Welcome back to another chapter, let's not waste too much time and get right into it shall we?
Oblivious IJ: So many Carrots, yet still not enough.
Masso 2010: And it is good to see you review again, and thank you for the compliment! I thought about it, and Kai going solo like this was one of my ideas, and during the break I had from the story I kept thinking about it. In the end, you can see what my last minute decision was. Cannot confirm nor deny the Yang implication, apologies. I understand where you are coming from about the Flamingo thing, and I didn't really see it that way until I read it myself. I'll definitely try to make their scenes more cute than anything else, thanks for pointing that out.
Thank you all for the reviews!
Beta: CrowSkull
Now let's get right back into the show!
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 46- Volume 1, Episode 13
The One With The Stone Mask
Members of the White Fang cornered a middle aged woman, a human woman. Who was unfortunate enough to also be the owner of one of the more popular dust shops in Vale. Her hired security guards she hired to keep her safe and the shop secure lay dead on the floor, bleeding from bullet holes and slashed throats. Now it was only her, against a dozen and a half members of the White Fang ransacking what was left of her humble shop. She was gagged and tied up behind the counter, and her precious alarm she was going to rely on was deactivated. This was a planned attack, and she had no idea the White Fang would ever get this violent.
"What's the combination to the safe?" One of the brutish men asked her, his eyes and upper half of his face covered by a mask reminiscent of that of a creature of Grimm. She would have thought that they would have had trouble seeing through the small slits they had in front of their eyes if she wasn't watching them move around her shop and move dead bodies with such ease.
"Mmph." The woman replied, unable to speak properly.
"No, I am not taking out the gag." The man grunted. "Hum whatever the amount for the first number of the first pair of numbers," He pointed the barrel of a pistol into her forehead. "Or else we'll figure it out ourselves, and you can welcome yourself to an early grave."
Please… no. The woman begged in her mind, her eyes wide with terror and full of tears. She knew the three guards she hired well, and they were all armed and trained in the use of firearms. They were dead because of her. "MMPH!" She screamed through her gag, trying to call for help but couldn't even muster up a sound louder than even the man's voice.
"Tch, damn humans. Always so sentimental."
"Hey, you got anything from her yet!?" One of the younger members said, but one that was not unused to the sight of blood.
"Don't be so loud!" He shouted back, causing the younger faunus to apologize meekly. "And no, I did not just yet. It seems like this thing is in shock at the moment."
One of his friends standing beside him laughed. "Well, you did shoot her lasts guard in the head, it made quite the mess over there you know."
"Heh, serves them right. Look," He turned back to the woman, still stricken with fear. "I've been there, saw my best friend get beaten to death by humans back in a time when we were peaceful a few years ago. I get it, but do yourself a favor and stop making this so damn difficult. We got things to do in the morning and I don't want our bitch of a boss to find out we took long because you're being too bratty."
"Don't say that shit too loud man, she'll burn you to a crisp if she finds out you're talking about her like that."
"Shit, yeah, you're right. Thanks for reminding me."
The tears were falling from the woman's eyes at an even faster rate as she thought of the men robbing her not as men, but as monsters, selfish monsters, worse than the Grimm. She has never seen one before, but she figured that a Grimm would have just killed her and be done with it, not torment her about the death of her three friends and basically rub the fact that she was going to die tonight in her face. She hung her head in surrender and accepted her fate, she had nothing else to live for, no children, no husband, and no nearby family. She was alone. If she was going to die her for some dust, then whatever. She couldn't take this anymore.
"Nothing else to say?" The man asked her, suddenly turning his attention back to her after hearing her sobbing come to a halt. "You know I will kill you, if you just hum to me the combination I can at least promise that you might live." He said as he pointed the gun back into the woman's forehead, pressing it against it harder so that it lifted her head up off of her chest and against the wall. Her eyes were open, but they were empty. A complete sign of surrender and acceptance. "Tch, hate it when this happens." The faunus cocked the gun with his thumb, and moved his finger onto the trigger. "Sucks the fun out of it.
The woman closed her eyes, waiting for a death that never came. Through her closed eyelids, she could see the dark red brightness that occurred when rays of light was contacting your closed eyes, with only some seeping through. Then nothing but black darkness. She opened her eyes again to see even more darkness surrounding her, and she no longer felt the barrel of a gun against her forehead. "Mm?" She hummed questioningly.
"Was that you?" The man asked her, gritting his teeth angrily. She could imagine an expression of irritation was on his face. "We can see in the dark, you know, we're faunus."
"Mm mm!" The woman shook her head. Suddenly more verbose than she was before, and more scared. For the reason that she couldn't see in the dark.
"Don't freak out about this, we can see in the dark. Must be an outage or something like that." The man announced to his force, who proceeded to laugh with each other and mock the woman as she craned her neck up to try and see what was going on. She could have sworn that she heard something on the other side of the shop, and her vision was slowly adjusting to the darkness.
