CH song to listen to while reading: Nine Days- Absolutely (Story of a girl) watch?v=ZIANBamMgas

When Neo finally regained consciousness, she found herself in an unknown bed, in an unknown room wearing someone else's clothes. It wasn't a prison cell, that was her first thought. Not a hospital room either. The furnishings were nice, not good but nice. She lay on a twin size bed and the room was fairly sparse except for the nightstands, two lamps and HER UMBRELLA! At the foot of the bed, nestled in the corner, were her umbrella and Roman's hat. It had even been cleaned.

With two of her only possessions back in her hands, Neo was able to let out a content sigh of relief as she allowed herself to relax in the comfy bed. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually been able to sleep in a bed. After the fall of Beacon, it'd been nothing but camping out and wondering where her next meal would come from. Kind of like her childhood she reluctantly mused to herself.

While she was lost in thought the door to the room eased open and in came a shadowed figure. Neo was quick to hop on hand and knees on the bed with one arm pointing the umbrella in the door's direction. She let out a little pout when the blade hadn't come out. Must have been removed she figured.

"Oh good, your awa- oomph."

Upon seeing whom the figure was, Neo's face instantly flushed. The blonde mop headed man whom she had somehow been so easily able to open up to, Jaune Arc, had just walked into her room. Grabbing the nearest projectile, she had tossed one of the bed pillows and whomped him right in the head.

"Hey what was that f- oomph!"

Once more a pillow flew through the air and smacked him in the face. As it fell Jaune got a good look at his attacker for the first time since the battle. Her hair had lost all of its volume thanks to the rain and lay straight flowing down her back and cascading across her face. Her hair framed her face perfectly, each side coated in brown and pink respectively. Neo was wearing one of Ruby's pajama sets, a light tan color button down shirt with matching pants. The outfit was clearly too large on Neo's small frame but still the top three buttons were undone so it would fit. Say what you would about Neo's height, but her bust certainly wasn't small, especially with the precarious position she was in. Neo was essentially bent over on all fours atop the bed. Her face, a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

Through the opening of her shirt, Neo's deep valley was on full display as nothing worked to support her two impressive hills. Noticing where Jaune's eyes were trailing, she quickly sat up. Clutching the top of her shirt closed, Neo somehow turned and even brighter shade of pink before tossing a third pillow at her intruder. She was mortified beyond words and let out angry mute noises. Not only had he seen her at her worst, BUT now he had seen her 'everything'! By the time the fourth pillow hit him, he finally realized what this looked like. A woman wakes up in an unknown place, wearing someone else's clothes and someone she was trying to kill walks in. Yeah it was beyond suspicious.

"Wait. Wait." Jaune pleaded, arms out stretched in a defensive pose as Neo grabbed the next closest thing, a lamp. "I know what this looks like but please let me explain."

Somehow he was able to convince her to listen to his side of things. Neo sat cross-legged on the bed, her hand palming her trusty umbrella in case she needed to strike at a moments notice. Her top three buttons had been closed despite the fabric's plea to open. Jaune sat across from the bed on the chair that partnered with a small writing desk. He sat there just as silent as the woman before him while he tried to organize his thoughts, oh but where to start? Letting out a large sigh the man rubbed the back of his neck as he decided to start at where he felt was most important.

"We haven't contacted the Atlisian military or told anyone else about you, though I'm sure there must have been some people who witnessed the fight."

Good she thought. Neo was still glaring at Jaune from the other side of the room, only half believing in his story. With the kind of life she has lived, you don't last long believing in everything you hear.

"We're keeping Yang far away from your room and someone is always standing guard so you don't need to worry about her barging in here. Oh right, we are renting this house. Don't worry," She didn't. "There are plenty of rooms so there is no problem giving you your own space."

Knowing she had her own room was . . . unsettling, but not having to look at any of her captors was fortunate. Neo's eyes narrowed into slits as sharp as daggers at Jaune as she clutched the top of her shirt with her free hand.

