Yang-Dere Chapter 02 - Cardinal desires/A penny for your thoughts
There was a lot of tension in the student lounge. After their big run-in with the DeathStalker, the large group of hopeful future hunters and huntresses were stressed out and definitely worn out. What they were waiting on was to be called on stage to be congratulated and informed whom their team members would be. They already had a guess, considering the chess pieces and all, but there were still things to be decided; Such as the team leader and group Name.
Yang sat in anticipation. She ran a series of scenarios through her head of ways to "break the ice" with Jaune. Most of them starting with her crossing the room and actually starting to talk to him. With them being teammates she figured she didn't have to do it right this second, so she had some time to think about it. She looked up from the floor to him. He was having what seemed to be a pleasant conversation with her step-little sister, Ruby. From what Yang could understand, they were sharing embarrassing stories of times they messed up and it got them in trouble. Yangs eyes went back to the floor. Yang questioned whether she had any situation like that before.
"What about you?" Yang couldn't come up with anything.
"Hey! Earth to Yang?.." Yangs eyes shot up. Ruby and Jaune were both staring at her.
"W-what?..." Yang responded timidly.
Jaune replied, "You ever embarrassed yourself real bad?.."
Yang froze. She didn't know what to say. Now that the moment had come for her to actually say something to him, she couldn't divulge information she didn't have.
"I..I.." She stuttered. Jaunes smiling face was derailing her train of thought.
Just then. "Students, please line up by order of team behind the announcement stage. Thank you" Came over the speakers. Yang nearly choked. Jaune was the first to get up.
"Hold that thought." Jaune said as he passed by Yang and gave her a quick pat on the shoulder.
Yang blacked out for a split second. Ruby and Yang walked side-by-side to the announcement stage. On the way there, Yang managed to calm herself enough to put her face in its natural position; Neutral. She also happened to notice Ruby staring at her intensely and inquisitively.
"Whats your deal lately?.." Ruby asked, lightly punching her sisters arm.
Yang looked at ruby, one eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?" Yang lied.
"You're just more... how do i put this... not you?" Ruby stated. Yang tilted her head.
"What does that even mean?.." Yang responded.
As they reached the door for the back stage area, Ruby shook her head.
"I'll explain later.." She mumbled.
As they entered the large area behind the stage, the two were filtered to stand next to their partners by staff. Every one was organized by teams and partners. Yangs team was lined up to go last. She couldn't help staring at Jaune, whom was standing right in front of her. One by One, the room got less and less crowded, as teams were being brought out and introduced to the school. Just as suspected, the team leaders and team names were being announced on the spot. Yang was feeling something. She didn't know what; it was something new. It took her a minute to realize she was actually feeling excited. Yang took a deep breath. She had never really been excited before. She figured it must be because of the blonde right in front of her and how much time she was going to be able to spend with him. Pyrrha, Yang, Jaune, and Ruby all stood shoulder to shoulder on stage as Ozpin, the aforementioned Headmaster of Beacon,Presented their team to the rest of the school.
"Pyrrha Nikos, Yang Xiao-Long, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose. You shall now and henceforth be known as team 'Player'{PLAR}. I present Your team leader, Pyrrha Nikos! Congratulations to all of you, and welcome to beacon!" Ruby, Jaune, and even Yang turned and clapped for Pyrrha. Pyrrha nodded to the crowd and took a bow.
Ozpin strided off the stage while mumbling to himself, "Looks like this will be an interesting year."
And with that, the day was officially over.
The next morning in the team dorms, everyone was rested and ready to take on what the day had in store for them. Well, most of them were, anyway. Yang didn't get a wink of sleep. Her and her sister shared two beds on one side of the room, while, separated by a small walkway Pyrrha and Jaune lie in similar beds on the other side of the room. So the reason Yangs eyes never closed was mostly because she was too busy getting an eyeful of the sleeping blonde boy throughout the night. Don't believe for a second she didn't dream, however. Boy, did she dream. The longer she stared at his peacefully slumbering face, the more and more situations ran through Yangs mind. Most of which being corny scenes out of some kind of RomCom.