"I didn't shut the lights off to blind you." A new voice seemed to echo in the large ransacked shop. All the smiles and laughter died out instantly they heard something fall from the ceiling, and land in front of the only exit from the store. When the man with the gun pointed on her saw the figure, he stood up and aimed his weapon at it.
"Who are you?" The man asked the figure. No matter how much he or any of his allies tried, they simply could not see the figure very well, they knew it was male because of the shape of its body, but they couldn't see its face, there was something dark grey covering it, and he was also wearing dark clothing without even shoes to go along with it. Just socks. Which might have helped them explain how he was able to sneak up on them like that. "Friend or foe?" One of the White Fang members asked, seeing the brown lengthy tail move about the figure in black.
"Someone like that." The figure replied, his voice was deep, but sounded strange, it sounded like a voice that didn't belong, or was forced. It was enough to alarm them, anyway.
Many more guns were tracked on the person's body.
"First and final warning," The mystery man said. "Surrender, preferably before the woman is able to adjust to the darkness."
"You aim to betray your own race?" One of them asked him. "We're all brothers here, and I am sure we can find a spot for you yet." He asked, a friendly yet hostile smile plastered across the mans face. "Whatddya say? You even have the mask part already."
Something dark and sharp slid out of the figures sleeve.
"No."
Kai dove out of the way of the hail fire of bullets that were fired at him at that very moment. He landed into a rolled and took cover behind one of the metal shelves that still had some vials of dust in them. The mask he wore was heavy, and it encumbered his movements somewhat. But he was able to move around easily, just as he knew he would. His body was Hunter trained, more so than most his age. However, that didn't mean that it could stop dozens of bullets aiming to kill him all at the same time. The way the suppressors on the guns nearly silenced the sound that the guns made told him how they were able to do this in the dead of night when the city was the least active. Which told him that his hearing sense was much more proficient than he originally thought. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his fist into the ground, cracking the wooden floor and reaching to the concrete foundation. He could hear and sense the crack break across the ground and knock one of the White Fang members over, but nothing that would do any serious damage.
They were distracted however, which gave him the opportunity to jump out of his cover and throw one of his prepared stone shurikens at one of them. He heard the sound of one of its many spear tips stabbing into a mans shoulder, and pinning him against the wall, and forcing the man to drop his gun in favor of stemming the bleeding in that shoulder. In the second it took for the others to realize that they were receiving some return fire, Kai took another one of his stone shurikens and threw it at the closest member, who took it in the hand all the way through and pinned that hand to its stomach once it entered through there as well. He couldn't use his semblance too much, because he was famous for its versatility, and would be found out if these guys didn't live under rocks. So when bullets were fired at him, he had to rely on a more primitive technique. Dodging.
He sensed the displacements in the air where bullets were soaring through the air, and with inhuman reaction timing, he dodged and ducked through most of them. Jumped into the air and twist-flipped to dodge a few more, and landed on his back and rolled behind a table. When his back touched the ground, he received an echo transmission sense throughout the entire room, and felt three pairs of feet stomping their way toward him. Lurching upward with his legs, he slammed the bottom of his feet into the edge of the table. Sending it flying flat toward the three men who did not see this coming, and knocked all three of them to the ground when the wooden furniture splintered against them.
Kai couldn't afford to stay still however, he sensed that there was still at least a dozen more people to get through, plus the woman he had to make sure got through this with her life. He could hear her muffled voice through the gag she had in her mouth, just begging and hoping for him to win. He kept spinning with his momentum, and pushed up with his hands to flip himself back to his feet. He had aura, so when guns were turned on him again, he ran full speed toward the group of three getting ready to shoot at him.
Some of the bullets missed, but more hit their mark. But Kai completed his intended goal and rammed his shoulder into the closest man's chest, grabbed him by the arm and threw him against the back wall. Destroying the shelves and cracking a few of his ribs. If he wasn't knocked out then, he was when a vial of dust cracked and shattered against the back of his skull. Kai reflexively tried to use Silver Ebony to cut through the last two, but found that his simple stone dagger was much too short. He realized his mistake right away, and prepared to get punished for it.
A fist slammed itself into his mask, but didn't even crack it. Kai followed through the force provided for him with a back flip and whisked his way through the many obstacles he had in his way, and hid behind one of the pillars holding up the building itself. He couldn't help but feel amused by how he didn't even have to use his aura to protect his face, his stone mask did all the work for him.
"Motherfucker!" The faunus who punched him cried out as he held his broken fingers and cracked knuckles. "What the hell is that mask made out of!?" He asked in a scream.
"More like who the hell is that guy!? He's destroying us!"
"Doesn't matter, keep shooting at him!"
