Hello again everyone, welcome back to another chapter of this about-to-be-crazy-af-long story. You know, I keep thinking about it, and at this pace we'll be getting to Volume 3 in MAYBE 30-40 chapters, and you guys know me, there's probably going to be more than that. Can't believe this story is going to be that long, sheesh. I really got my work cut out for me here.

Masso2010: Glad you noticed that, and yes, that is one of the flaws some of these characters have. Of course, they could just be my flaws in making Raven's relationship with Kai and Yang like this. Yang did get to see a glimpse of her mother back in the Mistral tournament tragedy, not speak to her all that much be she does know about her and what she is doing with Kai at night. Sigh, that sounded weird. Hope to see you review again soon.

Oblivious IJ: Don't worry, there's not going to be any shotacon stuff in this story. If a fan of this story decides to go for something like that, then I can't stop 'em. Oh Gosh, what have I done in saying that?

Ahsoei: I hope to see you review some more!

Thank you all for reviewing!

Beta: CrowSkull

Now let us get right back into the show!

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 47- Volume 1, Episode 14

Lessons Warned

Kai sighed tiredly as he sat back down after another sparring match in Miss Goodwitch's combat class. He managed to sneak a nap in during Port's class to catch up on some sleep, that way he wasn't going to be obviously tired to the point it became suspicious. He had only went out as Stone Face the night before, if he was tired and sleepy now after staying up until almost one in the morning his lie would have most likely been caught if his friends had paid attention hard enough.

Today, he sat with Team JNPR, his team in the row ahead of him. He hadn't talked to Pyrrha, Rick, or any of their new teammates much since Beacon started a few weeks ago, and when Pyrrha offered to let him take the empty seat to her right he saw no reason to refuse. Pyrrha was kind and fun to talk too, and Rick was a good friend of his. He didn't know Jaune or Nora, but he was used to dealing with what the former refers to as 'Holy shit don't piss Nora off' because of his experience in being Orchid's best friend. So he and Jaune had something in common in that department.

"Hey Kai," Pyrrha called to him.

"Yeah?"

"I think there is something wrong with my leader," She pondered to him.

"I can understand why you may think that." Kai smirked, amused by the way Pyrrha slapped a hand against his shoulder lightly.

"It's not just that, but he refuses almost all of our attempts to try and help him." Pyrrha said sorrowfully. "I would even offer to train him one on one, but I have my own partner to attend to."

"Don't remind me about the torture you refer to as 'training'." Rick groaned, his muscles were sore and trembling at the mere thought of what Pyrrha has been putting on him.

Pyrrha giggled at her partners expense. "You were the one who wants to continue your fruitless competition with your brother, and the one who asked me to train with him in the first place. I did warn you that my training is not for those who are not dedicated to making their bodies physically stronger."

"Ugh…"

"In any case," Pyrrha continued. "My partner and I have a healthy relationship,"

"That's one way to put it." Rick grumbled. "Stupid tall nice girl."

Pyrrha went on, ignoring but amused at her partners grumbling. "But I am afraid that the other half of our team may not have such an attachment."

"I don't think I am the best person to ask for friendship advice." Kai pointed out. "Most of my friends are my friends from a few years ago, and others were made in less than favorable situations."

"Yeah, well, we stuck around for a reason Kai." Rick piped up, suddenly much less indignant than he once was before. "You're a little quiet nowadays, but you're still cool."

"Huh, thank you." Kai said, feeling a warm feeling in his chest. "In any case, I don't know what I can offer besides just talking to him to see what he feels about it. That's about it."

"Talking!?" Nora suddenly joined in, nearly leaping across her two other teammates to get to him. "Is that what I have to do to get him to be more positive!?" She asked, genuinely in anguish from what Kai could tell. What was strange was that he could really sense the panic within the ginger.

"I… think?" Kai offered, shrugging his shoulders.

Suddenly, Nora's mood made a complete one-eighty. "AGH! Why didn't I think of that!?" She asked, falling back into her seat but this time with a thinking expression on her face. "Alrighty, when Jauney gets back from his match, I am going to be extra supportive for him! No partner of mine is going to be depressed anytime soon!"

