KEY

"Normal Speech"
"Sign Language"
'Thought '
- 'Scroll Message'

The slow, rhythmic beeping of the monitors were a comforting sound to Team CFVYN. Coco's condition had stabled significantly as everyone who could was collectively pooling their Aura into hers to help with healing, none more so that Yatsuhashi, who had been doing it since he picked her up back in Vale and did not stop until she was taken off him, but even now as they all sat or lay there recovering they pooled. She also had an Aura shot to get her own Aura up and running and healing itself, but she was told there would be large scars there for the rest of her life. Neo had a few stitches in her back to help the stab wound heal, though she admitted to Fox that this was actually her first battle scar and she was just the tiniest bit excited about it, though it would fade quite fast due to its small size, relative to Coco's of course. Velvet's nose was healing well, nothing too serious but with some minor discomfort for the next few days or so. Fox was tired, having ran before the fight started, then having to work hard against his opponents then having to help support Neo to the hospital. His new scars still had blood near the surface, but not high enough to start spilling out. Seven in total, and he was not happy about it. He sat in a chair with Neo essentially on his lap, Yatsuhashi on the chair facing the bed directly and Velvet pulled a chair up close to the bed not leaving her girlfriend's side and not letting go of her hand. They all sat there, laying down for Coco, in silence as they processed what had happened the day before.

"I suppose now would be a good time to tell, right?" the large bass voice asked.

"It would be nice..." Coco strained, only to be immediately hushed by Velvet; she knew she wasn't supposed to talk and was instead supposed to be resting and healing, but Coco wasn't like that. Though judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, Yatsuhashi saw that her comment rang true. With a heavy sigh, he began.

"I have lived in Hai-no Hana all of my life. It is a somewhat decent sized village, compared to others throughout Anima, but it was all we needed. I am the eldest of three siblings, my sisters are twin both two years my junior." Team CFVY already knew this information, but Neo was new so this basic stuff was mostly for her benefit. "When I was five years old I was taken aside by my Father. 'Little one, you must control your anger' he said. 'You are angry, but I do not see why. Your anger weighs you down and stops you reaching the heights you are capable of.' That was his little comment on how small I was as a child; even at five there were children at four and even three who stood over me. But as I said, my Father attributed it to the anger bearing down on me and hindering my growth." The ice cream girl giggled silently, something her boyfriend noticed and he gave her a look.

'What? I just find it hard to imagine Yatsuhashi being small.'

"My anger persisted for the following years, until when I was seven it came to a head. I was still a small child, not having grown much by this age and my parents were on the verges of having to officially have me recognised with Dwarfism. A boy in my class at school was antagonising me and the few friends I had, saying how we were all weak and stupid; very childish insults looking back. I have to admit, even I do not remember the catalyst, but he said something specific and I lost it completely. I blanked out, not recalling anything from that time. I regained my composure having been restrained by four members of staff and saw the boy bleeding on the floor and my hands stained with my own and his blood. My parents were called in to see their son crying in the Principal's office, blood on his knuckles and to have the situation explained to them through eyewitness accounts, as Hai-no Hana avoided using Dust for anything expect necessities - cameras not being deemed necessary. After being antagonised to my breaking point, I apparently leapt at him and knocked into him with the force of someone much older and stronger than me. The way he landed hurt, but he didn't have time to feel that as I... proceeded to hit him again and again and again, bloodying my knuckles with every swing. In nine seconds, I had hit this seven year old boy with the force of someone twice my age and three times as strong over a dozen times. He survived, but he was never the same.

