Rogue Huntsman

Sisters

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39 aura users stood at varying points within the airship. They were a simple sea of colors and unimportant faces, striving to become something greater than they could ever hope to reach.

They leap for success, only for it to undoubtedly end in failure.

Doors of opportunity only open for those privileged enough to be born with the keys.

"Blondie over there's staring at you," Ano spoke up beside me, her eyes tracking something just past my shoulder.

I couldn't care less, "Get her to stop."

I didn't feel like encountering anyone today. I could already sense the buxom blonde's aura, and it was indeed as fiery as she most likely looked. In fact, I could sense everyone's aura within this entire airship in great amounts of detail.

Silhouettes of vibrant colors, contours, and details, flowing hair and shining souls, they all blazed with that kind of hope only the innocent can ever conceive. They were all useless thoughts that they should all just simply abandon.

They weren't going to become heroes here. You don't simply go to Beacon Academy without being manipulated into becoming a weapon for the Council. That's the only pathway out of here. Even those that fail out are sought out for other tasks, other jobs.

It was pitiful. Corrupt.

It was-

Something warm and slim slipped into my hand at my side, tearing my gaze from the window immediately as I felt it grasp my hand and interlace fingers with my own.

What the hell?!

The next thing I felt was a soft weight lean against my shoulder and a pressure of warmth push slightly into my side.

A-ano?!

"What the hell are you doing?" My voice came out cold, not a morsel of heat within it.

"I'm doing as you asked, Niro. I got the voluptuous blonde to stop staring at you." Ano replied, eyes closed. I only had a moment to see the pale lids obscuring the color of her irises before the rim of her hat blocked all view of her face, "It's only natural for her to feel uncomfortable staring at a public act of affection."

If that was all it was… I let out a slight breath and turned back to the window, movement coming to a freeze now throughout the entirety of my body, "Was the emphasis on voluptuous needed?" I asked instead.

"What? Doesn't it just make you want to take a peak? Take a glance? Come on, it's in your best interest." Ano teased, placing more emphasis on several more of her words.

"Your view of my best interest is far more skewed than you'll ever be willing to admit," I stated, disinterested in the simple idea of even glancing in the blonde's direction. I could sense her presence enough, and I already knew I'd hate her, "You should just drop it. I'm not here to meet anyone. I'm only here to find out what the headmaster knows."

Ano hummed, her warm cheek vibrating slightly against my shoulder before I felt her attempt to pass an aura of warmth through me. Something I felt her do often when reducing the tension in the atmosphere, or simply make someone feel more comfortable.

I cut it off with my own aura.

"You'll find out in time. If anything, he might withhold certain information until you actually prove to him your intent on what it is you'll do with the intel." Ano spoke softly, her pout prominent enough for my senses to easily catch.

These senses of mine have never been stronger than they are today. Well, maybe at my birth when they were at their freshest of states. Back when I felt two strong signatures, the strongest I've ever encountered before for the first time.

Only for one of them to vanish on me immediately after I took my first breath. Frail, poor, innocent… I still blame myself for what happened to her.

It was my burden to bear… but my old man never let me carry it alone. My first breath was her last. I deserved the guilt that followed. That still follows.

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the thoughts leave me before my senses continued to sharpen. We were getting closer to an even larger culmination of aura users… Never before have I felt this many in my immediate vicinity.

It was a feeling that I couldn't describe, nor did I have any intent on trying to. They brought me power. That was all that mattered.

"My intent should be clear. He has no right to deny me of it." I replied, lime green eyes opening again as I caught a glimpse of them in the window. What rushed by below was of little interest to their gaze.

Scenery was just the layout of the world, the makeup of the land, ready to be changed and trampled on for the amusement and advancement of civilization. We extort the world for all its resources, outsource it to be used in all manners of possibility, and hope that it continues to produce what we so fruitlessly expend in a pointless initiative against all Grimm kind.

Valuable resources wasted on a threat that doesn't die.

You can't diminish the ocean by simply breaking its waves. You need to dive deep, extinguish the source, and drain the rest.

Doing anything else is a waste of time.