When the leader of Team JNPR stepped into the arena to once again spar against Cardin, even Kai winced as he heard the way his armour clanged on the tiled pavement of the combat ring. He was impressed by the way the blonde never backed down and kept getting up to fight. But gusto and bravado only went so far in a real battle. It wouldn't save him against someone who was actually trying to kill him, nor would it against any Grimm he wasn't strong enough to take on. Yet another loss came to Jaune, and from across the room Kai could hear their professor sigh. Ouch, that must suck, to be able to make Miss Goodwitch disappointed in you. Once again, she bestowed onto Jaune Arc the advice of getting stronger, and training more in his free time. The problem with that from what Kai has heard was that Jaune did train, just not hard enough, despite having Nora as a partner.

"You'll get him next time partner!" Nora exclaimed when Jaune sat down next to her, a fresh new bruise under his left eye. Kai knew that she was just saying that to cheer her partner up, but didn't make any notion to call her out on it. Little white lies were acceptable most of the time.

"Hopefully," Jaune sighed, letting his head fall into his arms tiredly. "I am getting sick of getting my butt kicked by that guy."

"Wanna start training with me some more?" Nora asked with a wide smile on her face. "I know just the thing that can get you strong enough to make Cardin be like a kitten to you, just say the word partner!"

"Thanks, but no thanks." Jaune said, smiling warmly at her. "I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I don't want to be a burden on you."

"But you won't!" Nora protested.

"I will, don't worry Nora." Jaune patted her head. "I'm not offended by it. I'll keep training on my own and see where I can go from there."

"You're being stubborn." Kai budded in, a great sense of irritation filling his mind as he sensed Nora grow sadder with each word Jaune said.

"How?" Jaune asked.

"Nora is trying to be a good partner to you. No offense, and I frankly don't care even if you do, but you are weak. I don't know what school you went too but they did a very poor job in preparing you for Beacon." Kai said.

"H-hey, Kai, buddy, ain't that a bit much?" Rick said, trying to mitigate the damage that was already done.

"It's the truth," Kai pointed out, then turned his head to look in Jaune's general direction to his right. "What school did you go too anyway? Or were you home trained?"

"I-I, uh," Whatever comeback Jaune may have had turned to ashes in his mouth at that question. He wracked his mind for an answer, something that Kai found suspicious. "The last one." He said, lying.

Kai narrowed his eyes and scrunched his eyebrows from underneath his blindfold. He let people get away with lying before, Emerald and Mercury, back at Signal when they were pretending to be students to get close to him and his friends. They almost killed Rick as a result, and ruined the last Vytal Festival two years ago back in Mistral. He let people get away with lying sometimes. White lies, unimportant lies. Lies that didn't matter. But lies like this? The lie that Jaune had just told him? Memories went through his mind, memories of fire, the death of his father, of himself and his mother nearly being killed by Cinder.

Not again.

"Liar." Kai said, calling him out and placing a hand on the hilt of his sword, a gesture that nearly drove Rick and Pyrrha into panic. Kai sensed Jaune's heart skip a beat, and that only solidified the possibility that Kai didn't want to risk. "Tell me the truth, how did you get into Beacon?" He asked next, focusing his senses entirely on the boy sitting a few feet away from him.

"Woah, Kai, let's try to calm down a little bit, yeah?" Rick asked, standing up and putting himself between Kai and Jaune. "We're all friends here, right?"

"We are," Kai confirmed, making Rick sigh a sigh of relief. "But the last time I let people get away with lying about stuff like this, Mistral happened." He said, and he could feel the sudden spike of fear rise up within Rick. "I won't let it happen a second time."

"What are you talking about? It's nothing like that!" Jaune exclaimed in his panic, and Kai widened his eyes as he sensed him telling the truth. His hands shook for a moment after he took his hand off of the hilt of his sword. Contemplating what he was just about to do in the middle of class. Kill him? Kai barely handled killing someone he didn't know. If he killed one of his friends… He'd be no better than Cinder.

"I'm sorry." Kai said, then stood up and started walking away. Ignoring the way Rick and Pyrrha called out to him weakly.