"Idiots…" Kai muttered to himself as he reached toward the ground, and made himself a few more stone projectile weapons for him to throw, then covered up the area as quickly as he could to hide the evidence of his semblance use. Raven would have a field day making these men cry and beg and whine about her training techniques. They wouldn't last a minute against her, and neither would they against him. It's only been half a minute now, and there was less than a dozen to go. More than enough time to wrap this up. He couldn't wait until he was able to brag about this to his mentor.
He took a deep breath and focused on his sensing to make sure that his intended targets were still where he wanted them to be, and smirked beneath his mask when he confirmed their locations. Spinning around his cover, he ducked his head and threw two shurikens from each of his hands at the same time. Two of them stabbed into each shoulder and elbow of one of his targets, and the other two stabbed into the arm of the other. Rendering them both in pain and useless. Their screams of pain were dulled in his ears as he surged forward and drove his dagger into the stomach of the one who unfortunately found himself without any more bullets in his clip, and in melee range.
"Agh!" Kai could basically sense the tears that began to form around the edges of the man's eyes as he wrenched his stone weapon back out and shoved the slightly older man to the ground. He wouldn't die from a wound like that, he would know, Raven stabbed him there before as well to teach him a valuable lesson. Never rely on ranged attacks to put down your enemy, it was always best to dispose of them up close and personally, especially for someone like him, being blind. That way you would know for a fact that your enemy was out for the count. After stepping over his fetal position, he sensed someone coming up behind him. All of his instincts told him that he needed to protect himself, but he went against those mental orders and allowed the person to hit him with the butt of his gun, Kai's silver aura flared up and shined bright when the man struck him, making his own attack bounce back and knock him to the ground, a dent in the butt of his weapon. While still on the ground Kai kicked him across the face to make sure that he was going to stay down.
Now it was suddenly down to six members of the White Fang still out and about, and suddenly much more aware of the situation that they have found themselves in. More than half of their forces were on the ground injured and bleeding, some pinned to the walls by stone shurikens, and one stabbed in the gut bleeding and looking like he was dying. Kai smirked when he sensed the fear well up from within his prey. Good. Let them feel fear. Let them know what all those people at Mistral felt like when they slaughtered them, let them know what he felt, let them know how his father felt as he was dying in the arms of his pregnant wife and son.
Kai roared in anger as he charged forward, dodging and weaving through and around bullets as they whizzed past him. He crossed the distance in less than a second, and with his bare hands he made sure that the rest of them would find themselves waking up in a dark cell hidden away from the rest of the world to rot for the rest of their days. They were lucky he was letting them have that much, it was much more than what they really deserved. Which was to pay the ultimate price for their transgressions.
He refrained against doing so when he bashed his elbow into the face of the closest White Fang member, kicked his shin and kneed his face. In truth, he didn't know if he was truly capable of killing, he could say and think it all he wanted, but if he couldn't provide actual evidence to himself that he could, then he wouldn't bother considering the possibility of him losing himself to the guilt of taking another person's life, evil or otherwise. Unless it was Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, or these Adam and Sienna White Fang leaders, he would hold himself back.
Moving like lightning, he moved from place to place, person to person as a black shadow with a stone mask. His thick clothing and exercise was starting to make him sweat, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. With a grunt he tanked a bullet to the chest, his aura protected him from all damage besides pain, and grabbed the gun out of the unconscious man he had just knocked out and proceeded to throw the gun at one of the last members of the White Fang. He was blind, and so it was preferable for most people that he never actually use a gun in combat where allies were around. Not that it stopped Ruby from trying to teach him anyway. He knew how to shoot and work his way around a firearm, but it was better for everyone that he didn't actually try and use one in the middle of a mission.
Using moves his Beacon teachers might have been disappointed in, he grabbed one of the arms of the remaining three White Fang members left, twisted it sloppily, and then kicked him forward so that the man in front of him to where his own ally accidentally shot him. In the shoulder, but in a certain spot that splattered blood all over Kai's mask as the man fell forward, dying. He wouldn't feel guilt for that, even if he was responsible for it. The faunus that was before him was to blame for that. However the faunus was shell-shocked after shooting his own ally, giving Kai the perfect opportunity to spin heel kick him in the face and send him through the glass window.
"Shit…" Kai muttered to himself, he wasn't paying enough attention to his surroundings. Anyone outside would have at least heard that and come investigate. He was on a time limit now.
"Stay back!" The same White Fang member he heard threatening the owner of the shop with his gun exclaimed, pulling up the woman by her hair and wrapping an arm around her neck to keep her in front of her. "Stay back, or the human dies race traitor!"
Kai mentally cursed himself as he forced his momentum to come to a sudden halt. He raised his hands as if he was going to surrender, and let his tail fall limb behind his back. He didn't want any innocents to be injured here. That wasn't what he wanted, far from it.
