CHAPTER 3: WEAKNESS OVER PRIDE

Beacon Academy

Jaune's day had been good and bad.

The bad part was that once again, he'd lost in a fight against Cardin. The two of them might have come to a mutual understanding and the team leader of CRDL had come to respect the blonde, it didn't mean he took it any easier on the knight.

If anything the two of them went harder at each other and took each other very seriously. There was no more taunting, no more insults, no more pettiness. It was just two guys duking it out in combat class to see which one could beat the other. It was simple and it was pure and both of them had no complaints about it.

The problem was that despite Jaune's growing skill and confidence, he was still not at the level that his peers were at. True, Cardin did have to actually fight with effort in order to maintain victory, but it didn't take away from the fact that the former still hadn't been able to beat the latter in single combat.

The effort was good, but the blonde boy didn't want a prize for participating. He wanted to be recognized as one of the elite, the best of the best. Simply being a huntsman wasn't good enough for him. He had to become a legendary huntsman; he needed to carry the Arc name proudly and make his father, grandfather, and beyond proud. Whenever he had a family, he wanted to tell his children about his adventures so they too could be proud to call him father. At the end of the day, he wanted to matter to the world.

But he would have to fight and sweat and bleed for every little improvement he could get. Even with help from Pyrrha, he was still having to sprint at full speed while everyone else appeared to jogging from his viewpoint. He knew that such toxic thoughts were unproductive to his growth; Yang had said as much yesterday and he agreed with her, but he truthfully didn't know how to separate those thoughts and simply work on himself.

So today, Jaune decided to do some training on his own in the auditorium. He had told his spartan partner that he needed to skip their daily training regimen and do some drills of his own. He promised to double down tomorrow, which seemed to appease her, so he quickly changed into workout shorts and a t-shirt and headed off.

Usually at this time of day, the main academy building was largely vacant save for a few stragglers using the time to speak to professors about academics and have their questions answered. He wasn't brave enough to do that, but once he got himself to an acceptable level, he might do it if only to actually ask the true professionals for advice.

He wasn't expecting much traffic if any at all, so it was to his surprise when he spotted the familiar blonde locks of a certain girl, who was also dressed as if she was prepared to do a workout of her own.

"Sup, Jaune?" Yang leaned against the main door to the auditorium. "You gettin' in a last-minute training session?"

Jaune wasn't expecting her, but he didn't dislike her presence. "Yang… how long have you been here?"

"Just for a few minutes." The blonde girl pushed herself from the wall and closed the distance between them. "Thought I'd join you if you don't mind."

His immediate reaction was to turn her down, but then his mind thought of something. She had offered to help him whenever he was in a rut and that was precisely the mindset he was in now. He might as well take her up on the offer.

Plus, the blonde could benefit from a bit of hand-to-hand training. "Sure, I could use the sparring partner."

"That's the spirit." The brawler grabbed his hand. "C'mon, let's hop to it. We don't wanna stay up too late. Need those eight hours of sleep."

The gesture of her taking his hand in hers was familiar and warming. He wasn't sure how to describe the feeling other than warming.

Once they took center stage, Yang turned to face him, hands on her hips. "Okay, so what were you looking to do tonight?"

"I, um, wanted to do some drills that might help me better prepare to react in a fight. I was probably gonna do something like shadowboxing, only with my weapons." Jaune said the words but mentally cringed. "Admittedly, I didn't think too far about it."

The female fighter shrugged. "Eh, don't worry about it. I live my life in the moment. I'm not about plans. I leave that to the team leaders, but if you're looking for a way to better hone your reaction time, I'm your girl. You game?"

"I don't think about unarmed combat, so why not?" The inexperienced warrior carefully placed his weapons down and faced her. "So how are we doin' this?"

Yang cracked her knuckles. "Like… this!"

He had no time to react before he felt his legs give out from under him. He hit the ground flat on his back. It didn't knock much away from his aura, but the wind from his lungs was knocked out.

"Rule number one about working with me. I work by doing, not by teaching." She offered him an outstretched hand. "And you're going to learn the same way if you want me to teach you."

Jaune groaned but accepted her gesture. "Right, got it."

That was his second mistake, as she yanked him harm, then delivered a right hook strong enough to deck him again.

"If you were expecting me to be nice, you're wrong." The brawler didn't help him up this time, instead getting into a fighting stance. "Now get up."

This time, with adrenaline and alertness, the knight rose up, getting into a clumsy fighting position, which clearly showed by the way he held his body.

He didn't feel all that great. "I feel so stupid."

"Doesn't matter if you do. Just get it done." She ignored him. "Whatever you have to do."