"Is there a problem Team JNPR?" Miss Goodwitch asked, staring up at where Team JNPR was sitting and noting how Kai was walking away from them.

"N-no auntie-"

"You will refer to me as Miss Goodwitch during class sessions." Glynda hissed at her nephew.

"I'm sorry aun- Miss Goodwitch." Rick amended. "Nothing is wrong, we're sorry we interrupted."

"Hm, acceptable. Do not interrupt my class again or else there will be consequences. Now, where was I? Right, when an enemy attacks low, many counters may be available to you…" Her voice became dulled as Rick turned his attention back to his team. Right when Jaune turned away from them with shame obviously drawn upon his face.

"Jaune? Are you okay?" Nora asked in a voice opposite of how she usually sounded. It was depressing just hearing her talk like this.

"I'm fine, just leave me alone for right now." Jaune snapped, waving a hand dismissively at her as he kept his glare firmly placed at the attention of the professor of their class.

"O-okay…" Nora said sadly, surrendering to her partners anger.

Rick felt a pang of anger and looked toward Kai, who was now taking a seat back beside his own partner Blake. He almost stepped up to go over there and give him a piece of his mind, but Pyrrha stopped him, grabbing his wrist and shaking her head at him. "No further conflict is needed here, we must consider what Kai must have gone through to after everything that has happened." She said, appealing to his logical side.

Rick sighed and let her pull him back down, he didn't even know he was already halfway back on his feet. "You're right, sorry about that. We still gotta have a word with him soon after what just happened." He whispered to her. "He had no right to threaten Jaune like that, and even if it wasn't intentional he made Nora sad. Nora. There's something up with him. What happens when none of us are around to stop him from doing something stupid?"

"I don't want to know either," Pyrrha pointed out. "But right now, let us worry about our own team, we have no small amount of issues. Let us yearn to solve them first before worrying about another. Besides, he has his own teammates and friends to speak with him. It needn't be us, and considering what has just happened, I don't think we'd help him with the words we may have for him."

Rick sighed again, and after glancing toward the sad Nora and complicated blonde he had for a leader. He let his head fall into his arms tiredly. Teenage drama, at its best. "I guess you're right."

"Is everything okay?" Blake asked him as they left the combat class. When Kai sat back down next to her, Blake noticed right away, but didn't bring up the obvious question of why he decided to come back to take his spot beside her again for the reason that she was perceptive enough to see that her partner was not in the best of moods, and most likely would not have given her a straight answer had she asked right away. Which was why she thought it a better opportunity after Ruby and Orchid raced on ahead after hearing that the cooks in the lunchroom were making sweets that day. Of course, sweets didn't automatically mean cookies, but neither Ruby nor Orchid seemed to care for that possibility.

Kai sighed and shook his head. Not at her, Blake knew right away, but at whatever situation Kai may have found himself in earlier. "I hope so," He said, not bothering to try and make light of it. "I just found something out that was less unsettling than it should have been."

"What happened?"

"I nearly drew my sword out against Jaune after finding out he lied about what he might have done before entering Beacon." Kai said with another shake of his head. Blake widened her eyes slightly, and while she didn't show any of what she was feeling Kai was able to sense it throughout her body. Confusion being the biggest of them all. "I had a bad memory flow through my mind at the time. I knew Mercury and Emerald before they turned on us."

"Ah." Blake said, looking away. "I was there, you know. I also knew them for a short amount of time." She admitted. Kai hummed at the sense of her telling the truth. He expected that, coming from Blake. She lied very rarely, and when she did it was to protect herself from her past coming back to haunt her.

"Did you have a lot of friends when you were still with them?" Kai asked, not using the term White Fang because of the fact that they were not alone and anyone could be listening in on them. Also, he needed to know the answer to the question, for his own therapy more than anything else.

"A few." Blake admitted, nodding her head. "I had a few people who I was close with. Ilia, a dear friend of mine. Adam, a former lover. Then…" She hesitated.

"Khan?" Kai asked, his voice flat.

"Hm." Blake hummed, neither denying it nor confirming it. The implication was clear to him nonetheless.

