Rogue Huntsman
Blondes
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Arex let out a mental whine, really hoping nobody in the room heard it as she stared into those amber eyes.
W-why? It was the only word echoing in her own mind. Why does she have to be my type…? The phoenix complained, finally looking away.
"Repay her for what?" Blake's voice continued, amber eyes glancing back to Yang as the short girl against the wall dragged her eyes to the floor.
"She repaired my weapons and now she's trying to walk away like she didn't do anything," Yang replied evenly, flashing a smirk toward her partner before removing her hand from the door.
Confident Arex wouldn't leave in the middle of a conversation.
And she was right… to Arex's dismay.
"Oh?" Amber eyes turned back to Arex's orange irises, the shy girl meeting the gaze after a moment, "Arex, right?"
The girl could only give a tiny nod.
"I've seen you in the library once or twice. Never took you for a blacksmith," Blake commented, tightening her boots into place before finally standing.
"Neither did I. She doesn't really look like she hangs around the forges as much as she does," Yang replied, making her way back to her bed and fortunately dragging Blake's gaze with her.
That gave Arex a moment to take a silent breath, but not quite out of everyone's sight. The small girl soon looked over to see Ruby giving her an apologetic smile, something she appreciated, for what it was worth.
But still, this was a bit much for her.
"Yang, I think we can let Arex go for now. We can figure something out later," Ruby reasoned, soon breaking her gaze with Arex to glance over to her sister.
The blonde only rolled her eyes at the suggestion, "That's fine." Lilac orbs soon turned to Arex and caused her to go a little rigid, considering an amber gaze followed Yang's own, "But only if you accept the thanks, yeah?"
R-right… she figured that was fair, at least.
"D-depends what it is," Arex finally replied, her hands fiddling with the hem of her thin sweater, something that brought a small twitch out of Blake's bow.
"Sure sure," Yang waved dismissively, sliding the empty weapons box aside as she crossed her legs beneath herself, "I'll make it something you can't refuse."
She can certainly try…
Arex gave an affirmative nod, pulling another grin out of Yang as the phoenix glanced to the other two in the room.
"It was nice meeting you," she said softly, not noticing the curious smirk curling across Blake's lips.
"Likewise," the cat faunus replied, though, it wasn't much of a meeting.
"Can't wait to see you around, Arex," Yang waved with a playful demeanor, eyes widening for a moment as she realized something, "You're Kitsuki's partner, right?"
Arex was a bit taken aback by the question, but she nodded affirmatively to it.
Yang's eyes couldn't have gotten wider, muttering something under her breath about that partnership being the cutest thing ever.
Yeah, time to go.
"Will I see you in the library sometime?" Blake asked, catching Arex as she turned the handle to the door.
The phoenix glanced back momentarily over her shoulder before dipping her head, pulling the door open, "Probably."
Blake smiled again as Arex slipped out, the action going amiss again as the girl made her way out into the hallway and let the infirmary door seal shut behind her.
Now that she was finally out of sight, she took a silent, shaky breath, then started making her way down the hallway. But she was stopped before she could turn the corner as the door to Yang's room clicked open behind her.
"Oh! Right!" Yang's voice echoed down the corridor as the blonde's golden mane leaned out of her room, the girl spotting Arex down the way.
Arex turned slightly to see what else the girl wanted.
"Just wanted to let you know that I think you're really cute!" Yang called over to her, a cheeky grin playing across her face as she winked then disappeared back inside her infirmary room.
The poor phoenix could only turn away, blush seeping deeper into her cheeks as she rounded the corner.
She was reeeeeally hoping Yang wouldn't pull anything on her when it was time to cash in.
But with everything that just happened, those hopes were quickly dying as the shy forger stared blankly ahead of her and left the building.
Golden lightning sparked around Sylvius as he gestured for me to follow, the sounds of the crackling, relentlessly reforming cavern around us growing low in tone before silencing into a deep, resounding crawl.
The two of us moved back down the corridor, his associate remaining motionless as she stared at the shell.
"So, tell me, you didn't come down here on curiosity alone. You have a much more… personal reason," Sylvius stated, the two of us stopping for a moment, "What brought you down here, Mister Ezdeil?"
The bright teal eyes of his associate finally caught up to us as she glanced to where we were standing.
"Just looking for a small piece of information," I replied.
That was all.
"Oh? Something I might know that your beautiful information broker doesn't?" The heir smiled, the two of us moving again and leaving his associate's awareness behind, "I'm flattered. What can I do for my dear old Niro Ezdeil that she cannot, I wonder?"
