I find the lack of support for this story. . . disturbing. Thanks to those of you have read it so far, and welcome to those who have been brought here by the plug on my other story. It doesn't have Kazuma, but it should still be entertaining. A little more dramatic. As with Wind Mage, I'll be responding to reviews here in the opening, though that's only one today.
LilyHemsworth: Thanks for the kind words. Here's that update! Hopefully you'll get some more company in that review section.
Well, without further ado, here's Chapter 2!
Shiroi had watched the entire scene as it unfolded. He knew of Dust and people had explained to him how the substance worked, but he personally didn't care for it. As a being with a soul, the only Grimm in such a position, he could activate it just like humans and Faunus, but regarded it as something belonging to the sapient races he disliked. He didn't hurt anyone without reason, but his reasoning was much the same as that of the Goliaths: he just didn't wanted to be killed. It didn't mean he accepted their existence any more than the other Grimm.
So, when the girl he'd met on the airship blew herself up and made an enemy, he didn't try to help in the slightest. Instead, he just followed the black-haired girl who had stepped in, because she seemed to know where to go. He went unnoticed for now, and occupied his mind by observing his unwitting guide.
She was about his height, minus the bow on her head. She had a very lithe body, the kind built for speed and acrobatics at the cost of brute strength. She was wearing a white shirt without any sleeves, and a black vest on top of it. Curiously, it parted like a pair of coattails at the top of her stomach, showing her midriff. The girl had on a pair of white shorts, and adorning her legs were a pair of black stockings, though they turned deep violet as they reached her heeled boots. Her color scheme was curiously similar to his own, and by extension that of the Grimm.
Her skin was a little bit darker than that of Vale natives but still considered pale, so he assumed she came from Mistral. Her eyes were narrow in shape and a bright amber in color, reminding the boy of the rare feline Grimm he had encountered. Her bow looked like a pair of cat's ears, as well. She looked like a Cat Faunus, but showed no obvious signs. Shrugging, he dismissed the thought as unimportant for the moment. That was the curse of being the only sapient creature of Grimm. His mind worked on a higher level, and thus he had idle thoughts the same way the other races did. It was a fact he accepted, but it still disgusted him to share any non-physical attributes with these things.
After a few minutes lost in his own mind, he vaguely registered that the girl he'd been following was entering a building, presumably the auditorium that the assembly was taking place in. Sure enough, there was a huge cluster of people, mostly humans with just a few Faunus, standing around and wasting space. It was no wonder his fellows hated these species so much; it was clear how much of a plague they were on the world. Noisy, hateful, destructive, petty - the list of their traits could go on and on with no end. They hunted him for being a monster, but they weren't much better. Shiroi just found a corner of the room as far away from the crowd as possible, which wasn't far enough. Just as he began to get comfortable, someone approached him.
It was a tall girl, about six feet. Her hair was a dark red, which made for an oddly pleasing contrast to her emerald eyes. Her skin was very pale, but not the moonlight color of Yang and Ruby. She was wearing a strange piece of bronze-colored armor which left her shoulders and neck exposed. Because the armor didn't quite meet at the midline of her body, she was revealed as having a brown shirt underneath it. She had on a red miniskirt that tightly hugged her thighs, as well as more bronze armor covering most of her legs, including a pair of darker brown high-heeled boots.
She had a few other pieces of gear, mostly accessories. One was a bronze crown, which had a chain hanging down around either ear. Both chains held small green gems, though this green was more like the leaves of a birch. She wore a long, black glove on each hand, and a bronze bracer on her left arm. She had on a large bronze gorget - like a necklace that covered the entire neck - with another small gem in it.
She carried herself better than the others and seemed a bit more ready for battle. She was still pretty soft-hearted, though, with an air of righteousness about her. She didn't look to be very battle-hardened, so despite her warrior looks she had probably never killed anything but his kind before.
She looked like she wanted to talk to him. He didn't mind, exactly, but Grimm naturally detested humans. It was always hard to keep that sentiment from leaking out during conversations, especially since he didn't have all that much experience with social interaction. He sighed, gathered his wits, and decided that avoiding her would be more trouble than it was worth so he may as well hear what she would say.
The boy that caught Pyrrha's eyes was somehow very different from all of the people around him. Rather than being excited or nervous about attending Beacon like most of them, he seemed to be uneasy in the crowd itself. It was possible that he had claustrophobia. Being the helpful person she was, she approached him with a small smile.
