Warning for the reader: Hey everyone, it's-a-Storm VII here with a brief before-chapter message. Just to let you know, I'm going to have a lot of events going on between Canon episode. Basically, this is the equivalent of an anime doing filler while the manga updates. This is to give the series a chance to finish and for more character development and other ideas. Enjoy!

Crimson IV: Shade

"...You know... I was starting to get curious when you'd make your move," Ragna said, his expression a shade so dark it seemed to eliminate any sunlight in the immediate area. "Ever since we met each other, I knew it in my gut... This chick wants me dead... I didn't know when... And I didn't know how... But I knew you would act... And now here we are, at your very first attempt at trying to kill me."

"Oh quit your monologuing. I try to do something nice for you and this is how you thank me?" Tsubaki Yayoi demanded from her leader. "I just wanted to make sure you got a nutritional meal."

"How is THAT nutritional!? Is it even meant to be eaten!?" Ragna shouted as he pointed at the plate of... something in front of him. It was vile, repugnant, and largely responsible for the wide berth the other student were giving to Team RAIN's table.

"I... I... cooked that..." Noel said, tears slowly starting to form in her eyes. Ragna cringed at the display, but he still minded his distance around the death meal.

"Just eat it," Azrael muttered as he tore into his bag of beef jerky. "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?"

"That would put me at a god level if I survived..." Ragna muttered.

"Why do you think I want you to go for it?" the Mad Dog asked with a nasty snarl.

"Why me...?" Ragna moaned as he slowly made his way towards the meal. The occasional student watched as he cut into it, pulled... something out with his fork and brought up to his lips.

"Ragna wait!" he heard Ruby call. Looking towards his fellow huntress-in-training, the Reaper let out a titanic sigh of relief. Of course it would be Ruby to come to his rescue; sweet, caring, innocent Ruby who... was now pointing her scroll to record him. "Okay, now go!"

"You're supposed to be my only friend! Why don't you have my back?!" Ragna shouted at her before looking back to his forkful of Noel's cooking. "Yare yare daz-..." The Reaper's eyes narrowed as his eyebrow seemed to twitch... but he wasn't focused on the fork in front of him. Placing the utensil down, Ragna rose to his feet. "Hold that thought."

"Aww... and here I was about to get new subscribers..." Ruby said as she put the scroll away and sat down at her team table.

"Probably just chickened out," Yang said to her sister. "Then again, I wouldn't want to eat whatever that was."

"I... won't disagree," Weiss said in turn. "That looked like it would be tough for anyone to choke down."

"Hey, she's talking to us now," the blonde said as she gave a small punch to her teammate's arm which the silver hair flinched at. "Decided to give being friendly a chance?"

"Just that, a chance," Weiss told them, remembering back to yesterday's several events. As Ragna got out from his table and walked past them; he did not look pleased. "What's his problem?"

"After what a wild card he was yesterday, it's was hard to... say," Blake Belladonna told them as she saw where Ragna was headed.

"I thought I saw you in the library earlier today? Didn't you have your ears caught in the door?" one student taunted a rabbit Faunus.

"Yeah, I think I saw here too, she was hopping to try and get through the door, just like some kind of freak!" another student mocked. The girl they were bullying didn't seem to have the confidence to defend herself.

"Hey why don't you try cutting those lousy things off? Maybe then people could stand to look at you and wouldn't have to cry every time someone talked to to you!"

"Boys, boys, I think we're being a little too harsh," Cardin, the leader of team CRDL, told his teammates. "After all, she's too busy trying to find someone to have dozens of freaks just like her with." The team then laughed, leaving the poor girl on the verge of crying.

"Quit it."

He didn't raise his voice, he didn't have any anger in it, but Ragna's words spoke volume... and a lot of it. All at once the entire mess hall turned silent while they turned to face the leader of team RAIN as he stood before the entirety of team CRDL.

"I'm... sorry?" Cardin said as he rose to full height so that he was eye to eye with Ragna. "What did you just say to me?"

"You heard me; Quit. It."

"Trying to act brave?" Cardin said as everyone listened in. "Are you done crying in your sheets about missing home?" Cardin chuckled while his flunkies imitated Ragna crying. He then glanced behind the Reaper. "Looks like you forget your weapon... Again."