"Oh right! Umm . . . After the fight I healed you, then you kind of passed out. I carried you back here and Nora, the orange haired girl that came late, well she dried you off and changed your clothes."

Neo eased her guard hearing that she hadn't been stripped naked by this fool, though for some reason she felt a twinge of disappointment in that fact. Sure he was a fool, but he was nice, too nice. People like him don't exist she thought, yet his words didn't carry any of the half-truths or double meanings that she was used to hearing.

"After Nora cleaned you up she and Ren, Ren was the man who arrived with her." Seriously, Neo remembered all their dumb faces from the Vital Tournament, but she held her tongue as he continued. "They both treated your wounds. How are you feeling by the way?"

There had been too much to take in at first to worry about her health. She inspected her body, from the bullet wounds on her legs, to everywhere she could think; Neo couldn't find any of her wounds. In fact she didn't feel any pain or discomfort. She felt fine for the first time in months. The surprise must have been written on her face because the blond fool began to giggle at her, which just received a playful pout in response.

"Alright I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. You were just too cute there for a second. Oops sorry I didn't mean that!"

Cute, her? Really? Sure she'd been called that before. Usually from sleazy drunks or it was tossed around sarcastically. But she had never heard it said so earnestly before, not even by Roman. Neo liked this man less and less as each of his words just sent burning sensations to her cheeks.

GURGLE! GURGLE! GURGLE!

Neo " . . . "

Jaune " . . ."

Neo's face shot from a deep natural pink to a radiant crimson as her stomach decided to join the conversation. She simply sat there mortified as neither made any kind of motion. Stifling back a laugh, Jaune let himself out without so much as a word. Once the door clicked shut and she heard his footsteps grow more distant, she quickly buried her head under the pillows that Jaune had returned to her bed. For years she had worked hard to become this cool, dangerous, sexy woman; so why was it that in front of this man she was showing so many of her embarrassing sides?! With her head buried under the mound of pillows, her legs flailed about like a teenager going through some kind of emotional crisis. A few minutes later and she was finally regaining her composure. Just in time for her room's door to open again.

Jaune was caught completely off guard when he entered Neo's room for the second time. His return had caused her to spring up from her mound of pillows like a meerkat on high alert, her back facing the door when she did. Slowly Neo turned around, face once more beet red, to see the blond man doing his best to stifle a laugh that needed to get out. In his hands was a tray with two mugs and a covered bowl.

". . . I hope you like hot chocolate. Pft"

He forced himself to say the words through a straight face. Neo wanted SO badly to jump off that bed and slit his throat, but she'd only be doing it to hide her embarrassment. Nothing wrong in that, right? She decided instead to stare between him and the tray with doubtful eyes.

"Don't give me that, it's not poisoned." Jaune took a sip from one of the mugs before handing it to her. "There now if you die then we both die together."

The thought was oddly comforting. With a coy smile she eyed the bowl. Jaune rolled his eyes and ate a spoon full of the stew he had brought. Content that she'd have a partner in death, Neo happily accepted the offering and did her best to eat elegantly. However her face just had to betray her. After one spoonful Neo's face had gone from a beacon of embarrassment to radiating pure joy. You'd think she had the best tasting meal ever and not just some Hodge Podge everyone had thrown together. Neo couldn't remember the last time she had a warm meal, not unless you counted fire-grilled lizard.

After finishing her food, any semblance of a lady had been tossed out the window. She lay on her back, propped up by the pile of pillows, and rubbed her now full and content belly. Neo had fallen prey to the Arc charm. She didn't care anymore. He had taken care of her, worried about her, fed her; even if it was only for a passing moment he cared about her. There was a new feeling bubbling up from inside, melting the frost off her ice cream heart. She felt safe. Of course she knew at any second they could turn on her, turn her in or get some kind of revenge when her guard was down. But with that dopy smile directed at her, all her cares just seemed to fade away.