"I have a question for you, if you would be willing to answer it." Kai said, face pointing down as he kept a hand on Blakes shoulder, trusting her to lead him as he focused everything on his deep thoughts and concerns.

"Ask away." His partner said, continuing to walk forward.

Kai swallowed nervously, sending a seismic sense with his next footstep to check if anyone was listening in on them everyone he did sense was a distance away, and wasn't paying their full attention to them. That was enough for him to gain the courage to ask what he wanted to ask.

"Would you be able to kill them, if you had too?" Kai asked slowly, making sure each word was well pronounced and clear.

Blake was caught off guard by the dark and morbid question. Kai was able to tell when she suddenly stopped and turned to face him. He could imagine a certain expression on his partners face as she stared at him. Probably with a shocked look mixed with a small degree of fear. Not of him, but of the concept of murdering someone she was once close with.

"Why would you ask me something like that?" Blake asked him.

"It's something that popped into my mind a while back." Kai said slowly. "My friends and I were betrayed once, I don't want that to happen again. That is why I am careful with who I become friends with, who I allow myself to get close to. Because I don't know if I would be able to kill them if I had too after they betrayed me."

"You're paranoid." Blake pointed out, speaking her thoughts after keeping them hidden for as long as she has been his partner.

"Perhaps I am." Kai easily surrendered. He had to be after what he did last night. He wasn't about to even attempt to deny it after killing that man with his semblance. "But you still haven't answered my question."

"It is not a question I think I can answer without putting some thought into it." Blake hissed at him, then sighed. After a few moments, Kai prepared himself to listen to what Blake had to say. "I don't know," She said, shrugging her shoulders. "That is something I think I can only answer if I was put in that situation for real. Then again, I can't beat either Adam or Sienna, the only one I have a chance at beating is Ilia, and she was my best friend back then. I'm sorry I can't give a more straightforward answer."

"No, I get it." Kai said. "It was a doomed effort from the start, I am sorry to have put it on you."

Blake was relieved to know that her partner wasn't going to push the issue. But she did feel concern for Kai. A question like that didn't just pop into one's mind willy nilly without some kind of reasoning. "There is something wrong." She said, choosing her words carefully and not phrasing the sentence as a question, but a statement. Such as there was something wrong, and not something that might be wrong.

"Don't worry about it." Kai waved her off, laughing about it. A huge red flag went up, and Blake pounced on it.

"It is not something I can put off, if there is something wrong with my partner and leader, it is a duty of mine as a friend to make sure you are healthy. Physically, mentally, and emotionally." Blake said, conversationally backing Kai into a corner. If he fought back now it would be obvious that something was definitely wrong and that she needed to look into him more, and Kai knew that.

He fiddled where he stood. Not knowing how to go about this. Talking about problems was never Kai's strongest trait, it took weeks and months of dancing around the topic of Raven with Yang before they were finally able to get back on good terms after an agreement being made between the two after he was finally convinced to talk to her about it when Ruby and Orchid cornered him. Yes, there was something wrong, but did he want to talk about it? No! Talking about it made it worst most of the time, and made him think about what the problem was. Besides, Cinder and whatever it is she may be planning is going to turn out to be a much bigger problem to his friends if they ever found out what he was thinking about most of the time. Especially now that he has started going out at night to stop the White Fang. With Blake like this though, most likely he'll have to calm things down a bit and skip out on a few days of going out, if only to ward off suspicion from his family and friends.

"I know I can hardly make you speak to me about such things, and I know that I am not the most… sociable of people. That, at least is something we do have in common." Blake went on. "But, if you ever do decide to speak to me about it, I shall listen. That is also another thing we have in common."

"Thanks Blake," Kai said, and meant it. He then frowned and hung his head slightly, almost in shame. "I've been thinking about Cinder a lot." He admitted, Blake listened intently. "Ever since I ran into her, I know she is in Vale now. My family lives in Vale, and after what happened in Mistral. I am not exactly forthcoming to strangers."

"I can understand that." Blake said softly. "I was, and still am, in the same position as you are. Ever since I left them… and in such a way that I did… it was very difficult growing out of that habit. It took a long time for me to grow confident enough to even go out and show my face again. I can hardly imagine how difficult it may be for you, considering the power of your eyes that I've witnessed."