Yang couldn't help but realize, even though they just met, she might be actually falling for the boy. Sure she only met him a couple days ago. Sure they only exchanged, like, three sentences. Sure she didn't know the first thing about love. But all her life Yang had been struggling to feel... well... anything. Any true emotion, to bring her out of her lonely darkness, a darkness of which she couldn't explain to even herself. Then he came along. Like a ghost holding a beacon leading her out of a dying forest in the pale moonlight. He was her muse. He was her everything. He... just didn't know it yet.
Yang nearly jumped when an alarm on a desk in the far side of the room went off, ripping her from her thoughts.
Pyrrha hopped out of bed in a flash. Quite chipper and excited to start her first day at her new school as an official student.
"Gooood Morning, Team!" She greeted cheerily. Yang sighed and waved at Pyrrha. Pyrrha gave a sickeningly happy smile and waved right back.
"Glad to see your awake! Now we just need to get these two lazy bones up!" Pyrrha announced. She strode over to Jaunes bed and patted his leg gently. "Time to get up new Teammate! We have classes in half an hour!"
Jaune, having a wonderful dream, was shocked awake.
"I'M A GIRAFFE!" He exclaimed as he fell out of bed and hit his head on his nightstand. Pyrrha covered her mouth.
"um.. Jaune?... You okay?.." She asked, concerned.
Jaune hopped to his feet and nodded, giving a thumbs up with both hands. "Yeah.. *Cough* I'm cool. I'm cool."
Yang shook her head and giggled. She had never giggled until she met Jaune. It was one of the many new things she felt good about since he became part of her life.
"Who are you and what have you done with my sister..." Ruby questioned, giving Yang the evil eye.
Yang shook her head and ignored her. The four newly appointed students all got dressed and ready for the classes of the day. After they had a short meeting of what would be happening that day, they left and locked their room. Just outside, team BRWN {Brown :p} was also leaving for their classes. The honor of team leader, to much of Weiss' dismay, was given to Blake Belladonna. Why? Ozpin thought it would help her open up more with her fellow students and learn to trust those around her more. Not to mention she just had a lot of potential.
The first class of the day was Professor Port. A supposed master of the art of fighting and an expert in all things Grimm.
"Monsters... Deeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names...But I merely refer to them as PREY! HaHAA!" Ports continuous lecture about how great he was put half the class to sleep. He continued, "And you shall too upon graduating this prestigious academy!"
*Insert cricket noises*
Port cleared his throat, "Now as I was saying,Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe-havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And thats where-"
Yang was not paying attention in the slightest to Ports annoyingly long speech. She was focusing really hard on trying not to look like she was stealing glances at Jaune, even though she really was and couldn't help it. She still didn't want anyone to think she was weird. She practiced looking normal her whole life. She didn't hear what he said, but port made a clicking noise and raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes and brushed it off as he went from telling a really boring speech about basically what they all already knew, to telling a really long and boring story about himself.
Yang looked over at Jaune, whom was sitting next to Ruby. The two were goofing off. It was clear it was irritating to the white haired girl, Weiss, whom was two seats over from them. Weiss was shaking with anger. And, like a message from heaven straight to her, Port finally stopped his story and asked if anyone would like to demonstrate on a live boar Grimm.
Weiss' hand shot up like a bullet.
Weiss stepped down to the middle of the room and drew her rapier as two large and burly assistants brought out a shaking and twitching metal cage. Something was rumbling and growling inside it. Port thanked the assistants and unhooked the latch, releasing the Boar Grimm inside.
Even though Yang had never seen the girl fight, she could tell something was off. Her irritation was going to overthrow her skill. The Boar and Weiss simultaniously charged each other. Weiss went to pierce the beast straight through its head but her hand drifted too far to the left and her rapiers blade and handle got stuck in the creatures tusks. They struggled and tussled until the Boar lurched its head to the side, throwing weiss to the ground and her rapier across the arena.
"OH-Ho!" Port called out, "Now what will you do, without your weapon?"
The Boar spun and charged Weiss again. Weiss dodge rolled out of its path and it slammed head first into the barrier blockade seperating the Boar from the Bleachers.