"Nothing you should be excited about," I said, walking alongside him as his body bristled and sparked with his electrical energy, "The incident involving the death of a bartender, the same person you were so adamant to tell me about, how much do you know about what happened to him?"
Now that I knew he may have known something, this trip may not have been that big of a waste of time as I'd thought.
If I could shortcut myself to the killer… I didn't need to stick around that cancerous academy anymore. I could leave it, find whoever it was that gunned down one of the few people I actually respected, and maybe just personally drag them into the depths of hell once I'm done with them.
Hell and Beacon aren't much different, anyway.
Wouldn't even matter, either. Arex and Kitsuki were happily getting along without Anoel and me now, so it wouldn't change much. I'm barely there as it is.
They're practically already a team of two.
Though… Sylvius's growing smile couldn't have been more irritating.
"Precious… it truly is," he brushed his fingers along the crystals to his left before waving his associate over, the girl soon leaning away from the wall as the energy cascading from Sylvius's skin suddenly dispersed, "Tavi, let's head out."
Tavi… Sounded short for something.
Aside from the hair earlier, I took in her actual appearance this time to see if I could get a read on her. She didn't draw any weapon during our short fight, didn't look like she needed to, but looking at her now…
She didn't have any kind of real weapon on her.
Smart.
On top of that, she looked more scanty than fully dressed. She was confident.
But anyone could've put that one together from the little spout we had.
Bright teal eyes switched to me as the faunus gave a low growl, her hands remaining down at her sides as she strolled back up to Sylvius's side.
An open, light brown leather jacket draped down just past her hips, the material clasped only in a single place by a strap that fell just across her upper chest. Peeking out from the tip of the open attire that fanned out to her legs, was the black cloth of a tight, compression half-shirt.
Showing off an ample amount of her tanned stomach and toned torso through the open curtains of her semi-long jacket.
Pouches and pockets lay conveniently throughout the design of her upper body's main cover, leading down to lightly drape over a tight pair of formfitting, white cargo short-shorts, fitted snugly with a black belt with a golden clasp.
Tavi wasn't looking like the kind to conceal her weapons, let alone her body, given the fact her jacket was the most covering part of her attire.
Lithe, strong legs were almost on full show as more tanned skin breathed in the open air beneath the hem of her jacket, which trailed down just a few inches past her already short pair of shorts. They eventually supply curved down to show how they slipped into brown, laced boots, the slim footwear sporting white laces and black trim.
Each boot spanned up past her upper calves.
Then only on her right thigh, she had a tight, thin belted holster clasped around her long leg that had three black throwing daggers sheathed through it.
She was the agile type.
The annoying kind.
My lime green eyes eventually met back up with her reflective, almost hungry teal irises, Tavi knowing full well where I was looking and seemingly basking in it with her stride.
But she never said a word.
She passed the two of us as Sylvius started to follow her toward the exit, my question still lingering in the air.
"I wish I can give you a hard piece of evidence, Niro," Sylvius spoke toward me again, his eyes watching Tavi walk ahead of us as he responded, "But the incident with your father has none. It's easy to find a witness, a bullet casing, even a footprint… but it was never investigated nor overlooked."
Damnit…
"It was buried," he finished, shaking his head almost solemnly, "A shame, really. From what I hear, he was a menace."
Menace was an understatement. Beyond that, the very word belonged to me… not my old man.
"For a man who had no accessible aura, he did more than any other man I know of, and yet he still fell."
Sylvius made his way out with his associate, my boots stopping me just before the cavern's exit as he turned illuminated golden eyes back to mine.
"Be seeing you, Niro. And, do enjoy your time in Beacon. I hear you've been busy over there." The heir gave a courteous bow as Tavi leaned against the wall again.
"Don't count on either of those," I replied, watching as he smirked one last time before taking Tavi around the waist and walking his way out.
A couple moments later, the dark cave he disappeared into that lead back into the ravine flashed in a golden hue, and I felt the sky rumble in the passing wake of a bolt of lightning.
And then his presence was gone.
He gave me one crucial piece of evidence after all.
Somebody put the effort forward to make sure none of the evidence surrounding my old man's case made it to see the light…
Still… so much for a shortcut.
I made my way out as well, walking back through the base of the ravine before jumping my way to the surface.
The ground still felt energized when I landed heavily on the grass over the rift's ridge, a subtle electrical current running through my legs as I headed back toward Beacon.
