"Gotcha Amy!"
"Gah! Taiyang, you jerk!" Taiyang grinned widely at the girl pinned under him before he got off of her. This is usually how recess at Signal went when the kids got to playing some of the more physical games. The double purpose it served of both burning off their excess energy and serving as rudimentary training for the kids who would go on to become Huntsmen was lost only on the kids themselves. With the current game of tag done, all the children gathered around to discuss a new game.
"How about Hide and Seek next?" a nine year old that went by David suggested.
"That's a good idea," Amy said with a nod before glaring at Taiyang, "I won't have to deal with Tai so often then!" Taiyang stuck his tongue out while the other children shouted their agreements. "So who should be the seeker?"
"Amy was tagged last, so she seeks!" Taiyang said pointing at Amy and, to her displeasure, the other children agreed.
"Fine, but I'm coming for you first Tai!" Amy said and moved to sit on the bench David was standing on and covered her eyes. "I'm counting to fifty! One…"
The children didn't need any more incentive to run and hide as she continued counting. Taiyang couldn't help but smile as he ran looking for a good place to hide. Soon he was on the path leading to the main gates of Signal and made a beeline for a tree to climb. After a rough start Taiyang made quick progress up the tree until he was at a high enough branch.
"Ha, those losers will never find me up here! I'm so smart!" Taiyang said and chuckled to himself as he sat on the branch. His self-congratulations didn't last long when he heard the gates open. He scooted down the branch to get a better look at who came in and saw an older man in a black and green suit leading a kid in a white jacket down the path. Even with her head down and her hair covering her eyes, Taiyang could tell it was a girl from where he was.
"This is Signal Academy, your… new home as of now," the man said as he walked by Taiyang's tree. He looked down at the girl when she didn't answer and held a hand out in front of her to stop her so he could kneel down in front of her. "Listen, are you sure you want to board here? It's going to be tough especially by yourself. There's still some time to-"
"I am not going into foster care!" the girl said angrily, angry enough to give Taiyang goosebumps, and grabbed the collar of her shirt tightly. "They'll just get in the way. I need to get stronger as soon as I can, and I can only do that here. Nothing else matters to me." The man sighed deeply and stood up.
"As long as you're sure," he said and gestured to the academy with his cane, "I'll show you to the headmaster and she'll get you settled in. That's about as much as I can do for you now."
"…Thank you," the girl said with a nod and started walking again. The man watched her for a moment before he followed, leaving Taiyang by himself in the tree.
'She's a new student? She must be an orphan like Steven,' Taiyang thought as he watched the pair walk away. This wasn't an unusual sight at all for the academy since an unfortunately large piece of the student body had been orphaned by Grimm and either had nowhere else to go or chose to attend. 'She probably won't be in class today. I'll look for her tomorrow.' Taiyang nodded at the plan and smiled a little as he watched her walk away.
Until Amy came out of some bushes and ran up to talk to the new girl. After a few seconds the girl pointed at the tree Taiyang was sitting in and continued on her way as Amy looked at the tree and charged at it.
"Uh oh."
Much like Taiyang expected, the girl was introduced to the class the next day. Summer Rose, as she was introduced, then spent the next few days making it about as clear as a bat to the face that she wasn't interested in the other kids at all. Attempts to invite her to play were ignored as were lunch invitations, and if a kid tried to sit with her she would move to an empty table with a scowl on her face. Soon everyone got the message and started leaving her alone. As these kinds of things tend to go, Summer soon developed a reputation as 'that one creepy girl' that seemed to suit her just fine.
Taiyang learned that lesson faster than most of his peers and kept his observations of Summer distant. He offered an occasional 'hi' here and there, but they were never returned. It wouldn't be until a month after Summer first showed up that Taiyang got a chance to grow even slightly closer to her.
The school day had ended and the kids who lived outside the school were on their way out to meet up with their parents. Like most days one of his parents (his mom today) met him halfway up the path. "There you are Tai, did you have a good day at school?" she asked before frowning and kneeling down when she saw a bruise on Taiyang's cheek. "And where did you get that?"
"…Amy," Taiyang answered and looked away.
"I keep warning you about girls Tai. They're always stronger than you think." Taiyang didn't need that reminder, he always saw that for himself either in class or learning martial arts from his mom. Thankfully she didn't feel the need to press it harder as she stood up and grabbed his hand to lead the way toward the gates. "That aside, has school been going well? Any new friends to speak of?"
"No mom, that hasn't changed. She still won't talk to anyone." At this point Taiyang wasn't sure if anything would solve Summer's attitude problem.