'Not bad...' Yang thought to herself, nodding.
The rest of weiss' team were clapping and cheering crazily.
Weiss bolted to her Rapier and snatched it up. The Boar ran at her once more. This time, she pressed in a slider on her rapier and a large blue barrier Glyph formed in the air in front of her. The creature smashed into the reflective barrier, and was sent flying backwards. Before it hit the ground, Weiss formed a Glyph beneath her that launched her a ways into the air at the same level the monster currently was. She then created another Glyph behind her that gave her a large boost forward. She came down with immense strength and elegance, piercing the creature to the floor, stabbing it through its core, and killing it instantly.
Shortly after, port dismissed the class and Weiss stomped off.
"Geez.. Whats with her?.." Jaune whispered to Ruby. Ruby shrugged. Because it caught Jaunes interest, it caught Yangs, too. Yang also wondered why ol' pretty mc-richy breeches was so grumpy. Must've been something someone said.
Yang sat outside, propped against the wall. Watching as her new fellow classmates passed her by in crowds. She liked not having any real friends. It meant she could have peaceful moments outside like this all to herself. However, she did wonder if she could at least try to find a real friend in Jaune. Maybe even something more if time allowed it.
Speak of the devil. Jaune was walking side by side with Blake Belladonna the black haired leader of Team BRWN. His hand was on her shoulder and it seemed he was trying to consulate her about something. Yang followed close behind and eavesdropped.
"-And then she called me a loner wannabe... I mean, its not like i chose to be team leader." It wasn't long before Yang put two and two together and discovered Blake was telling Jaune about how Weiss yelled at Blake. How she wanted the team leader position and had trained for it and how she thought Blake didn't deserve it.
"Well she doesnt get too decide that." Jaune retorted. "She can be grumpy all she wants, the teachers decide that stuff based on potential in the end."
"No ones ever really believed in me." Blake replied.
Jaune came back with, "Well the teachers clearly do. And I do, too, Blake. You're gonna make a great team leader, I can guarantee it!"
Blake and Jaune shared a slight laugh and Blake nodded.
"Maybe your right... Thank you." Then, as unexpected as one might believe, Blake leaned up and gave Jaune a quick peck on the cheek. She then hurriedly turned and left, probably to hide the fact she was blushing from Jaune. Jaune smiled, happy he could be of use, not looking into the cheek kiss anymore than he should.
For the first time in her life, Yang experienced jealousy. Pure, Uncut, anger at another person over something or someone she didn't have. Yang smacked her cheeks and shook her head. She reassured herself that it was just a thank you kiss and it didn't really mean anything. Why was she even upset about it? Its not like they were dating or anything. Just cause she took a liking in him doesn't make him hers and hers alone. Yang continued with her day, shaking off these strange new feelings. For now, she just had to worry about keeping up her metaphorical mask. Her sister had been recently catching on to her slip ups. Ruby would eventually put it together that Yang was acting this way because of someone else. Yang couldn't allow that. She had to solidify how 'normal' She was more so now than ever.
The days classes passed by in no time. The teams found themselves getting ready for sleep. Yang sat on her bed perusing social media on her scroll (Basically Smartphones). She couldn't help the feeling someone was staring at her intently. She looked up, expecting Ruby to be giving her the evil eye. Instead, Jaune was standing at the foot of her bed with his head tilted and his arms crossed. Yang became instantly flustered. This caught Rubys attention.
"So?.." Jaune asked.
Yang shrugged in confusion. "So... what?.."
"We all shared embarrassing moments that got us in trouble. Its your turn." He stated with a half-cocked grin.
Yang watched Ruby out of the corner of her eye and thought to herself, 'Shit! What would typical yang say?'
"I... dont get embarressed..." Yang responded. Perfect.
Jaune scoffed, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Bull." He responded bluntly. "Everyone gets embarrassed over something. Getting yelled at by a superior? Someone making fun of you in front of all your friends? Anything?.."
Yang just softly shook her head. 'This is pretty fricking embarresing...' She whispered to herself. Jaune held his hand up to his chin.