"But that does not mean that you can pretend that nothing is wrong when something very obviously is." She added before he could pipe in, just as he was about to do when he opened his mouth. He clicked it shut, and sighed through his nose. "I am not the best person to speak to, but your friends are. I know how close you, Ruby, and Orchid are, not to mention the others from the other teams, you are quite popular with them, and are sometimes a regular topic of conversation with them. Whenever Ruby or Orchid is involved, at least."

That, made Kai smile out of amusement. He loved those two, he really did. And it didn't surprise him in the slightest to find out that they talked about him a lot. They were all like family to each other after all. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Please do." Blake said, and then sighed. "I don't know when I ever became a counselor, I am not good at the role."

"You did a decent enough job." Kai offered.

"Not a good enough one if you're still not opening up." Blake pointed out. "But like I said before, I am hardly going to try and force something out of you."

"Smart girl." Kai quipped, earning a humph out of his partner. "I suppose this is the moment you keep leading me to the cafeteria where the other half of our team abandoned us for. Or do I need to start focusing again?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood with a rare joke.

It worked a small amount, Blake's lips curled up the tiniest amount. "If I must." She said, taking Kai's hand and placing it on her shoulder. "You're going to have to tell me how to do that one day."

"Maybe, but I already have someone learning how to do this from me." Kai said, remembering Fox. He really has to go say hi to Team CFVY one of these days, he knows that Coco has been asking for him from time to time, he wouldn't want to risk angering her of all people and be forced into a day of hanging out with them as her form of punishment.

The rest of the day went on without issue, thankfully. But it wasn't anywhere near over just yet. Just as he promised Yang and Ruby, he still needed to call back Qrow and have another one of those 'Stay away from Raven' conversations, he assumes so at least.

Reaching his hand into his pocket, he pulled out his custom made scroll. He remembered a faint memory of the information broker he met in Mistral two years ago, he still had her on speed dial, to his amusement. Sadly, now was not the time to be calling old friends. Dialing a memorized arrangement of numbers using the braille lettering on each of the buttons, in no time the scroll started to ring a melodic tune, and after just a few seconds of that, Qrow answered.

"'Bout time you finally call me," The Old Huntsman said, his voice still as deep and gruff as usual as if it had never aged a day. "What have you been doing brat?"

"I've had school to attend to." Kai replied. "Learning to be a Huntsman is tiring work."

"Brat." Qrow remarked. "If I were there I'd backhand you across the head with the hand that has three fingers for lying straight to me face like that."

Kai sighed. "How much has Ruby told you?" He asked.

"Enough to know that you have been training with Raven or her pet maiden almost every night of every day of the week. Been bugging me about it for a week now I think, and then Yang came into it and then I had two nieces texting' me everyday to call you. You're a lot more work than I thought you'd be, you know." Qrow said, grumbling that last part out.

"My heaviest of apologies." Kai said flatly. "And Vernal is not a maiden."

"Sure, keep trying to convince me of that. It's sure to work the hundredth time." Qrow drawled. "Look kid, I am not here to yell or scream or go on a long bitchy rant about my lovely sister. Not this time at least." That was one of the things Kai liked about Qrow. He always told the truth to him. He would be able to get away with a lie over a scroll call, but didn't. He saw no need too. Kai already knew about the maidens, about Salem, Cinder, her allies, and all that good stuff. There wasn't a point in lying to him, it would only make their relationship more tense and on the verge of breaking entirely.

"It's about Yang, and by extension Ruby. They've sent me to try to go all uncle on you and try to get you to spill about your pent up teenage emotions. Told them it wouldn't work, but they didn't care."

"I do not have any teenage pent up emotions." Kai protested.

If Qrow could look at him through the scroll, he would have given him the look of 'Dude, you're seventeen'. But he wasn't there with him, and Kai wouldn't see it in the first place.