"You'd kill an innocent woman just to get killed by me in return?" Kai said, forcing his voice to sound deeper and more menacing. He was still a young man growing, but his voice was deep enough already so he could make it sound older if he wanted to. In this case, the older deep voice was needed.
"Innocent woman!?" The faunus repeated angrily. "This woman refuses to sell dust to faunus customers, and is downright rude and prejudice against them. It is people like her that made the White Fang violent, this is the only way they can understand our message!" He jammed the gun against the temple of the crying and still gagged woman, barely able to stand on her own two feet with the way her feet were tied together. "She deserves this, even a race traitor such as yourself should be able to see that."
Kai sighed, the worst part about this was that the man seemed to believe it himself, and the sad part was that it was the truth. It was hardly anything he couldn't believe in himself, he himself has received prejudice from both faunus and humans for him being an outcross. The worst of both worlds, you'd think that it would be a sign for something. Him being a living symbol that humans and faunus could in fact live in harmony. If only this was a perfect world.
"Even then, fighting fire with fire will only make the explosion even larger. This is going to make tensions even worse between faunus and humans." Kai explained, trying to appeal to the man's logical side if he had one.
"Shut up!" Kai could sense that the gun was now turned on him. Good. "You sympathize with these… things? How could you? Since when has a human ever done anything good for you!?"
That sparked Kai's anger, he took a step forward and lowered his arms. Being shot wouldn't hurt him, and he needed to keep the man more angry at him than at the woman. "My best friends are all human, I wouldn't have made it this far without them. My teachers are all human, and better all, my father is a human."
He could sense the shock within the man's body, and a certain realization.
Kai realized his mistake.
"You're… you're that kid aren't you?" The man asked, his voice seeping with anger. "The outcross, it is you, isn't it."
Kai didn't respond, not with his voice, but now that he had accidentally revealed his identity to this man. Something needed to be done about this terrible mistake.
"Heh, now I am not going to feel bad about this at all-"
CRK!
The man fell to the ground, lifeless after a powerful gust of air forced him to twist his neck so far that it broke itself, his hood ripped with the sudden force. The woman fell to her knees and tried to worm her way toward Kai, who stood there shaking with one hand outstretched. Eyes underneath his mask and blindfold wide and shaky.
"Mmph!" The gagged woman mumbled at him, snapping him out of the trance he put himself in.
Quickly, Kai dropped down to one knee and used his stone dagger, still wet with blood to cut the ropes binding her. Then took off the gag. He nearly fell over when the woman wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face into the crook of his neck. Kai found himself sitting there on the back of his legs, surrounded by unconscious, dead, or dying members of the White Fang. His hands were still shaking, and the stone dagger turned to dust in his hand.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" The woman sobbed into him. "I won't ever treat faunus like that again, never! Oh God's…" The woman continued to cling to him.
"You… heard…" Kai just managed to get out, his voice suddenly young and teenage again.
"I won't say anything." The woman said as she pulled back. "I promise, it's the least I can do to repay you for what you did just now."
Thank whatever Gods that may have existed at the time. Kai found himself sighing out of relief as he let his body relax for the first time in what felt like hours. He tensed up again when he heard sirens, and made to stand up, only stopping for when he felt the woman rise with him.
"Go." She said to him. "I'll destroy the footage from the cameras for you, they'll never know it was you."
"Thank you." Kai replied, thankful for this woman's desperate desire to show her gratitude.
"Don't mention it, but either way you are going to be mentioned, if not by me then by the White Fang here. What should I call you?" She needed a name, of course she needed a name. One that was different from Kai Matsuoka.
"Call me whatever you want," Kai said as he jumped onto the broken glass. "I don't have enough time to think of one, I need to go." He didn't wait for the woman to reply, and burst air underneath his feet to fire himself off into the air. In just the span of a few minutes, he feels like he is a new person. When he found himself in a secluded area he slid down the wall with his back until he was sitting and tore off his stone mask, sensing it turn to dust a few feet away from him. Next was his blindfold, which the knot came undone as soon as he tugged at it.
Tears stung his eyes as he wept, the thing he had just did to that man… Wasn't he just thinking that he wasn't going to kill them before? How… how could he mess up so badly like that, how could he just go out and reveal his true identity before he could even make a false one? How could he have been so utterly stupid!?
"Fuck…" He welshed to himself quietly, he felt sick to his stomach, like he wanted to throw up. The sound of the way the man's neck twisted all the way around like that was locked in his head. He couldn't stop hearing it. He didn't even see it, yet it was still so visible to him.
"FUCK!" He screamed to himself, and slammed a fist against the brick wall behind him. Cracking several of them with an accidental use of his semblance.
He sat there, processing and contemplating what he had just done for who knows how long. It felt like he was there for hours, days even. The tears had long since dried when he sensed the familiar feeling of air circulating in one tight area not too far away from him. He didn't even have the emotional strength to greet Raven as she stepped through the portal.
