"Ruby, oh Ruby... wake up, we have to go to class," Yang said, poking the younger girl's cheeks, but all Yang heard were low snores from her younger sister.
Blake opened her eyes and turned her head to see the source of the noise, finding Yang in her school uniform trying to wake her sister up, but with no success.
Weiss emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body and another towel used to dry her long hair.
Weiss turned her head and saw Yang and Ruby, which made the Schnee heiress sigh in frustration.
The heiress walked over to where the two sisters were, and Yang raised an eyebrow when she saw Weiss.
"This is more efficient," Weiss said, leaving Yang confused.
"What's efficient... Hey!" Yang shouted in surprise when Weiss pulled Ruby by her arm, causing the girl to fall face-first onto the floor. A sound of 'thud' was heard as if something hollow had fallen to the ground.
Yang blinked in surprise at the sound.
"Ruby... are you okay?" Yang asked the girl on the floor.
"Ow..." said Ruby, feeling the cold floor of the room.
"She's fine, now go take a shower. I do not want to be late for our first day of school," Weiss said, heading towards her bed where her clothes were hers.
"Grr," Ruby grumbled as she got up.
Blake watched the group with a scowl. Her original plan was not to get into Beacon; she was to find a place to stay temporarily in Vale. Things didn't go as she expected, as she ended up meeting Beacon's headmaster, and things spiraled out of her control. To make matters worse, fate had her stuck with a child, a girl with a completely opposite personality, and a Schnee...
Blake sighed and began to get up, leaving her bunk and letting her body fall gracefully to the floor, almost like a cat.
"Oh, that was smooth," Blake blinked and turned her head, seeing Yang looking at her with a smile.
"Just getting out of bed," Blake said with a calm and suspicious voice. There was something about Xiao Long that Blake didn't like; the girl was too lively and extroverted for her taste...
"Nah, that was too graceful for 'just getting out of bed,'" Yang said with a smile, while helping her sister to get up.
"Whatever," Blake said, opening a drawer and grabbing a towel. She headed toward the bathroom.
"Why so grumpy this early?" Yang asked, but Blake heard her and didn't stop to answer the blonde girl.
"Because it's morning," Blake replied with a yawn as she closed the bathroom door behind her.
"Oh, you're right," Yang said, looking at the closed bathroom door and then at her sister.
"Ruby?" Yang said, but the girl just made low snores again.
"Just five more minutes..." Ruby replied sleepily. Upon hearing this, Yang simply let go of her sister, causing her head to hit the floor once more, and again, the sound of something hollow hitting the floor followed.
"Ow..." Ruby said once more, clutching her throbbing head.
Yang laughed at the younger girl's antics. "You never change, Ruby," Yang said with a smile.
Weiss simply observed the interaction between the two while combining her hair.
"Why?" Weiss whispered, narrowing her eyes at the girls. She was stuck with these girls for four years…
-1-
The hot water cascaded over Blake's naked body as the faunus girl stood there with her eyes closed, lost in her thoughts.
What should I do? Being a hunter was not part of the plan. Now, I'm already in the process of raising a huntress, but it wasn't what I wanted...
Blake opened her eyes as the water poured over her head and ran down her body.
She had joined the White Fang because she believed in the fight for equality between humans and faunus. She had given her life to the cause, even abandoning her parents, believing she would make a difference. But in the end, all that had happened was that Blake had been used as a pawn, in a quest for power. The organization founded by her father had been completely twisted and turned into nothing more than a political and violent weapon that only caused pain on both sides. So Blake had made her decision; she had left them.
"Adam," Blake whispered, recalling the name of the man who had once been her inspiration for joining the cause. But the man Blake knew now was not the man she had known as a child.
Blake turned out of the shower and leaned her head against the wall.
"What do I do..." the faunus girl murmured, her feline ears twitching.
-1-
"Hungry," Ruby said, leaning on Yang's shoulder. The younger girl looked like a zombie.
Yang chuckled at her sister's antics. "You really need to go to bed earlier, Ruby, or you'll end up like this every morning," Yang said, using her finger to push her sister off her shoulder.
"I can't believe she's the team leader. What did I do to deserve this..." Weiss said, looking at Ruby.
"You're just jealous," Blake said, stretching and taking her book out of her school bag.
"Hey!" Weiss turned to the antisocial girl on the team.
"Heh," Yang laughed, making the white-haired girl narrow her eyes at her.
"I thought you'd gotten over that, Ice Queen," Yang said with a smile at Weiss.
"Ice Queen? How do you even come up with new nicknames..." Weiss said, annoyed, crossing her arms and glaring at Yang.
The blonde girl just shrugged at the heiress. "It's a talent," Yang said with a smile.
"Or a curse..." Blake mumbled automatically.
"Oh, come on, you too, Blakey," Yang said, trying to put her left arm around Blake's shoulder, but she just lowered her head, causing Yang's arm to embrace the empty air.
"I'd prefer if you didn't call me that," Blake said without taking her eyes off her book as she walked ahead of the group.
"Such a nag," Yang said with a pout.
"Grgrr," Ruby mumbled words that sounded like a different language.
"That's right, sis," Yang agreed.