"He's the headmaster of an Academy, Niro." Ano responded, her slender grip tightening into my cold hand, "He's the head of a school that specializes in training teens and young adults to fight and broaden their knowledge. How willing do you think he'll be when he hears your reasoning for finding out this information?"

It always bothered me whenever Ano was undeniably right about something. That feeling usually became the worst when she happened to prove me wrong while doing it. Or, when the new information gets in the way of what I need. Every other time, it's a blessing that she seems to never be wrong.

No, it wasn't because she was right and I was wrong. If that were the case, then I'd be able to drop it like the slip of a pin.

I hated it because she made it a point to rub it in, like salt into a fresh wound made with a hot blade.

"How do you think I should… persuade him, to give me the info?" I asked, gritting my teeth slightly and tensing my jaw.

Her smirk was louder than her words.

"Well~ Tact is something you lack. You won't be able to convince him of any amount of innocence at all, there's no doubt about that. However, what you can do is prove yourself to him. Make him think that you carry a reason strong enough to warrant the information being needed." Ano explained, letting out a short hot breath as I felt her head shift slightly against my shoulder, "Give him the impression that you do what you do for the right reasons, not for the wrong."

"I'm a realist, not evil," I argued with a level voice.

"You're pessimistic and cold, two qualities that quickly depict you as a condescending prick. But they also make you a potential evildoer." Ano replied back with a quiet laugh, humor evident in her tone.

"I'm not going to change-"

"No one's asking you to." Ano cut me off, "Just make yourself clear that, despite your actions and undoubtedly your words, you have a steady heart. If you can convince him of that, then I have no doubt that he'll give you the information you need to find your father's killer."

Her ability to shut me down was uncanny. I couldn't even think of another soul that could do what she does with that much ease, not a single one.

Which reminds me.

Why the hell is that scraggly blonde guy over there the only one on this ship without an aura signature?

My eyes followed his movements, looking away from the window for merely a moment as he ran past the curvy blonde Ano had mentioned earlier and a shorter brunette at her side.

I didn't need to have heightened senses… to know what was about to vacate his stomach.

The blonde screamed, the brunette screamed, Ano laughed…

I hated school already.

Wasted energy. Ozpin had a point there, I'll give him that. Out of the 160 students here, a majority of them can only hope to pass and graduate. Maybe even do something with their soon to be pitiful lives under the Council's ever vast thumb.

The rest who fail… they can become bakers.

Or something.

His speech was brief, another point I'll give him. It wasn't annoyingly extensive and it wasn't pointlessly short, like a greeting or an overview of things we already know. He spoke with a realism that I appreciated.

At least, up until he walked off stage and the riding crop woman spoke her first live-words. Glynda Goodwitch. She had spoken on the airship. You'd need to be deaf not to have noticed. So, those were her first words spoken in person rather than over a transmission.

They could easily be summed up in a few words even a simpleton could understand.

A god damn mass sleepover.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Ano spoke up at my side with an amused smile, "We'll huddle up in a corner somewhere and build a wall out of people's blankets. They won't even notice! Then we'll be in a nice secluded corner, away from prying eyes…"

Stop talking.

"I don't feel uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as other people. Stop implying that I do." I replied to her, the stroll in my step not faltering. We were walking around campus for now, but I already had the layout of the area down to the exact amount of blades of grass that stood sharply in the courtyards of the Academy.

Ano seemed to huff for a moment, "In any case, we'll be sleeping in there or we can camp out elsewhere. Either way, we'll need to be at the cliff's edge tomorrow morning for initiation."

"I don't need sleep. And getting there won't be an issue." I replied.

"Trust me, I've seen you tired. You definitely need your princely slumber." Ano laughed again, tipping the front of her cowboy hat up slightly to reveal silver eyes.

Humorous.

Her matte black bullhide leather cowboy hat seemed darker in the sunlight, somehow. It nestled atop her head snugly and let her long black hair flow down to the middle of her lower back. She wore her usual clothing today.

Encompassing her upper body was an open brown leather jacket, unclasped and revealing a white shirt beneath it. A pair of pale dark-gray jeans adorned her legs before leading into black combat boots to complete her ensemble.