"Something has happened." Raven said, stating the obvious. She was ever blunt with her words. She must have also been able to sense his discord with that semblance of hers. Not only was it about portals to those she bonded with, but she can also sense when one of them is in trouble, depressed, or in need of help. It was how she was able to save him back in Mistral.
Kai chuckled grimly. "I followed your advice…" He said quietly.
"What happened?" His mentor asked, but made it sound more like a demand than an actual question.
"I…" Kai couldn't bare to admit what he has done, but he needed to talk to someone about this. Even if it was Raven. He couldn't exactly go back to his own team and tell them that he had just killed a person and needs help recovering from it. "I-"
"You've killed a person, haven't you?" Raven asked before he could say it.
Kai turned himself to face her, his expression full of shock. "H-How?"
"I have seen the same look in the eyes of my more inexperienced tribe members… I have seen that look more than enough times to know what it means just by seeing it."
Kai sniffled, and hung his head. Ashamed.
"I never thought I would have seen it in you before. At least not at such a young age." Raven said, taking steps to get closer to him. "I was younger than you were when I took my first life."
Kai raised his head slightly, he didn't reply, but the implication of his gesture stated that he was paying attention.
"I was sixteen I believe, or perhaps younger. The memory is hazy, but you never forget your first kill."
"Who…?" Kai asked.
"A fool who thought he could take advantage of me." Raven said easily. "I made sure he'd never be able to. To me, or anyone else."
Kai couldn't help but smirk at the short story. This was Raven he was thinking about, of course she would have killed before, and not even feel bad about it afterward. That was just how she was. That was how most of the Branwen tribe was. At least the ones that he has met so far.
"It is better that it has happened this early for you, Little Kai." Raven said, kneeling down on one knee beside him. "It will not be easy for you, you have a gentle soul. Despite what changes you may be going through. But I will tell you right now that no matter what you do, the life of a Huntsman demands that you be able to take lives. More often than not, it is simply the only option available. Now that you have a taste of it, the second kill, the third, fourth, and every one afterward will become much easier."
"You would know?" Kai asked.
"Yes." Raven said, not missing a single beat. "I would."
"That was a stupid question, probably." Kai said, laughing sadly to himself.
"It was." Raven agreed.
Kai started laughing again, brokenly and sorely. He slowly fell to the side and rested his head on Raven's shoulder, who allowed the gesture to be made with the patience of a saint. She eventually gave up on staying on one knee, and sat down beside Kai. Letting his head rest on her shoulder as he cried. If this was about any other thing, such as perhaps a girl rejecting him, she would have told him to grow up and get over it. But she wasn't much better after her first kill either. She would never admit it, and Qrow has kept his promise even to this day that she spent the entire day after her first kill crying into his shoulder. Raven was going to pay it forward now, and allow her Little Kai to seek comfort in her. A very rare sign of affection.
They stayed like that for about an hour. Raven saw the sun rising in the sky and thought that Kai should probably be back at Beacon before his team wakes up. "Get up, we're leaving." She said, looking down at the blind boy. When Kai didn't respond, she looked to him and repeated the words. "Get up. What are you-" she cut herself off when she saw and heard Kai snore against her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her arm and even his tail around her waist as far as it could reach. Kai fell asleep against her? Her? Raven could hardly believe it, since she could count on one hand the amount of people that would truly trust her enough to fall asleep around her. Qrow, Vernal, and now Kai she supposed.
Sighing, Raven wondered when she became a second mother to the child as she sighed again and tapped her knuckles against Kai's skull. Then borderline punched him to wake him up. The child had a thick skull and a strong pain tolerance, so all that was only just able to wake him up enough for him to open his eyes.
"Wha?" He called out to nothing.
"Get up." Raven demanded, standing up suddenly and watched as Kai nearly fell over. "You need to get back to Beacon before your team wakes up."
"Oh…" Kai remembered everything that happened that night all in one moment. "Right, you're right." He said, standing up. "Make a portal for me in front of Yang's dorm room, I'll be able to find my way from there."
"As you wish." Raven said, twitching slightly as she created the portal right to where Kai wanted it.
Kai sighed through his nose slightly, and took slow tentative steps toward the portal. His whole plan was ruined, if it weren't for Raven he wouldn't have been able to find a way back to Beacon unless he used a Bullhead, which would log his attendance and most likely notify Ozpin that he went out into Vale in the middle of the night.
"Will you be doing this again?" Raven asked him before he could step through the portal.
Kai froze, having one foot through the portal already. He didn't know how to respond to that. Should there be? Should he risk going through all of this a second time, a third, and every number beyond? Of course, the answer was obvious.
"I will." He said. The mess he was in now was a mess he needed to deal with on his own. He wouldn't run and hide after one failure that could hardly be considered one. He saved an innocent life at the cost of some scum members of the White Fang.