Weiss blinked in surprise. "You... understood her?" Weiss said, blinking in surprise at Yang.
"Of course I did. Our sisterly connection is unbreakable," Yang said, proudly tapping the center of her chest.
"How lovely..." Weiss said with an empty expression.
Blake just sighed at the blonde fighter's attitude as she walked ahead of the group. Blake was turning a corner when she felt that she bumped into something.
"Ouch," Blake said as she fell to the ground.
Ruby woke up upon hearing Blake's voice. "Blake, are you okay?" Ruby said, running to the girl who was on the ground.
Weiss and Yang watched curiously as the girl was on the ground, and a man in front of the two girls looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm fine, I just ran into something..." Blake opened her eyes with her hand on her head, slowly raising her head to look at someone in front of her.
"Blake?" Ruby said, looking at where she was looking and saw the man in front of the two of them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. My friend didn't see you," Ruby said, helping her teammate to get up.
"It's alright, child. I should have been more careful where I was going," the man said, offering his hand to help the fallen girl.
"Hey!" Ruby protested being called a child.
"No, it was my fault. I was distracted" Blake said, accepting the man's hand. When the faunus girl accepted the hand, she was practically lifted into the air as if she were a weightless doll. Blake blinked in disbelief as the man lifted her with ease and then gently placed her back on the ground.
"Wow, you have some strength. It doesn't look like it," the blonde girl said, drawing the man's attention.
"Yang! That's rude. You can't make assumptions about someone based on their appearance," Weiss scolded, embarrassed.
Yang simply covered her ears due to Weiss's loud voice.
"Why not? I do not see a problem with it," Yang said, removing her fingers from her ears.
Weiss just put her hand on her face in embarrassment. She was really stuck with a team of rude girls…
"It's okay, I don't mind," the man said, not looking like someone who was strong, even though he had a lean but muscular build. What he had demonstrated was a bit exaggerated. His suit also concealed much of his physique.
The man looked at the girl he had helped to her feet.
Blake blinked, wondering why he was looking at her. The man was a few inches taller than Yang, with a cut on his lip and a scar on his eyebrow. He had black hair and wore glasses, his hair is black, and his eyes were dark brown.
"You... could you return my hand?" the man said, looking at Blake's hand.
The faunus girl looked at her own hand and realized she was still holding the man's hand. She quickly released it in embarrassment. She had been holding a stranger's hand... and she had been gripping it quite tightly. It was truly embarrassing...
"Ah... sorry," Blake said in embarrassment, looking at her shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
"It's alright, girl," the man said while picking up something... Blake didn't know what it was, it looked like a scroll, but she had never seen a scroll with this kind of design.
"Oh, what's that? It looks so cool!" Ruby said the girl had simply teleported to the man's side to see the device, and rose petals fell over Blake's shoulder, causing her to sigh. She didn't understand how Ruby's semblance worked or how the rose petals appeared or where they came from...
"It's a telephone," the man said, trying to move the girl away from her shoulder, but she was insistent.
"Telephone? What's that? It looks a lot like a scroll," Ruby said, tilting her head in confusion.
"Looks cool," Yang said, joining her sister to examine the device, leaving the man looking grumpy. If he had known it would cause a commotion, he wouldn't have pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"I've never seen anything like it. The Schnee Company funds various areas of technology, and I have the latest version of the scroll. If something like a 'telephone' had been released, I would already have it," Weiss said, approaching to observe the device. The Schnee heiress took her scroll out of her bag to compare the two, and they were completely different.
"It looks like you're just showing off, Snowflake," Yang said, sticking her tongue out at the heiress.
"Hey! I'm just curious," Weiss said, frustrated with Yang.
The man continued to observe the two girls arguing. He was about to put his phone back in his pocket but noticed the youngest girl in the group staring at the device. Ruby noticed that the man had shifted his gaze to her and looked back at him.
"Oh, sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Ruby Rose," Ruby said, stepping back so the man could get a better view of her.
"Pleasure... John," John said, causing the girls to look at him with a strange expression.
"Is something wrong?" the man asked, noticing the girls' reaction.
"It's just..." Weiss struggled to find the right words.
"Your name is strange; it doesn't correspond to a color. What kind of name is John? I've never heard anything like it," Yang said, looking at the man. He had a scruffy beard, which gave him an older appearance.
"Yang!" Blake shouted, putting her hand over her nose and pressing it due to the blonde fighter's behavior. She was too straightforward...
"Sorry, sorry. I'm Yang Xiao Long, the most charming and strongest fighter at Beacon," Yang said, putting her hand in her hair and coughing it into the air.
"No one calls you that, Yang; did you hit your head again? When we were kids, Dad had to take you to..." Ruby was interrupted by the blonde fighter as Yang put her hand over Ruby's mouth while her face turned completely red.
"Shut up, Ruby, you promised not to tell anyone," Yang shouted, completely red, while trying to close Ruby's mouth with her hand.
"Well, I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Company. Pleasure to meet you," Weiss said, striking a bowing pose with her school uniform skirt.
The man smiled at the girl's cordial gesture.
"Snob" Yang muttered, but she felt a small ice pebble hit her head.
"Ouch!" Yang exclaimed, looking up and seeing a glyph above her head.