"Hello, are you alright? You seem troubled."
"It's nothing, just all the people. Crowds irritate me."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You could go away."
That wasn't at all what Pyrrha had expected him to say. It wasn't just rude; the way he said it was somehow malicious.
"E-excuse me? I don't think I heard you right."
"I'll repeat myself, then. I said that you could go away."
"That's. . . a very terrible way to talk to someone."
"Is it? Sorry, I don't interact with people much. They aggravate me to deal with, so I seldom talk outside the necessary. If you would please leave me alone, it would be better for both of us."
Needless to say, Pyrrha was a bit insulted. She had been perfectly polite with this boy, and he just brushed her off as a nuisance. She was a bit hurt, but didn't blame the him. Maybe he was a sheltered child like the Schnee heiress. Pyrrha had met the girl before after one of her matches back in Mistral, and she was a bit difficult to get along with as well.
"Is that so? Alright then, sorry for intruding. My name's Pyrrha, by the way, Pyrrha Nikos. I'll be around if you change your mind."
"Alright, Pyrrha."
As Pyrrha walked away she confirmed one suspicion she had been holding. The boy didn't know her, which was strange. Pretty much everyone in their age group had at least heard her name, even if they had never seen her fight. He didn't so much as react when he heard the name, implying that he really didn't keep up with rumors or news. Which, come to think of it, made sense if he was a reclusive person.
That went relatively well. Normally Shiroi made enemies when he spoke, but she didn't seem that offended by him. A few minutes went by before Ozpin arrived on stage to give a speech, which didn't concern him much. He was forced to come here, after all; he wasn't in search of anything. He didn't have any goals or ambitions, and he certainly didn't want to protect humanity. He had long since gotten over his hatred of them, since unlike other Grimm he realized he had no real reason to hate the entire race, but he still had no reason to like people or care about their fate.
If anything, he just wanted people to leave him alone. He was a monster, so he didn't blame them for trying to kill him all those years ago, but he had no desire for it to happen again. But humanity wouldn't just let him go, Ironwood especially. That man thought Shiroi could be a great weapon against the Grimm, and would do anything to have him. Not that he cared; Shiroi would fight for Ironwood if he could continue to exist. Besides, his race attacked him as well, since he was a being with a soul. The normal Grimm distinguished humans and Faunus from themselves via the presence of a soul, and so he was lumped in with the other sapient races.
The blonde woman, Glynda Goodwitch if his memory was correct, gave a short announcement about staying in the ballroom for the night. She was an attractive woman, in her late twenties maybe. She had large breasts, and was dressed in conservative clothes compared to many of the students. She carried a long riding crop on her belt, presumably her weapon, and wore a tattered-looking cape on her back. Her top was a long-sleeved white blouse, with a bit cut out at the top, and it was tucked into a black business skirt. She wore black stockings and high-heeled boots. Her hair was done up in a bun with a braid off to the side, and she wore narrow glasses that brought out her bright green eyes.
Shiroi decided that he would be more comfortable sleeping outside than in a room full of sweaty bodies, so when the students headed over to the ballroom, he went up to the roof. It was a cool night, as one would expect in October. The fractured moon lit the nightscape dimly, leaving the eyes free to interpret the world through a lens of uncertainty and imagination. Shiroi liked these nights, though he would have preferred it if the wind wasn't blowing quite so hard. It was fine during the summer, but this time of year it made things too cold for his liking. He'd slept through much worse, though.
He laid out the sleeping bag he'd been provided with and climbed in, but just as he was getting comfortable Shiroi heard the door to the roof open. He looked over to see a girl in a black yukata walking towards him. Was there no end to the people who would bother him today? Well, whatever. He'd just send her off too.
"Can I help you?" he said with obvious ire in his voice.
She was slightly taken aback but didn't take very long to recover. He noticed that it was the same girl he had followed to the assembly. Maybe she had noticed him while he had been daydreaming and was going to ask about it.
"Are you a Faunus?" she asked.
Well, he'd been wrong before, and so it seemed he was again. "No, what would make you think that?"
She vaguely gestured outward, and the message was pretty clear. He had separated himself from all the humans below. It would be easy for wandering eyes to misunderstand his reason for doing it.