"Good." Raven said, impressed by his decision.
"Hey Raven…" Kai called to her before she could create a new portal for herself. He sensed her stop in her tracks, and turn her neck to look at him, waiting for him to speak. "Thank you, for staying with me." He smiled at her. "I appreciate it."
"Hmph." Raven turned back around, and slashed through the air. "Be ready for training tonight, I shall be handling it myself." She said, hiding the way she felt heat in her cheeks after hearing those words from him as she stepped through her own portal and shut it immediately afterwards.
Kai was able to sense the way her heart beat a little faster however, which puts a smile on his sad face as he stepped through the portal she made for him before it disappeared. He sensed and found himself in a familiar hallway, and quickly and quietly snuck his way back into his dorm room after waiting a moment for his customized scroll to turn back on. After feeling the vibration, and thankfully no more to signal any missed calls or messages, he crept his way into his room after making sure that Ruby, Orchid, and Blake were all still asleep, and went into the bathroom.
He almost tore off his 'going out' clothes once he closed the door behind him, and not a second too soon. He could sense Ruby stirring in her bed the moment he shut the door. Then, once he was naked save for his underwear to hide his modesty, he sat down on the toilet and ran a hand through his hair. No, he couldn't think about it. That would only make things worse.
Kai folded his clothes, and then nearly jumped when he heard a knock on the door.
"Hello?" Ruby's tired voice said through the door. "Kai, you in there? I need to use the bathroom."
"Yeah, it's me." He replied, making himself sound as casual as possible. "Just… using the bathroom."
"Mm, hurry up." Ruby yawned cutely through the door. "I really have to go."
"Right." Kai made a scene of washing his hands and hoping that he looked clean enough to not look suspicious to Ruby when he opened the door. It was hard to do so since he was blind and couldn't see if he was actually clean enough, another mishap he failed to consider. This was all a learning experience for him, however, he could sense how Ruby's heart rate was still so slow, she was tired and probably won't be able to figure out that he just went out and stopped a robbery and murder all by himself.
He opened the door and moved past her as she turned herself to let him through. "Hm?" Ruby hummed, noticing that he didn't have his blindfold on at the time and was instead holding it in his hand. Not only that, but was there red spots in his eyes? "Are you okay Kai?" She had to ask.
Kai nearly broke down again, but he handled it well. "Yeah, I am." He said, refusing to turn his face for her to see his eyes.
"You sure?" Ruby asked next, damn her. Ruby was nothing if she was not caring for her friends, and they were very close, being potentially the last two silver eyed warriors of the three known in the whole world. She was like a little sister to him as he was the big brother to her. Ruby wasn't going to back down if she thought one of her friends was in distress. "I'm here to talk to, you know. I can help." And just like that, Ruby forgot her sudden urge to go to the bathroom in favor of making sure he was okay.
"I know, and you are." Kai said, turning around enough so that one of his white pupils was visible. He had a sad smile on his face. He couldn't lie to Ruby, not to her. "It was just… something that happened in the night." He said, telling no lie but half the truth.
"Bad dream?" Ruby pondered.
"Mm." Kai hummed ambiguously. Neither confirming nor denying Ruby's proposition. It wasn't lying if he just let the other person draw up their own conclusions. Besides, he was known to get bad dreams before, especially after what happened in Mistral. After his father's death, being able to see it as well, the first thing him ever seeing in the first place being fire, death, and blood. It was traumatizing for him, and for a long time the same scenario with Cinder replayed in his dreams over and over.
"Awe." Ruby was quick to wrap her arms around him, a gesture which Kai was happy to reciprocate. "I'm sorry, are you okay?"
"I'll manage." Kai answered honestly. "Let me just go back to bed for now, and you can use the bathroom." He whispered, rubbing her head.
"Okay," Ruby laughed quietly. "If you need to talk though, I'm here for you, we all are. We're worried about you, y'know?"
"Yeah…" Kai knew very well. He was even worried for himself. "I know. See you in a few." He said, moving back to his bed and taking his clothes he had with him under the covers. If anyone asked, he just forgot them there. It was a mistake made by plenty and would be easily brushed off.
"Mmm'kay," Ruby yawned again. "See you in the morning-" She widened her eyes. "Er, I mean, hear you in a few hours?"
Kai laughed as he fell back in his suddenly very comfortable bed. Falling back to sleep within seconds. Leave it to Ruby to try and correct herself like that, and thank God she managed to inadvertently prevent him from having any bad dreams for the rest of that morning.
"Lisa Lavender here with some breaking news. In the middle of the night, a dust store robbery orchestrated by the White Fang was thwarted by a mysterious faunus with a stone mask. The owner of the shop has this to say:"
"He was a hero, I thought I was living the last night of my life before he came in to save me and stop the White Fang. He wasn't what I thought this city needed, but I desperately hope that this is not the last time he goes out at night to protect feeble old women like myself."