"My Mother scolded me for days afterwards, and when her disappointment was finally voiced completely my Father took me to the Mountain range beyond the village with only enough supplies to last the two of us a week. We went for a month; but it was his way of teaching self-control. In that month, I was taught very basic meditation, the same sort of things I taught you all when you asked to learn. It was constant. Meditating for at least four hours, then breaking for some time to relieve bladders and eat sparingly, then resume meditating. It worked. When I returned I was a different boy. I was calm, collected, I never lashed out and I had even started growing, having not done so properly in about two years. I was happy with the results of my Father's training, so I maintained it. Every day I woke up with the sun and meditated, clearing my mind and calming me for the day ahead. At lunch, I would go off and meditate for fifteen minutes. I got home, I'd meditate before doing chores. I'd meditate for as long as I felt necessary before I went to sleep. I did all of that to keep my mind clear and my anger contained. By the time I started learning about weapons and fighting I was so different from the boy that attacked his fellow student that I wouldn't recognise myself were I to look back. I chose a basic Greatsword because I believed using a gun based weapon adds another layer of intricacy to a weapon that doesn't really need one a lot of the time. The first time I picked up the sword I was nearly thirteen years old, yet already approaching 5'6". By the time I'd grown accustomed to it I was 6 months older and now also 6ft exactly. When I had mastered the sword completely I was sixteen and the height you see me now.

"All that anger I had built up inside me had been purged from my body and I had grown into the man my Father hoped I could be. My sisters, who had been scared of me for years after my incident, had changed their attitudes towards me just as my attitude had changed to everything else. They saw me as a role model, and my Mother couldn't be happier at that; she always wanted me to be there for them, to be the brother they deserved." He took a long breath in, giving everyone else time to process their thoughts. No one spoke though, they knew he wasn't done. "But as it turns out my rage was not purged; merely locked away behind a wall of emotions in my mind. The thought of your death made things hard, and made me vulnerable. Daerk wanted, even 'needed', your bodies so that he could try and get the Parchment from them and use it himself. I was emotionally weak from the day just gone, so his directness hit a nerve. A crack formed in the wall that had been built in my mind keeping those extreme emotions at bay, but it was only a crack. Yesterday was..." His fists balled as words failed and his head lowered, self-loathing taking over as his words failed. Neo looked at Fox, gave his hands a quick squeeze and walked over to her tall teammate. She did nothing more than give him a hug, but that was all it took for tears to start falling from his eyes. Velvet and Fox quickly joined the hug, Coco looking on wishing she could get up and be part of it as well. Emotions from Yatsuhashi weren't common. Fury had never happened before today for Team CFVYN, tears were more commonplace but still a rarity.

"Yatsu..." Coco said from behind them all, their heads turning to look at her. "I know it may not be what you want to hear... but I'm glad you lost it." Her girlfriend snapped at her, sounding appalled at what she had just said.

"How could you say that Coco?!"

"Because..." she started with a raised voice, but quickly stopped as the shouting only hurt. Coughing a bit made her realise that it wasn't the best decision she'd ever made, and the Faunus felt similarly. "Because even though it was brutal, he did save us. At least one of us would have died Velvs; definitely me, if it weren't for all your efforts in keeping me alive and Yatsu carrying me to the ship. That Cat would have killed Velvet too, sorry hun, Daerk would have gotten bored of torturing Fox and eventually would have killed him, and no offense Neo but I don't think even you could have taken on your ex-team and a highly skilled White Fang member at all once without suffering great injuries or dying altogether. So actually, we might have all died yesterday." Her optimistic look on the scenario actually eased his mind a bit, but not enough.

"Thank you for your kind words Coco," a smile formed on his face as he stood from his chair, "but if you do not mind, I would like some time on my own. Just to clear my thoughts some more." Without waiting for approval, the gentle giant left the room and headed outside. He wasted no time in removing the smile from his face and heading straight back to the dorm. Neo felt that something was off and mentioned it to the rest of CFVN.

"I want to follow him. He doesn't seem right."

"He's not right Neo," her boyfriend reminded her, "just give him some time to get better."

"No this feels bad. It feels... I dunno, like he's already set on something. I want to make sure." Nods approving her came from everyone. "I'll be as quick as I can." With a quick kiss from her boyfriend, Neo went after him. She made sure there was enough distance between them so that she wouldn't have to constantly remain out of sight, but near enough that she could still spot him; hard to miss a 7ft tall student with a Greatsword though.