A couple fried carcasses of small animals laid dead between the trees, but I paid them no mind.
Even though some of them were adolescent grimm.
I stepped carelessly over the rotting corpse of a dead beowolf, wading through bloodless grass as the soft undergrowth of the forest fluttered against the rising winds of an imminent storm.
The wind brushing beneath the rim of my hat seemed to remind me the sky was responding with my current mood.
Dark, dreary, and unfortunately… stifling an irritatingly large pool of annoyance.
Yet, even with the electrical currents rushing through my nervous system, I picked up the telltale signs of a creature prowling through the thick branches of the surrounding foliage of bushes and leaves.
"You don't seem like one to lurk in electrified brush," I muttered, glancing toward the noise.
I couldn't sense anything else in the area, so it was alone. And considering it wasn't dead, it was something powerful.
"Stop staring and ju-"
Something heavy and breathing careened into my side from out of sight, tackling me to the ground as we rolled.
And even after rolling back into a spring to kick the creature off, it managed to cling onto me further and eventually pin me to the forest floor.
The hell? I couldn't sense it… And what I sensed earlier was gone.
Since when could grimm create decoys…
Piercing scarlet eyes bore down into my own, the glowing orbs engulfed in a mane of thick, black fur as the muscular body of a black lion crushed both its large paws into my shoulder blades.
Scraping claws dug into my skin to hold me there as I stared up at it, its teeth soon barring as it growled.
"Bite me," I growled back, narrowing my gaze in return to the imposing creature, "But if you're wondering… No, I don't pull lightning bolts out of my privileged pants."
The lion's gaze suddenly grew sharper as it pressed down and pushed my back flush with the cold ground. More teeth soon bore open as the predator thundered through a low, guttural growl that seemed to reverberate off the trees.
Its hind legs eventually tensed and I felt its chest breach itself with air, then the surrounding tree tops all nearly ripped themselves apart, threatening to pull the forest's roots from the hard ground as the lion roared down into my face.
Rocks, dirt, and underbrush ripped away in a spanning concussive blast around us before it was over, the lion snapping its maw shut and staring down at me again.
The lethality in its gaze was melting away.
"We're done here," I stated, seeing that it was done stroking its imposing ego.
I quietly pushed myself up onto my elbows, despite the lion shifting to try to push me back down.
With a casually sigh, I stood up fully and pulled his paws off me, letting them fall heavily back to the forest floor as I looked around.
The inner part of every tree in the surrounding radius of a mile was shattered, the reverberations likely carrying whatever splinters those trunks and branches broke into far out of the area.
It wasn't my mess to clean up.
A softer growl emanated from below my gaze as I fixed my hat, feeling a warm body brush gently against my leg.
The action tore my focus back down to the lion, its eyes closed for a few moments before glancing back up to me.
"Don't cozy up to me. Everything that tries ends up dead or worse," I said, nudging the grimm's nose away with the back of my bare hand before glancing off to the side.
The lion didn't turn away. Instead, it purred and pushed its flicking ears into my extended hand.
Annoying.
I scratched its ear once before turning and heading off, ignoring the fact that the creature's fur felt cold around its mane.
"We're not the same, so stop thinking that," I muttered, brushing aside the split trunk of a towering tree as I walked.
I wasn't surprised to hear his steps following.
His purr was getting irritating, especially since he stayed at my side for another mile and a half.
Actually, make that two miles now.
"Turn back. I'm no-"
The slight rustle of a cluster of leaves caught my attention and I shifted my gaze to the bushes, the lion at my side perking its ears up and growling in the same direction.
"Beowolves." From the sound of the pack, there were about five just behind the brush, "They never seem to learn."
I flexed my gloved hand as my eyes sparked with green energy, glowing wires beginning to engulf and circle my forearm as I stepped forward.
Only to stop again when the lion stepped in front of me with a territorial growl.
Its haunches grew low before I suddenly caught a surge of energy emanating from the beast's body, a bristling, chilling wind suddenly churning through the trees as I looked up to see the leaves above freezing over in a frostbiting white mist.
So… that's what I felt earlier…
The beowolves I sensed slowly made their way out of the bushes, growling back as they prowled low to the ground and scraped the dirt.
When I made a move to step forward again to eliminate them, the lion stepped more into my way and stopped me, keeping its gaze on the five wandering toward us in their insatiable bloodlust.
"What are you-"
The lion growled again, shaking his mane before planting its haunches into the ground and tearing into the freezing grass, white mist whipping out of its mane as it snarled.