"I wouldn't worry too much Tai. Circumstances like hers change a lot more than attitude. She just needs to get used to everything."
"I guess you're right."
"I am right. Just give her some time to adjust." Suddenly a scream came from the tree in front of them and the current topic of conversation dropped out and landed rather roughly on the sidewalk. Summer pushed herself onto her butt with a groan and gently rubbed her arm. Taiyang pulled away from his mom and rushed over to Summer to help her onto her feet.
"Are you ok? Why were you climbing a tree?" he asked only to get pushed away roughly once Summer was on her feet. He barely managed to stay on his own and looked at Summer as she glared at him with her fists clenched tightly at her sides.
"None of your business! Just leave me alone!" she shouted angrily and pointed at Taiyang, "I don't want your help and need your help! I don't need any of you! Do you hear me!?" Then she started to run away and jumped past some bushes, shooting forward in a burst of petals as she did so. Taiyang watched her run until she disappeared into the school and stomped his foot with a growl of frustration.
"What's her problem? I just wanted to help!"
"I was afraid of that." Taiyang looked back at his mother and calmed down when he saw her staring sadly at the doors Summer disappeared behind.
"Mom?"
"I've seen that happen far too often with children like her," she said more to herself than anything and sighed. She then looked at Taiyang and walked forward to kneel in front of him. "Don't take anything she says personally Taiyang. She's just lashing out at an unfair situation. We can never know just what someone is going through and what… or who they lost before. The most we can do is just be there for them in whatever way we can. Do you understand?"
Taiyang thought it over for a moment and nodded, even if he didn't really understand. His mom may have been right because Summer's eyes looked sad more than anything. His mom nodded, stood up, and walked past Taiyang toward the gate again. Taiyang started to follow her when he saw a glint of metal on the ground and stopped to pick it up.
He was a little confused at the necklace with a small rose pendant until he realized it had been around where Summer had fallen. A quick look around showed that the girl was still long gone and, with his mom quickly walking away, Taiyang did the only thing he really could do and pocketed the pendant before running after his mom.
'I'll give it back to her next time I see her.'
Taiyang wouldn't get that chance until after the weekend. He very narrowly avoided getting into all kinds of trouble when his parents found out about the pendant until he explained what he was going to do. Even then they made him keep the pendant in open view on a table until school was back in session. Like he was going to keep it, yeah right!
When school resumed he found Summer absent from classes. Not that that wasn't unusual for the girl, but it made his task all the harder. The pendant was starting to feel heavy as the day wore on, and Taiyang was happy when recess finally came. With a hand in his pocket to make sure he didn't lose that pendant, he started searching around for Summer.
"There you are Taiyang!" Taiyang perked up at the voice and groaned when he recognized it. He turned as Amy ran up to him with a determined smile. "We're starting up a new game today! Are you coming?"
"Now? I'm kinda busy," Taiyang answered with a shake of his head, "you wouldn't happen to have seen Summer have you?"
"Ew, why are you looking for her?" Amy asked, a frown growing across her face.
"None of your business. Have you seen her or not?"
"No, not today. She's been tearing the academy apart lately though, if what the other live-in kids have been saying is true. If she's not here, then maybe the cafeteria building? She apparently frequents there."
"Ok, I'll try there. And if I get it done, I'm definitely up for that game."
"I'll be sure to save you a spot in the loser's circle!" Amy ran back to her friends, sticking her tongue out at Taiyang as she did so. He watched her for a second before making his way to the cafeteria, walking past students and teachers alike. Once there Taiyang asked one of the older students if Summer had been around and was pointed in the direction Summer was last seen going. With a general area to go on, Taiyang was well and truly ready to get this over with.
Then he heard the sobs. Just around the corner of the building sitting curled up under a tree was Summer Rose. Taiyang couldn't help but feel bad since even with her face pressed hard into her knees her sobs weren't muffled in the slightest. He took a breath before he walked over to her.
"Hey, are you ok?" He asked.
"Go away!" she yelled and curled up even more, "I hate all of you."
"Well that's nice to know. You can hate me if you want, I don't care." Taiyang dug around in his pocket and held the pendant in front of Summer by the chain. "This is yours right? You dropped it when you fell out of the tree the other day." Summer looked up and gasped when she saw the pendant and then snatched it away with an angry growl while Taiyang jumped away with his hands up.