Ragna didn't say anything.

"C'mon, I knew you were an idiot, but standing up for a Faunus? What? Are you a sympathizer!? Is that what you are!?"

"What Faunus needs sympathy?" Ragna retorted, leaving Blake to narrow her eyes as she watched. "All they really need are jackasses like you to leave 'em alone." Ragna glanced over his shoulder towards some of the other students. "They've got their own talents between them, same as us. What you're doing isn't just dated; it's idiotic."

"...I knew it; you made up those stories about you entrance test," Cardin said pushed Ragna, causing the Reaper to take a step back. "You think that all of those tall tales could fool me? You could barely stand against that boar yesterday and now you think you're a tough guy? Who the hell do you think you are!?"

THWACK!

"Short answer? Someone who's all outta shits to give," Ragna said as everyone stared slack jawed at the student who was planted firmly in the ceiling above them. Giving a weak groan, Cardin slowly fell from the crevice befrore Ragna grabbed the surprised Faunus by the arm and moved her out of the way as Team CRDL's leader came crashing down where she'd been sitting.

"Th-Thank you..." the young Faunus said to him as Ragna turned away from her.

"Whatever." With that blunt and dismissive word, Ragna headed out of the lunch room.

"So... any comment on that performance, red-head?" Azrael asked with a chuckle.

"Several," Tsubaki said with continued annoyance.

"And he didn't even eat my... meal?" Noel asked as she looked to the cleaned plate that had been in front of Ragna. She and Tsubaki then glanced at each other in stunned silence before turning to Azrael who was picking his teeth with a toothpick.

"Needed more salt, but not bad," Azrael muttered half-heartedly. "...Blondie, why the hell are you crying?"

"I'm... just... happy," a smiling Noel said as tears poured from her face

"Helloooooo ladies!" a certain Black Gale called as he entered the mess-hall with his usual cocky attitude as all four members of Team JACK followed in suit (card pun). All of them then saw the display of three terrified member of team CRDL while their leader lay prone on their table, a massive indent in the ceiling, more than half of the students staring at a fidgeting rabbit Faunus, and a clearly unnerved Azrael whose eyes were wide as Noel cried before him with a bright smile on her face while Tsubaki stared blankly at a cleaned plate. "...What the hell did we miss!?"

Hallways Outside

Ragna didn't say anything as he walked through the hallways, several students whispering behind his back as he passed them by. The Reaper avoided them and made for an empty classroom. He eventually found one and saw by the schedule that it wouldn't be in use for at least an hour. Sighing with relief, Ragna headed inside and let out a massive groan.

"There are still people out there who don't completely trust Faunus? What next? Were you going to tell me that water is a little wet?" the Reaper questioned aloud with a harsh scowl. "It's even worse than I thought it would be! How is this shit still allowed!?"

Outside the classroom, Professor Ozpin watched as Ragna ranted to himself about what he had witnessed in the cafeteria. While the enigmatic teacher wouldn't condone the methods used, he did see Ragna's point to them and did have an inkling about his previous learning environment. The teacher was about to open the door to give the student a few sage words of advice... but stopped as the situation slowly began to develop before his very eyes.

"Can I... help you with something?" Ozpin asked the student before him. "Miss Belladonna?"

"I was just..." Blake began as she tried to come up with he reason. Ozpin raised his right hand and effectively stopped her attempted excuse.

"Go. He's inside." Following his order, the Team RWBY member entered the classroom and closed the door behind her. Smirking as an annoyed Goodwitch approached him from behind, Ozpin gave the tiniest of chuckles. "What say we let him off with a warning... just this once?"

"Ozpin..."

"We both know that this won't be the last time this particular student causes trouble at Beacon. He'll surely spend more than his share of time in the detention halls... Besides, we're both aware of his... condition."

"ONLY this once," Goodwitch said in turn. "He should know the rules."

"I'm sure he does," Ozpin told her. "The problem for him is following them."

Back inside the room, the conversation had yet to start. Ragna just kept his arms crossed and glared at the girl in front of him, hoping that she'd soon leave. Blake wasn't budging and continued to glare back at Ragna.

"...Does your Team know?" Ragna finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Do they know what?" Blake demanded.