"What if a Suave gentleman such as yours truly were to, per say, ask you out in front of everyone, to which of course you would say yes?.." Jaune joked. The two other girls in the room busted up laughing hard at the questions cheesiness. Yang, however, didn't think it was funny. All those situations she ran through her head, all those moments that were to begin their relationship, but not one of them began with him approaching her.
Jaune snapped his fingers and pointed at Yang.
"Ha-Ha! Got her!" Jaune stated. At that moment, Yang was happier than anyone in the world that her sister was laughing so hard. If it weren't for that, she would've seen the irrefutable blush that crept its way to Yangs cheek and the faintest of smiles on her lips. Now she just needed to go away before Jaune said anythin-
"I even got you to smile!" At the split second the word smile left Jaunes mouth, Yang heard Rubys laughter INSTANTLY stop. Rubys eyes shot to Yang, Yangs eyes shot to Ruby. Rubys eyes were wide and her mouth was agape in shock.
"Shit..." Yang whispered to herself as her smile slowly faded. Ruby quickly rolled over and Yang knew this was going to come back to her in spades.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT..." Yang kept whispering to herself as she too rolled over and tried to sleep. Jaune added a final blow by patting Yangs leg and stating, "You may sleep now, but I now know your weakness is corny one-liners and I wont let up."
He laughed at his own stupidity and he, too, made his way to bed. Yang had the strongest premonition in her head that she was going to get an earful from Ruby tomorrow.
To Yangs disbelief, however the morning was moderately quiet between her and her teammates. This was mostly because the comedy relief of the group, Jaune, was really bummed out. He was set to have a sparring match with the school bully, Cardin Winchetser, in Glynda Goodwitch's class a little later that day. The team spent most the morning in awkward silence. When Glyndas class came along, you could visibly notice how nervous Jaune was. He was a good consultant, a great tactician and an all around good person. A fighter, however, he was not.
Cardin and Jaune squared off in the middle of the arena and a large display popped up for all the students to see that let them know the twos aura gauges. If your aura drops in the red, you lose.
It wasn't long before everyone could tell Cardin was just toying with Jaune. A sword and a shield wasn't very much competition for a fully armored brute with a mace whom moved as swiftly as a cheetah. Cardin was wearing Jaune out with ease. Jaune had to stop and catch his breath, and probably out of mercy, Cardin let him. Jaune put his guard back up and charged Cardin, bellowing a thunderous for Cardin to swiftly side-step him and smash Jaunes shield out of his hand with a back-turn swing. Jaune rekindled his fighting spirit and raised his sword above his head, rushing his foe. Cardin lifted his mace, blocking the sharp edge of Jaunes sword with the shaft of his mace.
Cardin easily overpowered Jaune and kneed him hard in the gut. Jaune got the wind knocked out of him and fell to his side. Cardin raised his mace over his head with both hands, preparing to deliver the final blow. Jaune winced, but Glynda stepped in and stopped the match.
"Cardin, that's enough." She turned to us, the audience of students. She continued, "Students, as you can see, 's aura has dropped into the red. By tournament standards, this would determine that Jaune is out of the match." I looked down to Jaune, whom had recouped from the blow to the gut, but was still on the ground. Yang could tell he was depressed.
Glynda then crossed her arms and scowled at Jaune.
" its been weeks now. During one of your many breaks in the fight, you should have referred to your scroll to determine your aura levels. Don't make the same mistake again." Yang wanted to slap Glynda. It was clear she was just icing the cake of how bad Jaune felt. She didnt even give Cardin any criticism. She just dismissed the two there.
Jaune collected his sword and shield and made his way back to the stands. After that class teams PLAR and BRWN decided to eat lunch together. Much to the dismay of most the people there, however, Nora Valkyrie started telling some overly exaggerated story, of which Lie Ren corrected every detail she blew out of the water. Only to find out at the end of the story it was all just a recurring dream. It looked as though she was mostly telling it to Yang, since she was sitting right across from her. However, while Yang was focusing on trying to make it look like she was in awe at the details of the story.
At the same time, Yang was also sneaking glances at an utterly depressed Jaune. He was just slowly prodding at his food, head in hand, sighing every couple of minutes. Pyrrha poked his shoulder.