Black fur suddenly shined for a brief moment before I watched the creature's appearance change as it breached its breast with air again and opened its maw.
The mane was the first to transition, brimming with white, misty energy before being overtaken by the hue and completely flashing into a pale, festering white color.
What was once pure black fur transitioned into white as the lion tensed the muscles in its body and roared, the deep, reverberating ring encasing something within it that wasn't there the last time I witnessed this.
Deep inside the inflection of the thunderous reverberation laid a resonating, crystalline whine.
A small, rising noise grew as the lion pushed forward and turned its head, growling through the roar before surging its body forward, claiming this territory as its own.
It was rare to see a beowolf show fear… But what was intriguing was these beowolves were quick to submit to the lion, stepping back before getting down on all fours and planting their jaws onto the ground.
Each of the five quietly whimpered as the lion finally closed its maw, releasing an icy mist from its nose at it snarled once more then nodded them away.
The five backed off with their maws dragging along the icy ground, crawling backward before taking off once out of site.
After a few moments, the misty white tiger turned a tilted, smug red gaze up toward me.
"Congratulations, you just told a couple children to piss off," I replied, letting the energy fade from my glove as I stepped around the lion, crunching frozen blades of grass into the ground, "I'll bake you a cake to celebrate."
The lion rolled its eyes at me, as if it had a personality, before it continued to follow.
If it intended to stick around, I was going to lead it straight to the academy.
It's always best to show predators where you live.
That way, you can invite them in for dinner and pour their throats out onto the carpet of your living room once you remove their head from their body.
Only… this one seemed intent to just cozy up to me.
I was just hoping it'd pick up the habit of making students disappear. It'd be more interesting than classes could ever be, and would do the world a favor in the long run.
Arex couldn't quite catch her breath until she was back outside and in the open air. The stone pathway of the walkway outside met her sneakers as she clutched her chest tightly, wondering why Yang had to trap her like that.
The blonde's comment still clung to the phoenix's recent thoughts, causing her to lock up in a blush again before she shook her head frantically to dispel it.
It was just so out of the blue…
"Ah, you're Arex, right?"
A new voice suddenly filtered into her mind as she snapped her attention back to the world around her and to a nearby tree.
"Y-yeah?" Arex replied without thinking, orange eyes turning to the feminine voice, only to quickly look away with a shy, silent gulp.
W-what was with her luck and blondes today…
Blue eyes gazed at the poor girl in interest as a monkey faunus pushed away from the tree she was leaning against and jogged over to Arex's side, taking a moment to glance up to a high window as she did so.
"You came from Yang's room, so I wanted to ask you something," she said, her eyes suddenly widened though as she backtracked on her words and rubbed the back of her neck, her mildly short, unkempt blonde hair rustling slightly in the wind, "Uh, don't ask me how I knew that."
"I won't," Arex replied quietly, turning back to her for a moment now.
She wasn't here for Arex, she was here for someone else.
That made this easier.
"Do you know her?" the phoenix asked, glancing up to the noticeably taller girl, a golden monkey tail swishing and flicking back and forth behind the other girl's curvy waist.
"Not exactly," she replied, lowering her hand as her gaze grew a little more serious, "I know her partner though."
Black fingerless gloves rested slimly over the monkey faunus's hands, trailing back to lead all the way up her forearms and halfway up her upper arms.
The material almost had what looked to be leather-like armored padding covering it, the padding painted a dark shade of red and segmented in certain places to allow full movement.
Arex couldn't help but notice the girl wore a collared white dress shirt with shorter than normal sleeves, the thin attire having an open, V-neck design to show her ample chest size.
What made it worse was how the shirt clung tightly to the female's curvaceous frame, the hem of it having been tied taught up just beneath the girl's bust.
It showed off her finely tuned stomach incredibly well, and to top it off, the shirt also revealed toned upper arms.
The phoenix couldn't stop glancing back to the girl's noticeable and on-show abs, but while she was down there, she noted the girl wore a tight-fitting pair of jean short-shorts. To compliment her shirt, she threaded a thin, white belt around its waist and wore white wrappings wound around the upper most parts of her thighs.
The binding fabric peeking out a few inches from the incredibly short hems of her shorts.
Red and black combat boots were the last thing Arex saw before she suddenly remembered the girl had just asked her a question.
R-right…
"I-I'd assume you're talking about Blake, right?" Arex asked, tearing her gaze back up to the blonde's eyes and trying not to trace the finely tuned and tight, flowing curves of the monkey faunus's body.