"The pleasure is mine, miss," the man said with a courteous bow, surprising Weiss.
"Oh, uh, you don't have to do that..." The heiress became a bit embarrassed; she hadn't expected this.
"What are you all doing here so early? Most students are still asleep," the man asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
"The cafeteria gets very crowded; we want to get there before it's packed," Weiss explained to the man.
"At five in the morning?" the man raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, is it still early?" Blake said in surprise, glaring at her team.
The girls looked away, not wanting to meet Blake's eyes.
"Seriously?!" Blake shouted at the girls, and her team cowered at the volume of her voice.
"We didn't want to be late like last time..." Yang said in a low voice, fidgeting with her fingers.
"THE CLASS START AT NINE, YANG!" Blake shouted, making the girls cover their ears. The man flinched at the shout, which didn't go unnoticed by the cat-girl.
Blake's cheeks turned red. It wasn't common for the faunus girl to speak loudly or be boisterous. She turned to the man, embarrassed.
"Uh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Blake said with a low voice until something clicked in her head. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Blake Belladonna," the girl said.
The man smiled. "Nice to meet you, Belladonna," the man said, causing Blake to blink and become embarrassed. She noticed that everyone was looking at her, which made her a bit uncomfortable.
"Look who's being polite, I never would've imagined that from Blake," Blake heard Yang's voice, which made her turn to face her teammate.
"I am polite, Yang..." Blake said, narrowing her eyes at her team partner.
"Of course, of course. So, what's a pretty face like yours doing here?" Yang said, approaching with a smile.
"Yang!" Ruby shouted from behind her sister, but Yang ignored her.
"What? Is it because of the scars in his lips and neck? I find it attractive, gives a rustic look," Yang said, looking at her sister and then at the man with a smile.
John raised an eyebrow at the approaching girl.
"So, 'John' you may have a strange name, but to me, it's kinda cute," the girl said, getting into the man's personal space.
John stared at the girl for a few seconds and then cracked a smile. Yang smiled too.
"You've never dated in your life, have you, Yang?" the man said with a sarcastic smile. Yang's face turned red.
"N-no, I mean, yes... wait..." Yang backed away from the man, embarrassed. She felt her team's eyes on her, turned to see her team staring at her with their mouths open.
"Sorry, but your attitude reminds me of the girls in my school days who lied about that stuff to gain a reputation," John leaned his right shoulder against the wall while smiling.
"I-I have dated, yes... I've dated lots of guys!" Yang shouted as if she wanted everyone to hear, not helping her case that her hair was on fire.
It must be part of her special ability, John thought.
"Give me a name," John said, making the girl blink in surprise.
"Uh...um...Red...Blue...Red..." Yang stammered and counted on her fingers, while the man just smiled at her.
"Yang, I think those are just colors," Ruby said, touching her sister's shoulder.
"What?! No! Those are names... it's just that I've had so many that I forgot the names... that's it... There are so many that I forgot the names!" Yang said, looking at the man as her hair burned.
"I'm just kidding; I don't care if you've dated or not. It's none of my business," the man said with a sarcastic smile that made Yang blink in surprise.
"O-oh…" Yang said, shifting her gauze. That guy had managed to get to her so easily...
"Well, John, what are you doing at Beacon? You don't look like a student," Blake said, curious, as she approached the man, like a cat... a curious cat, which didn't go unnoticed by the man.
"You're right, girl. The school's principal called me in for a talk... I shouldn't have come," the man said, irritated, as he glanced out the corridor window.
"Girl?" Blake blinked when she heard the man; was he treating her like a child?
"Well, nice to meet you, girls, but I'm leaving" the man said, turning to leave.
"Hey, wait! Are you leaving so soon?!" Ruby shouted, but the man didn't stop.
"He seems upset..." Weiss said, watching the man walk away.
Blake tilted her head to the side as she watched the man's back as he left.
"He seems sad..." Blake whispered, but no one on her team heard.
"Let's head to the cafeteria," Weiss said, passing by Blake and pulling her out of her trance.
"Hm... I hope we meet again," Ruby said as she walked and watched the man disappear down the hall.
"I had a boyfriend... darn it," Yang whispered as she passed by Blake. Ruby heard and patted her sister on her back, trying to comfort her.
"It's okay, Yang. We won't judge you for lying about it," Ruby's words hit her older sister like a truck.
"Thanks, Ruby..." Yang said with her ego slightly bruised.
"He seems lost..." Blake whispered again as she watched the man disappear down the hallway.
"Hey, Blake, let's go!" Ruby shouted, getting Blake's attention. Blake blinked and started following her team.
"Indeed, I hope we meet again," Blake whispered, agreeing with Ruby's earlier words.
-1-
Blake opened her mouth to yawn as she took a bite of her breakfast.
"You all look tired," Blake heard a female voice in front of her and looked up to see Team JNPR sitting at the table with her team.
"And what made you guys wake up at this hour? Your team usually wakes up almost late for class," Blake said as she took a bite of fish.
"Well... someone woke us up," Pyrrha said, looking to the side and seeing Nora eating everything in sight. Ren was trying to calm Nora down, but Nora tried to bite his hand like a dog.