"Why does everyone think there is something wrong with me?" Kai asked, more frustrated this time. "My mom is constantly worried, Ruby thinks so, Orchid, Yang, Brick, Rick, even Pyrrha. I don't know what I need to do to show you guys that I am fine." He said as if he hadn't had that conversation with Blake earlier. It was a half truth and lie. A lie because he was acting as if this was irritating him, when in reality he was worried for his own friends who were worried for him. The truth being that he really hasn't shown many signs of him being ill mentally. At least doesn't think so. He's just been himself, and people change. It was normal for people to change. He wasn't going to stay how he was before Mistral forever even if what happened never happened.

"Probably because you keep sneaking out with Raven at night?" Qrow offered. "Think about it, Raven left her daughter before she was one year old, along with her husband. Disappeared for more than a decade and a half. Then suddenly re-appeared to for some reason train you and become a sort of second mother to you while Yang, her actual biological daughter, is left wondering what she did wrong in her life."

"That's not-"

"Then what is it?" Qrow asked, cutting him off. It was clear Qrow was not in the mood for games at the moment.

"I thought you weren't going to talk about Raven this time…" Kai said, growling under his breath. He hated having this conversation, he really did.

"Yeah, well, I must have changed my mind." Qrow sighed through the scroll. "I'm sorry I said it like that kid, its been eating away at me too, and like you all this Salem shit is getting on my nerves."

Finally, something he could relate too and release some steam about. "Tell me about it." Kai said, leaning against the wall and sliding down until he was sitting. "Sometimes I feel like I can never get away from it."

"Hah, you're telling me?" Qrow asked, laughing. Kai could hear him taking a sip from his flask through the scroll, and then felt his lips curl up out of amusement when Qrow burped into the scroll. "I've been at this shit for longer than you've been alive kid, seen friends and family torn apart by it."

"How long did my dad last?" Kai blurted out as soon as the thought came to mind. He heard Qrow go silent over the scroll. "Before he left to Vacuo with my mom, I mean."

Qrow stayed silent for a few more moments. Contemplating on how he was going to answer that question. Talks of Malikai was far and in between the least spoken of choice of topic for obvious reasons. Kai didn't want to speak of him most of the time, and when he did it was always questions on if he could have done anything better, 'What if?' and the like. That, or it would lead to unwanted memories and the emotions that came with them. Malikai was Qrow's friend through thick and thin, so the topic of him wasn't so easy for him either, but Kai was his friend's son. For him, he'd bear through it. "He lasted a good couple of years, longer than Raven did, anyway. He was the most active, and went on a ton of missions with Summer — Ruby's mother — since he had silver eyes. The two of them were a near invincible duo, we even had Salem on the backfoot for a few months at one point."

"What changed that?" Kai had to ask.

"Malikai didn't go on one mission, and Summer didn't come back from hers." Qrow sighed, and Kai felt his heart clenched at the revelation. It made him think about if he decided not to go on a mission, and that lead to Ruby's death… he didn't want to think about the pain that would cause him. It would be heartbreaking to say the absolute least. He even remembered Summer himself somewhat, as the nice lady who used to babysit him at times. She was so kind and loving, he didn't even understand the concept of death at the age when she died. But he knew that he was sad about it. "He was angry after that, Summer to him was like how you are Ruby are. Like a brother and sister who never met until they were already halfway through their lives, they were close like that. When she died, it was like Malikai was a different person. He didn't trust Ozpin anymore, and with most of his team dead or estranged he didn't have much reason to stay in Vale while he had a family that could be put in danger at a moments notice."

"Didn't see him or his family again until a certain someone came to Patch to go to Signal. I still wonder, and I hate that I never asked, but why did he decide to send you to Patch instead of the schools in Vacuo?"

"I think I asked before, but he just said he didn't want me going to any schools in Vacuo." Kai said sorrowfully, the effects of what Qrow had just told him still being processed. "But I think after he got attacked, the answer should be obvious. Some way somehow, he got found, and by extension, my mom and I got found. He did it to protect me, I think."

"Yeah, sounds like him." Qrow laughed. "Damn kid, pretty soon I am going to have to give you a drink or something."

Kai chuckled. "I don't think I am old enough for that just yet."

"You're from Vacuo, by their terms you're legal."

