So, I had wanted to get this out a few days ago, and needless to say that didn't happen. But I did the next best thing and made sure that this story got some much-needed attention over the past few days.
Also, a few people have wondered about what happens when he absorbs extra bone. The answer lies within. But to answer GJO1088: Shiro will never gain an understanding of embarrassment, either with himself or others. Partially for comedy, partially because why would he?
The rest of the students watched as the bone user limped toward the neared tree and sat down. His body was heavy from all the bone he'd absorbed, and he entertained the thought of expelling it where he was but decided against it. The others around were already a bit frightened of him it seemed, no need to show them anything else until it became necessary.
The four girls returned several minutes later. Each was dirty and slightly ragged but there were no obvious injuries on their bodies. What was obvious, however, was their surprise that the other group had managed to kill the Deathstalker. After all, Ruby and Yang were the only ones with heavy enough firepower to dent the scorpion's armor, Nora's hammer notwithstanding.
"Um, guys?" Yang asked. "I seem to remember leaving you with a big-ass bug while we killed the Nevermore. What happened to it?"
Pyrrha's head tilted toward the rose, which was now more clearly visible since the Grimm's corpse had vanished fully. Four sets of eyes widened as their owners looked at the only evidence of the battle. A short but thick stem, covered in spikes, attached the bottom of the flower to the ground. The rose itself was tilted slightly, with some of the petals resting on the earth while those on the opposite edge angled away from it. Several dozen petals twisted together and flared outwards for an open and full appearance. The base of the petals were a pure, brilliant white, but the outside edges were splashed in deep red.
The returnees gasped in wonder now that they took a good look at the flower. "Beautiful. . ." breathed Weiss. What the huge flower had to do with the Deathstalker was still unknown to her, but it took the girl's breath away. The same could be said about the other three, especially Ruby. Her eyes were practically sparkling with awe. It reminded her of her mother, Summer Rose, and of herself. The white was her mother's life, short and finished but with great meaning and beauty. The red was herself, growing from that legacy and extending toward the open air. There were no words for what the girls were feeling.
Blake was the first to tear her eyes away from the haunting sight and get back to the original point. "What is this and why is it here? What does it have to do with the Deathstalker?"
Pyrrha was hesitant to speak given her distaste. She could admit that the rose was amazingly crafted, but she knew firsthand that the creator had not done it just for the sake of artistry. Ren noticed and took over the explanation in her stead.
"It was Shiro, as Ruby calls him. He created it out of the Deathstalker's armor, killing it from the inside out."
Their attention turned to the boy sitting by the tree. Ruby ran over to him, noticing that her friend looked tired and remembering that he still had an injured leg. She knelt next to him and looked for injuries, relaxing only slightly when she found nothing new. "Are you alright?" His nod relieved what remained of her fears. Instead, her excitement and cheerfulness took the front. "That is so coool! I mean, a little over the top, but completely awesome at the same time! Oh, but we were awesome too. We lured the Nevermore over to the ruins, and were all 'Come get us, birdie!' Then Weiss froze it in place, and the others all sent me flying at it, and Weiss used her Semblance to shoot me up the cliff, and I cut it's head off, and it was just so super cool!"
Ruby returned to reality after her monologue with a huge, excited grin on her face, obviously hoping Shiro shared her joy as she recounted the story. While he was actually quite confused as to what had happened in the story, he was able to see that his only friend was happy, which was enough for him. He smiled; just a small shift of his features. But it enough to let Ruby know that he shared her happiness.
Meanwhile, Yang was watching the two younger students with a worried look. She still didn't trust the boy, but Ruby was fond of him for whatever reason. She'd have to keep an eye on him, especially since he was partners with her little sister.
Once both groups had composed themselves and the remaining teams had collected their pieces (A golden rook for the Jaune-Pyrrha duo and a matching knight for the collection of three), they began to head out toward the cliff where they started. Or attempted to, in the case of Shiro and Ruby. The younger girl had attempted to assist her partner in walking like before, but was unable to support his weight this time. Blake noticed and attempted to help by reaching under his other arm, but even together he seemed ridiculously heavy.
"Shiro, why are you so heavy?" asked the disguised Faunus.