"I fail to understand your proposal Mr. Daichi, what is it you wanted?" Ozpin sat as he usually did; elbows resting on his desk, fingers interlocked, his chin resting on his hands and leaning forward interested in what was being said; whether that was genuine interest or just an act he was obliged to perform as Headmaster of Beacon no one but he, and maybe Professor Goodwitch, knew the answer to.

"I want you to expel me from your school." The student looked tired, but he spoke with determination.

"I'm sorry, but I fail to see the reason as to why I should-" The response he got came fast and without apology.

"Because I am a danger. I'm an unnecessary risk to the school and as such I feel it should be removed."

"There are many risks we as Huntsmen take in our lives. Some will prove to be too dangerous, other risks pay off. I do not think that there have been any risks I have taken that I have regretted when regarding my students and the decisions I make for and about them." During that time, Neo materialised into office and hid behind one of the large pillars. Her team needed to make sure he was alright.

"Sir have you seen any reports of the incident?"

"I have. So many White Fang members out in broad daylight, along with Cinder Fall, two of her associates and this Daerk DeVanta; the ringleader you presume?"

"It makes sense sir, he was the one who wanted Fox and Neo dead."

"Why did you ask?" Ozpin wondered, bringing the subject away from any tangent. "I thought you'd know by now that any event that happens concerning my students gets back to me eventually."

"How many dead?"

"Yatsuhashi, I do not think that you-"

"How many?!" The green man sighed, taking the first sip from his cup since they'd started talking.

"No civilian casualties of any sort. 12 counts of concussion, 6 counts of harm to the person's body - yourselves included, 1 serious injury being Ms. Adel's wound and 2 confirmed death." Yatsuhashi shuddered on hearing that. "A female Cat Faunus was found with blood on her claws and her neck twisted round completely the wrong way, and a boy with a sizable hole in his stomach. I shall hazard a guess and say that the stab wound came from your Greatsword."

"You guessed correctly."

"And the Faunus?"

"I was the one to snap her neck."

"I see. And yet the very few eyewitnesses that remained there throughout recount how every person from Team CFVY, with the possible exception of yourself, were on their last legs and most likely would have died until you went into a berserker rage and killed those two. I see it as no more than protecting your team, though the lengths you went to maybe were a bit extreme but nothing a few lessons on self-control wouldn't buff out of you."

"And you would be happy with having a killer walking your campus?" The Headmaster rose from his seat and walked over to the window, looking down at his school below.

"Long before any of my current students were even born, there was this girl. She very nearly killed her teammate on Initiation. By the end of her first year alone she had racked up plenty of kills, not just of Grimm. There were twelve corpses to her name by the time she was where you and the rest of Team CFVY are right now, mostly wranglers and poachers who were unlucky enough to be near her. And yet she graduated with her team. Do you know of Blake Belladonna from Team RWBY in the Year below?"

"Yeah, our teams are all good friends with one another."

"Well, then I assume you are aware of her Faunus heritage?" The towering boy nodded. "Well, she had done many terrible things before attending my school, yet nothing stopped me from allowing her in. Though I will admit that what she did back then and what you did now are in two separate ballparks. An ex-Faunus Rights Extremist with a large number of extreme cases of violence against her name from before yet with a squeaky clean record once arriving - short of any impromptu missions the girls from Team RWBY take themselves on, versus a student hailing from a small village in Anima with a clean record from before, save a single incident of extreme rage back at age seven, and with only one tarnish on his record here, that being an outburst of anger a day ago that ended with two people dead. Or, if you wanted a fourth example, a woman who left her home in Atlas and started a spree of paid murders, thefts, attacks; have I missed anything Ms. Neo?"

Busted.

She moved from her hiding spot and jogged up to Yatsuhashi, hugging him tight around his waist and not wanting to let him go. After as much contact as she deemed necessary she looked at Ozpin and shook her head at his question.

"There you are then Mr. Daichi. I have presented you with three different examples of people who have done terrible things both before and after being here, yet all of who I am willing to keep at my school until their graduation."

"Still, that does not change my mind sir. I want you to let me leave." This was the first time Neo had actually heard what her teammate wanted and her immediate reaction was to smack him in the stomach and furrow her eyebrows at him with a frown.