She lunged at him and he responded by narrowly evading by twisting his body awkwardly, something that she immediately took advantage of by grabbing his arm and flipping him to the ground. Before she could make her next move, he rolled out of the and stumbled back to his feet.

He sized her up again. He barely had time to react and avoid her attacks let alone go on the offensive, but he had to figure out her attack pattern. Everyone had one, whether they realized it or not.

Jaune ducked under a fist meant for his head and lashed out with a rough punch himself. He couldn't hope to match Yang in terms of skill or confidence, so he had to make do with what he had right now: height and strategy.

He was countered when she punched him twice in the stomach, then uppercut him before hitting him in the torso, causing him to fall flat. This time, his aura had definitely taken a hit, but he didn't stop moving. If there was one thing he'd learned from watching people fight in this school, a slow-moving target or an unmoving target was a dead target.

The brawler once again closed the distance, and this time, he hastily brought up his forearms to protect himself from her attacks. It was effective for a short moment before she began attacking his sides. When he moved to defend his unprotected sides, she socked him in the jaw, then struck him again so that he fell flat on the floor.

Now Jaune felt worse than he did when he'd agreed to spar with Yang. He'd assumed that she would teach him some basics and then they'd practice movements slowly and build up speed with repetitions. He didn't expect to be thrown into the deep end of the pool and expected to either sink or swim.

"It's only been two minutes, man." She wasn't joking nor was she taunting. "You can't be tired. You can feel sorry for yourself later. C'mon, let's go!"

…no, he couldn't be.

Yang was not Pyrrha.

And he shouldn't expect anything less.

With a growl of frustration, he rightened himself up, this time mimicking his sparring partner's stance as best he could. He wasn't capable of beating her with his weapons and he far from capable of beating her in a contest of fists. He was here to learn from her. If that meant he had to keep getting hit until he could land even one hit on his own, that's what he he'd do.

The brawler was not the spartan.

Jaune felt himself calm down slightly, not enough to take him out of his fight mentality, but enough so that he could focus on the task at hand with a slightly more clear mind.

"Bring it," he challenged her, however false it was.

That only seemed to satisfy her if her small smile was anything to go by. "Wish granted, my fellow blonde."

This was going to hurt.

But then again, no pain, no gain.

RWBY - - - RWBY

Yang excelled at things that required her to use her hands and move around. That was one of many reasons why she took to fighting so well. At its core, fighting was all about moving the body and using the mind through instinct. That was something that she understood and thrived in quickly.

More important than her talent in fighting was the thrill she got from fighting. The feeling of her body moving and clashing with someone where sometimes, the outcome wasn't certain, she couldn't help but feel so alive whenever she was in the heat of battle. The simple purpose of beating the opponent was easy to get behind.

The brawler knew how to fight, but it never occurred to her that one day, she would teach someone else how to fight like this did. She didn't think of herself as teaching material, at least not the kind that Beacon Academy had. She preferred to do less talking and thinking and more charging and doing.

So when Jaune decided to take her up on being her sparring partner, Yang knew of only one way to teach her fellow blonde: to fight him immediately and see how he reacted to the stress of being in an unfavorable position. It was definitely unfair and he was going to have to learn the hard way.

However, the knight in spite of his severe disadvantages, didn't offer excuses or complaints. He adapted and did what he could with what he was, limited as that was. He wouldn't likely make a hit on her today. He probably would struggle to even get her basic moves down, but he was working constantly.

In that regard, the blonde girl couldn't help but admire his strength of will. If he kept this kind of attitude up, she had no doubt that he would be able to learn fast from her. The idea that she could get him up to snuff to be able to fight at the level she was on was oddly satisfying in a way she'd never felt before.

So Yang had thrashed him around for a good hour, pushing him as far as she could while also watching how quickly he evolved. He showed potential, but only time would tell how far that would get him. At such an early stage in developing his skills, she would have to refrain from making assumptions too soon.

Once an hour had passed, the two blondes called it quits for the day. The boy was thoroughly exhausted, but still carried on the best he could. He would definitely be sore in the morning, even with his aura working as a rapid form of recovery for his body. She had made sure to push him really hard today.

But still, she couldn't help but feel sore herself at the prospect of him being sore. She knew that feeling in her early days of training and she knew how hard the following days were, especially given that she was less developed physically when she first started.

"You good?" Yang placed a hand on his shoulder.

Jaune was truthful. "Not really. Argh, shit. Please don't crack jokes. Even laughing will probably hurt."

An idea popped into her mind.

"Here, take a seat. I got just the thing for you." The brawler began to crack her knuckles.