The boy remembered that he still hadn't dumped his excess weight, but also noticed that everyone was currently watching him. He wasn't embarrassed to discard the excess, but knew from past experience that it would be in his best interest to do this with nobody watching. After all, he'd been kicked out of more than a few places for disposing of bone in public. But, given that these people had already seen his ability and not completely freaked out, he might be able to trust them to at least see this.
"I absorbed much more bone than I used when I fought the Deathstalker. If you're alright with it I could dump all of it here, or you help me to the treeline."
Not seeing the harm, the other six members of the group gave their approval as the two supporting him backed off a few feet. Unfortunately, they were not prepared for what happened next. While he could have shot it out in a solid form as he did in combat, that required his skin to open up and a large amount of Aura use. To save himself both pain and energy, he had discovered a different method of disposal for use when out of battle.
White fluid began to ooze from Shiro's pores, slowing flowing out like honey from a bottle. The semi-liquid bone pooled around his feet and coated the grass. After about a minute the puddle was around five feet in diameter and an inch or so deep. One could almost mistake the puddle for snow. That is, if snow were extremely viscous.
This way was much more passive on Shiro's part, requiring only a minimal amount of Aura to break down and liquefy the bone, then sending it out of his body via natural openings. Best of all, it didn't hurt. People never understood the pain of having a finger or palm, or even the head split open to make way for bone growths. Sure, the pain lessened over time and the peculiarities of his ability caused the wounds to close immediately, but it would never stop hurting completely.
The one downside was that it was disgusting. Weiss and Jaune both turned a little green, while the rest (Nora, who found it fascinating, excluded) just looked away. Blake and Ruby had retreated, now standing with the rest of the group and in similar states. Ruby at least tried to look, but it was just so creepy! Only once Shiro had finished and joined the rest of them did anyone even attempt to speak.
"Shiro?"
"Yes, Ruby?"
"Please never do that again."
The resident Grimm-boy nodded his head in assent, not at all surprised by the request. In fact, he was impressed that they were taking this so well. No one had shot him a look of disgust yet, which was a plus. Still, not a single word was said on the way back, the minds of the group occupied by trying to erase the images of the boy pouring out white streams of his own skeleton.
"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. You four have retrieved the White Rook piece. From this day forward, you will be known as Team JNPR (Juniper), led by. . . Jaune Arc." A measured applause followed the headmaster's words, respectful but not overly boisterous.
Nora was delighted and grabbed onto Ren, almost dragging the dark-haired boy down to the ground. Jaune was shocked, much like a large portion of the audience. Shiro couldn't blame him, since Jaune was undoubtedly the weakest of the group. He had the best mind for battle though, and decent instincts. It reminded him of General Ironwood. Well, if the General didn't have a rod about twenty feet long up his ass. Speaking of asses, Jaune was quickly knocked onto his by a punch on the shoulder from his partner, which to her credit the girl gave a sheepish, apologetic smile for and helped him up.
It was all a fairly boring affair to Shiro, of course, but other than the amount of people around him he was able to stay detached from all of it. Once JNPR had vacated the stage though, the boy let out a barely audible groan. The reason being that next was his team, and being in the spotlight, however briefly, was going to be highly uncomfortable. "Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose, Shiroi Akujin, and Yang Xiao Long. You five managed to retrieve the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as Team RWBYS (Rubies), led by. . . Ruby Rose."
Much like Jaune, Ruby had frozen in place, shocked that a girl of her age would be chosen to lead. Yang gave her a huge hug, crushing the smaller girl momentarily while the group's Faunus member smiled subtly. Weiss was significantly less pleased than the others, giving the red-hooded girl a look of annoyance. 'Wonder what her problem is,' Shiro thought. He face was neutral, though the beginnings of a smirk played on his features. The attention wasn't on him, and he was actually a little bit happy for Ruby. It was strange. . . she'd only showed him the smallest bit of kindness, yet he felt far more connected to her than to anyone else in the past four years. Unbeknownst to the young boy, the Headmaster's eyes were glancing sidelong at him as these events unfolded, one eyebrow raised in interest.
When the group stepped down from the stage, Goodwitch walked on to give the group of students a final set of instructions for the day. "We have taken the liberty of updating your Scrolls with your room numbers, as well as the codes to unlock the doors. In addition, all of your teammates should be logged in the Contacts list, complete with pictures and numbers. Please go to your rooms and rest for the remainder of the day. Classes will begin first thing in the morning."