"Why would you do that to us Yatsu?"

"Because this school would be better off without me."

"No it would not; if anything the school would be worse without you here."

"Neo does make a good point Mr. Daichi." Neo was slightly taken aback, again, by the fact Ozpin could read what she was saying. "I cannot lose one of the members of the greatest team I have ever put through their paces here at Beacon. And losing you would bring it down to a three person team, something that impacts everyone else in a huge way."

"You can have Neo fill in that role. She is more than capable."

"If I was going to join, I want to join with all of you; Caffeine wouldn't be the same without you."

"Pardon the curiosity, but what do you mean 'Caffeine'?"

"It's the name Coco gave our five-piece team when we defeated the Nuckelavee. It's just CFVY with the N for Neo at the end."

"Hmm..." the man readjusted his glasses so they sat better on his face. "I think that could work." The younger two looked at one another, then back at the man in question. "Alright then. Mr. Daichi after some consideration I am denying your request to let you leave this school. You shall be remaining here until your graduation in little over two years or you do something so bad that I have no choice but to let you leave - though I doubt that bridged shall be crossed. And, seeing as how you and your team leader have already made your minds up and I'm considering you've already practically moved in, Ms. Neo; Welcome to Beacon."

He extended out a hand to the mute who took time to realise what had transpired. If she shook his hand it'd be official. If she didn't...

Oh, who was she kidding?

She took his hand and gave it a firm shake, grinning like a madwoman the entire time. "You do of course realise that due to the time in which you arrived you are not able to pass to as high of a standard as your fellow teammates or students?" She slowly acknowledged that fact, but she didn't care too much. "So long as you were made aware... I suggest you go with your teammate down to the Reception Area and get the necessary sizes for your uniform now so that it's ready for when you start next week."

"Sir?" Ozpin's head turned to look up at the boy, a sight he rarely had to do. "Can I at least have some leniency for the first week or two back? Just so that I can build up my inner wall back up?"

"That, Mr. Daichi, is something I can allow. You may have up to the beginning of the third week to get your mind in a state you feel is suitable in your own time; after that I must insist you do it when it does not impact your studies and revision. You do have exams coming up soon."

"Understood sir, thank you." Both students turned and headed to the elevator, Yatsuhashi picking up a large rucksack on the way past that must have been containing all the stuff he needed for the trip he was going to make. Neo chalked it up to either being so sure that he'd get the green light or the fact that he was worried he'd come here first, get the go ahead, then head back to the dorm and meet resistance there.

"What can we do to help Yatsu? And don't say 'nothing', because you and I know that wouldn't be true and I'm pretty sure everyone else could see through that charade too."

"What you can do," he sighed with a smile, "is keep up that positive attitude for me." The mute grinned at him, her new teammate and the polar opposite of her; dark skinned, tall, male... there was bound to be more. "But is what Ozpin said true?"

"About...?"

"You. That you ran from home."

"I didn't run, I just left." A thought crossed her mind. "I haven't been back since I died." A second, slightly more worrying thought crossed her mind. "They have access to official records, all that state I am dead! I need to go there, they might get the wrong end of the stick!"

"Take Fox with you." Heterochromia disappeared for a moment and was replaced with vanilla white. A large hand rested on her shoulder in reassurance. "The way I see it, if you're going to see them you might as well take him. It gets it out of the way then." Pink and brown returned upon hearing the reasoning behind his request just as the elevator doors slid open for the ground floor.

"Y'know, for someone who doesn't do the whole relationship thing, you're pretty darn good at giving advice for it." He nonchalantly shrugged as they walked over to the desk.

"What can I say?"

"More than me" she joked, bringing a loud belly laugh from the tank.

F - 'Hey hun, Coco's been discharged. x'

N - 'That was quick. x'

F - 'I know!'

'But Coco is a fighter, she was going to make it through once she started talking and gaining a bit of colour in her cheeks again.'