Kai chuckled again, louder and more joyful this time. "Fair enough, I don't have much money though, so you're paying."

"Bah, I always do." Qrow joked. "Take it easy kid, I'll be in Vale again soon so I'll come by to visit one of these days. Your ma' has been bugging me to keep training her, damn wench."

"That's my mom you're talking about, you know."

"Yeah well that nice personality she has around you is a bit different when she is sweaty, sore and-" Qrow cut himself off, and clicked his mouth shut. Through the scroll Kai had a feeling he was facepalming himself out of embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'll let you think about what you just said as punishment." Kai said, his smile disappearing. "I'll talk to you later Qrow, got some more things to do before I am done for the day."

"Sure kid, see ya."

They hung up the phone mutually, and Kai slipped his scroll back into his pocket. After that, he sent a quick voice message to Orchid that he was going out to train at night. She was just about the only person on his team he could tell about training with Raven without any kind of drama coming from it. Then he made his way toward their usual meeting spot, where he waited for Raven to come pick him up to take him to their actual training spot.

Training went as usual, he didn't feel like talking about what happened the night before and Raven didn't bring it up. He already got it out, and she already listened, and neither wanted to keep beating that dead horse. As unusual, Kai got his butt handed to him. During their first break was when Kai decided to start talking finally, only when Raven took a seat down a few feet away from him.

"I'm thinking about going out again, but I don't know when." He said, and knew that Raven knew what he was referring too right away.

"Do what you think you must." Raven replied in a flat tone. "I've already bestowed upon you my opinion on the matter, I shall not repeat myself."

"I know, "Make myself a target"." Kai recited. "'Make yourself the biggest target'."

"I believe you have done just that." Raven said, looking to the blind boy from the corner of her eye. "The White Fang are wondering who exactly this Stone Face is." She smugly remarked.

"Ugh… I couldn't think of a name after what happened." Kai said, letting his head fall into his hands.

"You are the only one at fault for that. The public are stupid sheep, if you truly wanted a better name, you would have thought of that before going to that store at night."

"I didn't think about it, I didn't think I was going to need one in the first place." Kai groaned, then ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "Enough of that though, how do you think I managed?"

"Sloppy first mission, from what you've told me." Raven started out with. "You were smart to cut the power, with your blindness you would be able to fight well, and humans wouldn't have been able to see you. But you were too slow, and it cost you dearly. The police nearly saw you and the woman is now a potential breach for you true identity. But," She said, turning to face him. "It was successful, and now the White Fang have something to worry about for once."

That was as much praise as he was going to get from Raven, Kai knew right away. But it was enough to at least make him smile. It was mostly botched with the way he handled it, but he got the results he wanted for the most part. That was what mattered in the end anyway, not the means, but the results. However, that smile faded away the moment he thought about Cinder, who was controlling the White Fang in Vale.

"How do you think she is taking it?" He asked, then took a sip of water from a bottle.

"I do not know." Raven said honestly. "I do not know this woman, but if I had to assume…"

"How did this happen?" Cinder asked, one of her eyes flaming from behind her hair as the other glared daggers through Sienna Khan, who was reluctantly kneeling to her for both her own protection and the protection of her underlings and peers. "How could one man defeat all of your men single handedly? A vigilante no less?"

"My men was not expecting company, especially someone of Huntsman level." Sienna said calmly in the face of death. "Many of my men are not strong enough to best a Huntsman, it was a doomed battle from the start, they just didn't know what they were up against."

"Clearly," Cinder scoffed. "A few of them dead and the others arrested. Do the living know anything important?"

"Only what I assigned them to do." Sienna said.

"Hmph, this Stone Face… Is going to become a problem if he is not cut out from the root." Cinder said, stepping closer to Sienna and gripping her face by her cheeks. The tiger faunus as she felt her aura come through to protect her face from being burned by Cinders fingers. "Do make sure that this problem is taken care of, or else I will have to step in and take care of him myself, and trust me. That is something you will not want to be forced upon me." She threw her head back, and turned around.

