A/N: I'm back after way too long without a computer since it died on me. I'm extremely sorry for my unfortunate and unneeded absence.

Chapter 16

The sound of wood clashing could be heard in the halls of Beacon's training building. The building sat near the dorms, so students had easier access to a place to train. Only a few students were inside the building, due to it still being a weekday and classes were still going on. Among those students were two members of team RWBY, Blake Belladonna and the sole male member, Micheal Canus Law. Blake had gotten out of classes early and grabbed her fellow faunus, who had finished his classes for the day, to help him get more used to fighting. The faunus duo was at that moment training one of the numerous training rooms in the facility with baston sticks, moving in a circle with their training weapons hitting each other in a practiced motion. The training room itself wasn't very flashy but was a little too big for just the two of them. It was a room meant for a team to use. It has white walls and most of the floor is lined with blue martial arts mats with about a couple feet of marble floor on edges. The walls of the room were lined with racks of wooden melee weapons of many kinds, ranging from swords, axes, clubs, and polearms. The weapons sizes could range from small, like knives and short swords, to large weapons, such as greatswords and pikes. Along with weapons, there were also shields sitting on their own rack. These shields ranged from the small buckler to the tall scutum, though these defensive tools didn't have the weight or thickness of Micheal's own shield. The two faunus had been practicing this exercise for the past hour. Blake had decided to train with their current weapons instead of their actual armaments was because of Micheal's lack of experience in combat and aura, it would be too dangerous to use them. The wolf faunus wouldn't have as much control over his weapon as the cat faunus would like. Micheal's weapon alone is extremely dangerous to use, much less train with. The raven-haired girl noticed her friend was getting too concentrated on contacting his bastons and his footwork with hers instead of watching her. This has also been an issue for the past hour, Blake had counted at least three times he had done this. She had tried to scold him about this issue, but it kept repeating. So, she decided to take a different approach to the problem. The moment the stick in her left hand connected with Micheal's baston and his eyes rolled up to confirm with his eyes that they did. The raven-haired girl swung the other stick in her right hand into his ribs. A loud audible smack of wood hitting skin reverberated in the room. Micheal immediately backs up a bit and put a hand to spot where he got hit.

"Ah fuck, that hurts!" Micheal shouts bending over a bit.

"That's what you get for concentrating on something other than your opponent, if that was a real weapon, it would have been lethal," Blake scolds. The wolf faunus straighten up still holding his side.

"I thought we were training, not having a mock battle," he complains.

"It doesn't matter if we were training or having a mock battle, you need to treat this as if it was a real fight, don't take your eyes off your opponent," the cat faunus says sternly. Her face reflecting how serious she is. Micheal sighed in response.

"Okay sorry," Micheal says. He took a few more seconds to relax and wait for the pain to subside. It hurt more than he thought it would. 'Blake must have put a lot of force into that hit, ah shit, that hurt, that's going to leave a bruise later,' he deduced to himself. After he pressed the spot for a bit and decided he was okay, he readied himself for another round. He raised his arms in front of him with the bastons in the positions that Blake instructed him to hold them in. "I'm ready," the wolf faunus said.

"Good," the cat faunus responses. She prepared herself as well. "Now, like before with your right hand, up…," Blake says slowly raising her right hand up, lifting the baston in it. Her fellow faunus mimicking her movements. The two sticks lightly tapped each other slightly above the duo's heads. "Down…," the amber-eyed girl instructed with her right hand slowly moving downwards with her friend copying her movements. The sticks sliding off each other and then separating from each other, only to meet again below their wielder's waists. "Now the same thing, but with the other hand," the cat faunus ordered. The duo repeating the same motion with the other hand. The sticks in their left hands meeting above their head, then below their waists. The two faunus continued this routine for a few moments till Blake decided to steadily pick up speed. Micheal took a small breath as he tried to keep pace with his more experienced friend. It where his concentration begins to, unintentionally, slip. Since his teammate told him that his objective was to follow her movements and to keep concentrated on her, he was trying to do that. Its when she begins to speed is when issues arrive as he is trying to keep track of the weapons and his footwork. It begins to overwhelm him, and he begins to lose track of the bastons. Then Blake began to move in a circle and the wolf faunus followed in suit.

The cat faunus knows she was overwhelming her fellow faunus. She could tell from his quick breathing and the rapid movement of his eyes from his weapons to his feet and back to herself. They were telltale signs of him struggling to keep pace with her. But she is trying to get him ready for the level of combat this school requires. To do that, she needed to push him. There are many things that would take advantage of that inexperience, be they fellow students, or criminals, or the matured creatures of grimm. While Blake didn't mind his eyes moving a bit, he needs to be attentive to his surroundings and his situation while fighting, he needs to concentrate on the threat in front of him. But as before, Micheal's attention strays away from his friend for too long. The raven-haired girl internally sighs at the sight. So, she again decided again to repeat her punishment. The moment their baston connected she swung her other stick into his ribs again. The wolf faunus reeled back from the hit again, only for his amber-eyed friend to smack in the right shoulder as well.

"Fuck! Was the second hit necessary!?" Micheal shouts in pain holding his shoulder and the side of his body.