"Uh... Jaune?.. are you okay?.." Pyrrha asked, concerned. Jaune jolted out of his thoughts and turned to face the group.
"W-what?.." He was confused.
Ruby replied, "Its just that.. you seem a little... not okay?.."
"I'm fine! See?"Jaune shook his head and faked a smile and a laugh, giving a thumbs up.
Just then, Yang noticed Jaunes gaze lead somewhere else, and she followed it with her eyes. Yang heard Jaunes fist clench when she noticed it was Cardin and his teammates picking on a young Rabbit Faunus girl. 'Chivalry isn't dead..' Yang thought to herself.
"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first day of school..." Pyrrha spoke up.
Jaune argued that Cardin had never bullied him, but the group responded by one by one listing off different times Cardin had indeed bullied him. Jaune tried to argue but the evidence was irrefutable.
Jaune abruptly stood up. "Look guys, it's fine, really. Its not like Cardin is just a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone." Jaune stated as he gestured to Cardin whom was still picking on the brown haired Faunus girl. Jaune shook his head in anger, and left.
"Must be hard to be a Faunus.." Yang whispered aloud to herself.
Speaking of Faunus, the crews next class was on Faunus history. Cardin sat behind Jaune and as Jaune drifted to sleep. Cardin fastened together a paper triangle and flicked it at the back of Jaunes head. When it hit him, Jaune made a slight outburst as the teacher asked the students a question, so of course he thought Jaune had the answer. He didn't however, and even though Pyrrha tried to help him with the answer, he still got it wrong. Everyone in class laughed at his ridiculous response (Except his friends) and that just added to Jaunes sour mood.
The teacher then asked Cardin the question. Being the prick that he is, he gave a racist response, to which Pyrrha called him out on and gave the actual answer. This pissed Cardin off, which gave Jaune a little spark of happiness, which made Yang a little more happy, too.
That was quickly diminished though when the teacher asked Cardin and Jaune to stay after class for a good talking to. Yang stayed behind to see what happened. Pyrrha ended up staying behind too.
Jaune came moodily from the classroom and stopped right outside the door. He let out a loud sigh. Cardin came right out behind him and shoved him to the floor. Yang gritted her teeth and Pyrrha helped Jaune up.
"Y'know... I will break his legs." Pyrrha stated. Jaune just let out another sigh and a slight grumble. Pyrrha then took Jaune by the hand and the two dissapeared before Yang had even realized what had happened.
Jaune didn't come back to the dorm looking like a completely different person. Not only was he entirely exhausted. But he looked helpless and emotionless. Like someone said or did something to him that completely crushed his hope. Considering the two ran off together earlier, Yang figured it had something to do with what Pyrrha had said to him. It looked like she was taking him somewhere to cheer him up so Yang thought nothing about it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. They must've had some falling out of sorts, Yang guessed.
Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged looks. Jaune was visibly uncomfortable so he just got up and left. Pyrrha let out a loud sigh. Yang decided maybe she should try consulting him, but her sister beat her to it. Ruby went out the door in a flash and had a talk with Jaune in the hall.
The next day the crew and even Cardins team had a field trip to forever falls forest to collect red tree sap. Much to every-ones disbelief, when the groups separated, Jaune actually went off with Cardins team. Now Yang knew for sure something was up. Jaune hated Cardin.
Everyone was collecting their respected jars of jelly, when Yang caught something out of the corner of her eye. Cardin punched Jaune in the face, knocking him to the ground. Cardin had jelly on his chest-plate, so she put together why the confrontation started. As she was about to say something to the others, the worst thing that could happen did. A large alpha Ursa(Bear) Grimm lurched out from the tree began slowly prodding its way toward Jaune and Cardin.
Yang bolted but her sister intervened. Yang watched on. Cardins "friends" Bolted the instant they saw the beast. Cardin tried to run but he fell on his ass and the creature came right up to him. Yang figured it must have been attracted to the jelly. Jaune crashed into the side of the beast with the blunt of his shield, knocking it away from Cardin. Cardin watched in shock, along with everyone else, while Jaune of all people was single-handidly taking on an dodged a swipe here, evaded a stomp there, and all-around looked like he knew what he was doing. Jaune deflected another swipe made towards his head, and with a large arced swing of his sword, took the creatures head off in one amazing slice. Yang actually felt her body tingle.