"All of you, this Stone Face individual is to not become a serious issue. Be careful with your raids, arm yourselves with the dust I am providing you, and be cautious. If I am forced to deal with this matter myself, I promise you. There will be fire, and blood." Cinder announced to all of the hundreds of White Fang surrounding her. They weren't going to dare to attack her, for she truly looked the monster. She simply walked into their main compound, because she could and didn't need to worry about it. No matter what they had, Cinder was simply too powerful to use it on her. Especially with their strongest fighter Adam Taurus out in Vale at the moment.

"I hate that bitch." Sienna's bodyguard said to her as she rose up from her position on the ground. "Lording her power over everyone, does she not know that we are the ones getting all this dust? Why did we not kill her here when we had the chance."

"We would have lost, and even if we did manage it, it wouldn't be without tremendous death. Including mine, most likely." Sienna explained, her bodyguard nodded his head, understanding the weight that came with a decision such as that. "But do not worry, just because she controls us now does not mean we are being completely submissive…"

"How do you mean?" Her trusted bodyguard asked.

"Did you notice the human with the silver hair has been absent for the past few days?" Sienna asked.

"I did…"

"Well, Adam and I have plans… and they involve preventing that Mercury Black from completing whatever mission Cinder has sent him out on, and we have a suspicion on where she had sent out the son of Marcus Black to do.

Marron hummed softly as she stroked her daughters hair gently, Malienna being fast asleep with her head resting in her lap. Their tails intertwined with each other. They were on the couch, but Marron would have no trouble falling asleep if she wanted too. Right now, she was too busy thinking about her family, as she does most of the time. Her son was in Beacon, training and getting stronger to become a true Huntsman, and her young daughter was here with her, innocent and growing. She was afraid for both of them, both having silver eyes and a potential target for Cinder and Ozpin alike. Ozpin was already sicking his claws into her son, and while he resists much to her joy, she would not allow her daughter to fall for the same trick. Too many generations of Matsuokas have been torn apart by this secret war already, no more. Kai would be the last, and only because he was forced into it. If only she was strong enough to stop this herself...

Oh, Malikai… Marron wiped a tear that almost left her eye at the thought of her late husband. She wished him back so often, and rarely went a day without thinking of him. He was the reason they were safe for so long, the reason they were able to live relatively peaceful lives for as long as they did. The moment he died she knew that all of that was about to change, and her family was going to be a target from both sides of the war. Including herself and her daughter.

She snapped out of that train of thought as she heard something shift in the room. Nothing fell over, and nothing was broken, but something just didn't feel right at the moment. Being careful as to not wake up her daughter, she turned her head around to look behind the couch, seeing nothing worrying in with her night vision through the darkness. But that didn't mean there was nothing wrong.

Narrowing her eyes, she reached for her choice of a weapon, a blunt staff hidden underneath the couch, and then gently slid her daughters head off of her lap and on top of a pillow. Malienna yawned cutely as she snuggled into the pillow.

Marron's eyes widened as someone moved around the corner to face her. A man wearing black and silver clothing, with a head of silver hair. The only thing to cover his face being a black half-mask covering his nose and mouth.

Mercury Black… Marron thought to herself. "You were at Mistral…" She said, backing up and putting herself between the man and her daughter. "Y-you're an assassin…"

"Yup." Mercury said, sliding the mask off of his face, revealing his hidden features without a single worry in the world. "Nothing personal about this Missus Matsuoka, or is it Miss now?" Marron pointed her weapon at him. "Doesn't matter now, I have a mission, and I aim to impress. Put down the stick, and let me take your daughter to the park, eh?"

Marron twirled her staff and swung it at him, a trail of air following through as a lacerating slash of air nearly cut Mercury in half if he didn't dodge to the right in the split second of time that he had.

"Figures," Mercury sighed. "Guess I'll have to get my hands dirty again…"

Ooooof, that is a rough cliffhanger. Yikes, I feel bad for you guys. But if you think about it enough, you'll know what's coming next chapter. I basically just said it in one of these scenes anyway.

I am also going to have an Omake for next chapter. I am not putting it in here just yet, because I want to have more time to plan it and I am running out of time to write for the rest of this week. But don't worry, next chapter will have a lighthearted and funny Omake. Promise.

Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far.

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