"I'm going to keep hitting you each time you stop concentrating on me, plus I'm going to add an extra hit as well," Blake states calmly, a stern expression adjourning her face. "You are going to learn to drop that problem," she added on. Her features softened as she observed at her fellow faunus holding his recently struck spots. His body slightly trembled as he massaged said spots to help alleviate to pain, his tail wrapped tightly around his body. While not the worst sight in her life, it still wasn't a pleasant one. Nor was it an enjoyable feeling hurting her teammate like this, but it's a necessary evil right now. The raven-haired girl asked, "Micheal, you do understand how dangerous the life of a huntsman is right?"

"Of course, I do," Micheal responded quietly. He raised his head to look Blake in the eye. "I have to gaze at two reminders of that every night," he stated. The cat faunus tilted her head slightly confused in response.

'The scar on his face is one, but what's the other one,' Blake thought to herself as she stared at the scar on her friend's face. That was one of them, but she couldn't figure out the other one. Micheal could see that she was confused, at least with the other reminder. The wolf faunus stood up and reach for the bottom of his shirt with his right hand and lifted the right side of the shirt. Blake instinctively looked away with a blush on her face, bring a hand up to help obstruct her view. "Micheal, w-what are doing?" She studders her words in response, embarrassed at the fellow faunus' current action.

"Showing you the other reminder," the wolf faunus answered. The cat faunus took a moment to ready herself. Then, when she felt ready, she breaths slowly and returned her attention to Micheal. It didn't take her long to see what Micheal was talking about, her blush disappearing upon seeing it. Another set of scars along his ribs. The scars were about half a foot in length and were lighter in color in comparison to their bearer's skin tone. It took Blake a minute to remember where those wounds came from. She remembered seeing his jacket stained from blood with slash marks on it during orientation and Hitomi had mentioned an encounter with Rippers. Those marks permanently representing his first encounter with grimm. Even though Hitomi said he was calm despite the circumstances he was in if she wasn't there Micheal wouldn't be standing here in front of her. He would have died right there. A thought that immediately saddens her. Fortunately, his partner was there to help and here he is training with her.

The thought of training brought Blake out of her thoughts and back to their original task. She shook her head lightly and looked at her teammate. She was about to get them back on track when she found Micheal just staring at the wounds. A mournful look on his face with his ear folding back a bit. He traced the wounds with the fingers on his other hand. "Micheal?" The cat faunus said questioningly, trying to get his attention. He didn't respond and so she asked, trying again to get his attention, "Are you okay?"

"They still hurt sometimes," Micheal said, not answering his friend's question, "Not much, more of a numbing kind of pain, but still hurt." Blake sighed sadly and, after moving baston stick in her right hand to her left, grabbed her teammate's hand that was holding his shirt. She gently pulled it away, prompting him to let go of his shirt. The article of clothing falling back to its original position before its wearer lifted, covering the blemishes on his skin, hiding them from their eyes. The image of those wounds persisted in Blake's mind though. A reminder to her that Micheal isn't oblivious to the dangers of this world. They also instilled a desire in her to help him develop into a better fighter so it won't happen again.

"I imagine they do," She said believing him. "Micheal, are you okay?" Blake asked again with a firmer tone in her voice. That snapped Micheal out his thoughts. He shook his head and looked his friend in the eye. He stared into her amber eyes for a few seconds gathering his thoughts, trying to figure out what to say.

"Yeah…, I'm okay Blake," the wolf faunus responded with a sigh. He scratched the back of his head, a smile on his face, his tail wagging slowly, and his ears perking up again. The amber-eyed girl could see though that it wasn't a pure smile, there was still a hint of sadness on it. Micheal saw she could see through his half-hearted smile. He sighed in response with the sad smile still on his face. "I'm okay, really I am, it's just that…," stopping for a second. His face scrunches up, his eyes closing partially, and pursing his lips for a bit till his features softened again with a slightly livelier smile on his face, "It's just that these scars are helping to make me realize the kind of life I live now," he finished.

"It's a hard and perilous life to have," Blake commented.

"I know, and this thing with Magaru isn't going to help either," Micheal added on. His fellow faunus hummed in agreement. That was something they and their friends could all agree on and they didn't even know the dragon grimm's goals. All their team could do for now is to help Micheal become a competent fighter, capable to take care of himself. Instinctively, she squeezed his hand to comfort him. Even though she only meant to grab his hand get his attention and let go off his shirt, so to hide what was distracting him. She continued to hold his hand to confirm that she was still here in front of him. The wolf faunus squeezed her hand back without thinking about it. He relished in the comforting feeling that Blake was giving just by holding his hand. It may be a small gesture, but it still meant a lot to him.

"Micheal…," the cat faunus started, "As Ozpin said to you, we are here for, all of us, and we will keep repeating that till you remember that, you have a hard life ahead of you and it is only going to get worse, but we will be with you," She said with a smile on her face. The wolf faunus returned a smile of his own. This smile not having the sadness the others had, it was a pure and warm smile. The faunus duo stood there like that for a minute smiling at each other. Then Blake, again, remembered the original task at hand and wanted to get them back on track. "You okay now?"

"Yes, much better, thank you, Blake," Micheal answered happily, his tail wagging. His fellow faunus let go of his hand. A feeling he immediately missed and wanted to continue the feeling, but knew they needed to get back to training. He distracted them long enough slipping into his depressed mood. He didn't need to do it any longer for a selfish reason.

"No problem, now back to what we were doing," Blake said as she adopted their training stance, putting one of the baston back into her other hand. Her fellow faunus mimicked her movements and readied himself as well. The two began their training session again, this time with better results. While Micheal would still end up focusing on his movements rather than his teammate, he was doing it less. The raven-haired girl followed through with her promise, continuing to add more hits when her friend lost concentration, she didn't add that many hits due to him concentrating better. Blake was quite happy with the results and Micheal was having fun, despite the pain his body will feel later.

Before the duo realized, an hour-and-a-half had passed since the began training after their little heart-to-heart. The door to their room opened, catching the attention of the faunus duo as they stopped their exercise to look towards the door to see their visitor. A girl in black clothes with black twin-tails stood in the doorway with her hand on the doorknob.

"Ah, there you are," Noire said in a cheery tone. She stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

"Noire, what are you doing here?" Micheal asked curiously.

"Noire?" Blake asked not knowing who the other girl was.

"This is Noire Love, the girl that broke into our dorm," Micheal said nonchalantly as if it was a normal thing to say. The cat faunus immediately narrowed her eyes at the girl. The twin-tail girl chuckled nervously as she scratched her cheek.

"Sorry about that, not the greatest of decisions," she said with an uneasy smile on her face.

"You really should have turned her in," Blake said with annoyance or anger in voice and a stern look on her face. The wolf faunus couldn't tell and he was kind of nervous standing next to his irritated teammate. He shuffled a little away from Blake. A nervous light chuckle escapes his lips.

"I really didn't think that was needed," Micheal said.

"What do you want?" The cat faunus asked annoyed.

"I just wanted to hang out," Noire answered sadly, digging her foot into the floor. "So, what were you two doing?"

"Training," Micheal answered earning his teammate's glare. Blake sighed as she returned her attention to her unwanted visitor.

"Micheal, unfortunately, doesn't have the most combat experience with human opponents and with sparing matches starting soon, I am helping him getting caught up to speed," Blake said honestly. Unlike Weiss, she preferred to be honest with the situation.

"Really?" Noire questioned, her mood picking up.

"Yeah…," the wolf faunus answered with a shrug, "Give me a grimm and I'm fine, I have fought a couple thugs before, but I've never fought a trained fighter before, so I need the extra help."

"Mind if I stayed to watch?" The green-eyed girl asked hopefully.

"No," the amber-eyed girl answered immediately.

"Sure," the heterochromic boy said, opposing what his friend wanted. It earned him another glare. Noire clasped her hand together bending over and putting on an adorable pleading face.

"Please, let me stay, I could offer a different point of view to help, plus I can help you train him," she pleaded.

"How?" the cat faunus inquired.

"Well, as you said, sparring matches are starting soon, so…," Noire began dragging out the last word. She straightens herself back up and walked over to the wall of wooden armaments. "I can offer an extra style of combat for him to practice against," she finished as she grabbed a wooden sword off one of the racks. The practice weapon itself appeared to be a longsword. She swings a couple times in the air, appearing to get a feel for the weight.

"I was just planning on going through exercises today," Blake said calming down slightly.

"And that's all fine and dandy, he'll have something to fall back on, but those exercises don't mean anything if you don't at least have a match to use them, plus with those mock battles starting soon he could use the extra sparring practice," Noire countered.

"Hm," Blake hummed as she calmly moving her baston sticks back into one hand as she crossed her arms. The stern look on her face didn't leave though. Micheal looked at his teammate as she appeared to be in deep thought. She looks to have calmed down though. "You were planning to have a match now?"

"Yep," the green-eyed girl responded immediately twirling the practice weapon in her fingers. The cat faunus looked at her friend then back to their interloper. She sighs after a couple minutes of thought.

"Fine," she said curtly.

"Awesome," Noire cheered excitedly ignoring the faunus's tone. Blake looked at her teammate again, this time with an unnerving look in her eye. Micheal gulped at look his friend was giving him. 'I might I have just screwed myself,' he concluded to himself.

"So, how did you want him to fight? With a weapon in both hands, or in one, or the ones he's been using with you?" Noire asked as she got herself ready to spar.

"His choice," the amber-eyed girl answered as walked off the mat. "Micheal, you choose your weapon, with those," Blake said pointing to the baston in his hand "or grab a sword and shield off the wall, or any other weapon," Blake suggested gesturing to practice weapon in the room.

"Give me a second then," the wolf faunus said. His friend nodded and Noire relaxed as she watched him get ready. He grabbed a sword that was close to his' in terms of weight, so he could at least fight with a familiar weight. The sword in question was slightly shorter than Noire's but thicker overall. Unfortunately, there were no shields as big as his in the room, only about three feet long and only a couple inches thick. Then again, as Weiss has remarked once, it was a hunk of iron in the shape of a shield. Well, paraphrasing what she said a bit. Once he had his sword and the shield strapped onto his arm, he walked over and stood a few feet in front of his opponent. Blake looked at Noire.

"Don't go easy on him," she said sternly. The green-eyed girl nodded in response with a smile never leaving her face. She turned slightly to make her body perpendicular to Micheal, her sword in front of her.

'Please have mercy,' Micheal pleaded in his head with a sigh. He got ready as he moved right foot back and pointed his shield toward his opponent. He tried to remember one of the stances from swordplay book he checked out from the library. He was pretty sure he was off but got as close as he could remember from the sketches in the book. 'Inviting Noire might have been a mistake that I'm going to regret later, oh well, live and learn, I guess.'

"Begin!" Blake shouted.

Before Micheal could even move, Noire had already moved from her spot and swung her training sword at him. The wolf faunus scarcely had time to move his practice shield to stop her from striking the left side of his face. But the next thing he knew, Noire and rotated around to his back and struck him square on his backside. The force of the impact almost made him collapse onto the ground, but he caught himself by put his left leg forward. The wolf faunus turned around to try and stab at his opponent. As he moved arm forward to thrust at Noire, he moved his shield in front of him, below his eyes, so to provide him some defense. Unfortunately, Noire casually parried his thrust with her sword and redirected his thrust harmlessly off to the side, hitting nothing but air. Noire moved her wooden armament to come down on top of her sparring partner. The said person brought his shield up to block the strike, while he was retracting his arm from his failed attack. The second the weapon collided with Micheal's guard, Noire jumped over the faunus. Once she landed, she immediately landed a kick on her opponent's back, knocking him over. The wolf faunus ignored the pain he was felling and rolled off to the side. He had made the right decision as Noire landed with the practice sword stabbing on the spot he was previously at. The grey-haired faunus scrambled to his feet and moved his shield between him and his sparring partner. He charged and slashed vertically downwards at the green-eyed girl as she was getting up from her previous strike. Noire was ready for it though and again redirected the strike, this time hitting the mat. She immediately moved to strike the inside of his left thigh. The strike causing Micheal to flinch slightly in pain. He unintentionally lowered his shield, leaving his chest exposed, as he recoiled from the strike. The green-eyed girl took advantage of the flinch and his lowered guard, channeling some aura into her sword and stabbed the wolf faunus in the solar plexus. Said faunus was sent flying onto his back a couple feet away with the wind knocked out of him. Before Micheal could recover from the strike, Noire landed on him hard stabbing the spot next to his head, forcing out any air he managed to get into his lungs. His head rolled back with eyes wide as pain shot throughout his entire body. The wolf faunus closed his eyes as he strained to catch his breath for a few moments after getting the air knocked out of his lungs twice from the two heavy blows. The weight of another person on his chest didn't help either. Noire sighed in disappointment as she got off him.

"That was pathetic," she said truthfully with clear irritation in her voice. She looked at Micheal as he struggled to get up then to Blake. The cat faunus' expression was stern as her eyes glanced between the two combatants.

"Your team is willing to have him as a member of it?" Noire asked.

"Believe me, the entire team is not happy with this either," Blake explained frankly with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes and looked at her friend shakily standing on his feet look at the ground. "In all honesty, if it weren't for his performance during orientation, some of us would have tried to transfer him to another team," Blake added on. Micheal closed his eyes as frown forming on his face. It wounded him to hear that, but he knew it was true. He really did disappoint and annoyed them with this current situation.

"His performance?" the green-eyed girl inquired twirling the sword in her hands. Blake went onto explained some of the things he accomplished during their orientation. Noire listened on curiously as she listened to the cat faunus. Her opinion of Micheal did improve slightly as she heeded the faunus' words. She had to admit, he had to have some competency to have dealt with the grimm. He wasn't a lost cause, but it would be a while before he could call himself a hunter or warrior.

"But he is showing that he willing to do what whatever it takes, the sheer amount of notes he's been taking and how serious he's been taking his training is impressive," Blake commented defending her fellow faunus at the same time. She remembers when her team found his notebook yesterday, a spare given to him by Weiss, just lying on the table already half-full of notes. He was asleep on the desk as they looked at it. Then, of course, he seemed to grab someone on the team, when they're available, to watch his aura levels as he continued to practice manifesting his aura at least once a day. "Plus…," the cat fauns started but stopped for a second to ponder on what to say. A light blush forming on her cheeks, slightly embarrassed. "He's nice to have around," Blake said.

"Oh," Noire expresses out with a sly smile. "It must be nice to have handsome faunus like him around," she teased. The cat faunus's blush got deeper as it spread across her face.

"He's a nice guy and much calmer than the some of the other members of our team, plus he's a good cook that's all," Blake utters out quickly not thinking, flustered from the teasing.

"So, he isn't attractive?" the green-eyed girl asks trying to provoke a reaction.

"No, he is, it just um…," the cat faunus said very quietly to herself looking away. The teasing was a bit much for her. It was making her unable to think clearly, resulting in her blurting things out. "Can we get back to training please?" Blake asks trying to change the subject.

"Fine," Noire sighed disappointed that she must stop teasing for the moment. She looked over at the other faunus in the room. Micheal looks to have recovered from their match. A blush on his face as well. He had heard what had said finding him attractive. "So, are you ready to go another round?" the green-eyed girl asked.

"Yeah, one moment though," Micheal said looking toward his embarrassed friend. The cat faunus looked at her fellow faunus slightly uneasy. She was sure he heard her. 'Wolf faunus have such sharp ears, there's no way he didn't hear me.' Blake hoping that he doesn't ask anything about what she said. "Blake…," he tried to ask something but stopped because he was embarrassed himself. He rubbed the back of his neck. He did hear Blake. "Did you want to have a match with me as well?" he finished his question. The cat faunus sighed in relief as she took a breath. Her blush disappeared as she regains her composure.

"No, for now, she is good enough," she said gesturing to Noire. "We already have to increase the amount training to hasten your progress for sparring matches and to make sure you never have a mistake that gets you pulled from Beacon, I want to try and limit the amount strain you'll be experiencing for the next couple weeks, so for today I'll sit out this time, but we'll eventually have a match," she explained

"Okay, you ready Noire?" Micheal asked as he walked to the center of the mat. He readied himself again for another round of being a punching bag.

"Yeah, I guess," Noire said slightly bored. She also moved herself to the center of the matt and readied herself for another round. The two combatants stared at each other waiting for their observer to begin the match. The wolf faunus tried to think of a strategy to at least land a hit on his opponent.

'She's fast, too fast for me, that's not even getting into the gap between our levels of skill levels, how do I even land a hit on her, one hit right now would mean a lot, it means I can at least touch a trained fighter, winning, well…, that's out of the question right now, she isn't even using her semblance or her actual weapon,' he contemplates in his mind.

"Begin!" Blake shouted for the following round to commence.

This snapped Micheal out of his thoughts and he brought his training shield to try and block an oncoming strike. Unfortunately, Noire saw through this as he did this last time, she jumped over his head swinging her weapon at her opponent. The blow impacted the back of the wolf faunus' neck. The smack reverberated through the room as the victim of the attack noisily groaned. The pain burned throughout the immediate area. His body still hurt from the first round of combat and so the pain also gradually flows through his entire body as well. He tried to twist around to retaliate hoping to catch her as she landed but as he turned to swing at his opponent, he saw nothing. The next thing he knew was another dose of sharp pain shot throughout his body starting from the lower right side of his torso. The wolf faunus unintentionally closed his eyes in response to the strike. Micheal opened his eyes and again tried to turn to meet Noire, only for the same result. He saw nothing and felt another intense round of pain shot through his body, this time from his left thigh. The continues hits and bouts of agonizing ache were beginning to wear on him. His aura wasn't helping much today, so he felt the full force of each impact. A despairing part of his mind wanting to feel no more pain was growing. Unfortunately, the round of combat still wasn't over. The wolf faunus again turned around, this time swing his weapon as he spun. He again felt another impact across his back as he spun. This time he stopped halfway and turned back the way he was initially facing. This time he saw Noire standing there ready to move again. Micheal recklessly charged forward as soon as he saw her. He didn't want to give her the chance to move again. His desire to get a hit her and his growing desperation to not get hit again clouding his thoughts. The green-eyed girl sighed quietly and readied herself. The wolf faunus slashed wildly downwards at his opponent. Said opponent simply sidestepped the uncontrolled slash and channeled her aura slightly, then she slashed at her opponent. Micheal could feel the impact coming after he missed and hit the mat. What no one noticed, that before Noire's weapon hit its mark, Micheal's aura dimly flashed for less than half a second. The green-eyed girl did notice that something was off, like the lack of the feel and sound of the impact of her weapon. It was almost as if she missed her target, which would make no sense, she knew she hit her mark. She heard her opposing combatant turning around, another strike on its way. The green-eyed girl turned to block an incoming strike. This time, instead of a successful block as the other times, her training weapon snapped from the impact of a glowing green wooden sword. Micheal had charged his practice weapon with his aura and swung with all his might. His mind so concentrating hitting his mark he forgot to refine it, but it didn't seem to matter. The aura charged weapon slammed into Noire's arm and the force of the strike sent the girl flying away. She manages to recover midflight and rotate herself to land on her feet and hands. She took a quick look at her broken weapon, half of the wooden blade was snapped off leaving only a jagged and splintered edge with small cracks going down to the handle. Then the green-eyed girl looked at the wolf faunus to see him breathing heavy and clutching his side hunched over on the ground. She relaxed and slowly stood up rubbing her arm. The match is over and so is his training for now.

Blake quickly got on her knees by her teammates' side confused, surprised and scared by his sudden action. From what she saw, the attack passed through him, which also confused her. She must have been seeing things or else her teammate wouldn't be on the ground clutching his side. She had to note the strike itself didn't look to have been that hard of a hit from appearances, but it must have been hard by Micheal reaction. She also noted that if the attack causes this much agony to him, then to be able to retaliate as hard as he did is remarkable for his first time fighting a trained fighter. The cat faunus put a hand on her fellow faunus' back and gently rubbed it. "Micheal, are you okay?" she asked softly. Micheal took a sharp breath and shakily looked up at his teammate.

"I'm…, o…, okay," the wolf faunus strained to say. He then, with Blake's help, he sat up. He leaned back supporting himself on his free hand. "But honestly I don't think I can go another round today," he mentions with his face showing the strain of combat and pain.

"Alright," Blake said. She saw her friend was slowly relaxing from the strain. She glanced over at Noire, who was simply rolling her shoulder after the hit. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," the green-eyed girl said. She casually threw the broken weapon off to the side. "But I guess I'm done for the day as well," she said with a smile on her face. She began to walk over to the door with her arms behind her back. She found today was both an interesting and disappointing experience. As she reached the door, she turned and waved at the faunus duo. "See you two around," she said cheerfully.

"See ya," Micheal said his voice becoming relaxed. Blake simply waved back. Noire opened out of the room and closed the door behind her. She pulled out her scroll and began to type away. She was already planning on when to hang out with the wolf faunus again.

"Micheal, do you think you can continue our exercises?" Blake asked. She watches her fellow faunus close his eyes to think. She would have been fine if he wasn't willing to continue, he did get a brutal beating from just two rounds of sparring. His body is aching, and it will only get worse later as his body relaxes and the bruises form. More training exercises would only worsen his pain.

"Only for a little bit, I don't think I can take much more than that," Micheal answered. The cat faunus was a little surprised but smile softly in response. He was willing to push himself to improve. "I need to improve, to be able to keep up with people like Noire, and the others on the team," the wolf faunus added on. He got onto his feet as the cat faunus gave him the baston sticks he was using earlier.

"We appreciate that, but as Weiss said, there is no need to injure yourself to improve yourself to our skill level, so for next half hour we're going to go lighter than before," Blake said as she readied herself for their last round of exercise. The wolf faunus followed her lead and readied himself as well. As soon as they both were ready, they initiated their exercise. The cat faunus was true to her word and lightens their last round. They didn't rotate in a circle as before and Blake went slightly slower. She didn't hit him when he lost focus but instead tapped him. They trained in peace for next half-an-hour, no one came to interrupt them for the rest of their training.

Team RWBY's dorm, Nighttime

"Ow, ow, ow…," Micheal pitifully complains repeatedly as cold medicinal cream is applied to his bruises to help them heal, his ears flat to his head. As his bruises began to form Blake had taken him to the medical wing of Beacon to give him a checkup to make sure he had no serious damage from his first real sparring match. Dr. Sack had found nothing wrong with him other than the obvious contusions and prescribed ointment to help heal his new wounds and gave a brief explanation on how to properly apply it. The wolf faunus flinched as fingers softly touched each of the newly formed contusions. The bruises mostly covered the sides of his torso and his shoulders. The purple and slightly red discolorations heavily contrasting with his natural skin color. The slight pressure from the fingers caused his wounds to sting.

"Hush and stop moving, your making this harder than it needs to be," Blake lightly scolds as she applies medicine to his bruises. The wolf faunus had his back turned to Blake so she can get the various bruises on his back. She then accidentally applied to much pressure and her fellow faunus jerked forward in pain, his body tensing slightly. She grimaced slightly in response herself, "Sorry."

"Blake, it hurts though," the wolf faunus whines. The duo sat on stools in the team's bathroom. The door was closed as Micheal wasn't wearing any clothes on his upper torso, he was still trying to be respectful as the rest of his team was women.

"Well aware but you have to hold still so I can apply the cream correctly," the cat faunus says sternly. She was mindful of her teammate's pain, but still, she needed to help him heal.

"You know I'm surprised you decided to do this," Micheal comments at their current situation. His friend sighed in response to the comment.

"Well, I have already seen you without your shirt on," Blake comments.

"And you didn't take a picture Blake, for shame," a voice teases through the door.

"Shut up Yang! I have had enough teasing for the day," Blake annoyingly rebukes her partner's comment. All they heard after that was a mischievous giggle that steadily got quieter, confirming she is walking away from the door.

"I didn't really take my shirt off, I just lifted it up to show you the scars," Micheal tries to defend his actions earlier.

"Close enough, also…," Blake chides his explanations. She then smacked the back of his head with her clean hand. "That's what you get for lifting your shirt, you could have just told me," she added to her scolding. The wolf faunus groaned in response.

"Why?" He groaned out the word in response at being hit. 'What's with women and beating the shit out of me, I just can't seem to escape this,' he complained in his head. A tired sigh escaped his lips as Blake returned to applying ointment to his bruises. He tried his best not to flinch from the touch but still did every now and then.

"Besides, I don't think you could reach some of these bruises on your own, so it works out," Blake explained. She just got a hum in return.

"Blake?" the wolf faunus said questioningly turning his head toward his fellow faunus.

"Hm?" was his friend's response.

"How would you rate my performance today?" he asked curiously. He wanted to know so he could understand what his friend thought of him. Plus, it helped him keep his mind on something else that her fingers on his contusions and the pain they bring. It would help him from recoiling from Blake's touch a bit. The cat faunus pondered for a minute, half concentrating on applying the medicine to her friend.

"Decent overall," Blake answered. She stopped applying ointment as she finished covering the bruises in the ointment. "Turn around," she ordered. The wolf faunus obeyed and turned to face his teammate. Her face calm as she began to convey today's experience. "Though I wish you were better at fighting than what you displayed earlier, it does show where you stand and what we have to work on, which is almost everything," She explained, with the last bit in an annoyed tone. Her teammate sighed in response expecting that. "But your performance in exercises themselves were good and you were learning from them," Blakes said.

"Yeah I know, I got the bruises to prove it," Micheal interrupted slightly snarky. Earning him an unamused look from Blake with one eyebrow slightly raised. "Have mercy," the wolf faunus pleaded, holding his arms up in defense. The cat faunus quickly pressed on one his contusions, immediately earning a hiss of pain from the other faunus in the room. The amber eyed girl smirked at the other's misery.

"What was that again?" Blake asked teasingly.

"Nothing…, nothing at all Blake," Micheal said slightly annoyed at being abused for another's amusement. Blake's smile faded as she thought more on his performance in the sparring match.

"Micheal, what happened during the fight?" Blake asked curiously. All she got was a confused look from her fellow faunus. "You looked like you were beginning to snap out there, the main reason we decided to work with you is because you seemed to have the mental fortitude to handle this kind of life, but today seemed to have shown otherwise, please don't make us reconsider what we are doing for you," the cat faunus explains with a slight warning at the end. Micheal looks his fellow faunus in the eyes trying to think of what to say. He knew she was right, he was beginning to snap under pressure. His eyes then began shift side to side as he slips deeper and deeper into thought. While the pain was one reason he started to snap, it wasn't the only cause. It was also the stress and disappointment of being unable to land a single hit till the very end. As he thought, he became aware of something else. In his subconscious mind, another cause was also the anxiety of fighting such an opponent, whose skill level was so much more advanced than his. He was unable to keep up with Noire no matter what. His vision refocused on the raven-haired girl, her arms crossed still waiting for his answer.