My own black combat boots pressed firmly into the cobbled path below as I ignored her comment. Instead, I let my senses roam as a breeze kicked at the tails of my trench coat. I could've had my hands in the pockets of my black jeans as well, but I preferred to keep them at my sides.

My father's thin black fingerless glove was fitted snugly onto my right hand and slightly up my forearm. Its simple black fabric was comfortable, but it was easy to tell that it wasn't anything ordinary.

Just from the feel of it on my arm, it was enough to declare its presence to my mind as if it were a knife in my side. It was made of nearly weightless material… yet weighed down my arm so heavily. I'd have thought I really did have a knife in my side. And I was losing blood by the second.

Ano's humming, which I was steadily blocking from my mind, came to a soft stop when the sound of hard soles meeting stone echoed out behind us.

I finally brought my senses back to me, but immediately swept them aside as I kept in an internal groan that threatened to spill out from my pressed lips.

Please don't make me hate them more than I already do…

"Excuse me! Uh, would you mind if we asked you something?"

It was the blonde who was speaking. Great. She's probably dragging along the brunette just to spite the cliché of overprotective older sisters wanting nothing more than the best for their adorable kin.

I'd burn her at the stake if she weren't already fire proof.

"Oh, hello," Ano spoke at my side, turning around to greet the nuisances behind us. "Who might you two be?"

Ano turned me around with her. Something I definitely wouldn't have done on my own. In fact, I was content on continuing walking.

I think I'll do just tha-

She had an iron grip on my arm. That woman…

It boggled my mind that she was even here anyway. Technically, she's already a huntress. I'm not sure by whose standards, but her skills could easily overshadow the majority of the population of Vale. She wasn't even more than two years older than me, making her no older than nineteen.

She could easily pass as a student, undoubtedly more beautiful than most. That much I knew. But, her skill warranted her to already be at a level beyond Beacon's first-year class. If she already had so much experience, then why was she here? I had to be here because I needed information. That's all.

Her only reason here probably revolved around me being here.

What was the point in that? Her time would've been better placed elsewhere.

"Hellooo~ My name's Yang Xiao Long, and this is my little sister Ruby!" My focus finally returned to me, and I met the heated gaze of red masked by a veil of cool lilac. Her complexion was pale and her form easily attractive, but my eyes didn't so much as move beneath her own irises.

I already knew what her silhouette looked like. Though, her clothes matched her likely personality perfectly. Yang, a teenage girl with a tan vest over a snugly fit low-cut yellow crop top. The crest resembling a burning heart alone could tell you everything you need to know about what I was currently meeting eyes with.

She wore a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object at her waist. Rings of dust cartridges in sets of twelve filled a few of her pouches from what I sensed, causing my eyes to finally make a move as they snapped to the bracelets on her arms.

Fingerless black gloves adorned her hands beneath two seemingly mechanized golden bracelets with smooth points and angular curvature. A momentum-based gear system rattled within them with every small movement, flooding into my ears before I tuned into something else. She wore black shorts under her belt and a pleated skirt in the back, each resting beneath a white asymmetrical back skirt.

Brown knee-high platform boots with orange socks of different lengths caught my peripherals, and it took a couple nerves in my body to not grow even more agitated by the lack of coordination. Just because they matched her infinity scarf around her neck doesn't mean she gets to pull them up different lengths of her legs.

Speaking of that, fix your hair damn it! I know that it's long and blonde, loose and messy, but you still have a few locks sticking out and a small cowlick on the top of your head!

"R-right, I'm Ruby Rose." A meeker voice spoke up, something I, for a moment, preferred over the voice of the buxom blonde at her left, "We were just wondering if you knew anything about how the team system worked. I heard a couple rumors about partners," She started to sway and fidget, was she always like that? "But I don't really know if they're true. It's all just speculation for now."

A young, silver-eyed girl of the approximate age of fifteen. She wore a black blouse, and for some odd reason, a black waist cincher with red lacing. Were those even in fashion? Didn't all of those get burned a couple centuries ago?

Below that was a skirt with red trim, something bright and crimson to match her equally colored hooded cloak that seemed to pull backward in the shifting wind. The hood itself was bunched up behind her shoulders and nape.