"Why do you have this, you-"
"I just wanted to give it back, no other reason. It's yours after all." Summer looked at him for a moment before looking back at her pendant before looping it around her head without taking her hood off. She wiped her eyes with her jacket sleeve before standing up and staring at Taiyang, her silver eyes boring into his blue. After a moment she looked away with a "Hm," and ran away toward the back of the cafeteria building.
"I guess as close to a 'thank you' as I'm going to get, right?" Taiyang shouted and got no answer from the girl. He lowered his hands and sighed as she disappeared around the corner. "Guess so. Oh well, at least she got it back I guess. Time to play with Amy."
Time passed and Taiyang and Summer didn't interact any more than they had before, until the day they both ended up at Beacon Academy. On the same team no less! Despite his hang ups about Summer, he was cautiously optimistic about the coming years. All of which was almost immediately proven wrong not just by Summer's attitude problems, but also by his other teammate's lack of drive too. All of which culminated in the whole team getting into some serious hot water and nearly getting expelled if it weren't for the 'Camping trip from hell' as it was known to the upperclassmen.
To their credit, they were doing pretty well the first few days even with the 'challenges for perks' thing thrown at them early on. They will forever be grateful both for the camping stove and Summer's cooking skills. And then Taiyang had to screw it up by twisting an ankle on the third day. Still, could be worse.
"Ow! Do you have to be so rough Summer!" Taiyang shouted.
"I wouldn't have to be if you would stop squirming around!" Summer said back without taking her eyes off her task of binding Taiyang's ankle. "Maybe you'll take this as a lesson to watch where your feet are going, hm?"
"That hole came out of nowhere! Besides, if I didn't go…"
"That Beowolf would have gotten Davies," Summer finished, which got a look of mild shock from Taiyang, "he told me what happened while I reported what happened. You made the right choice."
"I… I did?" Summer nodded while focusing on Taiyang's ankle. "Huh… that's new."
"What do you mean?"
"Well that just… doesn't seem like a 'you' thing to say, that's all."
"If you say so. I guess I've had a lot to think about in the last few days." Summer completed one more wrap before stopping and staring at nothing for a few seconds. "That… actually reminds me of something. We went to Signal together, right?"
"Huh? Well, yeah we did. You were always kind of a loner though." Taiyang rubbed the back of his head as he said this. 'Where is all of this coming from?'
"I thought as much," Summer muttered and nodded to herself, "I never thanked you. For helping me, that is."
"Um… can you be a little more specific?"
"Of course you wouldn't remember, it was a long time ago." Summer actually smiled and shook her head before she dug into the collar of her dress with her free hand and pulled out a necklace with a small rose pendant. "I lost this once and you gave it back to me. I didn't thank you back then, so… thanks for giving it back to me."
"Oh, that's what you meant. Man, that was a long time ago! You still remember that?"
"This pendant means a lot to me, more than I can put into words," Summer said as she gently rubbed the pendant before putting it back under her dress. "It was my Dad's. I got it from him and he got it from my Mom. It's… the only thing I have from either of them."
"Ah…" Taiyang nodded with a sad look on his face. "Well, I'm glad you got it back. Doubly so, with how much it means to you."
"Mhmm. I just wanted to thank you."
"Hey, don't mention it. That's just what friends do, right?"
"Friends…" Summer glanced down for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I guess you're right." She then tugged the bandages tighter which Taiyang to yelp a little.
"Hey, easy there!"
"These have to be tight so your ankle will heal properly. You don't like it, blame yourself." Summer wrapped it once more before securing the bandage and nodding. "That should hold. Does it feel ok?" Taiyang didn't try to move it, though the pressure seemed to be helping with the pain, so he nodded. "Good. All that's left to do is let Aura take care of the rest. So keep pressure off of it and keep it elevated, understand?"
"Yes boss," Taiyang said with a salute before hissing a little as he moved his injured foot up onto another chair. "So what are we going to do about those games or whatever?"
"I don't think the professors will let us do them without you, not that I'd want to anyway. When Qrow and Raven get back I'll go see Port and Oobleck to see if we can work something out." Summer crossed her arms and offered Taiyang a small smile, "And don't worry too much about all this. We will figure this out, ok?"
"Right. And I'm not worried about all this. You can't change the past, right?"
"I suppose so. Tell you what, when we get this sorted out I'll make you something you like for dinner. So get thinking about it, ok?" Taiyang and Summer's eyes met, silver to blue, and for once her eyes weren't as hard as stone. Quite the contrary, they were soft enough that Taiyang felt relaxed and confident in putting trust in Summer.
"Yeah, sounds good. I think I got an idea if you got the stuff for it."