"And there you have it folks, a statement from the woman herself who had a firsthand encounter with the one who the public is now referring to as 'Stone Face'. Gosh, I hope someone thinks of a new one." The news reporter muttered that last part to herself. "Furthermore, on the crime scene itself it was reported that there were only five deaths, three of which were the shop owners security guards, the last two being members of the White Fang. The ones that were found unconscious has-"
Kai listened absentmindedly at the news announcement as he ate his breakfast in the lunchroom. There were a few TV's on every side of this smaller cafeteria for recreational and relaxation purposes, but now every single one of them had a new channel pulled up, and every one of those news channels was eating away at the potential revenue of the appearance of a new vigilante running wild in the middle of the night in Vale. he could sense half of his team beaming up at the screen, while Blake sat next to him staring with a suspicious glare. Even blind he knew what that look felt like.
"Was that you?" Blake whispered to him, leaving her voice so quiet that only he could hear it with his enhanced hearing.
"As Stone Face?" Kai chuckled silently at the nickname. "No, I was asleep with you guys the whole time, ask Ruby if you have to." He lied, thankfully Ruby waking up in the middle of the night right when he needed to use the bathroom was both a blessing and a curse. Because now she could confirm for him that he was there during the night.
"He was," Ruby did just that. He made sure he spoke loud enough so that Ruby and Orchid could hear him. "Besides, why would Kai go out by himself to fight against the White Fang? He's just one kid."
"One kid who could totally kick your ass if he wanted to." Kai sniped back playfully. Ruby giggled to show that she didn't take it seriously. "But yeah, you're right. I may be a good fighter, but I am just one seventeen year old kid," He said, leaning back in his seat as he spoke. "What could I hope to do against the entire Vale division of the White Fang alone?"
That seemed to be enough for Blake to lose her suspicions of him. Her heart rate suddenly slowed and she was relaxing. Good, he felt sick enough already that he was lying to his team like this. It didn't feel right, but it had to be done. If Ozpin found out that he was going out being a Vigilante, he would hold that over his head and force him to join him. Something that he wasn't going to allow.
"Mm!" Orchid hummed loudly, drawing attention to herself as she always does. "Stone Face doesn't sound too bad, I like it!" She said with a mouthful of food. Her pet Flamingo, being leashed to the side was also eating from her plate. Somehow overnight, Orchid was able to gain the complete trust of the pink bird. Karrot was enjoying the carrots that Orchid was allowing it to eat off of her tray.
"Eh… I don't know about that." Kai said, a bead of sweat trailing down his forehead. "Maybe he could have a nickname that isn't so… Eugh?"
"Perhaps," Orchid easily accepted. "But I still like Stone Face, so that's his name until I can think of a new one for him."
Kai didn't argue any further. He might have made Blake suspicious of him again. Though he thought he should be flattered, his partner seemed to care about him. Not that much, but enough to not want him to get himself killed.
"Yo," He sensed Yang tap his shoulder from behind. He tilted his head up in her direction so that he could show that he was paying attention to her.
"Had fun at night, didn't ya?" She asked, and Kai's heart nearly skipped a beat if it weren't for the playful and teasing tone he heard in Yang's voice.
"Maybe," Kai shrugged, going along with it. "What's up?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Eh, Uncle Qrow kept bugging me to tell you to call him, something about a certain someone you've been sneaking off with in the middle of some nights."
Ouch, that was a jab at him if any. Kai understood why however. Yang didn't mean what she said.
"Ah!" Ruby exclaimed, holding her head with both her hands. "I totally forgot to tell you!"
"I wondered why he didn't just call you instead." Yang grumbled. "Geez sis, what's got you so distracted? Is it a certain red eyed boy sitting across from you?"
Said red eyed boy and Ruby both went red at the tease, and promptly made to deny the claims and stammer on about how they are just friends, really good friends. And totally did not have a crush on each other. Weiss made a disgusted sound while Pyrrha and Rick laughed at their expense.
"No arguing at the lunch table." Ren berated his teammate, who muttered an apology to his leader as he went back to eating his food.
"Ooo, Jauney, are you ever going to have that much control over me?" Nora asked, using her leaders shoulder as an armrest as she ate her food with one hand.
"Nora, the last time I tried 'Controlling you' I got tossed through a wall." Jaune sighed. "I think letting you do what you want is a much easier alternative."
"Aww~ Thanks Jauney!" Nora cooed, apparently taking his words as a compliment.
Kai told Yang that he was going to call Qrow later that day to see what he wanted. It was about Raven, that much was obvious with the way Yang spoke to him. Probably trying to convince him not to see her anymore again. Ever since he lost two fingers to Adam Taurus, and after Malikai's death, Qrow seemed to get more paranoid and careful with those he cared about. It made sense, he knew that if he were in Qrow's position he'd probably be doing the same thing.