I didn't take long for Team RWBYS to find their room on the eighth floor of the building, right across from Team JNPR's. On the way everyone had exchanged Scroll numbers with each other, their friendship born of shared struggle and the social awkwardness both leaders experienced. Well, all but one, Ruby noticed as the doors came into sight. "Shiro, aren't you going to tell the others your number?"
"I wasn't intending on it, no."
Ruby's face took a confused and displeased expression at the same time, by some miracle of facial contortion. "But why?"
All she got in return was the same neutral look he usually wore. He didn't exactly care to make friends other than Ruby, so he felt no need to give his number to anyone outside the team. He didn't even really want most of them to have it, but he knew that it was practical for the others to be able to contact him, or vice versa, if needed. Besides, the professors had already sent it to them and he couldn't exactly undo that without stealing their devices.
Team JNPR didn't seem to be complaining, either. They had enough tact not to bring up the Deathstalker incident, but seeing it and hearing about it was completely different. The memory was haunting, so beautiful and yet so deadly. Not to mention that the dark-skinned boy would not hesitate to do the same thing to any of them, should he feel the need or want. "Look, Ruby," Jaune said while trying his best to hide the hint of fear in his voice, "if he doesn't want to we can't force him. Let him open up on his own." The young girl pouted very cutely at the other boy, something which Shiro actually found amusing. She let the issue drop as the two teams retired to their respective rooms, both ready to rest for the coming day.
The inside of the room was decently large, with a rug, bookcase, and a dresser. If it weren't for the fact that there were four beds taking up much of the floorspace, the room would actually be fairly open. Yang quickly scoped one out near the wall, closest to the bathroom. The other girls soon followed, the nagging suspicion in the back of their minds that they were forgetting something. After claiming their sleeping spots, they scanned the room and noticed one person not sitting on a bed.
"This isn't going to work," Yang summarized.
"Not with only four beds. I guess we could get another, but that'd make the floor space virtually non-existent. Besides, it doesn't solve the immediate issue," Blake agreed.
Ruby had a look of concentration on her face, looking around occasionally as if a bed were going to rise from the floor. Weiss, meanwhile, was heading to the bathroom to change for the night. Let it be know that she didn't much care where the boy slept so long as it was out of her personal space. He gave her the creeps anyway, and not just because of his Grimm-ness or the bones. No number of eerily beautiful statues would erase that feeling. No, there was something else at play, something she couldn't discern at the moment.
Shiro cocked his head at the three in the room, his face not changing whatsoever. "What's the problem, exactly?"
"Well, where are you going to sleep?" Ruby asked. Hearing this, Shiro's head shifted to the other side, his eyes looking vaguely upward before he straightened his neck a few seconds later. He calmly walked over to the window, opened it, and jumped out. Doing so alarmed the other three, who looked out and stared at the ground, surprised not to find a black and white pile on the paved ground below. Looking around wildly, Ruby let out a cry of surprise and pointed to a spot in a nearby tree, a bit below the sill and with long branches. On one of them rested their only male teammate, who began scaling his way toward the bottom. "Where are you going?" She called out to him.
He looked back up, locking eyes with her briefly before speaking. "I'm finding a place to sleep. Should I come back in the morning, or go right to class?"
Having given up on understanding the his rationale, Ruby hung her head down, at least relieved that her teammate and friend hasn't plummeted to his death. "Come back, please. Like, an hour before classes start." He sent a nod in return before dropping to ground level and walking out of sight, toward the center of campus. The room was silent for a minute, the next sound being the hinges of the bathroom door.
Weiss frowned and looked around the room, now dressed in her nightgown. "What happened to Akujin?"
The other three girls pointed out the window in unison, faces not giving anything away. The heiress analyzed the situation for a moment, walked over to her bed, and simply decided that the issue could be dealt with later before passing into a deep slumber, the others following suit within minutes. It had been a long day.
So there we go. Reviews with thoughts or criticism are appreciated, and I will try to not go quite so long between updates on this story, no promises though. I basically have this at the bottom of the priority list for my stories, sorry to say. Every week or two should be manageable, assuming my courses don't get any more crazy.