gives her hair and Weiss putting on her makeup.

The girls transformed their beds into bunks bed using ropes and books, becoming a danger about to collapse at any second. For me, I got a futon which I covered by some sheets for privacy and placed it between the bunk bed where Yang and Blake slept and the wall.

"Do you have something to hide, Kai?" Yang asked when I made the improvised tent before I threw a pillow on her face.

The classed were regular. Professor Ports's Grimm Studies was slow and kinda boring because most of the stuff seen in class I already had read in the books of the library of Alice and I had to notes taken from them in the dormitory. The Combat Class was more interesting seeing my classmates fighting and learning more about the fighting styles, even if I was the one facing them. My first fight was against Russel Thrush from team CRDL with his dual swords. He was tough, I had to admit, but, in the end, I defeated him.

Everything was fine until one day...


The cafeteria was crowded as always during lunch.

On the table were teams RWBY, JNPR, and me. Some eating, like me with my noddle soup, others ready reading a book (Blake) and the rest listening Nora talking about a dream she had been having for a month while Ren corrected her in every detail. But Pyrrah looked at Ruby at me worried and I knew the reason.

Cardin Winchester. The guy who was giving a bad reputation to the name of my favorite characters from Supernatural.

Since the classes started, he had been bullying Jaune nonstop in different ways. That was something I couldn't ignore for two reasons: Jaune was my friend and I hated bullies. For my habit of training and my good grades at school, it wasn't strange some people wanted to intimidate me.

"Jaune… are you okay?" Pyrrah asked to the distracted blond guy.

A snail crossed the cafeteria completely before Jaune reacted.

"Uh? Yeah! Why?" he finally answered.

"It's just that you seem a little... not okay..." Ruby replied looking for the right words.

"She's right, Jaune" I agreed "You have been playing with your smashed potatoes too much."

"Eh, guys, I'm fine... Seriously, look!" He said giving us a weak smile and raising his thumb still holding his fork.

Then I heard someone laughing. Cardin and his gang were around a faunus girl. She had bunny ears attached on her head, making her a target for CRDL.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school." the redhead reclaimed.

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" he asked "Nah... He just likes to mess around; you know? Practical jokes!"

"He is a bully." Ruby stated angry.

"Oh please... Name one time he's "bullied" me..."

"If I can name three, you buy me a bag of chips, deal?" I said looking at him directly after finishing my soup.

"Deal" he agreed.

"Number one: he made you drop your books that time in the hallway."

"Ok, that one was…"

"Number three: He activated your shield when you were walking through a door and you got stuck."

"C'mon. It didn't take long to fix that."

"Number three: he pushed you into a locker and sent you away from the school. That's all, Your Honor" I finished looking at Pyrrah.

"I didn't land far from the school..." he gave a weak answer.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask..." Pyrrah offered still worried. Why didn't she become the leader?

"Oh!" Nora exclaimed "We'll break his legs!" she said with a psychotic grin on her face. No matter how much time had passed, I still was afraid when she says something like that smiling like the Joker.

"Guys, really, it's fine!" he said standing up and lifting his tray "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

"But still, that's not correct, Jaune." I reproached him.

"Ooww! That hurts!" I heard the faunus girls complaining.

"I told you it was real!" Cardin said laughing.

Cardin was pulling her ears without listening his complaints of pain while she was about to cry.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I stood up feeling the stares of RWBY and JNPR about me and started walking towards the 4 boys.

Maybe you're thinking "Oh! Yeah! You're so perfect so you go and defend the weak from the evil". Let me tell you I was doing that because I've been there, being the target of people who wants you to feel like crap while the rest do nothing about it. I wouldn't let anyone else feel that pain.

I stood next to Cardin and started to pinch his ears.

"Excuse me. Are these real? They're too big to be natural" I said faking surprise with a smile.

"Hey! Let me go!" the bullyy said angry releasing the grip from the bunny ears and focus his attention to me.

The girl looked at me surprised with tears coming out of her eyes. I waved my head indicating to her to take advantage that they weren't paying attention and go away from there. She got the message and walked away quickly.

"What's your problem?" the tough guy asked standing up.

"I saw you pulling ears and I wanted to join the fun" I said with a polite tone "The ears of that girl were taken so I hoped you didn't mind if used yours."