The conversation quickly delved into much less broaching of a topic as his friends started to argue on a new nickname to call 'Stone Face', his apparent new alter ego. Then went on about fighting techniques when they gave up and settled for Stone Face as some comic book superhero name. Kai didn't think he was a superhero, he was just a Huntsman in training who had enough of the White Fang running around doing whatever they want with his home city. A city in which his mother and little sister lived in. Qrow was in Vale last he heard, so it was good to know that he was at least in the general vicinity of Marron and Malienna. Kai knew that just in case something happened to him and Ruby, Ozpin would want Malienna alive and safe, if only to use her as another one of her pawns later in her life.
As he thought to himself, his food became a thing of the past. Stone Face was about to become much more popular, and even though the police made an official statement that what he was doing was vigilantism, and that there was now a warrant for his arrest. His drive didn't go down a single iota. Vale was in trouble, if no one did anything to stop the White Fang, they were going to end up bringing the entire city to heel.
He wasn't going to allow that to happen, even if he, a seventeen year old boy, had to face up against a small army to stop it. Even if he was all alone.
The world was already against him, it wasn't anything he wasn't already used too.
And there we go, another chapter in the history books of TBH. This was a pretty fun chapter for me to write, I enjoyed pretty much every second of it. There's also a few things that were foreshadowed, I wonder if you guys caught em.
Also, thanks to a certain oblivious one, there is a new Omake for this chapter!
Omake: The Dawn Before The Flamingo Storm, inspired by Oblivious IJ
"Orchid." Chibi Kai called out to his Chibi best friend. Who was currently sitting on his bed with a sleeping Flamingo cradled in her arms. The former wasn't so unusual, but the latter was something he wasn't exactly familiar with. "What's that?"
"Oh, this?" Chibi Orchid said, holding out the pink bird. "Just a new pet of mine, I named him Karrot."
"Mm." Chibi Kai said. Okay, he could live with this. He was the leader of Team KRBR, a team of Hunters in training. The fact that one of those teammates got an actual Flamingo for a pet was something he could handle, surely. "And when and how did you decide it was time to take on a pet?"
Chibi Orchid looked into the back of her mind as she tapped her chin with one finger.
"Weeell, it all started like this…"
"All the Flamingos shall be free!" Berserker Chibi Orchid exclaimed as she slammed her greatsword through the glass pane. "The subjects of their Goddess shall be free! Rise up, and show the world what it means to wreak my wrath! Muahahahahahaha!"
Flamingos flew and ran out of the pet store, why a pet store was selling exotic animals as pets, no one bothered to question. They were more focused on the crazed girl laughing at the top of her lungs as birds flew all around her, through her legs, and some landing on her shoulder before taking off again. All except for one.
Berserker Chibi Orchid trembled and shifted personalities to cute and adorable Chibi Orchid as one of the Flamingos walked slowly and calmly up to her, tilting its head with interest as it looked her in the eyes.
"That one." Chibi Orchid decided.
"At the Flamingo pet store… Question mark?" Chibi Orchid answered.
"Mhm." Chibi Kai hummed, sensing that lie from a mile away. "Well, as long as this doesn't become a problem, I think this could work out-"
"in other news while people still do not know who the nefarious cat burglar is, many tourists we're left shaken by the events that took place at the Oum national zoo where a mysterious pink figure unleashed a group of ill te-"
"Hehe…" Nervous Chibi Orchid giggled nervously, shutting off the TV before it could reveal any more information.
"Orchid…" Chibi Kai said slowly, and in his 'you're in trouble' leader voice.
"Rubyatecookiesforbreakfastandmademepromisenottotellanyone!" Nervous Chibi Orchid stammered out.
"What!?" Kai said, somehow understanding.
"A-and Yang stole your underwear!" Chibi Orchid shouted next. "Dammit… he's never going to believe that."
"WHAT!?" Chibi Kai exclaimed, failing to use his sensing to tell if Chibi Orchid was lying or not.
"Huh? I-I mean, yeah! They're escaping to the cafeteria right now!" Chibi Orchid exclaimed, pointing toward the dorm room door.
"RUBY, YANG!" Chibi Kai shouted, running out the door.
"Whew…" Chibi Orchid sighed, and rubbed her forehead with the back of her wrist. "Now we can continue this without any interruptions…"
Chibi Orchid giggled as she took out one of Chibi Kai's sleeveless hoodies, and threw it over her body. She sighed dreamily and rolled around in his bed, basking in her best friends scent.
Chibi Blake opened the door to her dorm room, saw what was happening, and promptly shut it and went on to train. Trying to burn that memory away from her mind.
And there we go, a Chibi Omake, just as the captain ordered. It's been a while since I've done one, so I hope I did well enough.
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