'Getting to that stage was the most stressful bit though'

N - 'At least she'll be back in the dorm safe and sound soon. x'

F - 'True, she'd been put under strict orders to take it easy

'Guess who isn't happy about it? x'

N - 'Is it her? x'

F - 'We have a winner! xx'

N - 'Ooh, what do I win? x'

F - 'I dunno, I might need some time to think the answer to that x'

N - 'I look forward to it. xx'

'Oh, I have something I need to ask/tell you when we're together again x'

F - 'Can't you tell me now? xx'

N - 'Be patient! xx'

'I'll see you soon anyway xx'

F - 'See you soon Ni xx'

"Velvet I don't want to rest now, there's still time to do things today." She didn't get words as a response, but instead a poke to the exposed, still rather sore stomach. "Argh!" She glared at her girlfriend with a look that showed her betrayal. "Bitch..."

"Love you too Coco. Now rest, or I'll poke you harder."

"You know I like it harder anyw- Ow!"

"Next time, I'll hit it and we'll have to go back to the Infirmary get you sorted again."

"I'll be good..."

"Good girl." Dark brown eyes squinted at the Faunus, who got to work making the bed comfortable for her injured team leader with a large smug grin on her face. True to what Coco mentioned, the clock in the dorm showed that it was only 2:01pm, so it was understandable why the fashionista was restless and wanting to do something else. Fox took the opportunity of the pair of them being preoccupied to jump in the shower. He turned the knob and let the water heat up as he stripped down to jump in. The new scars he'd acquired yesterday stung when he removed his clothes, much like every other time he'd gotten new scars. He also knew that this next part was going to sting something fierce, but he needed to get clean.

Once the water was hot enough, he jumped under the shower. The sensation was so pleasing, all of the aches he had and his tense muscles relaxed when the water hit. But at the same time, it sent sharp pains running through his core. Every time a droplet of water touched the newly scarred skin it burnt. He needed to be quick. Washing his skin rid him of the sweat, grim and minute amounts of blood he had on him, but as he felt his pores opening he also felt the newer scars peel open as well. He quickly finished scrubbing under the hot water, then flipped the temperature gauge down until it clicked, reaching the coldest it could in seconds.

"All I'm saying Coco is that we've got a week left, so now'd be a perfect time to get a little bit of studying in."

"I'm aware of that hunny-bun, but if you want me to rest then shouldn't I get some rest?"

"Coco Adel, you can't possibly go from wanting, nay needing, to do something to curb your boredom one minute when I suggest you rest, to actively wanting to rest after I give you a suggestion for something to do that doesn't tickle your fancy."

"Ooh Velvet, you dirty little tease you..."

"I didn't say what I know you thought I said," the Rabbit huffed "and you know it. Besides I don't think having your lower core doing spasms whenever you orgasm is going to do those stitches any good, is it? We want them to stay there until-" her sentence was cut short by the sound of a boy in the shower next door swapping from the extreme high heat to the freezing cold of the shower. The sound was reminiscent of a primitive monkey call, the boy oohing and ahhing in quick succession to one another. The partners looked at each other in surprise, then saw the laugh building in their partners eyes. Within seconds the pair of them were laughing uncontrollably in their dorm, enjoy their little private performance and each making notes as to never let Fox live that down.

After braving the sudden climate change, he jumped in. The cold still made his spine tingle, but the icy touch if the water helped seal all his pores and would keep the scars from opening. He stayed there no longer than he needed to before knocking the dial back to normal and turning the shower off. He dried his skin and hair with his own towel, throwing on some clothes he brought in with him, put his dirty clothes in the hamper and left the bathroom for someone else to use. He hadn't been out of the bathroom for long when Yatsuhashi and Neo walked through the door.

"You feel a bit better now Yatsu?" his partner asked.

"I am, yes. Thank you, Fox."

"Good to hear." His focus shifted to his girlfriend, who was already walking to him anyway. "What did you want to tell me Neo?"

'I'll let Yatsuhashi finish explaining first.' The boy nodded, then looked at the gentle giant realising he was carrying a bag on his shoulder.