She had shoulder-length black hair with a red tint to it, a seemingly reoccurring color scheme for the small girl. She even had black combat boots to match her trimmed skirt, detailing in red as well. Black stockings adorned her legs, which were much more modest than her counterpart.

Too bad most of my attention laid focused on the hunk of red metal behind her waist.

I felt a tension in it as if it were compacted somehow. Its frame was hard to trace with my mind, only working out some of its interiors before my mind flexed slightly at the feeling of the edge of a large sharpened blade.

That was all I needed to know.

"Well, I happened to pick up a few rumors as well if you'd like to hear them. Are you interested?" Ano asked, eyeing the younger girl with a kind eye as I turned my gaze away entirely.

The trees were more interesting at the moment.

Classic Ano, already becoming the number one info broker for poor un-funded ill-informed potential Beacon students.

"Really?" Ruby asked in interest, her attention growing.

"How much do you know?" Thankfully, I felt Yang's eyes leave me as she asked my partner a question instead.

Ano smirked, but I knew that she knew she couldn't exactly extort these girls for money. She continued anyway, "Rumor has it that partners are going to be decided by a randomized system of sorts. It's unlikely going to be assigned by the instructors themselves… it's more likely that it'll be a system put in place that makes it partially the student's choice alongside it."

"So we really can pick our partners?!" Ruby asked, almost excitedly, as I felt her gaze turn slightly to her sister.

I doubted they were sisters.

Ano shrugged, "I wouldn't say pick. It'd probably be something along the lines of the first person you meet up with. We'll be going to the edge of the Emerald Forest, so it's most likely that that'll be our initiation grounds. Whoever we meet out there will likely be our partner."

"How do you know, though? Isn't it just speculation at the moment?" Ruby asked.

"Call it intuition." Ano offered.

Like hell, that was usually never the case. I don't know how, but she found a way to source her information from someone who knew the plans of tomorrow. Someway, somehow, she's already found a direct source from inside the system.

She was sly. She was the perfect info broker.

"Intuition, huh? I guess us women have to stick together then, it'll leave the guys hanging alongside their mouths. What's your name by the way?" Yang asked.

"Ano." The rogue chirped with a smile before I suddenly felt all eyes on me, "And this here's my partner in crime, Niro."

She was correct on all accounts when she said that.

"Niro and Ano, you two sound like a pretty adorable matchup. How long have you been together?" Yang asked, and I got the feeling it'd be rude to keep staring out into the trees. I would've continued to do so too, just to spite her, if it weren't for it possibly making this pointless conversation last even longer.

With that in mind, I turned back and addressed the two before me.

"Four years," I answered. Ano and I have been 'friends' for four years. We technically met a few years before that, but she never really became much of an interest in my mind until my father's life was taken. She was the only other person that seemed capable of filling the void left behind by both my parents.

And she's been there ever since. She's been my clever associate and my only friend for a while now.

"Well, I'd say longer than that. But it's around that time." Ano agreed.

"Sheesh, you two have been together for that long? I don't think I've ever known anyone whose romantic relationships lasted longer than two." Yang breathed out steadily in a form of obscure amazement.

Wait, what did she just say?

"I know, it's pretty impressive." Ano replied, "We have no quarrels or anything, we get along well and we seem to complement each other's personality nicely."

Ano, what are you…? Please tell me you're not actually…

"Aww," Ruby dawwed, if that's even a term. I suppose she's the only one here, though, that it would actually make sense for, "That's so cute. I don't really think I'm ready for something like that."

"Of course you are sis! They just have to go through me first, you know, a little one on one time to see if they're right for you." Yang proclaimed with a quirked smirk and a lighthearted voice.

"Yaaaang, I told you before. I'm not looking for anyone at all! I just want to meet people for their weapons," Ruby paused with a pout and lowered her voice, "And maybe even make some friends."

Yang pet her sister on the back and ruffled her hair softly, "Friends come easy. But I'm still putting them through my judgment system to see if they're quality enough to stick around."

Ano laughed lightly, "You two have a bond of your own as well. Are you two sisters by blood or by relation?"

"Relation." Yang said simply, "It was a bit of a weird process."

"She's not wrong." Ruby agreed with a sheepish grin.

"Hmm, well, in any case, a family is still a family. Blood or not, the bonds are still there and can only grow stronger." Ano stated, taking her own moment to ruffle Ruby's hair.

It confused me why she found it necessary to do that.

Ruby took a moment to fix her disheveled hair with a pout and turned a silver gaze upward toward me, no doubt wondering if I wasn't much of a talker.

On the contrary, I'd gladly put someone in their place if they questioned my ability.

"Niro, was it?" Yang inquired.

You either forgot my name already and are proving the stereotypical idiocy behind blondes, or your lack of social skills are so abysmal that you couldn't think of anything else to get my attention. In any case, the fact of the matter was that she was talking to me.

Something I was hoping to avoid. I already knew how it was going to end.

"Niro Ezdeil." I said. It was easier just to get that out there than to have her question it later. In a way, I guess it was a fair trade due to the presentation of their names from earlier.

Yang hummed for a moment, acknowledging the words I spoke before speaking herself, "I saw you on the airship on the way over here. You seemed like you've been here before, mind showing us around if you already know the place?"

"What gave you that idea?" I asked.

"You sorta gave off a feeling of ease, almost like you were completely calm despite going somewhere you've never been before," Ruby spoke up, supporting her sister's claim.

I could only shake my head.

"Niro's just like that all the time." Ano explained for me, "He keeps a calm head most of the time, but you aren't wrong about him already knowing where everything is. Despite this being the first time he's ever set foot on Beacon's grounds before, he already knows it as thoroughly as his home town."

"Wait, how does that make sense? Did you study a bunch of maps or something?" Yang asked.

"Something like that." I sighed. I really didn't want this conversation to continue. But, I had the feeling that it was… and the only way out of it would be to turn them down and walk away. They can get their own tour guide.

"Where's the fun in revealing all our dirty little tricks right off the bat? I think we have a right to hold our cards until the end." Ano stated with an easy grin, something she was way too trademark at displaying.

"Good point." Yang nodded, getting a nod out of her sister as well.

I sensed another presence approaching. They didn't have aura… but they held a strong presence nonetheless. I recognized them immediately as well, and something told me Ruby and Yang would too once they turned around.

He vomited on Yang's shoes, after all.

"Hey, guys! Uh, I…" The guy paused, rubbing his neck sheepishly, "I don't suppose you know where the Ballroom is, right?"

"Oh, hey Jaune!" Ruby whirled around faster and more comfortably than I thought capable of her. Where'd the shy girl go? "I'm not really too sure where it is either, but it's where we need to go to settle down for the night."

"Yup, we were just about to ask for directions as well!" Yang chipped in, turning to address the aforementioned 'vomit boy' from earlier, "In fact, now that you're here. They can probably show us all around campus if we-"

Her lilac glance over her shoulder proved two things.

One, she was easily distracted.

And two… she had no extra sense about her to know that we were already long gone and out of sight.

"…asked them." Yang's voice grew softer as I turned my attention elsewhere, letting my senses have their rest.

Originally, I was going to have Yang get pissed and throw a punch at Niro, then display some of his immense power. But, I decided to play the passive card for now. Trust me, this way's better.

Now that Yang and Ruby have stable images of Niro and Ano, it'll make the 'hate' card I'll pull up later on either more impactful or better fitted for the long run given their first impressions.

Well, in any case, it'll be Niro who'd be hated. Everyone loves Ano.

Special acknowledgment if anyone can guess exactly what Niro's semblance is before I reveal it. I've already basically revealed it through thoughts and obvious actions, but it's still obscure enough for it not to be very clear cut for you.

Not yet, anyway. So, anyone who has a guess, feel free to throw it out there. Who knows, you might be right.

Or, you could be horribly wrong and inspire a new semblance to be created. It's a win-win if you think about it. My friend and I created a semblance that generated and launched kittens from one's palms at varying velocities after all.

You can at least try with this one XD.

Chapters will remain in a sweet zone of 3-7k words, depending on the events transpiring.

For now, Favorite and Follow.

I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.

Cya XP