"I see that..." Weiss said with a disgusted look on her face, observing the girl's lack of manners.
"It seems like some of your team is still asleep," Yang said with a smile, pointing at Jaune, who was using Pyrrha's shoulder as a pillow.
"It seems our fearless leader isn't used to waking up early," Nora said with a pancake in her mouth. Ren sighed in defeat to Nora; no matter how hard he tried to teach the energetic girl table manners, it never worked.
"Are you okay with this? He's kind of drooling on your shoulder..." Ruby said, looking at Jaune sleeping on Pyrrha's shoulder with a disgusted expression. Pyrrha just looked at Jaune sleeping on her shoulder and then back at Team RWBY.
"It's okay; I do not mind," Pyrrha said, grabbing a tissue from the table and wiping Jaune's drool off her shoulder.
"We saw you guys leave before us; we thought you'd get to the cafeteria ahead of us," Ren said, looking at Team RWBY.
"Nothing... it's nothing..." Yang said, lowering her head and taking a bite of food. Team JNPR raised their eyebrows at Yang's response; was she embarrassed?
"Well, we..." Ruby was interrupted when Yang put her hand over Ruby's mouth, preventing her from speaking.
"Please, Ruby, no!" Yang practically shouted in embarrassment.
Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora raised their eyebrows at the brash girl's reaction, while Jaune continued to sleep.
"It's okay... what's your schedule like? Our team is going to be busy all day," Pyrrha said, trying to change the subject.
"Well, we have our first classes with Professor Port, then Professor Peach, and finally, we finish with Professor Oobleck," Ruby said, counting on her fingers, and then she looked at Pyrrha.
"What are you guys going to do?" Ruby asked, curious.
Pyrrha saw that Jaune was almost falling off her shoulder and adjusted him to make him more comfortable.
"Well, Professor Ozpin called us and released us for the entire day. He said we'd be busy," Pyrrha said, tapping her cheek with her finger.
Weiss was curious about what Pyrrha had said.
"Did he say what it was for?" Weiss asked. Pyrrha looked at Weiss, her red-haired warrior shaking her head in denial.
"No, he didn't say, just that he needed Team JNPR and that we'd be free from classes all day," Pyrrha said, taking a bite of toast.
"Weird..." Yang said, tossing a grape into the air, trying to catch it in her mouth. However, Ruby snatched the grape out of the air before it could reach Yang's mouth. Yang looked at Ruby with anger. "I'm not complaining; a whole day without class is amazing!" Nora said with a smile, but Ren didn't agree with the girl's opinion.
"You shouldn't say that, Nora; our education is too important to be taken lightly," Ren said, causing Nora to look at him.
"Boop! Don't be so serious, Reni~" the orange-haired girl said, touching the tip of the boy's nose.
"Now I'm jealous... why do we have to attend boring classes, and you get to have a whole day off..." Ruby pouted.
"Don't be like that, little sister. Maybe something unexpected will happen, like all the teachers getting sick," Yang said, trying to comfort Ruby, which made Weiss grimace at what the brawler said.
"You shouldn't wish ill upon others, Yang," Blake chimed in, and in response, the fiery blonde stuck her tongue out at her.
"Well, we better get going; we don't want to keep Professor Ozpin waiting," Pyrrha said, grabbing something for Jaune to eat on the way. She picked Jaune up from under his arms and carried him, surprising Team RWBY. Nora and Ren noticed Pyrrha leaving and began to follow her.
"Bye-bye," Nora said, while Ren waved in farewell.
"Why didn't the teacher come to talk to us instead of them? I don't want to sit through boring classes all day..." Ruby said, resting her chin on the table.
"Come on, don't be like that; we have the whole weekend to enjoy," Yang tried to cheer Ruby up, but without success.
"It's not the same..." Ruby mumbled with a low voice.
"Blake, help me out here..." Yang looked to where Blake was supposed to be, but the girl was gone. She then looked at Weiss, and the ice princess was also missing. When Yang looked towards the door, she saw her two teammates leaving.
"Hey, where are you guys going?" Yang shouted.
"To class," Blake replied without turning her head.
Ruby and Yang looked at each other and then hurried to catch up with the other two girls.
-1-
Footsteps echoed in the corridor, the man walked lost in his thoughts, but he was snapped out of his trance when he heard someone calling him.
"I see you haven't left yet, Jonathan," John stopped and turned his head upon hearing Ozpin's voice.
"It's not for lack of trying," the man said, looking at Ozpin, which made the headmaster blink.
"Are you... lost?" the headmaster said, with his hand over his mouth, trying to hide his smile.
"It's not funny, it's not my fault that this school is so big," said John embarrassed.
Ozpin raised his hand. "I'm sorry, that was the last thing I expected to see from you," said Beacon's headmaster, with a smile on his face.
"Alright, what do you want?" John asked the headmaster.
Ozpin adjusted his glasses on his face and looked at the man.
"Where are you going, Jonathan? Stop lying to yourself; you have no way back," said Professor Ozpin, with a serious expression on his face.
John just looked at the floor. It wasn't his problem...
"But you're trapped here, which means that if everything is destroyed by the Grimms, you will be too. Please, Jonathan, I know you're angry, and I know this place isn't your home, but it's mine, and I don't want to see it destroyed," Ozpin said, looking down.