"I'm not comfortable around crowds of people. I feel like I'll be attacked," he elaborated.
She nodded, and he asked the question right back at her: "Are you a Faunus? You look like one, what with the bow and your face."
She seemed surprised at the question. She really shouldn't have been since she looked like a cat and was obviously concerned about her "fellow Faunus" being mistreated by the people below. She slowly nodded, realizing that even if she denied her heritage he would know that she was lying.
"Good to know. Now that both of our curiosities have been satisfied, I'd like to get to sleep. Goodnight."
He went back into his sleeping bag, signalling the end of the conversation. She hesitated for a moment, not willing to leave just yet.
"You won't. . . tell anyone, will you?" she asked after a short silence.
"No. I don't care about you. I have no reason to harm you by letting out your secret. Now leave, please." The conversation was grating on his nerves. After all, he didn't know her, and even if he did he wouldn't have cared whether she were human or Faunus. They were both the same to him. Creatures with free will and souls. Creatures that hunted him because of what he was.
She finally left, and he was alone under the bright moon and the darkness of the night as he fell asleep.
Screams, all around him. People were dead and wounded, bleeding out on the ground. People who had helped him, raised him, cared for him. Now they were dead. His small hands were covered in blood. Their blood. And those who were left were pointing their fingers.
"Demon, devil, monster. Grimm. You are Shiroi Akujin; you are the enemy. You caused this."
He felt fear. Despair. Pain. He began to run, and they hunted him. Twenty six of them, exactly. Spears, swords, instruments of death. They were all pointed at him. He didn't know how long he had been running, but he was tired. So tired. And hungry, and thirsty. But still he ran, because he didn't want to die. He had barely lived; how could he die? How could they kill such a young boy; how could they kill him?
It must be as they said, he must be a monster. That's what the people called him. A demon of darkness, whose sole purpose is to destroy mankind. That's what he was. Covered in bone, they were Shiroi Akujin. They were Grimm. And so was he. He was covered in bone and blood, both his own and that of others. He would live, because that was what what he could do. He would kill, because that was what he had to do. He would hide, because that was what he wanted to do.
The scene changed, and he was no longer the young boy he had been a moment ago. He was in a cave, and there were two podiums, a few feet to either side. On one was a face; it was his own. It was bloody, bruised, and he could see the small scar above his right eye. It was hard to see so it was seldom noticed, even more so when his bangs shifted to cover it. It was crescent-shaped, given to him by one of their weapons.
The other stand held a mask. It was bone white, and looked perfectly fitted for his head. It would cover everything except his eyes. There were glowing red designs on it, which lazily pulsed and flowed, much like blood pumped by a dying heart.
He looked between the two, and after some hesitation he reached toward his face. But it was difficult, so he had to go slowly. He was being repelled, and he heard them. They started off quietly, but quickly rose in volume. They whispered insults, threats. They were in pain, and they wanted him to feel their agony ten fold. They were punishing him for his transgressions. He wasn't human, he knew that, so how could he dare to take a human identity?
He slowly progressed toward the face, but his hand began to take injuries. A cut here, bruising there. His skin began to flay, revealing only muscle. He was screaming out in pain now. Even the red flesh was torn apart, and now he was crying like a babe. It hurt, it hurt so damn much that he felt like he would die from the pain alone. His whole arm was shredded now, and there was little left but bone, covered in blood.
Despite the injuries, he continued to reach. Then a hand grabbed his wrist. The hand was feminine, and it was strong. Much stronger than he could ever be. It faded at the elbow, but he knew who it was. He stopped dead. He cried again, and this time the tears were of sadness rather than pain. He retracted his arm, and his flesh reformed. The pain faded.
He went toward the mask. He was pulled as he got closer. His hand naturally gripped the edge, and he could hear low growls of approval. It felt so natural to the touch, as if it had been made just for him, and it probably had. He put it on his head, and it fused into his features until it was more like an extra layer of skin. He stood there in silence. Blissful, sacred silence. He was a lonely monster, but he was alive and unharmed. No one would ever hurt him again.
A little more insight into the past, and his interaction with different characters (obviously not in that order). The boy's fucked up, I know it, and now you have an idea. His backstory will be explained piece by piece. Leave your thoughts and opinions, and hopefully you enjoyed!