Thoughts*
"speech"
AN: Some of you won't know but I had a contest on my last version of this to feature OC's from some of the reviewers. Shadoath, and Carpenter656 I hope you both are still reading, because they'll be mentioned in this chapter. I'm sorry it took me so long.
The first thing Jaune noticed when waking up was the bright examination light shining down on him along with lots of pain from his sore body. He gently sat up taking in the white walls and the smell of disinfectant that was heavy in the air. Jaune tossed the covers off and tried to stand but pain shot through his body sending him to the ground with an audible thud. While he was on his hands and knees the door swung open and revealed a concerned looking nurse followed by both the headmaster and deputy headmistress. The nurse seeing Jaune on the ground quickly ran over and helped him to lay back on the bed while Ozpin silently gestured for Glynda to wait outside.
Once the nurse had checked Jaune's vitals she gave Ozpin a silent nod before leaving the room to give the two men some privacy while they talked. Once the door had shut Ozpin took a sip from his ever present mug while Jaune got into a more comfortable position to wait for the inevitable questions. "So Jaune I can imagine you must still be sore from your fight so I'll keep the questions short. What happened out in the Emerald forest you were well out of range of the cameras set up for initiation. Start from the very beginning and leave no details no matter how small."
Jaune looked down at his bandaged hands flexing his fingers absentmindedly as he thought over everything that happened this morning and began explaining his trek through the forest up to when he passed out from exhaustion. Ozpin listened quietly occasionally taking a sip from his mug as the blonde knight spoke. Jaune explained finding Lunastra in the hands of Akemi's mother and how he returned to see Grimm attacking the little girl.
Ozpin stood from his seat and made his way over to the window looking out over the grounds and the multitude of students still milling about in the rays of the waning sun. His mug shook in his shaky grip as he thought of the woman they'd found when they picked up Jaune and Akemi. His chest ached at the loss of another great Huntress, and more importantly at the loss of a student and friend.
"You did well being able to make it home in one piece Jaune and you even saved little Akemi. That's more than anyone could have asked for in your situation, an important lesson I'd hoped you children would not learn till later in your stay at Beacon is that Hunters can't save everyone. As much as the populace likes to make us seem like invincible heroes who can do anything, we're only people. We can't always save everyone no matter how hard we try to at times. Don't let it burden your heart Jaune, instead of focusing on those we can't save we have to remember the lives we are able to rescue. I've made more mistakes than I can count in my life and I've
been unable to save so many lives I wish I could have. The woman, Akemi's mother. Her name was Kushina, she was once one of my students here in Beacon like yourself and your parents. She was on the same team as them and her late husband Minato who never returned from a mission in Vacuo."
Jaune began taking the IV drip out of his arm and putting his shoes on as Ozpin turned, watching the knight with a raised eyebrow. Ozpin set his mug down and helped the blonde knight winced at a pain in his side. "Sorry Headmaster, but can you help me get to Akemi's room. I want to make sure she's ok." Ozpin silently nodded and helped the young knight out of the room and instructed Glynda to lead them to Akemi's room. The woman simply gave a nod and began leading the two down the hall to a room where growling could be heard.
Glynda opened the door and stepped to the side as they passed through the door to see Akemi in the corner with her back to the wall growling at two nurses and a doctor who had their hands up in a placating manner. Jaune's hoodie still on she looked around fear visible in her eyes until she saw Jaune and ran forward ducking under the arms of the nurse and nearly tackled the blond knight to the ground with the hug she gave, burying her face into his stomach. Jaune gently placed a hand on her shoulder and the other on the top of her head.
"Akemi seems to have grown an attachment to her knight in shining armor. She's probably still scared from her experiences in the forest. I'm sorry to ask this Jaune but would you be willing to keep her calm while the doctors run some tests to be sure nothing is wrong with her?" Jaune nodded silently and lifted the small girl into his arms ignoring the pain in his side that his aura was already beginning to fix. He sat on the bed softly stroking the small Faunus's hair as the nurses began drawing a blood sample. Once they had a vial of blood they left the room along with Glynda when Ozpin had dismissed her.
"Headmaster. Do you think you could get one of the nurses to bring Akemi a change of clothes so she can get a warm bath. She's freezing and I'd like to take her to the cafeteria to get some food for her, she must be starving." The older man gave a silent nod and left to have a passing nurse bring the requested items, meanwhile Jaune carried Akemi into the bathroom and set her down wiping the small tears that had run down her cheeks. " I'm going to run you a warm bath ok Akemi? Once you've bathed and changed into some clean clothes we'll go and get some food. Does that sound good to you?" Akemi gave a small nod and watched her blonde saviour begin running a bath, undressing when he'd left the bathroom and closed the door.
Jaune let out a tired sigh and took a seat on the bed, looking up to see a woman with light brown skin, shoulder length black hair along with green eyes that seemed to be full of mischievous glee. He smiled and stood pulling the woman into a hug when she'd set the clothes on the bed. "Jade! It's been too long since the last time we've talked. How are you doing? Have you asked out Bleu yet, you know you already have mine and the rest of our families blessings. We've considered you, Aurelian, and Fenrir family since the first time Bleu brought you three home."