...
John looked at the window and saw what seemed to be four students boarding an aircraft. John blinked in surprise when he saw a red-haired girl carrying a much larger blond boy, with the rest of their team laughing.
They seemed happy...
John looked back at Ozpin.
"So, what do you want me to do, then, Director?" the man asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.
Ozpin smiled at John's response.
"Well..."
-1-
"I want to die..." Yang said, practically dragging her bag on the ground.
"Weren't you the one trying to convince me that classes weren't that bad, Yang?" Ruby poked fun at the blonde.
"Agshddg" Yang said something unintelligible to everyone except Ruby.
"I understand you, sis," Ruby said, patting Yang on the back.
"You two are weird," Weiss commented, not understanding how the two communicated, even if their words didn't make sense.
Blake had her hand on her head as if she had a headache.
"What, are you going to tell me you enjoyed the class?" Yang asked Blake.
"No, but you don't need to keep saying you want to die every five minutes..." Blake hit something hard, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Not again..." Blake said, looking up and finding the same man she had encountered this morning.
John turned and blinked in surprise when he saw the girl again.
"Miss Belladonna, please don't try to knock down Mr. Jonathan," Glynda said, adjusting her glasses on her face and looking at the girl.
Blake shivered; ever since the faunus girl and Goodwitch had crossed paths, Blake had always found the teacher intimidating.
"Alright, Glynda. No need to scare the girl," John said, offering his hand to Blake.
"Please, don't address me so formally, Mr. Jonathan," Glynda said, a little irritated.
"You're not that much older than me, you know. I think you enjoy being in a position higher than others, don't you?" Upon hearing the man's words, the teacher's face turned red, and she averted her gauze and adjusted her glasses.
Blake blinked in surprise; she had never seen Goodwitch embarrassed before.
"So... want some help?" Blake looked at John and then at his hand.
"Alright, but don't... haaa," Blake said in surprise when the man effortlessly lifted her, as if she had no weight. She was raised into the air, her feet not touching the ground. John gently placed her back on the ground, making her blink in surprise.
"You...did it again..." Blake grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the man.
"Maybe you should eat more, Blakey. He lifted you effortlessly," Yang teased, embarrassing the faunus girl.
"Yang!" Blake exclaimed, never expecting to feel embarrassed for being called skinny.
"John!" Ruby said, disappearing and reappearing behind the man.
"Hello, girl," John said, taking Ruby off his back.
"Hey!" Ruby said.
"We thought you had left. What happened ? that you're still at Beacon?" Weiss approached.
"You left quite angrily..." Yang added, standing beside Weiss.
The RWBY team heard Professor Glynda laughing behind the man, her hand covering her smile. The girls just blinked; they never expected to hear Glynda laugh.
"Is Professor Goodwitch smiling?" Yang exclaimed with her mouth open.
"I think so..." Weiss replied, closing Yang's mouth.
Blake and Ruby noticed that John seemed a bit uncomfortable.
John coughed, trying to change the subject of the conversation.
"We don't need to discuss the details," John said, putting his hand in one of his coat pockets.
"Mr. Jonathan will be staying in Beacon for some time," Glynda said, standing next to the man.
The RWBY team blinked in surprise.
"Are you going to study at Beacon, John?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Why is Glynda calling you Jonathan?" Yang inquired beside Ruby.
Blake just looked at the man, curious. She saw the man scratching his head while looking at Glynda, who simply smiled.
"How did I get myself into this..." the man muttered, and Blake heard what he said.
"No, I'm not going to study here. I'll just be staying for a while," John replied with a sigh.
"So, are you going to stay here like a guest?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms.
"Something like that," John said, not wanting to delve into it.
John turned and found Belladonna staring at him, as if she were curious. Belladonna always had this issue; when something fascinated her, she'd become absorbed in observing it. The faunus cause was one of them. Her instincts felt odd; her vision was sharper, her sense of smell detected a scent she did not recognize. At first, when she encountered the man, these sensations occurred, but she ignored them. Now all Blake had was curiosity; it was as if her instincts were speaking for her, thinking for her.
Blake felt someone touch her shoulder, making her blink in surprise. She turned her head to see the new faunus girl Yang had been looking at, wearing a somewhat strange expression. Blake opened her mouth and asked what was happening.
"Hmm, I don't like the way you were staring at me, Yang. Did something happen?" Blake tilted her head as she looked at her teammate. Yang removed her hand from Blake's shoulder.
"I should be the one asking that, Blake. You were staring for a while; it was getting a bit weird. Are you okay?" Hearing Yang's question, Blake looked around and saw everyone was looking at her. She realized she had been staring at John for a while. A wave of embarrassment washed over her, causing her cheeks to turn red, and she hunched her shoulders. Quickly, she pulled her book out of her bag and held it in front of her face to shield herself from everyone's gauze.
Glynda regarded Blake with an odd look but decided to ignore it.
"All right, it was a pleasure to meet you, Team RWBY, but I'm giving Mr. Jonathan a tour of Beacon, and I still have a full day of classes to teach. So, if you'll excuse us." Glynda signaled for John to follow her. He sighed and did as he was told, waving goodbye to the team as he walked away with his back to them.