"Yes! You saw her?" she asked excitedly, her long monkey tail perking up behind her.
She didn't seem to notice where Arex's eyes had been, thankfully.
The phoenix could only nod slightly before continuing, "I don't know her very well. I just met her today."
"That's fine, I just wanted to know if she was alright," the girl replied, breathing a sigh of relief as she brushed her tail down, "Did she mention anyone though? Possibly by the name of Suni Wukong? If she did, she probably talked about something incredibly awesome that I di- I mean, she did. Yeah."
"No, not that I can recall. She was asleep when I walked in and didn't look hurt," Arex replied, deadpanning in her own mind that she'd figured out the girl's name by now, "I take it you're Suni?"
Suni gave a curt nod and a grin, "Yup, that's me. I helped Blake out at the docks before the others showed up. What gave me away?"
Arex held up a finger for a moment as she considered telling her upfront, but decided against it, "Your… tail?"
"Ah, right!" Suni grabbed her tail and shoved it out of sight, giving Arex a short laugh, "Pretty dead giveaway, huh?"
Arex's eyes drifted to the side for a moment as she hummed, "Mhmm. You… said you were there? At the docks?"
That incident was a mess of emotions, but the phoenix found herself glad that nobody got killed.
Especially because Ruby was involved…
"Yeah, kicked some Fang butt while I was at it too," Suni replied, rubbing her neck again, "Although, that Torchwick guy gave me a good beating. And then that cowboy showed up out of nowhere."
Cowboy…? Wait.
"Cowboy?"
Suni nodded, "Clad in black, couldn't see his features too well though. Couldn't hear his voice either. I don't know if it was the ringing in my ears or just the docks, but I couldn't hear what they were saying."
"They?" Arex asked curiously, but also in worry.
"Yeah, looked like Torchwick and him knew one another. Didn't see much more than that, unfortunately," Suni explained, almost sounding slightly meek there.
"That's fine… Um, do me a favor and forget you ever saw that cowboy," Arex muttered quietly, tilting her head a bit as she smiled at the girl in front of her, hoping she'd just drop it.
"Forget? How could I? The entire docking port went haywire while he was there."
"It's probably best you don't look into it," Arex pressed, almost looking pleadingly at Suni as her smile grew smaller, "I don't want you getting hurt if you get involved with what he gets up to."
Suni laughed lightly at that before planting a swift hand onto Arex's head, giving the girl's raven hair a soft rub, "I can take care of myself, so don't worry about me."
A faint blush rose to Arex's cheeks as she felt a tiny rumble deep in her chest, the phoenix quickly choking down and stifling a cooed purr as her blush deepened.
Unfortunately, she couldn't get it all down in time.
The hand on her head suddenly pulled away as Suni blinked for a brief moment, staring at Arex in front of her before noticing how her eyes flashed orange and glanced away.
"S-sorry," Arex quietly said, her shoulders shrinking as she gripped them hem of her sweater tightly in hot hands beneath the stare, "I-I wasn't expecting you to-"
Her voice stopped working as she felt the hand return to her head, giving it another rub.
"Cute…"
Arex's breath locked up for the umpteenth time today as she internally whined.
That makes the second blonde today to call her that…
The lion's fur was back to the shimmering black it once was as we stood in the heavy rain just outside of Beacon's outskirts.
A new storm brood above, following me like it always did as I stared up at the distant towers of the academy.
Streams of water poured from the lip of my hat as I tipped it up to the sky, my gloved hand feeling the lion's wet fur brushing against it before I subconsciously let my fingers scratch its fur.
"You've already done enough," I muttered into the festering storm, eyes remaining fixed on the swirling clouds as I felt him sit down beside me, "Why come back?"
A quiet growl rumbled into my arm and leg as the lion's weight settled onto the puddling ground.
"Guess I was asking too much for a straight answer…"
His head left my hand as I stepped forward, leaving the black lion behind as I dragged the storm over toward Beacon Academy.
Looked like he was content to just watch me go now.
*sigh* Another storm, another long night for Kitsuki. But no worries, Arex has a plan. And ah, yes, new friends are nice. But I don't think any friends were made this chapter.
At least, not on Niro's end.
Arex's end… well, that's a different story altogether. She made TONS of friends today xD.
I hope it was adorable.
I'm wondering what you'll think of what happened, though… *wonders if the theories will start to form… but already knowing nothing will come close to the actual truth*
*glances at lion*
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