Jade blushed crimson at Jaune mentioning her crush on the ever stoic Bleu. She punched him in the arm hard enough to send him over the bed as she turned and covered her burning face in embarrassment. Jaune pulled himself from the ground to see a now glaring Jade who had her arms crossed after quickly getting over her embarrassment. "We haven't seen each other in so long because you've never come to visit me. You've known I worked here in the medical wing of Beacon, but no! You have to go and almost die in the Emerald Forest to come visit little ol' Jade right?"
Jaune nervously scratched the back of his neck knowing he really had no excuse for avoiding visiting other than not wanting her to pressure him into calling Bleu. "You know you should really give Bleu a call sometime. I get it you ran away from home to come here, but Bleu worries about you. She may be all for you forging your own path, but you're still her younger brother Jaune."
Jaune looked at the ground and let out a sad sigh before nodding, promising to call Bleu tonight before bed. The two sat together on the bed and began catching up, Jaune telling her how his schooling at Beacon is going along with how he's doing being a team leader. Jade told him about all the Freshman she has had to patch up and about the idiotic 4th years that kept hitting on her. Jaune laughed when she mentioned how she fought a few of them thinking it would let them understand that she wasn't interested, but they came back even more saying she was just playing hard to get.
A door opening pulled the two from their conversation as two red fox ears along with a pair of violet eyes peeked out from the bathroom. Jaune smiled and brought the clothes to her kneeling down to hand them to her through the open door. Her ears twitched softly as she smiled and took the clothes closing the door. When the door opened again Jade and Jaune were greeted by Akemi wearing the clothes with Jaune's pumpkin Pete hoodie worn over them. Jade giggled softly into her hand while Jaune just smiled softly at the sight picking the girl up into his arms.
Jaune waved goodbye to the still giggling Jade as he walked away with Akemi's arms wrapped around his neck and her face buried into his shoulder. He rubbed her back softly as he made his way through the empty halls the sun had set an hour ago and with it the majority of the remaining student body either retired to their rooms or were in the cafeteria enjoying the surprisingly delicious food Beacon has to offer. What few students they passed as they walked through the halls stopped to stare at the two, most likely wondering why Beacon's resident dorky knight was with a child. Jaune decided to ignore them and deal with the inevitable rumors later when he was more rested, and less likely to snap at anyone that so much as looked in his direction wrong.
After a few minutes Jaune stepped through the doors of the cafeteria where it seemed like only a fourth of the tables were occupied by students. Idly he wondered if the building would be big enough to hold all the transfer students that would be showing up some time after their break ended. Looking for a quiet spot for Akemi and himself he caught a familiar set of bunny ears accompanied by his favorite fashionista. Making his way over to the sitting females of team CFVY, Jaune was surprised when the two didn't even bat an eye at the little girl in his arms and
simply gave him their usual greetings before giving small smiles to Akemi who turned her head to peek at them slightly.
"So this is the cutie you found out in the woods today. We didn't get a good look at her when the medics carried you into the other bullhead while we kept the grimm back." Coco said taking off her sunglasses to reveal her warm chocolate eyes. Jaune smiled and gently coaxed Akemi to sit on the chair next to him where she nervously fidgeted in place.
Jaune gently nudged her before gesturing to the two females sitting across from them. "H-Hello, my name is Akemi. It's a pleasure to meet you and thank you for saving Jaune and I earlier. I'm sorry I didn't thank you earlier." Coco waved her hand nonchalantly while giving her usual confident smile.
"No worries Akemi you were scared and the Grimm were close by. We're just glad you're both okay and safe now." Coco booped the small girl on her nose eliciting a small giggle from her, before her stomach decided to remind them that it was still hungry.
Akemi turned beet red making the three students burst out in laughter. "Well Velvet and I just got here so why don't Jaune and I go get us all some food." The two team leaders stood and made their way to the serving line chatting quietly about various topics related to school andhow each others teams were doing. They spoke like this for a few minutes before filling two trays with various assortments of food, and making their way back towards the waiting Faunus.
"Haha! Look the animals are multiplying, how much do you wanna bet it's from some desperate loser that paid her for a good time?" Both team leader's came upon team CRDL harassing the two faunus waiting for them. Jaune froze when he saw Cardin Winchester gripping Akemi's red fox ears tightly and giving them a tug.
"Hahaha aww what's wrong is the little vermin gonna cry? Come on go ahead an-" Cardin was cut off by a hand gripping his face and throwing him into a table snapping it in half. The rest of team CRDL turned and were greeted by a glaring Jaune Arc, his aura leaking out into the air and the visage of a snarling lion standing behind him. "So. Who's next"
Alright that's a good place to stop for now please leave a review and tell me what you think, every bit helps and I read them all. Sorry this took so long to come out but life has not been cooperating with me.