"Hey, wait, do you think we'll meet again... and they're gone," Ruby couldn't finish her sentence because the two had already turned the corner. The team leader was frustrated, not liking being ignored.
"That's strange. It's not common for someone to 'stay' at Beacon. Don't you find that curious?" The girls looked at Weiss as they stopped to think for a moment, but Yang made a lip-smacking sound, mocking the seriousness of the question.
"You're overthinking it, princess. It's not something I'll lose sleep over trying to figure out," Yang shrugged, adjusting her backpack on her shoulder.
"I have to agree with Weiss," everyone looked at Ruby in surprise, except for Blake, who was still looking at the spot where the man and Goodwitch had been.
"Isn't Beacon considered a prestigious school? Why would someone who's not studying here be staying?" Weiss, now with her mouth open in surprise, found herself questioning the logic of the usually immature Ruby Rose.
Yang noticed Weiss's open mouth and closed it with her hand.
"Like I said, not losing sleep over it," Yang stretched her arms as she passed by her sister and Blake, then put Ruby's head under her arm and began dragging her along.
"Hey Yang!" Ruby tried to free herself, but without success.
Weiss watched the girls' interaction with a scowl, and she looked at Blake, noticing that the girl was lost in her own thoughts.
"Aren't you coming?" Weiss's voice snapped Blake out of her reverie.
"What?... No, I have to do something. I'll meet you in class," Weiss raised an eyebrow, questioning where her antisocial teammate was going, but she decided not to ask.
Weiss walked towards the next class, leaving Blake alone in the hallway.
"There's something wrong..." Blake felt her faunus instincts screaming.
There really is something wrong...
-1-
Walking through the corridors, Blake raised her head and sniffed the air, like an animal searching for something.
"The scent is getting stronger," the Faunus girl said, letting her animal instincts guide her.
Blake was so focused that she didn't notice someone sitting on a bench nearby.
"Blake?" The girl, Velvet, started Blake.
"Calm down, it's me, Velvet," Velvet tried to reassure Blake, who had her hand on her heart.
"Velvet, I didn't even notice you were there..." Blake said, calming down from her fright.
"Well, you were pretty focused..." Velvet narrowed her eyes as she looked at Blake. "Tell me, Blake, you're a Faunus too, aren't you?"
Blake froze, her bow on her head twitching.
"What... makes you say that?" Blake was completely uncomfortable.
Velvet simply raised an eyebrow while looking at the girl. "You were sniffing the air, and your bow kept moving constantly. I imagine you have a pair of ears on top of your head, and I can also identify it by the scent." Velvet pointed to her nose while her rabbit ears twitched slightly.
Blake's eyes widened in surprise, and the girl sighed as she took off her bow.
"Oh, you're a cat. Your ears are beautiful. I don't know why you hide them?" Hearing Velvet's words made Blake sigh as she looked at the bow in her hand.
"I'm afraid, Velvet. You know how people are. I want to feel normal; I want people not to judge me just because I'm a Faunus. I want to be able to report to someone without the fear of rejection, " Blake said, pointing to her ears. Velvet placed her hand on her chin, thinking about the girl's words.
"So, is all this worth it to hide who you are? Don't you think it's wrong?" Blake started fidgeting with her bow like a toy.
"I'm a coward, Velvet. I don't have the same courage as you. I've been rejected too many times, by everyone... I don't want that anymore." Velvet's ears twitched, and the rabbit girl had this problem due to her animal heritage; Velvet heard much more than she wanted.
"Well, if you're so afraid, why don't you hang out with other Faunus? That way, you won't be rejected. You can report to others without fear," Blake tightened her bow with force. Velvet looked at Blake's hands as she squeezed the bow.
"Ah, so you're one of those," upon hearing Velvet's words, the cat girl looked at her.
"One of those?" Blake said, confused, not understanding what Velvet meant.
"Who prefers humans over their own kind," Blake's mouth hung open in shock, but she didn't deny it.
"It's strange, isn't it? You're not the only one. Despite the Faunus and humans being in conflict, most Faunus have relationships with humans. In fact, it's become uncommon to find two Faunus together, and what was supposed to be rare, a Faunus and a human, has become common. It's as if we find them better partners than our own kind, or that we're seeking their approval. I wonder why?" Blake looked at Velvet as her cat ears twitched.
"I... I don't know why, but it's not like I chose this. When I was in Menagerie, I never had any interest in anyone. But one day, I decided to go with my dad to see the sea, and I saw a ship delivering supplies, and all the crew members were humans. That caught my interest; I had never seen anything like it. I used to think the world was simple when I was a child. I just told my dad with stars in my eyes that I would marry a human. He looked at me with a scowl but didn't try to stop me or anything; he just held me in his arms and said I could have anything I wanted." Blake looked at Velvet, who listened to her girl's story.
"As I grew up, I realized that the world is more complicated than I thought as a child," Blake tightened her bow. "Ever since the day I found that out, I've been hiding..."
"I don't blame you..." Blake didn't want to look at Velvet; she was a coward, unlike the rabbit girl, Blake didn't have that kind of courage.