He took her word for it and sat down straight, his back to her.

"Alright, I'm just gonna loosen up the shoulders." Yang reached for him but paused before touching him. "You mind?"

Jaune still didn't hesitate. "Go ahead. You know more about this than I do. I trust your judgment."

That warmed her up as she gingerly placed her hands on his shoulders and began to use just the right amount of pressure. Immediately, she could feel the knots in his muscles and she watched his body language and listened to his breathing.

He held back a groan of pain when she began kneading his left shoulder, particularly more towards the back.

"That one hurt?" The girl carefully worked her hands.

The boy nodded slowly. "Yeah, a lot."

"Alright, bear with it for a minute." Yang did her best to sound reassuring. "This is gonna hurt before it gets better."

She began to apply more pressure and he hissed, holding back what was likely a potentially very audible outburst of pain.

Jaune began to speak, probably to distract himself. "I haven't done this in a good minute."

"What, you getting a massage?" The brawler continued to work. "Or you giving someone a massage?"

He let out a suppressed grunt. "Both. I used to do this for my sisters all the time, one of many skills I picked up having such a big family."

"...you love your sisters, don't you?" Yang could guess as much from how much he spoke of them.

Jaune grimaced slightly as she hit a tender spot. "Yeah, but isn't that normal for a family?"

"Not for everyone." She changed her hand positioning slightly to move down his back. "But I can tell that you're especially close to your folks."

He turned to look over his right shoulder. "What makes you say that?"

"The way you talk about them, the memories you recall. They might not seem like much to the average person, but they're experiences that matter to you." The girl formed her hands into fists in order to start feeling for particularly tight spots. "The small stuff doesn't seem to matter in the moment, but they do matter when we look back on them."

And she was speaking from experience. So many memories at the moment were things that she treasured now with hindsight and perspective. If only she could keep that lesson fresh in mind every time a seemingly trivial event happened in her life.

He chuckled at her words. "You got me there. Being away from home… makes me wish for the things that I took for granted all my life. Guess you really don't know what you've got until it's gone."

"On the other hand." Yang moved her body closer to his, her hands at the sides of his arms. "If you hadn't left home, I wouldn't have met you."

Jaune shifted his body slightly to meet her eye-to-eye. "You really like me that much after only talking less than a handful of times?"

"Yeah, I guess I do." Her smile was mirthful as she still maintained physical contact with him. "I mean, you did steal my first, second, and third kiss. I don't know about other girls, but I'm not about to forget that."

He didn't smile, but his eyes were sparkling. "Well, when it comes to you, it's easy to be passionate with you in a way that I've never been."

…what did he mean by that?

What emotions did he feel when-

Yang's thoughts districted her for a moment and then she saw him close the gap, kissing her on the lip for only a moment, but enough for her to feel the heat of his lips, even as he pulled back.

"Thanks for the massage." Jaune smiled, his gratitude clear crystal clear. "And thank you for helping me get better."

She placed her hand against her lips, her face blushing. Straightforward compliments were usually something she didn't get often. Coming from him of all people, it did make her heart flutter.

"Yang?"

She couldn't help but return his expression because it was contagious. "Thank you for being a good student and making it worthwhile."

Once she gave her own gratitude, she sealed her lips against his. Mirroring him, she did so only for a moment. He too then began to turn red at her gesture, just like she still was right now.

…

They both began to laugh.

Neither of them knew why, but they just felt like doing it. It was laughter that was genuine and simple. Regardless of where it was coming from, it was something the two of them were sharing in, a wondrous feeling.

Yang couldn't help but question the nature of their relationship. They weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, yet they exchanged kisses just now. Sure, kissing didn't have to signify romantic love, but just like any teenage girl, it was hard to differentiate such subtle details.

No, our relationship hasn't changed. She decided after a moment that it wasn't worth pursuing any further. We're a guy and a girl that are becoming friends and we just happen to kiss because that's our thing.

Friendships came in all shapes and sizes; whoever said that relationships between guys and girls couldn't be romantic was full of shit. Why couldn't she just enjoy the fact that she had a male friend who treated her like any other person?

"So, you up for round two another time?" Jaune's sapphire eyes still were on her. "I'll take any help I can get if you're still offering."

Yang's lilac eyes held his attention. "I see that the student still has a lot to learn from the master."

And she was looking forward to it.

RWBY - - - RWBY

Jaune didn't deserve to be at Beacon Academy. His forged transcripts said as much. He had to lie in order to get into this school.

And time spent with his peers had only reinforced the idea that he didn't rightfully earn his spot here. Sometimes he even wondered if perhaps there was someone out there whose application had been denied because he'd taken a spot. It was a question he considered because of the people he was surrounded by.