"I wanted to leave Beacon." Various calls of confusion and betrayal were fired at the boy before he raised his hands up to stop them and explain further. "Ozpin refused to grant my request anyway, but let me speak and explain why. I felt that I was a danger to everyone, just knowing that I don't really have any walls built up in my mind to keep that from happening again soon. I wanted him to kick me out of Beacon so that I could spend weeks, months, years building mental those walls back up so that they may never crumble again. As I said, Ozpin refused but he has given me a pass to take time off for the first two weeks of term to help me rebuild my mental barriers again. That is what I will be doing from now on this week. All I ask from you for this next week is to let me be and let me do my own thing - I would like this process to be as quick as it can be."

"We understand Yatsu, you have our word," Coco told him, getting a smile from her taller teammate. Trying to get herself out of bed wasn't going to happen, the pain from her stomach hurt when she moved a certain way. "Guys, go and hug him for me." Brown eyes rolled as the big guy walked over to the bed so that Coco could be part of the group hug as well.

"But that is not the only news we bring back from Ozpin, is it Neo?" The petite woman smiled and jumped back a little so that everyone could see her. She grinned as she signed,

"Ozpin has officially approved it. I've been accepted into Beacon and will be part of Team Caffeine as of next week!" The two girls both cheered at the news, and Fox ran up and picked his girlfriend, now official teammate, up and spun her around a couple of times before putting her down and catching her in a long and powerful kiss.

"Neo that's wonderful!"

"Yup, I should have my uniform ready by the end of the week."

"You'll look as amazing as always Neo," Coco mentioned, causing the mute to blush slightly.

"There is one other thing though..." In comparison to how fast and excited she was when signing the fact she was now a Beacon student, this little sentence was slow and with a fair bit of hesitation, something everybody picked up on.

"Neo?" For a very brief moment, Neo wished she hadn't mentioned this just now, but she had messaged Fox regarding this so he would ask anyway. She genuinely wasn't sure how to word it - well, honestly, I suppose.

"I... need to go home to see my family..."

"Okay, that's not so bad Neo," Fox interrupted her, not knowing the rest of the sentence.

"And I would like you to come and meet them Fox."

"You... huh?" Stumped, Fox looked at Neo for clarification, his dark copper eyes meeting her own pink and brown. 'Really Ni?'

'Really. I need to go and see them anyway so that they know I'm not dead - I haven't since the Museum and I... kind of destroyed the official document stating that I was no longer dead. By all medical records, I am dead. They'd need to see me to know for sure.'

'And you want me to go-'

'To get it out of the way. Two birds, one stone. Plus, little week away in Atlas with your girlfriend doesn't sound too bad, right?' There was silence in their minds for a moment and the eerie lack of sounds kept creeping up on them.

"Okay then." He spoke normally, breaking both silences that had formed in the room. "When are we leaving?"

"You... are going to come with me?"

"Neo, you are my girlfriend. You are now also my teammate. I wouldn't let you go alone anyway - none of us would." As a solitary tear formed in her left eyes, Neo looked around to see the rest of her team smiling and nodding at the statement. Once her sweep confirmed that statement, she stood on her tiptoes and hugged Fox as tight as she could manage. "It'd easily take a day to travel up there, wouldn't it? We don't exactly have a lot of time to spend there either; how we going to do this?"

"If memory serves, there is a Bullhead that would land you near a larger airfield, one with ships that frequently travel to Atlas." Yatsuhashi had clearly put some thought into it, maybe he was planning on travelling away from Vale and Anima when he was 'kicked out' so that they were unsure where he'd be. A smart ploy, all things considered. "They leave thrice a day, you could catch the afternoon one if you hurry but take nothing with you, or the early evening ship if you start packing now." Team CFVYN looked at one another, then nodded in unison. They'd work as a team to help get Fox and Neo packed up and ready to leave as soon as possible. They'd already proved it before, but they were going to be a strong team.

Part 5!

Wow. Just... wow. If you told me 7 months ago that I'd be writing something that continued on for this long, I'd have laughed at you. The 'Senseless' AU has really grown into something quite phenomenal, and you know that there's going to be all the usual things in there; comedy, innuendos, sadness, not sadness (happiness, that's the one - tired brain really don't work good on me) and of course my favourite orange and pink pairing

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated