Chapter 17
It is breezy a late Saturday morning outside the Beacon dorms. The piercing sound of metal slicing through the air could be heard in the nearby woods. Inside the woods was the fox faunus, Hitomi, practicing with her swordsmanship. She was going through some practice motions she had learned when she first started training to be a huntress. It was something she had been skimping on since her back had fully healed up. She had mostly been trying to help her partner with his issues that she's been neglecting her own exercise regiments. She felt now was an appropriate time to start again since the others on her team had been doing almost all the work for her. Plus, there was the fact that Yang was going to take him on a date today as well. Her deficient performance against Magaru irked her as well. Even if she was afraid of it, the fox faunus knew she should have fought better against the dragon grimm. Even her partner had done better than her, as he had slain the Gigas by himself. She was happy for the wolf faunus, but it made her angry as well. It was his second encounter with grimm, and he managed to kill it by himself. She is somewhat aware that she is gradually getting irritated at the fact that her teammates were helping her partner instead of her. She positioned herself perpendicular to a tree ten feet in front of her; her sword held in front of her pointing at the tree. 'I'm his partner, I should be the one…,' she stopped herself mid-thought; she closes her eyes and sighs disappointedly in herself. 'I shouldn't be thinking like that, we're a team, they have every right to help him as me,' she reasons in her head. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She then concentrated on the tree in front of her. The fox faunus slowly lifted her sword above her head, slowly inhaling. Once the orange-haired girl lifted the nodachi above her head, she swung it downward, exhaling as she swings her sword. She heard the sharp sound of the blade cutting through the wind. She saw the air distort around the edge of her blade as it carves the air in its path. The air began to take the form of a crescent shape as the blade passes through. As soon as Hitomi's nodachi completed its arc, the crescent-shaped shockwave of air cuts through the air at the tree. But instead of hitting the tree, the shockwave dissipated a couple feet from the tree. "Damn it," Hitomi cursed at failing to hit her mark. She relaxes her body and brought her sword up to rest on her right shoulder. A whistle caught her attention. She turns to see Yang watching her with a look of awe on her face.
"Wow Hitomi, that was cool, I didn't know you could do that," Yang says gleefully as she skips over to the fox faunus's side.
"Yeah, unfortunately, what you saw was an incomplete version, I should have hit the tree, plus I need a few seconds to be able to pull it off," the fox faunus explained.
"I still think it's cool to see," the blonde compliments with a wink.
"Thanks," Hitomi responded with a smile. "So, what are you doing out here? I have a feeling it wasn't just to see me practice," the fox faunus questions her teammate. She walked over to her sheath to put her weapon away, wrapped around the case was a towel. She pulls out her scroll to look at the time. She saw a couple of hours had passed since she started her training routine. She decided to end her training routine for now and continue later.
"Actually, I was looking for you while I'm waiting for Weiss," Yang answers. Which caused the faunus to look at the blonde confused.
"I thought you were going on a date with Micheal?" The orange-haired inquires about the sudden change. She unwrapped the towel from the sheath. She then took off her jacket and began to wipe the sweat off her body, her back to the brawler.
"Well Weiss made me a deal," Yang replies. Hitomi uses her hand to gesture for her to continue. "I can use her card if I hold the date off till tomorrow, so we can look at various kinds of armor and select the best kind for Micheal," the brawler clarified as she watches at her teammate wipe the sweat off her head and neck. Her eyes beginning to, unintentionally, wander her teammates figure a bit.
"Why does she feel the need to come and look at armor herself?" Hitomi asks as she puts her jacket back on and grabbed her sheath by the strap, ready to walk back to the dorm room.
"She said that because Micheal works for her, she gets to decide what he gets to wear," Yang responds with a shrug as her eyes quickly return to her college's face.
"You know she's right," the fox faunus comments.
"True, but whatever," Yang offhandedly remarks. Then Yang lightly pounds the bottom of her right fist into her left palm as she remembers the thing she wanted to say. "Also, thanks for earlier," the brawler says.
A few hours ago
"Ruby, get back here!" Yang shouts as she jumps at her sister with a comb in her hand. Unfortunately, Ruby uses her semblance and evades the tackle. The blonde hit the solid wood floor with an audible slam. "I need to brush your hair, you're not going out like that," Yang says as she quickly got up off the floor to look at her unruly sister.
"It's fine, it will flatten down on its own," Ruby complains as she gets ready for another tackle from her sister. Her hair was indeed a mess, strands of hair sticking out all over the place; some strands curling in ways that make it appear she had a horn on her head or making her hair uneven. It's not that she hates brushing her hair; it would just some time to get her hair down and she just wanted to get started with her day.
"It is not fine, you are not leaving this room till you fix your hair," Weiss scolds as she blocks the door to the dorm, her arms crossed and foot impatiently tapping the ground.
"Weiss, it will take forever though," the brunette protests, but her partner wasn't budging from her spot.
"I don't care, brush your hair, I will not have my partner walking around looking like a barbarian," Weiss says annoyed. She could feel a headache coming on as her childish partner was being stubborn.
"Ruby, please comb your hair, Weiss won't let me in till you're all ready," Micheal complains from the other side of the door. "I would like to get dressed please," the wolf faunus pleads.
"Ruby, just brush your hair so Micheal can get ready," Blake says with a sigh. She couldn't believe that her leader was making such a fuss over her hair.
"It's fine really, I'm mean who cares what I look like," Ruby tries to defend herself.
"Ruby," Hitomi speaks firmly, getting her junior's attention. The fox faunus is sitting, her legs crossed, on her futon with a violet brush in her left hand. She snaps and points to the spot in front of her on her futon. "Sit," she orders sternly.
"Yes ma'am," Ruby utters meekly as she instantly sat in front of her much taller teammate. The fox faunus begins to gently brush her younger leader's hair to a presentable level. The caused Yang to limply hang her arms below in and her mouth to drop a bit in both disbelief and awe. She wonders how Hitomi did that when she couldn't. Weiss raises an eyebrow and sighs in relief. She needed to learn from her faunus teammate on how to do that.
Present time
"Ruby can be such a hassle at times," Yang says.
"No problem," Hitomi responds.
"Seriously though, how did you do that?" Yang asks curiously. It's been bothering her all morning, plus it made her a bit jealous that her teammate could control her sister better than her. "When Ruby gets like that, I have to get a little physical with her to do anything,"
"She reminds me of my little sister back home, she's just as excitable and sometimes as stubborn too, so I've had plenty of experience in that area, you just got to be firm with them," the orange-haired girl answers rubbing the back of her neck with a warm smile.
"I didn't know you had a step-sibling," the blond comments. She then slipped into though for a bit. "Though, now that I think about it, you still don't talk to us that much," Yang says. Her eyes narrow a bit at her faunus teammate.
"I do talk," Hitomi defends herself, returning the glare. It didn't seem to make the brawler change her disposition.
"Only when you have to or if you feel the need to comment on something, other than that you don't talk about anything else," Yang accuses. She then crosses her arms as her mood changed into a more serious note. "Didn't I say to try and talk to us," the blonde reminded her teammate what she said a couple weeks ago.
"Yes, but as I said, it isn't easy for me to open up," Hitomi reminded her as well. She tried to walk past Yang, but the brawler step in her path. The duos got into a staring match. "Yang let me go," Hitomi said annoyance clear in voice, her ears folding back a bit.
"No," Yang simply says.
"Why are you so intent on making me talk?" Hitomi asks, hoping her teammate would move after her question.
"Because I want to know more about you, I think we're all at least a little curious about you," Yang answers honestly. That softens her teammate's mood and got her to tilt her head. "I mean, I never thought I would get to meet the last fox faunus, much less be on the same team as her, so when Micheal decided to put both of you on our team, you could say I was a little excited to be living in the same dorm as you, I get to know you as a person, you don't have to say a thing from that time, I just want to know about your life now," the brawler says with a wide smile.
"I don't really consider my life at home that interesting," Hitomi comments.
"I don't care, I just want know you better, you could say you live under a rock and it still would be interesting to me," Yang says cheerfully. An amused smile formed on the fox faunus' face in response. The blonde scratched the back of her head apologetically with a smile to match. "Sorry, bad choice of words, but you get my point,"
"Thanks, I guess," the orange-haired says with a slight roll of her eyes. She pursed her lips in thought, trying to think of a way to talk to her teammates. She is like her partner in that they both have poor people skills; though Micheal has an easier time speaking to others than her. 'Hell, Blake is more personable than me,' she states to herself, recalling her fellow female faunus going along with the sister's crazy plan with their living conditions. The thought of the current death traps she and her partner live next to made her internally cringe. "But I just don't know when to talk," she comments.
"Just talk to us, that's all you need to," Yang says plainly. She put a hand on Hitomi's shoulder in comfort. "In fact, why don't you come with Weiss and me into town," the blonde offers excitedly. It was finally a good chance to know her distant faunus teammate better.
"I don't think I'm needed," Hitomi weakly protested. It wasn't that the offer wasn't nice, it was. She just felt unneeded due to her teammates doing her job for her.
"Of course, you're needed, you're Micheal's partner, right?" Yang questions. The fox faunus simply nods in response to the question. "Look...," the blonde started, gently tightening her grip on Hitomi's soldier. "I know, we've kind of taken over what should really be your job of training him, since he's your partner and all, but you can come with us, this way you can help us decide what kind of armor we should get for Micheal, plus we can decide how you can help with his training," the brawler explains softly. That got the taller of the two girls to think a bit. "Plus, I want some else with me, so I'm not dealing with the Weiss all on my own and can actually talk to," she adds on to her explanation. The fox faunus smiles softly as she shook her head lightly.
"Why don't you ask Ruby or Blake join you? or even Micheal, you would still get a date, Sort of," Hitomi asks.
"It wouldn't be the same with Weiss there and plus the other two took Micheal to the firing range on Beacon," the blonde answers.
"I guess we're trying to see if he can at least handle a firearm?" the fox faunus questions.
"Yeah…," Yan sighs sadly. "If he can't fight worth a flip in melee, we can at least hope he's a decent shot," the blonde says hopefully.
"Are we going to relegate him to fire support or something?" the orange-haired girl asks. Her ears turn to the sound of crunching grass getting closer.
"It's definitely an option for his sake," a voice spoke. The duo turns to see their teammate in white, Weiss Schnee, walking up. "Now I doubt Beacon is going to be sending us on a mission within the first couple of months, but we do go out into nearby areas at least once a week so far. So, if we do get into an altercation with grimm and a particularly powerful grimm shows up, we can have him back us up from afar instead of getting into thick of it and dying for it," Weiss explains.
"About time Weiss, you were taking forever," Yang comments slightly annoyed at waiting for her teammate.
"Oh, be quiet, I was explaining what I want to hear from your sister and partner when we get back from our trip," Weiss retorts. Her eyes slowly glancing between the faunus and the brawler, before settling on the blonde. "What were you two talking about?"
"I was asking Hitomi if she wants to come with us," Yang answers her icy teammate. Weiss hums in response as her gaze turned toward her faunus teammate.
"Well? He is your partner, you should be the one to help us the most with this," Weiss states. Hitomi shifts her gaze between her two teammates thinking on it a bit. She does have to admit that she still has been distant from her teammates. This was the appropriate time to become a little closer to them. As Yang told her, she just needs to talk. The blonde was even giving her invite today to do just that. Plus, it would help alleviate some of the frustration she was feeling.
"Sure, but I need to take a bath first, I don't want to go into town stinking from training," Hitomi says. Weiss sighs in response.
"Fine, just hurry up, I would like to spend as much time as possible looking around," Weiss says. Hitomi nods as she runs off to the dorm. She could hear Yang excitingly chatting with Weiss over what she saw during the fox faunus' training. The orange-haired girl saw her other teammate walking away from the dormitories as she ran to the dorm. The also appeared to be chatting, from what the fox faunus could overhear, Ruby and Blake seem to be inquiring what Micheal knew about firearms, from safety to general knowledge.
Twenty minutes later, Hitomi emerged from the dorm in a clean outfit. Her hair and tail still a little damp from her shower. She saw Yang and Weiss waiting for her outside the dormitory doors. "Sorry I took so long," the fox faunus apologized.
"It's fine, you could have dried your hair more though," Weiss comments as she began to walk off. The other two follow behind her towards the sky dock. As the trio walk, planning where to visit in Vale, they come across a small group of fellow students. The group appears to be chatting about something. One of the student's eyes glances at the trio and quickly diverts from them. He then says something to the group. Hitomi focuses her ears on the group to overhear them.
"Isn't that the wolf faunus' team?"
"Half of them anyways."
"What makes him so special that he gets a special team?"
"I don't know, but he doesn't deserve it, stupid mongrel." Just listening to them is making Hitomi's blood boil. Sure, her partner had his problem, but he is still her partner and trying his hardest. She was about to teach them a lesson when a hand landed on her shoulder. She turns to see Yang shaking her head but tightly clenching her fist. The fox faunus returned her head forward. She saw Weiss' face shows a calm demeanor but her clenched fist show her true feelings.
Half an hour later, City of Vale
The trio walks out of the hanger onto the streets of Vale, none of them in a good mood. The students insulting their friend and their fellow teammate had ruined their mood. The girls walking towards their destination in silence trying to calm down. "Racist assholes," Hitomi utters out.
"They weren't being just racist Hitomi," Yang says. The fox faunus turns to the blonde confused. Her face reflecting her current feelings, not showing her usual carefree and upbeat nature. "Do you remember that announcement a couple days ago?"
"You mean about the memorial were going to have next week for those who died during Magaru's attack," Hitomi answers.
Yang hums and nods her head in response. "Yep, the day after that, I was hanging out with Nora and Pyrrha, when like earlier we passed by a group of students chatting like them, at first we didn't pay them any attention, till they mentioned Micheal, then we decided to listen in on them," Yang explains.
"And…," Hitomi interrupts wanting more. Weiss turning her head to listening intently to the taller girl.
"And it would seem some of the other students seem to blame him for the people who died that day," Yang says.
"That's absurd," Weiss angrily protests. "What the hell makes them think that?" Her blonde teammate just shrugs her shoulders and slowly shakes her head.
"So, the only thing I could pick up from them was that apparently, a few of the students that fought Magaru were conscious to see the dragon pin him to and then just fly off without killing him," Yang explains. "So, I guess people assume they are in league with each other, or he's bad luck, yada, yada," Yang finishes distastefully.
"So, people, in their grief, are just making an excuse to blame him over a something that isn't his fault," Hitomi comments. Yang scoffs in disgust.
"Pretty much, it's sad," the blonde utters.
"And it's another annoyance," Weiss sighs rubbing her temple.
"Are you taking their side?" Yang accuses the smaller girl.
"No, of course not!" Weiss shouts immediately. She then took a deep breath and calms herself. "It just that we got done with the issue with your sister being the target of peoples, now Micheal is getting it," the heiress sighs. "Besides, honestly, I thought you would have gotten in another fight," Weiss says. Yang crosses her arms and sighs herself
"I would have too if I wasn't in enough trouble from the fights before, I'm just lucky Ms. Goodwitch was letting it slide for that one occasion because I was defending my sister, but I still got a nasty scolding the next day," the brawler confirms. She shivers a bit as she remembers the female professor's scolding. She did respect the older blonde for being quite reasonable with her but said the woman was also very intimidating when she wants.
"I just hope the teachers will be there to help as well," Hitomi says.
"Of course, they will, that would be unneeded problems with student body for no reason," Weiss assures. The blonde wraps her arm around the fox faunus and gave a wide, comforting smile.
"Yeah, so relax, at worst, I'll just get into more fights and deal with the consequences later," Yang also assures.
"Please don't, when you get in trouble the team will also pay for it," Weiss protests weakly, knowing she was speaking the truth and was going to it anyways. A light chuckle emits from the blonde.
"Alright, alright," Yang says nonchalantly with a wave of her hand. "So, Weiss, how much longer till we get to where you wanted to go?" The heiress pulls out her scroll and taps the screen a few times. She quickly pulls out a map of Vale. She then proceeds to press the option on the app to calculate how much longer of a walk it would be.
"About twenty more minutes…," she says as she explains the path they need to take to get there.
"Ah well, that's fine," Yang says as she places her hand behind her head. She turns to look at the faunus of the trio. "So Hitomi," the blonde said causing her teammate to glance in her direction. "We have some time so, mind telling a bit about yourself?"
"About what though?" the fox faunus says scratching the side of her face with an eye closed, thinking of what to speak about.
"I don't care, just tell me something, where you do you live, your adopted family, something," Yang says cheerfully.
"Well…," the fox faunus stops for a second to take a quick breath. "I live in Atlas for starters," she began.
"Wait! You're from Atlas," Weiss interrupted shocked at the news. Her teammate just nods her head. "How did you come to live in Atlas?" Weiss asks curiously.
"She was adopted and raised in Atlas, duh Weiss," Yang snarks at the obvious answer.
"I know that," Weiss hisses at the brawler and then returns her attention to the faunus. "What I am asking is, did you and your family move to Atlas after you were adopted?" The heiress rephrased her previous question.
"Sort of…," Hitomi kind of answers with a slight shrug of her shoulders. The look her shorter college was giving her told her to explain further. "So, after my village was attacked and I was found in the ruins of my village, I was taken to an orphanage in the near town…," the fox faunus explains.
"How long did it take before a team showed up?" Weiss asks, interrupting the explanation.
"One day, One long terrifying days, I was so cold and hungry, I couldn't leave my safe spot due to the grimm prowling outside, I couldn't even sleep because I could hear them sniffing, looking for me, I was so scared they find me, nor could I whine or else they hear, then I suddenly heard gunshots, shouting, roaring, then silence before long, then I heard voices coming my way and then they found me in my spot," Hitomi recalls her experience.
"Do you remember what they look like?" The heiress asks.
"No, it was so long ago, and I fell asleep not long after they found me, the next thing I remember was waking up in the orphanage," the fox faunus.
"None of the rescuers wanted to adopt you?" Yang asks. Her friend closes her eyes to concentrate on remembering the moment her saviors found her.
"From what I can remember the caretaker of the orphanage said, none of them could, but they at least found me a nice place to stay till some could," the fox faunus answers. Then a warm smile adorns on her face as she remembers the orphanage as she gently grabs her necklace. "The orphanage I stayed out was owned by a nice elderly lady, she took great care of me and made sure everyone was good to me as well, I suffered horrendous nightmares every night and she was there to comfort me, I was like a daughter to her, I came to love her very much," she says.
"So, was she the one that adopted you?" the blonde asks with a smile on her face. The fox shook her head in response as her smile dropped a bit.
"No, neither did her son, I was there for a year before I was adopted by the Hunters," Hitomi says.
"So why did they adopt you?" Weiss asked.
"It's kind of a funny story about that," the fox faunus comments with her face becoming slightly embarrassed. Both of her teammates want an explanation this time. "Well, my adoptive parents live in Atlas and were visiting relatives in southern Vale at the time…," she begins another explanation.
"So, they adopted you while in another kingdom," Weiss interrupts.
"Stop interrupting Weiss," Yang complains to the smaller girl with a slight glare. The white-haired girl glares back at her but didn't retort.
"Yes, the reason…, well part of the reason anyway, I was adopted was because my stepmom and stepdad were having some trouble having a child of their own, so they decided to adopt one," Hitomi says.
"I guess the other reason was that you were the last fox faunus," Yang says questioningly. Her faunus friend nods in agreement.
"Yeah, while it was a chance meeting, the moment they saw me they wanted to make sure I grew up in a loving home after what I had just gone through, at least that's what they told me," Hitomi says. The smile on her face never left and in fact widen as she recalls her time at the orphanage and her stepparents. "They quickly took me into their family with welcoming arms along with the rest of their family and then well I began living with them in Atlas," Hitomi concludes her story.
"So, what was the funny part?" Yang asks.
"Oh right," the fox faunus said forgetting a small bit of her story. "Well about a year after I was taken into the Hunters family, Mom ended up getting pregnant," she explains. Her blonde friend did chuckle a bit.
"That is kind of funny," Yang says.
"Were you scared?" Weiss asks.
"That I was going to be abandoned in another orphanage since they ended up having their own child after all?" The orange-haired girl answers with her own question. The heiress nod in confirmation. "Well I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried, but they assured me they still wanted me to be their daughter as well and they wanted me to be a good sister to Iris," the fox faunus says.
"Your sister has a pretty name," Yang compliments.
"I'll be sure to tell her that when I talk to her," Hitomi tells her grateful for her compliment. Weiss has a small smile on her face listening to her faunus teammate. She enjoys hearing how the fox faunus luckily was able to get into a wonderful family and have a good life after tragedy struck her so early in life. While she didn't like most faunus, she still had a better opinion of them, especially since she started living with two hard-working one. She turns forward to see their destination in front of them.
"Ah, here we are," the heiress says getting the other two to see what she was talking about, In front of them stood a large-sized stone store. The sign of the store is decorated in various kinds of weapons and the sign itself said "Bleu Hunting Armory."
"Bleu Corporation?" Yang said quizzically looking at the sign. She then turns to her colleague with a raised eyebrow and her hands on her hips. "I thought you would have taken us to a Schnee owned store?"
"I, admittingly, prefer Bleu-made equipment over Schnee-made," Weiss says honestly.
"Really?" The blonde says with a smirk on her face. "So, the Bleu corporation makes better products," Yang says teasingly.
"Not everything they make is better, the Schnee Dust Company makes higher quality dust products that the Bleu Corporation does, but they do make better arms and armor," Weiss explains quickly. "Both companies have made collaboration in the past, so I have had plenty of exposure to Bleu Corporation products," the heiress adds on. The brawler simply nods her head as she opens the door. Weiss walks into the store as Yang looks at the faunus of the group just standing there. Her eyes wide as her mouth twitched in a nervous smile as a light chuckle leave her mouth as her ears fold back a bit.
"Hitomi, are you okay?" Yang asks worriedly about her friend's sudden nervousness.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay, just…, why did it have to be this store?" Hitomi asks nervously.
"It's the one that Weiss wants to visit so that's why," the blonde answers.
"Yeah, but why?" the fox faunus repeats.
"Is something wrong?" Yang asks.
"No, just remembering some poor experiences from Atlas," Hitomi says sadly. The next moment Yang pulls her into a hug with a big, warm smile on her face.
"Hey, what stays in Atlas stays in Atlas, besides if anyone wants to mess with you, you've got me and Weiss by your side," the blonde comforts and assures her friend. Hitomi smiles back and nods.
"Hurry up you two, the quicker we get inside, the more time we get to look around," Weiss informs. The two turn to see Weiss looking at them with a slightly impatient look. There was no annoyance in her eyes or anger in her eyes. "As Yang said, I am here for you too…," Weiss also assures. Hitomi was about to thank her. "After all, this store wouldn't dare mistreat one of my teammates as it would hurt their image of the company and make it a target for my company," Weiss adds on. The two taller girls sigh in response but never lose their smile.
"Thanks, you two," the orange-haired says.
"What are friends for," the blonde says.
"Alright, come on," the heiress says as the remaining two of the trio enters the store. The store is pack full of various people; which the trio of girls was sure the people were either full-fledged hunters or other students from Beacon. The store itself is very spacious on the inside filled with an impressive selection of items from weapons, armor, and various hunting equipment of many kinds, which each in their own section of the store. The girls made their way to the armor section of the store. The group split up to look at the various kinds of armor. The kinds range from humble leather armor to fish scale looking mail armor, to the visually impressive full plate. As they browse racks of armor the brawler was curious as to what kind of armor to ignore.
"So, Weiss, any armor not on the list?" Yang asks.
"No full plate, too heavy, it will do nothing but slow Micheal down," Weiss answers.
"Fair enough, maybe something like Jaune's, you know a simple breastplate across his torso," Yang mentions the other blond in their group of friends. The heiress closes her eyes to think for a bit. She doesn't like the guy, but she does have to admit he has effective enough armor.
"It is an idea, but it still it would be best to look around, make a list of ideas you have and well discuss it later," Weiss comments. Her colleague nods in response as she returns to browsing. As the heiress browses a young female employee walk up to her.
"Hello ma'am, do you…, oh, Ms. Schnee," the female employee says surprised, slightly tense. Weiss turns to look at the employee. She has short blue hair with blue eyes and a tall, slim figure. The worker has a name badge on the left side of her uniform, which was a simple blue polo shirt and black work pants, that ID badge says, "Sapphire." "We weren't expecting to see any special guest from Schnee family," Sapphire comments politely.
"I didn't come on a business trip, I actually came to browse for a set armor for a teammate at Beacon," Weiss assures her equally polite. The member of staff calms after hearing that.
"Do you have any idea what you're looking for? And is this person with you right now?" the blue-haired girl asks. Before the heiress could speak, Yang comes into the conversation.
"Hey Weiss, who you talking to?" The blonde asks as she sees the employee. She gives a friendly smile as she greets the woman "Hey there."
"Hello," Sapphire returns the greeting. She then returns her focus to Weiss. "Is she the one you're looking armor for?"
"Nah, not me, a friend of ours, the wolf faunus," Yang answers shaking her head.
"Is he here with you right now?" the female staff member inquiries.
"No, right now we are just looking at different sets, then once we decided, we would bring him here to get it outfitted for him," Weiss replies.
"Okay, as before, do you have an idea what you're looking for?" Sapphire repeats her previous question.
"I was looking for something light and flexible for him," the heiress replies. The trio walks off as the employee leads them to show what the store has. Hitomi was wandering racks of armor by herself having missed the trio's conversation and not seeing them walk off. She was looking at some of the heavier armors, both to find a flexible and lighter set among them and they look more visually appealing. Then she heard a voice speaking. Her head involuntarily turning in the direction of the voices to see a couple middle-aged hunter speaking. The two of them were dressed in leather armor from their shoulders down, their armor showing its wear from use over the years. One of them has red hair and the other brown hair. The fox faunus finds herself eavesdropping on the duo, due to her sharp ears.
"…d that's what happened," one of the hunters says exasperated, apparently finishing a story.
"Nogrimm at all?" the other asks bewildered at the tale he just heard.
"No, I was out there for such a long time and nothing, after I returned to town I checked to see if the information was recent and to see if the group had moved on," the first hunter replies, recalling his frustrating experience on his last hunt.
"Well?" the other inquires curiously.
"The information was only acquired a few days ago, meaning those grimm should have been there, if at most, a few miles off, but I found nothing," the red-haired hunter says still annoyed.
"You know, have you been hearing the rumors lately?" the brown-haired hunter says a little hushed looking around as if to make sure no one is overhearing them.
"You know I don't pay attention," the first hunter reprimanding the other as if to remind his friend or partner.
"Well you should, they can have some truth to them," the second hunter chastises his friend a bit. "Well apparently, some hunters in Ashen report seeing what appears to be Elder Scourge flying far to the west of the city while they were out on a hunt," he says quietly. That caught Hitomi's attention, as her ears turn to focus in on the duo.
"That can't be true," the red-haired hunter says disbelievingly.
"Well, you encountered no grimm on your last hunt, right?" the second hunter asks as if trying to bring up a clue.
"That's just a coincidence, I just got bad info," the first hunter counters aggressively.
"Well, are you sure about?" the second hunter raises the question.
"I'd rather that than the alternative," the redhead says truthfully.
"Your right there, but these are rumors after all, but also there's also reports of the grimm that attacked Beacon Academy fighting with the supposed Elder Scourge," the brown-haired guy says. That caught Hitomi's attention, well, the entire conversation got her curious, but that last part made her curious. It didn't mean anything good for her and her friends.
"If that's true, I hope those two kill each other," the first guy says.
"Amen to that, that thing caus….," the conversation soon began to trail off. Hitomi began to process the rumors she just heard and try to figure out what was going on or what was going to happen. She just hoped they were just rumors. If they weren't then life will soon get extremely terrifying and difficult for everyone, not just for her and her friends. After a few minutes, then she heard her teammate voices coming closer to her with a third unfamiliar voice among them.
"…ank you for your time," Weiss says.
"A pleasure Ms. Schnee," Sapphire says.
"Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Yang asks.
"Of course, I'll be here around the same time, I'll make sure to make a note of what you want," the female worker assures.
"See you tomorrow," Yang says with a wave. The duo walk over to the fox faunus.
"Find what you were looking for Weiss?" Hitomi asks.
"Yes, well a few different sets," the heiress answers.
"A few," the fox faunus questions with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were looking for just one kind," she adds on.
"I was initially, but Yang and the employee had convinced me to a least give Micheal a chance to find a set he likes, so I chose a few for him to try," Weiss says. "Now that we're done here, let's return to Beacon," the heiress says. The trio began their way back to Beacon. As they walk back to the hanger, Hitomi mind wanders onto what the hunters from earlier said. Her face shifted into a look of worry as possible scenarios appeared into her head.
"What's wrong Hitomi?" Yang asks seeing her friend's concerned face.
"Well…," the fox faunus stops for a second to calm herself. "I was overhearing a couple of older hunters in the store and they mentioned some troubling rumors," Hitomi says. She sees her teammates looking at her, urging her to say what she heard. The orange-haired girl repeats the rumors that she overheard. As the fox faunus finishes recalling what she heard. Yang's mouth drops a bit as she begins to process the information. Weiss' eyes widen a bit, but her features remained calm overall.
"I mean, it's just a rumor," Yang says nervously, with her face matching her mood.
"It is disconcerting though and hopefully they are not true," the heiress says, echoing everyone one of their thoughts. They didn't want to see what Magaru had in store for them or the rampage of an Elder Scourge in person. A tense air of silence hung among the trio as they walked.
"For now, let's concentrate on Micheal and all we can do is hope if we can get him into fighting shape then…," Yang stops for a moment. "We'll start making a plan on how to deal with Magaru," she finishes tr she finishes trying to remain upbeat. The others could agree on that.
"We'll need to gather whatever information we can get on it first, but yes, for now, training Micheal is the priority here," Weiss adds on but goes with her taller teammate. The trio's journey back to Beacon was slightly lighter as they chatted trying to lift their spirits more.
Later, Beacon Academy Dorms
The trio was still chatting as they near their team dorm room. Weiss uses her school ID to unlock the door. As she opens the door, a familiar voice in the room panickily shouts "Oh, shit!" The trio all look forward and the first thing they see is a large handgun pointing towards them. The trio instinctively all retreat back into the hall wall and put their backs against the wall. On one side of the door stood Hitomi and Yang, the other was Weiss. The trio looks at each planning a strategy in their heads of how to deal with the person inside the room when the said person calls out.
"Oh geez, it's just you three," the voice says relaxing. The trio all peek into the room to see their sole male member, Micheal standing there with a hand on his chest and the handgun in his right hand pointing down towards the ground. The handgun appears to be at least sixteen inches long with the singular barrel itself appears to be at least twelve inches long. The grip and forend of the pistol were made of wood. The gun didn't have a place for a clip or a place for loading rounds on the frame, so they guessed is a break-action weapon. They notice that the wolf faunus' index finger lay against the metal frame of the weapon and not on the trigger and the hammer was not pulled back. Hitomi also noticed the safety is on as well.
"Never point that at us or anyone on this campus, outside of combat class," Weiss angrily scolds her teammate. It didn't matter to her if he never planned on firing it or how much precaution he has in handling the firearm, he should never point a gun at them. The wolf faunus cringed a bit at the reprimand but took it as he did deserve it.
"I'm sorry," Micheal said downtrodden, his ears flat to his head.
"What has you so freaked out?" Yang asks walking over to her faunus friend. She puts an arm around the male faunus' shoulders giving him a reassuring squeeze, telling him she wasn't mad at him. She didn't like having a gun pointed at her but knew her friend would never hurt her intentionally. The other faunus of the group gently grabs the gun out of her partner's hand. She quickly looks for a way to open the gun. She finds part of the trigger guard sticking down by an inch. She puts her finger on it and squeezes her finger, popping the gun open. She finds no round loaded into the barrel. She then proceeds to close the gun and gives it back to her partner with the barrel pointing down. He then put it in a holster he had underneath his jacket.
"Ruby, Blake, and Noire got into a little shooting contest and got a bit…," The wolf faunus stops for a bit to process the right words to use. "Carried away," he said slightly unsure for his word choice.
"How so?" the blonde asks curious, an eyebrow raised and small amused smile on her face.
"Well…, it started off well enough, but then they got to the point of shooting the targets as fast as they came out, if not a little faster, it actually scared me at how fast they were obliterating the targets, and I do mean obliterating" Micheal said as her remember the trio turning the targets into nothing but splinters and sawdust. It sent a small shiver down his back.
"What had them so passionate about a contest?" Hitomi asked.
"A kiss," a new voice said. Everyone turns to see Noire in the doorway leaning on the frame, a ravenous smile on her face. Micheal immediately stiffens at the sight.
"So, you must be Noire," Yang questions as she slowly looks up and down the girl.
"Yep," the twin-tailed girl answered. She notices the blonde eyes studying her intently. Her smile morphing into a smirk as she gets off the wooden doorframe. She puts her arms behind her back and strikes a slightly suggestive pose. "Like what you see?"
"Maybe I do, but…," Yang says quietly as she walks up to Noire, noting how much shorter the girl is than her as she did. She then proceeds to punch the girl square on her right cheek. The shorter girl staggers back a bit as a red mark forms on her face.
"What the hell was that for!?" Noire asks loudly as she nurses her cheek.
"For breaking into the dorm," the blonde says.
"I said I was sorry already," the dark-haired girl complained.
"If we aren't going to turn you in, then you need at least some kind of punishment," Yang says seriously. She then looks at her teammates in the room hoping for some agreement amongst them with a smile on her face. Instead, she got unamused looks from them. Her smile drops at the sight forming into an unamused look of her own.
"While I do agree with what you said, that would not be my first choice for punishing her," Weiss said, her arms folded across her chest. The fox faunus just shook her head with her hands on her hips. The blonde just sighed in response.
"So, judging by the look you had earlier, you won?" Yang questions the shorter girl.
"Yes, I did," She answers playfully holding a peace sign up.
"Where are the other two?" Weiss asks.
"We're here," A familiar voice says downtrodden. The voice came from Ruby with her hood pulled over her head as she walks into the room. She lifts her head up as to reveal her eyes full of disappointment. "I lost, I can't believe I lost."
"Was the kiss that important?" Weiss chiding her partner's current mood.
"Actually, she is upset because she lost a shooting contest with her weapon," another voice said. Blake enters the room after finishing her sentence. Unlike her leader, whose disappointment in herself is visible, she appears as calm as ever.
"What really?" the heiress says bewildered.
"You don't understand Weiss, I disrespected my sweetheart when I lost, now she hates me for it," Ruby answers melodramatically.
"It is not a real person, it is a weapon, get over it," the white-haired girl scolds. Her partner gasps at the comment.
"She has feeling Weiss," Ruby rebukes as the duo devolves into an argument. Almost everyone else in the just watch as the red and white partners argue back and forth. Yang just crosses her arms and watches with a smile. Blake just lightly shook her head. Hitomi sighs tapping the side of her head lightly with her right hand. Noire just looks at the scene confused at what was transpiring.
"Shouldn't you stop them?" She asks Yang with a quizzical look.
"Nah, they'll burn themselves about in a bit, it's just how they get along," the blonde answers looking at the shorter girl. She then notices a missing person in their group. She took a quick glance around the room to see Micheal sneaking out the window, most of his body already out the window. He appears to be adjusting something on the other side. "Where you are going, Micheal?"
"Oh shit!" the wolf faunus shouts as he panics at being caught. He then lost his footing on the small edge on the other side of the window and fell. A scream could be heard as he fell from their dorm window to the ground. Everyone else in the room turns their heads to the window just in time to hear a thud. The girls immediately rush over to look out the window to see their friend on the ground face first in the dirt. They looked closely to see if he was okay. They could see him twitching a bit, signaling he was alive. He then slowly got up, showing he was okay. A sigh of relief left all of them.
"Micheal Canus Law! Get the hell back here! You owe me a kiss!" Noire shouts as she jumps out the window after the wolf faunus.
"No! Get away from! I didn't agree to shit!" Said person shouts back as he scrambles to his feet. He then bolts off as fast as he could from Noire. The short girl chases after him as soon as she lands and was gain ground quickly. An annoyed Weiss slowly shuts then windows as the green-eyed girl tackles her employee to the ground.
"Uh, Weiss should we help him?" Ruby asks cautiously.
"No," Weiss answers quickly as she rapidly walks toward their dorm room door. "That's what he gets for pointing a gun at us, I'm hungry, you are free to join me at the dining hall." The other watch as he heiress left the room. Hitomi turns to the Black and red duo next to her.
"Were you to serious about that kiss?" she asks curiously.
"No, we just wanted her to leave, I think she just likes to push our buttons," Blake answers her friend's question.
"Well, I'm hungry as well, come on let's go eat," Yang says as she heads after the heiress. The faunus follow her. Yang notices her sister just standing there looking out the window. "Come on sis let's go."
"Okay," Ruby says hesitantly. She still sees Micheal futilely trying his best to get away. The brunette sighs as she follows her team.
Twenty minutes later, Mess Hall
The team sat at a table with team JNPR, team RWBY on one side and JNPR on the other. The table could fit ten people, five on each side. They were simply chatting about various things that were happening at school.
"Didn't he say he had a girlfriend before? Why is he so scared of a kiss?" Ren asks dumbfounded at the wolf faunus' strange and sudden fear of being kissed.
"Well, if you saw the look she gave him, it would make more sense, he probably never had someone look at him in such a way or chase him before," Yang explains.
"It's still just a kiss, it just seems ridiculous," Ren says still a little astonished. The blonde just shrugs her shoulders in response. She was about to say more when the sound of someone sitting at their table interrupted her. The group looks to see the wolf faunus sit down in the last open seat on JNPR's side of the table next to Jaune. His face showing no visible emotion.
"So," Yang says getting Micheal's attention. His head slowly turned to look at his friend. "How was it?"
"She actually didn't kiss me how I thought she was going to kiss me," Micheal answers.
"How did she kiss you?" Ruby asks.
"On the cheek," the grey-haired boy answered.
"So why are acting like you are now?" Hitomi asks.
"Because you guys didn't come to save me," Micheal answers.
"You deserved it for pointing a gun at us," Weiss chides the wolf faunus. He just huffs in response but didn't say anything else. "Besides, where did you get that handgun?" the heiress asks curiously. Micheal pulls the weapon out and puts it on the table for everyone to see.
"I checked it out as I ran out of the firing range," he answers.
"You can actually check out weapons!?" Jaune asks astonished.
"Apparently," the wolf faunus says, he was just as shocked as the blond boy when he found that out.
"Yes, but you are only allowed to use it on campus ground and assignments," Blake clarifies for the two.
"Why did you choose that gun though," Pyrrha asks as she picks up the handgun to analyze it herself.
"I just like it, it looks really cool to me," the wolf faunus answers with a shrug.
"You realize it's a single shot, right?" Weiss questions.
"Yes, I do, still like it regardless,"
The heiress then remembers a question she wanted to ask as she turns to her partner. "So, how was he?"
"He's actually a good shot, he's not as good as a shot as me but he still can hit his target pretty well and can handle quite a few various kinds of guns," Ruby answers her partner's question. The heiress looks at the wolf faunus with a raised eyebrow.
"My dad used to be soldier before he met my mom and always kept guns in the house for self-defense and it was hard for not to have them in his life, also since we grew near a bad neighborhood, he thought it would be best if the family knew how to handle firearms, he would take the family at least twice a month to once a week to the local firing range to practice, I got to handle quite a few various guns over the years, started with handguns when I younger and handled bigger guns as I got older," Micheal explains.
"Well that's got to be a relief," Pyrrha says. Yang had let it slip about their predicament with Micheal. She did try to offer some help herself, but Weiss declined as it was her team's problem. The female members of team RWBY all nod their heads in agreement.
"Well that's one thing we don't have to worry about," Weiss says with a small smile of relief.
"Hey Micheal, Where's Noire?" Yang asks.
"She said she had to return to her dorm," the wolf faunus answers.
"Shame, I wanted to talk to her more, she seems like fun," the blonde says disappointedly.
"Hey Yang, do you want me to mention what I heard in the store earlier?" Hitomi asks. It took Yang a second to get what she meant by that.
"Yeah, might as well, JNPR are our friends, they fought Magaru with us, they have a right to know as well," Yang says in response, her mood becoming serious.
"Plus, the rest of our team and Micheal needs to hear this as well," Weiss adds on. That got everyone's attention. "Just keep it quiet," the white-haired girl says.
"If we need to be quiet about it, then let's talk about it in our dorm," Blake says. The groups agree and were about to leave when Ruby speaks.
"Wait Micheal just got here…," the brunette starts to say.
"Ruby, if this is important that we have to speak in our dorm then, I'll just eat in there," Micheal reassures his. She just nods and the group returns to the dorms.
Twenty minutes later, RWBY dorm
Everyone sat in tense silence as they absorbed the information just relayed to them. It was quite disturbing and disheartening to hear. They sat at various spots around the room. Ruby and Weiss sat on the Heiress' bed. Blake and Yang sat on the cat faunus' bed. Micheal and Hitomi sat on their respective futons. Team JNPR sat at and on the desk in the room. To hear that the dragon grimm is on the move and there is the possibility of it recruiting an Elder Scourge was not easy to digest, to put it lightly. They would sneak a quick glance at the wolf faunus in the room, who found a sudden interest in the ground for the past couple of minutes. They can only imagine the things going through his minds. Micheal himself is unsure what to think of the news. Of the new things he's picked up in his brief time in this world is that an Elder Scourge is one of the most frightening kinds of grimm there existed, or the most frightening. Now, there's a possibility that he now must deal with one. He gripped his knee in nervousness. He just wanted to create a life in this world, and yet he finds himself thrown into something he doesn't want to be a part of.
"Well…," Pyrrha started but stops for a second. "It's just a rumor right now, right?" She asks.
"Yes, but it doesn't mean it's not something to worry about," Hitomi countered.
"I know, but till there is some proof to this rumor, that's all it is, a rumor," the champion tries to assure the group.
"And if it turns out to be true?" Blake asks. The red-haired girl tried to think of a response to the question. She found her list of plausible and comforting responses small.
"I remember my Grandpa used to say, "Play it by ear," all the time when it came to unexpected things, I guess it's the only thing we can do," Jaune says.
"Not that comforting Jaune," Micheal chides.
"I know, I'm sorry," the blonde says sadly as he scratches the back of his head.
"Unfortunately, it's the only thing we can do," Ren says bluntly with his arms crossed. "I don't like it any better than anyone else, but that all we can do and hope they are just rumors," he says.
"Besides, even if it turns out to be true, we'll help as well, we'd be happy to help break its legs," Nora says cheerfully trying to lighten the mood. It did work as a few chuckles could be heard as the others gave a small smile.
"We need to do more than break its legs, but thanks Nora," Micheal thanks the excitable girl.
"Your welcome," she says with a bright smile.
"It would help if we at least form plans just in case," Ruby points out.
"Of course, we can start tomorrow, for now, let's just try to relax and have fun while we can," Yang says. Everyone could agree to that as the team adjourned their meeting. The teams ended up just hanging out in the dorm for the rest of the day chatting or discussing varied topics, either school or just life in general. Even though their future is uncertain as to how it will unfold, the group wanted to be able to enjoy the peace and fun times while they can. Soon, those simple, carefree times will come to an end.
A/N: As always, criticism is good
Sorry, it took so long to get this out. I really choose a poor time to start this story up again. Trying to balance college, work, and this story with a bit of personal time to myself is a nightmare. I will work on this story I made that promise and I will stick to it, even if it's not as much as I would like. I really need to make a schedule for myself, I am so bad at planning.
Never forget, I am free to talk to just send me a PM and I will respond as soon as possible, I do read some fanfiction myself, I check my PM box when I'm done reading.
I have two ideas for the next chapter, it's a toss-up between the talk with Ozpin and starting the first arc/my version of volume 1. I think it's time to kick off the story off. I did enough of the slice of life chapters back to back, not to say there won't be more, heroes need breaks after all. I just think it's time. I'll probably at least start it by the weekend, I need a couple of days to take a break from writing. Both are going to regardless, but I'm trying to decide which one to do first.