But even though the knight understood the circumstances of his enrollment were false, he was determined to get himself to a point where he could say that Ozpin had made the right choice in letting him stay here. Surely the man had to know that his transcripts were false. If the blonde boy thought about it, they weren't exactly stellar fakes even to an amateur like him. Yet he was still here and nobody had said a thing about it. Not Pyrrha, not Cardin, and not Headmaster Ozpin, so either the important people didn't know or they did know and they still chose to let him be here.

The latter being the case, Jaune was determined to cover the ground between himself and his fellow freshmen, whatever it took. That meant getting all the help he could get. Whether that be from Pyrrha's sword-fighting or Yang's martial arts, anything that could give him a leg up was worth it in his mind.

That being said, the way the two girls fought and taught were vastly different.

The spartan was all about teaching proper form and technique before putting it into practice, then gradually increasing intensity as she felt that he was able to handle at his current ability level. This way was good for formal instruction and developing good habits, but it was slow and gradual.

The brawler preferred to give only the bare minimum of training before forcing him to develop his own methods of fighting by means of sparring. In this vein, he had to learn how to copy what she did and learn quickly. This style was good for making him fight as if it were real, but there was potential to learn bad habits.

There was merit in both styles and he took both of them seriously to the best of his ability. However, if he was asked which style he took to more, which style he learned from and adapted to more, it would be the latter. Not to put down the former's efforts and hard work, but the way they approached it simply made the difference.

Pyrrha was nice, but in a way that made him feel like she was babying him instead of taking him seriously.

Yang didn't pity him; she expected him to fight and whenever he fell, she never offered him words of sympathy.

"Jaune, are you okay?" A female voice registered in his mind.

It was Pyrrha.

He blinked before turning to meet his partner, who was standing at his side next to the desk he sat at. He must've spaced out from his homework seeing as his hand wasn't moving and writing in his notebook.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "How long did I space out for?"

"It's been almost ten minutes." The redhead's concern was palpable. "I was wondering if maybe you'd fallen asleep."

Jaune laughed softly. "Might as well have been. I was thinking about a few things."

"What about?" Pyrrha tilted her head.

He wondered if maybe it was too soon to talk about what was going on. After all, how could he explain this to anyone if he was still trying to explain it to himself? That thought lasted a moment because more important than his lack of understanding was his desire to not keep secrets from his team.

The knight stared at the desk for a few seconds before he looked at his partner. "I was thinking about Yang."

"Yang?" The spartan's surprise was clearly evident on her face.

Right, she doesn't know that Yang and I've been doing stuff together recently. As far as she's tracking, this is out of nowhere.

Jaune closed his books and decided that studying would come later. "So I actually forgot to tell you all this, but… Yand and I have been talking lately, training, doing things together, basically just being friends."

"I see." Pyrrha's eyes flashed with surprise, but also something else he couldn't place. "Is there a particular reason why you two have been interacting lately?"

This was the question he wasn't eager to explain, but he didn't want to lie about how he made contact with his fellow blonde.

So he opted for a truth with an omission. "Basically, Yang was teasing me about something and I got even with her. I guess she was impressed with what I can do when my back's to the wall, so we've struck up a friendship."

"And how long has this new relationship been going on?" She grabbed a chair and sat next to him.

The blonde took a moment to think about it. "I'd say… a week? Yeah, a week, and when I say that, I don't mean we've been doing stuff every day. Less than a handful of times."

"And… this bothers you how?" Pyrrha appeared confused now.

Jaune gave her a look. "... what bothers me is that it wasn't even a week ago and she'd tease me every chance she got, poke fun at me, and just be a jokester. Now… she talks to me, helps me with stuff, and is so supportive. It's strange seeing her do the kind of stuff that I would've never associated her with."

"Maybe that's just because you two hadn't gotten to know each other properly." The spartan offered her own opinion. "Take me for instance. If you'd known that I was a celebrity before you met me, would you believe that I'm the person that you know now?"

Jaune sighed. "Probably not, at least I wouldn't say you're the down-to-Remnant type."

"See? Everyone has a sort of character they put on, conscious or otherwise." The redhead seemed pleased by his understanding. "For me, it's being the Invincible Girl. For Yang, it's being a class clown for lack of a better term. For you, it was playing to a character that wasn't genuine to your true character."

He pressed his lips together and sighed; even though he was mostly past that phase, he still found it hard to talk about it.

Pyrrha gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "The point I'm trying to make is that you need to look deeper in order to see people for who they really are, what they really want, and where their heart truly lies. You will have to invest time and effort into listening and remembering people. Even the act of simply listening does more than we realize."