"Well the pain I was feeling was one thing," Micheal starts to explain. Blake hums in acknowledgment, but she wanted more than that.

"Yet, you apparently were fine when you got slashed by a Ripper," Blake counters that part of his explanation pointing to his scar on his side. "Also, you were fine after getting stomped on by the Gigas to be able to slay it, so there had to be more this time," the cat faunus uttered her need to hear more of his explanation.

"There is also the fact that I was also getting desperate to at least hit Noire at least once, I mean winning was out of the question, so I made a goal to at least hit her, so it ended up with me getting somewhat frustrated and disappointed to not be able to hit her, I guess it also flows into the fact of how much of a gap was between us, I couldn't keep up with her at all, she either dodge my attack or parry it," Micheal added to his explanation.

"So, to put it simply, your inexperience and lack of training were getting the best of you," Blake stated. The wolf faunus simply nodded in response.

"That's also the difference between a thug and an experienced fighter," a voice commented from the other side of the door. The duo immediately recognized as Micheal's partner, Hitomi Viola Hunters. The duo turned their heads to look at the door waiting for the fox faunus to say more. "They're going to be looking for weak points and your weaknesses in your fighting style to exploit and so it seems in your case, a lot of them," the fox faunus explained.

"She was so fast," Micheal comments.

"Maybe she was, but so were the Rippers you fought, sometimes you fight quick adversaries, you need to be able to deal with them effectively," another voice said through the door. The duo recognized it as Weiss Schnee. "Also, what your partner seemed to have forgotten to mention is that mature creature of grimm also do same as an experienced fighter, making them just as dangerous and in some cases, more dangerous," the heiress added on. "But as long as you are making progress, that is all that matters," she said slightly encouraging. Then a sigh came afterward "Though I wish we were not in this position, to begin with." She took a deep breath "So frustrating."

"Here," Blake said holding the ointment in front of her. Her fellow faunus grabbed and gave her a slightly confused look. "You can get the rest yourself," the raven-haired girl answers the wolf faunus' unspoken question. She walked over to the sink and washed her hands of the medicinal cream. She glanced in the mirror to see her teammate putting the cream on himself. He would pull his hand away when he put too much pressure, which seems to be almost every time he places his hand on his bruises. "Stop pressing so hard and the pain will stop," Blake said.

"Thank you, Blake, well aware," Micheal snarks a bit at the comment.

"If your aware, then stop doing it," Blake retorts back.

"Alright," the wolf faunus said back. The cat faunus walked out of the bathroom to see the fox faunus leaning on the wall to the right of the bathroom door with her arms crossed. The heiress standing next to her with her hands on her hips, her foot tapping the ground. Her partner, Ruby Rose, standing next to her with her hands behind her back and swaying back and forth on her feet with a smile on her face. The only one not present in Blake's own partner, Yang Xiao Long. "Where is Yang?" Blake asked.

"In the kitchen making dinner," Ruby answered.

"Hey Weiss, come in here, I need to talk to you," the aforementioned person called out to the heiress. The white-haired girl sighed in response as she walked to the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen to see the blonde looking at the various species she had available to her since their trip to the store. The oven was on with a couple of pans on it. The small flames heating the pans helping Yang cook whatever she had in mind.

"What did you want?" Weiss asked slightly unamused at being called. 'I don't know why she couldn't tell what she wanted from the kitchen,' she scolded her teammate in her head. The only reason she didn't say it out loud was that she was trying to get along with her rambunctious teammate, per her leader's request.

"Weiss, buddy, pal, girlfriend," Yang said playfully trying to uplift her icy colleague's mood as she walked over from the over. She gave Weiss a one arm hug. The white-haired girl scrunched her face up in annoyance at being touched but didn't do anything else.

"Stop, we are not friends, we are teammates and acquaintances, nothing else," the heiress chided as she looks her teammate in the eyes. "What did you want?" She repeated her question firmly, wanting an answer from the brawler.

"Can I borrow your card on Saturday?" Yang asks casually. She saw Weiss' eye twitch in response. She braced herself for Weiss to raise her voice in response to her question.

"What!? Why do you need it?" Weiss yells her question in Yang's ears. The amethyst-eyed girl used her free hand and stuck her pinky finger in her ear. She twisted and turned said digit as if to help ease the ringing.

"Well, I was going to take Micheal out that day as a reward for patching things up with Ruby…," Yang tried to explain.

"What!? No! You are not taking my card, so you can use it on a date," Weiss interrupted her teammate seething in anger at her audacity. She didn't realize that the last bit of her retort had a bit more anger in.

"And…," Yang continues as if Weiss' objection fell on deaf ears. "While I was out with him, I was going to get him outfitted with or at least try on some armor," the blonde finished. Her teammate immediately calmed down at that. She instead looks at her slightly confused with an eyebrow raised.

"Armor?" she said questioningly.

"Yeah, if he's this bad at fighting, then wouldn't it be best if he had some kind of protection," the brawler explained. That got a hum from Weiss as she stared at the taller girl in thought.

"I get what you are saying, but armor is not that useful in our line of work, between aura giving enhanced strength and grimm that cut through metal like it was paper, it might as well be dead weight and that will just slow him down," Weiss counters Yang's explanation.

