Chapter 16.

October 6.

It was a late evening, and the two of them were in her room, both sitting on her bed and watching a great number of boxing fights. Jaune was completely enthralled by boxing itself, while Penny divided her attention between watching boxing and Jaune. She simply couldn't help herself paying attention to him, given how mesmerized and excited he was, and that in return, made her mesmerized and excited as well.

"Did you see that?!" He pointed his finger at the screen. "He timed that right hand perfectly!"

"Yes. It was a masterful counter."

"Another one!" He exclaimed as the champion hit his challenger once again, scoring what looked like a heavy knock-down.

"He's trying to get up," Penny observed as she watched the challenger try and beat the ten count.

"Yea," He said, but truth be told, he knew the outcome since he'd seen this fight before.

"And he lost," Penny said, paused for a moment, and then continued. "I must say, this champion, Adam Taurus, seems very strong."

"He is." Jaune agreed. "He's pretty much cleared out the heavyweight division, and people suspect he's going to be undefeated for quite a while. Honestly, they might be right, but we shall see."

She gave him a look. "'There's always going to be someone who's better than you. It's only a matter of when.' That's what you said to me."

He struck a tiny smile. "Yea. So uh, wanna watch another fight?" He hoped that she did, but wouldn't blame her if she'd had enough.

"Of course," She said truthfully, and after sharing a brief smile, they watched some more boxing.

…

"And once again, I got carried away…" He said with a wry smile as he showed her the time. It was 02:13 am.

She merely smiled. "That's okay. I don't mind at all."

He still couldn't help feeling some guilt. In a way, he began to wonder if he wasn't abusing her immense kindness. "Really? I mean, you're not just saying that, are you?"

"I mean it. I very much enjoy spending time with you, Jaune. Everything's fun as long as I'm together with you," She said with sincerity impossible to fake.

He felt himself blush a little. "Thanks. I uh, you know I, I enjoy being together with you as well, Penny." Even if clumsily, he managed to say what he felt were the right words.

She smiled at him, and he then smiled back. Before he blinked, and then scratched the back of his neck. "I guess I should go..." He said, after reminding himself how late it was, but then thought about it a little more. "But then again, tomorrow's free so…maybe I could stay a little bit longer."

"Yes." Her answer was simple, and a moment later she continued. "I'd like to just talk to you, if you don't mind. We didn't really get to do that much while watching boxing."

He took on a sheepish, almost apologetic look. "Crap, I'm, I'm sorry about that. I guess I tend to lose focus on stuff around me when watching boxing."

"It's fine." She started. "If anything, I think it's a good thing. It means that you still very much care about boxing, I'd say. Or am I wrong?" She began to wonder.

His look went astray. "No, you're right. I do care about boxing," He said with an empty smile.

"Hm." She hummed while pondering to herself. "If you still care about boxing, shouldn't you box then?"

He shook his head. "Boxing days are behind me, I'm just a fan now. I mean, I'm attending Beacon to become a huntsman, you know."

"Wait, by saying 'Boxing days are behind me', you mean you used to a boxer?" She said with a growing spark in her eyes.

"Only an amateur." He tried to sound dismissive.

"That's still amazing!" She exclaimed with a grin, but a few moments later, her expression became oddly serious. "Okay, it's settled then."

He cocked his eyebrow. "What?"

"You should definitely give boxing another chance!" She stated so firmly and with so much belief, he almost humored her idea for a second. Almost.

"No…I mean, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but like I said, I'm only a fan now. I just watch boxing."

"Are you happy with that?" She asked with curiosity mixed with concern. Somehow, his words just seemed wrong to her.

"I'm okay with that," He said while shrugging his shoulders.

"What do you mean by 'Okay'?"

He had to think for a moment. "I'm okay that I'm here, at Beacon, on my way to become a huntsman."

"Yes, you said something similar a short while ago." She thought about it, and then continued. "Even so, that doesn't mean that you can't box, right? You do have some spare time to devote to boxing, don't you?"

