Disclaimer: I know. I know. The odds of me owning this franchise are not good. So it isn't mine.

Just One Date

Volume 3

By: athrunzala

Chapter 10: Relationships

The return of Team RWBY to Beacon after three weeks was met with both happiness and dismay. There were, of course some students who would come up and congratulate the newly engaged couple. Still, there were others who began to shun Ruby and Weiss on the changed status. The whole Team was beginning to think that secrets weren't a thing on campus any longer.

Through it all, they knew that there was going to be no chance to just sit back and relax. End of semester exams were upon them, and, with the mission having been three weeks, they were down to four days to cram everything into their brains that would be needed. Professor Terra had gracefully agreed to give them a few weeks off from his class ("I'll not make you show up, but if you want to accompany me on a mission, I won't turn down the help."), and there were a fair deal of rumors flying about him as well. The infamous "Beacon Rumor Mill" had never died. It was just something that people had learned to accept as a normal part of life and ignore.

"Come on, princess! Why don't you leave her and come with a real lover?"

A taller upperclassman was harassing Weiss. He was almost twice her height, with shoulder-length blonde hair, and a small goat-tee. He wore his school uniform almost completely untucked, with only one half of the shirt in the pants.

"What is wrong with you?"

Upon hearing her protesting inquiry, the older male reached out and grabbed on to the heiress' hair, holding her back. He then smirked as he used it to turn her around.

"Me? I'm just showing you how sub-human you've become. You may as well be fucking a filthy, worthless Faunus at this point! Oh! I know! Why don't I make a call to the headquarters of your daddy's company and tell him how his little girl is now less than human? Hmm? Why don't we head to the CTC and do that right now?"

"Let. Me. Go."

"Ha! No! And you should learn to respect your superiors, worm!"

He then reached out and slapped Weiss hard across the face, releasing her hair as he did so, causing her to fall to the ground. By now a sizeable crowd was forming, and there was going to be no way that the school staff could ignore it. As she went to stand, he slapped her again, sending her back towards the ground. She would never hit it though.

In a flash of rose petals, Ruby and Nero were there, the former catching her fiancé, and the latter holding the overly aggressive student at bay with the business end of his weapon. While the student was taller, he knew that this man was a teacher. All the same, he was still smirking.

"Run that by me again?"

"Heh. You heard me. She's less than human now. She may as well be with a Faunus. And speaking of, I hear that is your area of expertise."

Nero's eyes narrowed, becoming mere slits behind his glasses. He was beginning to lose his temper, but he wasn't about to take it out on a student. At least, not here.

"You. Me. 30 minutes. Combat hall."

He then withdrew his weapon and helped Ruby get Weiss to her feet.

"You didn't need to do that."

"Yes, Ruby. I did. People like him disgust me. But I'll teach him in the arena."

Thirty minutes later, the room that Glynda normally used for her class was packed to standing room only with students. All of whom wished to see this showdown. Nero entered, his sword on his back. He stood at one end of the arena. The student then entered, in his hand was a short night stick. With a flick of his wrist, however, the weapon unfurled into a longer halberd.

As the students looked on, the normal combat instructor held up her riding crop and then swung it down to signal the start of the match.

In a flash, both combatants were at the center, with Nero having a firm grip on the forward section of pole, and his own sword coming around to strike his opponent, sending the obnoxious student flying.

"You… you… asshole! I've been victorious in battles! I am incapable of losing!"

He then ran towards to swordsman, only to receive a dust round to the chest from Nero's weapon, which he had changed over to its gun mode.

Apparently being more brawn than brains, the student rushed the teacher again, with the same result. And he did it a third time, with similarly futile results. The fourth time, however, he came in straight then ducked at the last second, forcing Nero to jump into the air to avoid the polearm.

As the instructor came back down, he returned his weapon to its sword form and swung, sending his opponent's weapon flying across the room, where it became lodged firmly in the wall. He then held his sword right in line with his arm at his floored opponent.

The lights in the room returned to normal, signaling the end of the match. As he returned his sword to his back, Nero spoke up so that the entire assembly could hear.

"You want to classify life? Do it as a biologist. In a proper scientific manner. But do not ever speak of another person, and that includes the Faunus, in the manner that he did."

He then helped his humbled opposition off the floor.

"Is that understood?"

The young human lowered his head, and slumped his shoulders.

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

As he exited the arena, Glynda put her hand on his shoulder.

"Why did you do that?"

"You know why," he said as he walked off towards Ruby.

The female student was slightly confused, as she had heard his comment to Professor Goodwich.

"Professor, what did you mean by that?"

He looked over at her as they walked along, with Weiss now holding Ruby's arm.

"I don't exactly advertise it, but my wife is a Faunus."

"How long have you been together?"

"5 years. And I wouldn't trade her for the world."

"But don't you…"

"Get harassed?" The Beacon graduate chuckled as he said those words. "Of course we do. We have just decided that it is far better to shrug it off and not worry about things. Bullies and Harassers come and go. Trust me."

He stopped walking and turned towards the couple.

"Can I give you some advice?"

"Sure."

He put one hand on each of their shoulders, and smiled.

"Lean on each other for support during the hard times. Help each other. That way, you two will have very few worries in the world."

He then turned the opposite direct from where Ruby and Weiss were headed.

"I'll see you after exams. I'm going out of town for a bit. Have fun studying!"

They parted ways and headed to their own sections of the campus.

To be continued…

A.n./- Yay! I actually think I wrote a half-way decent fight scene! I think. Not sure. Yes. This should be the end of Nero's story-line involvement for a little while. I am going to focus on Team JNPR for a little bit (Probably all of next chapter) and then… I don't know.