He couldn't help but listen to his partner and digest her words. She always had a way of making sense. If he had a problem, she always had the right perspective to get him to see things in a way that would help him see better.

"...thanks Pyr." Jaune gently placed a hand over hers. "I promise that I'll get back to training with you tomorrow."

The spartan smiled eagerly back at him. "I'll look forward to it. I was wondering what you were doing these past two days."

"Sorry. Just needed a change of pace. Yang knows how to fight unarmed. I don't." The knight shrugged his shoulders. "Figured it was a worthwhile endeavor."

She nodded. "Keep at it. If you think it will help you become a greater huntsman, you should pursue it. For now, I think we should go to sleep. Ren and Nora have already turned in for the night."

At her words, he looked around to see that the other half of their team was indeed asleep. He'd almost forgotten that they were in the room.

"Music to my ears." He got up, stretched, then looked around. "I'm gonna drink a bit of water before I turn in."

"Okay. Don't be too long."

He took a moment to find his water bottle. He took a swig, thankful the ice he'd put in earlier hadn't dissolved yet. The cold water felt really good.

His gaze turned to the door to the hallway. Just across the hallway was Team RWBY's dorm.

"...Yang…" Jaune said her name softly.

He wondered when they would meet next, what they would do next, and what might come of it. The anticipation of what could come made him… excited in a way that was alien to him but still something he wanted to experience.

He took another sip of ice-cold water before turning off the light, and then making his way to his bed.

As he lapsed into his dreamscape, the thought of the blonde girl carried over into the world of his mind.

RWBY - - - RWBY

Yang was about to turn in for the night when she saw Ruby hopping onto her bed and getting ready as well.

Then a thought crossed her mind.

"Hey, Rubes." The elder sister called out. "Were you the one who gave Jaune the pep talk during the first semester when he was going through that rough patch with his team?"

The younger sibling paused, momentarily confused. "Jaune? Rough pat- oh yeah! I remember that! Basically, I told him that he was a team leader and he couldn't afford to feel sorry for himself! Why do ya ask?"

"He mentioned it to me when were training last," the blonde girl replied, "And I more or less gave him the same advice you did when he wasn't getting the results that he was desiring."

The girl with red-tipped black hair chuckled. "Sounds like him. He always wanted to master things quickly. I guess he's still kind of stupid like that."

"Not stupid." Yang immediately stopped that train of thought. "Ambitious and really, REALLY stubborn."

For a moment the leader of RWBY stared at her sister with a look of puzzlement. "You've been doing that a lot lately."

"Doing what?" The brawler raised an eyebrow in question.

Ruby pointed at her. "That. Being supportive of him, telling off anyone that even so much as jokes about him, talking about him. Look, I think of Jaune as a friend, but even I tease him every so often. What gives?"

"I just… don't like when my friend's being called things he's not." The brawler felt her jaw tighten. "Even if it's teasing."

"You've never talked about another guy like this. Never. You've always flirted with them, teased them, and blatantly insulted them."

"Okay, and your point?"

"This just… this isn't normal for you, that's all."

The moment those words came out, Yang felt her anger flare up, which was a first. Of all the people to say that to her face, it had to be Ruby, the girl who always seemed to be able to look past what people presented and see what really was.

The brawler took a moment to reign herself in before saying her next words, but even then her tone was clipped. "What I do with Jaune is nobody's business unless he and I tell people ourselves."

"I didn't say that what you were doing was wrong." The team leader tried to protest, having picked up on the change in attitude.

Yang was done with this conversation. "Forget it."

Tomorrow, she would calm down and try to work it out with her baby sister. She didn't deserve that tone, but all the same, she couldn't accept that judgemental tone when it came to her first male friend.

But why?

She'd never felt compelled to defend any of her friends before.

So why was this different?

"...Jaune…" She let his name softly spill from her lips.

If there was one thing that Ruby right was right about, it was that she treated her fellow blonde much differently than any boy she'd ever interacted with.

And she remained in her thoughts as she fell into a deep sleep and beyond.

Conflict in this story will be short-lived and intense in some cases. The intent of this story isn't to create drama and sustain it for a long time. That was something I did for One-Night Brand, but it's not going to feature here.

The intent of this story is to approach the dynamic of this relationship differently. I know that some people won't be satisfied by the change, but since One-Night Brand, I've changed as a person and so has the way I tell stories and how I approach them.

Apologies for the delayed release. I've got new responsibilities now that I've been promoted. That's just how life works when you move up.

Thoughts on this chapter? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

"Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop."

H. W. Mencken