"Besides, it's hard to resist them. Seriously, just thinking about it!" Blake's eyes widened in surprise and embarrassment.
"V-Velvet?!" The bunny girl smiled.
"What? I'm in the same boat as you. I told you, most of us prefer to be in relationships with humans. In my opinion, we have a serious fetish, but I'm not in denial anymore. When I find 'my human,' and it will be just like me as a Faunus, and I won't hide it." Blake's mouth hung open, and she didn't expect the conversation to shift from something deep to her personal preferences.
"I understand..." Blake didn't know what to say, and she felt embarrassed for sharing her secret with someone.
"Oh, I'm curious, Blake. Do you have a tail too?" Blake simply jumped off the bench in surprise and looked at Velvet with wide eyes.
"Don't be like that; I have one too," Velvet said with a smile as she closed the book she had been reading.
Blake became very nervous, but she nodded in agreement.
"Maybe...I do." Velvet smiled at Blake, trying to comfort the cat girl. The more animal traits Faunus had, the stronger their instincts were, and some could even be a bit wild, depending on the animal.
"It's not something to be ashamed of," Velvet said, trying to comfort Blake. Faunus with more pronounced animal characteristics often had stronger instincts, and some could even be a bit wild, depending on the animal.
"I know... I know..." Blake sighed.
"So...can you show it?" As soon as Velvet asked, Blake responded.
"no" Blake simply answered without any emotion.
"I thought you'd say that..."
-1-
"Blake, you can skip class while we have to attend it!" Ruby said from her bed, lying on her stomach with her arms and legs stretched out.
"Ruby, I'm too tired to do anything, so please be quiet!" Yang replied with a pillow over her head.
"Come on, Yang!" Ruby was met with a pillow in her face.
"Hey!" Ruby yelled as she was hit.
"Enough already, Ruby. It's not a big deal if Blake doesn't want to attend class; it's her problem," Weiss said while combing her long white hair.
"They're talking about me behind my back," the sound of the door opening drew Blake's attention.
"Blake!" Ruby appeared in front of Blake in a burst of speed, making the girl jump in surprise.
"You left us, your own team! What's your defense?" Ruby pointed her finger in Blake's face, causing her to blink in surprise.
"Um..." Blake looked at her team, who weren't paying attention to the two of them. Weiss continued to comb her hair, and Yang was lying on the bed with a pillow over her head.
"I was doing stuff..." Blake nervously explained, she had been searching for John. His scent was strange to her, and she had never felt anything like it before.
Blake's response caught Weiss's attention, and she stopped combing her hair.
"Define 'stuff'?" Weiss asked, making Blake nervous, and Yang got up to see what was happening.
"Seriously? Why don't we just go to sleep..." Yang stopped talking when she heard Glynda's voice.
"Here's the key to your room. The cafeteria opens at 6 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m." Team RWBY looked at each other and walked out of the room. They saw Glynda handing a key to John.
"Tomorrow, more appropriate clothing will be provided for you, Mr. Jonathan," Glynda said as she adjusted her glasses.
The man smiled at what she said, "Are you saying I dress poorly, Glynda?"
She narrowed her eyes at him while adjusting her glasses. "Don't put words in my mouth, just more suitable clothing for your job will be provided."
The man's smile grew. "So you like the way I dress, then?"
Glynda's eyes widened, and she turned her face with flushed cheeks toward the man.
"Hahahaha, calm down, I'm just kidding. You take things way too seriously..." John noticed he was being stared at, and when he turned his head, he noticed Team RWBY looking at them. Glynda also noticed and followed his gaze.
Glynda adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat. "Hello, Team RWBY, do you need something?"
"It's just that... we heard a noise and came to check it out," Ruby said in a low voice, almost like a whisper.
"I see... well, as you can see, it's nothing. You can go back to your rooms," John glanced at Glynda out of the corner of his eye.
She really enjoyed feeling superior to others.
"Calm down, Glynda, you'll scare the girls," Goodwitch looked at the man with narrowed eyes.
"What did I say about not calling me so casually..." the man simply ignored the woman's comment.
"Of course, Lady Goodwitch," Glynda glared at the man as if she wanted to bore a hole into his head.
Team RWBY mustered the courage to approach the two.
"What are you doing here..." Weiss was met with an elbow in the ribs.
"Ouch! Hey!" Weiss rubbed the spot where she was hit and looked at who did it, but Blake avoided eye contact.
"John, what are you doing here? Did you come to visit us?" the man raised an eyebrow at the cheerful attitude of the girl, which was a bit too much for his taste.
"No, Ruby. First, I didn't know your dorms were here; Glynda was just giving me the key to my room," the eyes of RWBY sparkled with stars while Weiss looked surprised.
"We share dorms; our room is here!" Ruby said excitedly, although Weiss didn't seem to share the enthusiasm.
"What?!" Weiss exclaimed in surprise. "You can't leave someone in a dorm where the majority of the members are girls!"
Glynda and John won at the girl's shout.
"Not so loud, Miss Schnee. Don't worry about it. Mr. Jonathan here is aware of your situation, right?" Glynda looked at the man with narrowed eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like I'm going to do something? Besides, I'm not interested in children," the man said, looking at the woman who was judging him.
Upon hearing this, Yang, Weiss, and Ruby made disapproving sounds.
"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Children?!" Weiss slumped to the floor in defeat, knowing she was petite, but being mistaken for a child was something else.
"Hey, who's calling us children? Do you really think a body like mine belongs to a child?" Yang thrusts her chest forward, causing the man to raise an eyebrow.
"I do," hearing the man's response made Yang fall to the ground in surprise.
"What?!" Yang exclaimed, getting up from the floor.
"I'm going to be 24, and you're around 17 to 18, depending on perspective. To me, you're children," the man said, crossing his arms, and Glynda raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a responsible response.
"In fact, I'm 16..." Ruby shrunk down.
"I think you're exaggerating. Team JNPR is on this floor, and they have two boys. I don't see any problem with that." The girls looked at Blake, who defended the man. Besides, for Blake, it was just a matter of perspective; what was the rule... your age plus 7 or minus 7? She couldn't remember.
Glynda raised an eyebrow at the girl. The vice-principal adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat.
"Whether you agree or not, Mr. Jonathan will be staying here. I hope you don't cause any trouble, understood? This also applies to you," Glynda looked at Team RWBY and then at the man.
"Sure, no need to repeat it," the man said lazily, making Glynda stare at him even more.
Team RWBY approached even closer and started talking to the man and Glynda. While they talked, Blake displayed a smile on her face.
This was incredibly lucky; maybe this way she would discover why she felt so different about the man in front of her...
-Extra-
The woman woke up with the sunlight hitting her face, using the pillow to shield her eyes from going blind.
"Close the curtains, please," but there was no response. "John?"
The woman reached out her arm and noticed the man was not lying beside her, which caught her attention and made her sit up in bed as she looked at the spot where the man had been sleeping.
"Why doesn't he stay in bed with me instead of leaving me here alone?" the woman said with a pout.
Quickly, she threw off the covers and stretched out in a pose that strongly resembled a cat. The ears on top of her head twitched, and her tail lazily swayed from side to side.
The woman in the bed was Blake, but she looked a bit older, more developed, around 23 to 25 years old.
Blake caught a whiff of food as she sniffed the air. A smile spread across her face.
"Well, I won't complain about that," Blake said, walking slowly. The Faunus girl was practically naked, wearing only an oversized white shirt.
Blake made her way through the apartment, and her gaze landed on what she was looking for: a muscular man in the kitchen, cooking something.
The catgirl moved as if she were a predator ready to strike her prey. Her steps were virtually soundless.
The man seemed not to notice, which was perfect for the predator, and in the blink of an eye, the attack came.
Blake's arms wrapped around the man's neck in an affectionate manner. The catgirl noticed that over the years, the man had become more muscular—not in terms of height, but muscle size. Not like a bodybuilder, but quite well-built. Blake had always thought the man was strong, but now he looked even stronger, showing a significant difference in his chest, which had grown and become more developed. She wouldn't complain about that. Blake nestled her head against the man's neck, enjoying the scent. The two didn't have a significant height difference, which made things easier.
"Do you have a preference for anything?" Blake lifted her head and noticed the man was cooking, but to be honest, she didn't mind.
"Anything you cook is delicious, so it doesn't make sense to choose," Blake said, putting her head back on the man's neck. John chuckled at her comment.
"If you say so," the man continued with what he was doing.
"I never get tired of your scent," Blake squeezed the man even tighter as she savored what was in front of her.
John noticed that the girl's tail was wrapped around her leg; Indeed, Blake's body was honest.
"Your mother called; she asked when you're going to visit. Kali said she'd like to meet me in person." Upon hearing John's words, the girl's tail tightened around his leg.
"I-I've already made video calls with them; isn't that enough?" The girl's response made the man raise an eyebrow. John turned off the stove and put the food on a plate.
"You know, I'm starting to think you don't want to introduce me personally to your parents," the man turned and, regretfully, let go of the hug around his neck.
"What? No, that's not it. It's just that..." Blake said, avoiding eye contact.
"Blake?" The girl simply looked at the ground.
"Dad doesn't like the fact that I'm in a relationship with a Human. Mom is trying to convince him, but... when I left home to join the White Fang, I thought the prejudice was only one-sided. I could never imagine that Faunus also have..." John listened to Blake; he knew the topic was sensitive for her, so he decided not to insist.
"All right... oh, I forgot to mention. Your team also called and asked if they could visit us?" Blake's eyes widened, and her ears perked up. Since Blake graduated, she had not kept in touch with her team, especially after the fight they had.
"Blake, I don't know why you guys fought, but I think it's time to fix it," Blake stared at the man with wide eyes, and the Faunus girl simply sighed. Blake couldn't say no to the man.
"All right, I'll call them, but before that..." Blake said, holding the man's hand and pulling him, which confused him.
"I haven't taken a shower yet, and judging by your appearance, you haven't either," Blake said with a smile on her face as she pulled the man into the bathroom.
"The breakfast will get cold..." the man remembered Blake, but the Faunus girl didn't mind.
"We can reheat it later; come on," Blake said with a smile.
"I think you've become addicted," John sighed as he watched the girl's expression.
"It was you who did this to me," a smile graced the girl's face as she pulled him.