"C'mon... he needed this one..." Pyrrha stated as she placed her hands on Ruby and Yangs shoulders. As the three girls were leaving, Yang glanced over her shoulder to see Jaune helping Cardin up, a confident smile on his bruised face.
On the crews first day off in a while, the teams went to see the Vale Festival. It was turning out to be a good day. With Jaune a lot more confident in himself and a lot more happy, It put everyone at ease.
Yang, Jaune, and Ruby walked the boardwalk together. The three passed a dust shop that had been broken into and robbed recently. Apparently that had been happening a lot lately. But crime sprees wouldn't ruin their mood today. Yang was in a go getting kind of mood. She decided today would be the day She would engage in a longer conversation with Jaune. A lot had been happening lately and she wanted to solidify her spot as one of his 'closer' friends someway, somehow.
Suddenly a blonde boy with a tail pushed pass them and was being chased by officers. Ruby took and interest and decided they should help chase him down, so they went after him too. As they turned a sharp corner Jaune ran face first into something and fell on his ass. It took everyone a second to realize it was an orange haired girl. Jaune stood to his feet as the blonde Faunus boy and the officers were lost in the distance.
The girl was still laying on the ground, giving an unsettling smile.
"Salutations!" She greeted. Everyone stared at her, confused.
Yang tried to sound concerned, "Are you okay?.."
She nodded and stood to her feet. Everyone took a slight step back from her. Something about her was creepy. It was like she was almost lifeless or something.
"It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Penny!" She stated.
"I'm Ruby"
"I'm Jaune"
"Did you hit your head while you were littl-" Ruby elbowed Yang. Jaune chuckled a little, which made Yang happy.
"I'm Yang.."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" She repeated.
"You... already said that..." Jaune responded.
Penny blinked."So I did!"
She was unusually chipper even by Rubys standards. Which are pretty damn high. Jaune cleared his throat and the trio turned to leave.
"Uh.. see ya, friend..." Ruby called out as they turned to leave. suddenly Penny appeared in front of them and it made them jump.
"You... What did you just call me?.." Penny asked, stepping up to Ruby.
"Uh... what...?" Ruby asked, dumbfounded.
"You called me friend!" She responded happily.
Penny grabbed Rubys hand and got a little too close.
Jaune and Yang exchanged worried looks.
"Do you really want to be friends?..." She inquired.
Ruby looked past Penny to Jaune and Yang, whom were both shaking their heads vigorously.
"Sure?.." Ruby responded.
Penny jumped with joy.
"Yay! We can go shopping and paint each others nails, and talk about cute boys!" Penny finished as she looked at Jaune. Her and Jaune locked eyes for a minute. It made Jaune uncomfortable. It made Yang irritated.
They allowed Penny to walk with them for a bit. As annoyingly happy as she was, she was still pretty interesting. They found out she was in vale to take part in the upcoming tournament they were all required to be in.
"Are you just bad at making friends?" Ruby asked, innocently, knowing the answer anyway.
Penny tilted her head in distraught, "Yes..."
"Papa always tells me I need to make more friends... that I need to do normal girl things... like gossip... sleepovers... get a boyfriend." When she said boyfriend she gazed at Jaune again for another awkward minute. It was visibly starting to weird Jaune out.
"Look if you're going to ask me out, just do it. I don't bite." Jaune announced, much to Yang and Rubys shock.
Penny grabbed Jaunes hands in hers.
"Really! Thank you!Thank you!Thank you! I've always wanted to try going on a... 'date'." Jaune lightly shook his head and sighed. Ruby and Yang just stood there in complete disbelief as the two exchanged information.
Yang clenched her fist until it bled.
'She Needs To Dissapear'
There's a nice Yandere statement for all yalls who were wondering when this would start getting... Yandere...ey?
Jaune:Hey Girl
Penny: {TARGET EXECUTE DATE OF ASKING}
Jaune: What...
Thanks for reading!