"True, but with his lack of aura usage, he doesn't have the ability to use it as his form of protection from harm, so far it only activates on its own when his life is endangered, so armor is another way to help give him protection from fatal wounds, plus sometimes it may be the only thing he has if his aura runs out," Yang counters back. She absentmindedly began twirling a strand of Weiss' hair with the arm currently around her teammate's shoulder. The heiress, having enough of her teammate's embrace, shrugged the arm off and walked away a bit from the blonde in thought. The heiress turned to the brawler crossing her arms.

"Why can you not use your card?" Weiss asked, not out of annoyance but curiosity.

"Armor is expensive to buy, much less to get it modified for a specific person, Weiss and plus my dad is keeping me on a budget so it's out my ability to buy," Yang answered truthfully. She noted the heiress was looking at her warily. 'Still probably doesn't trust me with her card, though to be fair dad didn't either for a while,' she rationalized in her head. "I promise not to use your card other than for armor," Yang said giving Weiss a serious face, showing she means what she says. The heiress just stood there digesting the promise she made.

"I'll think about it, I still don't trust you, Yang," Weiss said honestly. She did see her teammate was being sincere about her promise, she just didn't know her long enough to trust her completely. That response earned a glare and a twitching eye from the blonde. "But I do see your point and I do agree with it, so I'll think about it, though I am leaning toward yes," the heiress assured. That did calm Yang down as she sighed and returns to her previous task. Sometime later the door to the bathroom opened with Micheal fully cloth. Ruby immediately bolted towards him with a hug and about to ask him if he was okay. Except that got a pained wheeze from the wolf faunus as he tenses up from the pain.

"Ruby, let go please," Miceal struggled to get out. The brunette let go of him instantly.

"I'm so sorry Micheal," Ruby apologized.

"You dolt don't hug him so hard," Weiss chided as she walked out of the kitchen just in time to see what transpired.

"Ruby easy, the ointment helps, but doesn't take away the bruises immediately," Blake stated calmly. Hitomi just chuckled slightly at the incident. The rest of the team's night went by uneventfully. The team ate dinner and then helped Micheal with aura manipulation or went about their studies.

Ozpin's office, around the same time

Ozpin sat at his desk with only the light of his computer screen illuminating the dark room. He was about to head home for the night when a message had appeared on the screen. The message was about some data he requested from an associate. He gazed at his screen seriously, in deep thought of what was on the screen. He was hunched over with his elbows resting on the desk, his finger intertwined together. His hands concealing his mouth from view. On the computer screen, was all the information available on one of his students, Micheal Canus Law. Or rather, he has recently noticed, the lack of certain essential information, like a medical or dental record before Beacon, adoption papers, or even a birth certificate. The headmaster was initially okay with the lack of information about his student. He just figured that it was just hard to find due to the public's lack of knowledge on wolf faunus since they had been gone for so long. It could have been just Micheal and been miscategorized as canine faunus instead of a wolf. Plus, there was the fact that nearly all the records of wolf faunus themselves disappeared when the grimm overran them years ago. Though as he became public knowledge there were skeptics on whether he was really a wolf faunus through just a photo. So, he was required to have a blood test to prove that he was. It led to an amusing day for him, as he figured out Micheal was quite terrified of needles. A small smile graced the professors' lips as he remembers the day. He watched as it took the wolf faunus' entire team to drag him back inside the medical building and hold him down for a shot. Ozpin noted that his student is far stronger than he appears to be.

The smile faded as he remembers the result coming in confirming he was one and his search for documents afterward. He had his talk with Micheal trying to get information on his past hoping they could lead him to something. The wolf faunus had mentioned being adopted and raised in the southern part of the kingdom of Vale. So, the professor's searched started there. Yet, here he was, after a few weeks of searching, staring at his lack of success at finding any scrap of records on his student. He was now starting to become suspicious of the faunus. Ozpin deeply wanted to trust his student was who he was. But now, he was going to watch him carefully from now on and eventually summon him for another talk, a long talk. He shut off his computer and got up from his desk grabbing his cane and coffee mug. "Who are you Mr. Law?" Ozpin asked himself as he walks to out of his office.

A/N: As always, criticism is good

As I said, computer died on me and money was kind of a pain to safe for another one. Well, here I am and this time, I'm going to try and stay on a consistent schedule this time. Try to get one out every month or so. I just must make time to do it or force myself to sit down and write. Writing the chapter, for me anyways, isn't the hardest part. It's getting started.

Now, I've started to use Grammarly to proof read my story a bit. It's not perfect as it won't hit everything, like word choice and some punctuation, because it's a membership deal. I think when I start writing my own story, I'll purchase it but for a for fun project like this, I won't do it. This is sort of a way to try an improve on my own.

I've been thinking about this story even though I couldn't work on it. I've thought of a completely doing over with Micheal being from Remnant naturally and slightly more experience, but roughly the same story, or redoing his stay at Beacon as giving him his own team and a new weapon. I've even thought about Magaru and his relationship to the story overall. The thing is that, I admit, haven't watched RWBY in a long time, due to a loss of interest, so I need to watch it again to see what they added to the lore. I need to keep some consistency with it to be able to fit things in appropriately. Just because I'm writing my own story doesn't mean I have to drastically change everything just to suit my needs. Its just that I am on the fringe with it whether I want to watch it again, as in actually watching it for the show or watching it for my story. Though to be fair, I could watch for the story and get back into the series again.