"You little…" he said clenching his teeth and realized he had audience witnessing someone standing against him "You know what? Never mind. We were leaving now."

After that, he walked past me hitting his shoulder against mine while his group joined him.

"Kaiden, are you ok?" I heard Ruby behind me with Pyrrah next to her.

"Yeah. Why are you asking?"

"Well…" Pyrrah say pointing at my hands.

I hadn't noticed I had his fists clenched so tightly that my knuckles were pale and my nails had left red marks on my palms. Small streaks of blood began to flow of wounds when I opened the hands.

"Oh. This… It's nothing." I said grabbing a napkin and pressing it against the wounds.

"Kaiden," Pyrrah said with the same look she gave to Jaune "as I told Jaune before, if you ever need help, you can just ask."

"I know. Thank you for the offer. It's just that brought back memories ... bad memories. I'm sorry. I need to be alone for now."

Then I walked away without waiting an answer.


I arrived to the courtyard when I could calm myself. My mind was flooded with the memories of high school, being bullied and isolated from the others around me.

I sat under a tree and I tried to begin my meditation exercises, taking off my shoes and crossing my legs with my hands on my knees. Deep breaths. Focusing on my aura and forgetting the outside world. I could feel my body relaxing and being in calm. Until an echo from the past returned:

"You are a monster!"

That brought me back to the world, once again restless. My mistakes were still hunting me since the day my life went downhill.

"Excuse me." A voice said next to me.

The faunus girl from the cafeteria.

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupted you?" she apologized.

"No. It's ok. I couldn't focus anyway." I said.

"Good. I just wanted to say..." she said fearfully. Her eyes were red like if she had been crying "thank you for what you did for me."

"You don't have to thank me" I said "I've been there. I know how it is to have to deal with this kind of person."

"I see." She said with a sad look "Can I…" she pointed at place next to me to sit.

I nodded and she sat on my right on the floor.

"I'm Kaiden" I introduced myself.

"Velvet."

Her eyes were still red and with little tears about to go out. I dug a little in the pocket of my jacket to find a clean napkin and offer it to Velvet.

"Here".

"Thank you."

She started cleaning the marks of tears on her face and her nose. I could see her bunny ears moving with each movement she made. I knew some people who was faunus but I never had the courage to touch their animal ears or tail. For me, it was like asking a woman if I could touch her breasts or butt.

"Do you want to touch them?"

That question got me off guard,

"What?"

"My ears." She explained with her face full red.

"I couldn't do it" I tried to refuse the offer.

"It's ok" she said trying to not sound embarrassed.

Slowly, I placed a hand on an ear. It was soft like the name of its owner and warm. Velvet was closing her eyes expecting the same reaction as Cardin.

"They're cute" those words came out of my mouth before I could realize.

"Really!?"

"Y-yes." I stuttered.

"Most people make fun of me for them."

"Then most of the people are dumb." I said after touching the ears and getting back to sit on the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean…" I sighed and continued "It is stupid to think that humans are superior to faunus. People just focus on what is different and ignores what makes us equal. If we feel sad, don't we cry? If we are happy, do we laugh? If we get hurt, do we bleed?"

"I think you're right." She said looking at the ground.

I chose my words carefully and said:

"You need to fight back."

She looked at me terrified.

"I can't do that! I don't want to cause troubles."

"Then, if you don't do something about it, Cardin will bother you. You do not have to resort to violence. Only stand strong against him in the face and tell what bothers you."

"I'll think about it." Velvet said standing up "Thank you for the advice… and for helping me."

After that she just left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

At least I could help her, but how could I help Jaune? He was my friend but still he didn't want help with Cardin.

What could I do? Let him deal with it alone as he wants? Or help him against his wishes and lose a friend?


I hope you liked the chapter.

I used some experiences I've had years ago. I was like Velvet in high school until I decided to stop it once for all, so my message to everyone in this situation is "If someone is giving your trouble, try to talk to them. If they don't want to listen, tell your parents or a teacher. If that donesn't work, defend yourself. When they start giving a lecture about using violence, you can say you tried to use the words before the fists."

Hey, I know it's not a good advice, but I let you know that after every storm there's a sunny sky. So don't give up.

See you later!

;)