He frowned ever so slightly. "I mean, I guess, but Lilianna-I mean my mother wouldn't like that. She never did. Even when I was doing great as an amateur, she…she couldn't accept it. She refused to."

"Why?"

"Because she's-" He stopped for a moment, a realization of what kind of language he was about to use striking him true. "Because she's stubborn, to put it mildly. She just couldn't get it through her thick skull that maybe it was okay that I didn't want to follow our family's heroes footsteps. That I wanted to be my own person, and have dreams of my own and…and not just do as I'm told." He voiced thoughts that he seldom did nowadays, and unbeknownst to him, his hand was balled into a shaking fist.

She, however, did notice and without even thinking, she took his hand into hers two, and then set it into her lap.

He gave her a look, and she noticed him looking surprised or even confused.

"Oh, was this not okay to do? I'm sorry." She sincerely apologized, and just as she was about to let go of his hand, he interrupted her.

"No, I just…it's fine. I just didn't expect that," He said, feeling his heart race a little as he voiced the words.

"I didn't expect that either," She said, just as she realized it. "But you looked like you needed some help, and then my body just moved on its own. I don't quite understand how or why."

He shrugged. "I mean, you're a good person. Maybe that's why."

She gave it a thought. "I'm not sure, since I don't really know if I'm a good person or not." She said, the tone of her voice revealing vulnerability which he didn't really understand. In fact, he never would.

"You are, trust me," He said, and she gave him a little, sad smile.

"Thank you, Jaune."

He smiled, and she then lost herself in his smile for a moment, but then remembered what they were talking about before. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you; even if your mother is completely against you boxing, does that really mean that you should never box again?"

He visibly winced, both from embarrassment and a wave of frustration. "I mean, no, of course not. It's just, I guess life's a bit easier this way. She wanted me to become a huntsman? Fine, I'll be a huntsman then so she can finally shut up about it. That worthless…" And he then sighed. Of course, there was quite a bit more to it than just that, but he wasn't ready to reveal the whole truth just yet.

She began to wonder about something. Worry too. "Can I ask you something that's probably really personal to you?"

He, understandably so, hesitated, but figured it'd be okay to at least hear it. "I guess."

"Do you hate your mother?"

He parted his lips, but words just didn't come out. At first, before he sighed, and lowered his look to the floor. "Yea."

"You should try and mend your relationship with her then," She said what made perfect sense to her, but Jaune immediately shook his head.

"No, I, I don't want to. Honestly, I'm not even sure there's any relationship to mend to begin with."

"But you're family," She said, and immediately thought of the only family she got; her father. But her father was someone she absolutely adored, and one of the first things that he taught her was; family was very important.

"Family isn't always close, Penny."

"Then there has to be something you can do to fix that, right?"

"Not in my case."

"That just doesn't seem right."

"It isn't, but that's just the way it is."

"No, there has to be something-"

"Penny!" He finally raised his voice at her. Not exactly shouting, but his expression alone told her enough. "Look, I, I appreciate that you want to help, but…I just think this isn't a situation where there's anything you can do. And even if there is, I really don't want to mend anything with my mother," He said with a sense of finality, and Penny realized then and there she had said something wrong.

"I'm sorry."

He meekly smiled. "Don't be. You just tried to help," He said, but was quick to notice that his words didn't do much for her. And given that he himself wasn't feeling too good, he just wanted to be alone.

She noticed him looking at the door, before he turned his head to face her.

"I guess, I'll go."

"Okay."

"Good night."

"Good night, Jaune," She said, and then watched him exit her room. When he did, she pressed her knees to her chest, and then wrapped her arms around them. She was conflicted, perhaps even agitated. On one hand, she had clearly upset him, and she didn't like that fact at all. On the other hand, she failed to see where exactly she had gone wrong with what she had said. But then again, she wasn't human, so maybe she wasn't meant to understand the complexities of human relationship. Be it as it may though, for the rest of the night, she tried to figure out the errors of what she had said to him.