"The ears," he responded. Silence. "Look, I won't say anything if you don't want me to, but it'd be better if you told them on your terms than on fate's." Silence. "...Well you sure as hell didn't follow me just to keep glaring at me, so what do you want?"

"I want to know about why you feel the way you do about the Faunus," Blake told him. "Out everyone I met the most anyone will do is try to end a dispute peacefully, but I never saw someone try to defend one like you did... most Faunus sympathizers are often social exiles."

"I'm already a social exile, your point?" Ragna questioned rudely. Blake didn't falter. "My teacher..."

"He's a Faunus?"

"Not exactly..." Ragna admitted before sighing. "Let's think of it like this. So you've got two sides of the spectrum and Pure Humans and Pure Animals on opposite sides, alright?" Blake nodded. "So then there are the Faunus and they can vary on the ratio between their human qualities and their animal ones, but they're usually only 10 to 35 percent animal traits."

"That's... rather general, but go on," Blake said, and that was being generous.

"This is straight from my teacher's mouth, not mine." Ragna defended. "Speaking of him, he's what's called a Beast-Man. If I had to put a number on him, I'd say he's probably closer to 70 percent."

"Beast-man?" Blake questioned. "I thought they were a myth."

"My teacher says otherwise; though he never talked about it much," Ragna admitted. "He once mentioned that he had two brothers, but that's all I remember him telling me. Anyways, he's the one who's been raising and looking after me... I owe him a lot."

"So is that why you stepped in to save Velvet?" Blake was starting to get a better feel for Ragna, but was surprised when he shook his head.

"Nah... stepped in cause I saw some guys being a bunch of complete dicks to her. It doesn't have anything to do with Faunus or Humans; it's just who I am I guess." Ragna then leaned against the wall. "...Back when... before I met my teacher, I didn't really give a damn about Faunuses one way or another... so maybe spending so much time with him changed me, I don't really know." Ragna then gave a small chuckle. "Back when the I first met the guy I was completely taken by his ears, actually went and pet them without asking him."

"You... you did what?" Blake asked. In Faunus society that was usually something only to be done between close individuals or as a form of insult.

"Hey give me a break, I was eight," Ragna laughed. "Trust me, he was sure to teach me how wrong I was afterwards by kicking my ass."

"...Sounds like an interesting man," she admitted. "I'd like to meet him if you know how to."

"Problem is I don't," Ragna told her. "He's not the type to keep a scroll on him and he goes where he wants... I can think of a couple of places we used to camp at a couple of times, but those are pretty far into the wild lands. I wouldn't recommend going even if I knew he was there."

"I see..."

"HEY YOU TWO!" The two heard, snapping them out of their thoughts. Into the classroom came the rest of team RWBY, along with their hyper leader that had called out to them.

"Hey kid," Ragna said in turn with a smirk. "What brings the three of you here?"

"We were just wondering whatever our partner would want with you," Weiss said as she turned to face Blake. "You did leave rather suddenly after his... display."

"...She just had a question about the Grimm Studies class we're in," Ragna covered for Blake, much to her relief. "Just a question about the Avian types she didn't quite get."

"And she went to you for it?" Yang asked. "No offense, but you seemed pretty out during yesterday's class if I'm remembering things right."

"That's where I came in," Ruby said proudly as she put her hands on her hips in a triumphant pose. "The two of us spent all of last night studying ahead and cramming those books!"

"Aw, so you two are already study partners; that's perfect," Yang said, leaving Ruby to smile brightly and Ragna to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, we'll call it that," he muttered. '...This is first non-aggressive conversation I've had in a group since I've gotten here... and it's not even with my own team.'

"I'm not sure if you'd be interested, but the rest of us were going to head to the Library after classes ended for today," Weiss told him. "If you wanted to, you could bring your team and all of us could study together." Ragna's face immediately darkened and the girls swore it was destroying any lighting in the room. "What's with that look?"

"...Is it alright... If it's just me... Please?"

Author's Note: So... shorter chapter this time. Good news; I managed to write this thing in like a day. I might just stick with this for a while since I've been burnt out writing SO MANY long and epic chapter. It's been too long since I've done a basic Slice-of-Life. Anyways, see you next chapter.

Ciao!