Break over, for those who didn't know, I took a short break from writing to collect myself and recover from a hand injury. It took a few days, but my hand healed enough for it not to be completely uncomfortable when I use it to type. So those who were afraid that I was dropping the story or anything, as you can see I am very willing to keep continuing this story. Besides, there is just so much for me to do still, and we're only just getting close to ending Volume 1.
Thank you all for the reviews last chapter, I probably won't be responding to them publicly in the chapter themselves anymore, just for clarity's sake. Nothing against you guys, I just feel like responding to reviews here rather than PM's just sorta pads the word count. I hope you guys understand. Of course I am going to still read them all, as I always do, but if you want a direct response from me than you gotta at least make me laugh with your review or ask a question about the stories, one of those two, for sure.
Beta: CrowSkull
Here we go. To make up for the weeks break, this will probably be a long one. Because I care.
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 54- Volume 1, Episode 21
Unfortunate Duties
Bored.
Tired.
Drunk off his ass.
That was how Qrow usually felt most of the time, and especially now since Ozpin was asking him of a full report of what happened yesterday night. His little run-in with Stone Face went viral in a matter of hours. Almost all of their conversation was recorded on the camera inside the bank, and a montage of him chasing the vigilante through the streets of Vale was also captured by public security cameras. Some asshole must have thought it was a great idea to post all of that on the internet, and now he can't walk down any hallway without being approached for questions about Stone Face or overhearing some chatter about him. It was so annoying… But it brought back memories of his times back in Beacon decades ago, back when he was on the most popular Team of Huntsman in Vale. Good times, those were.
"Kid was trained." He reported as he leaned back in his seat and swung his legs up on his bosses desk. "He did a good job trying to hide it as he ran away, but there's no way someone would be able to get the drop on me like that without having some kind of training. He might be self-taught, trained by some Huntsman, or got really damn lucky."
"Or he is a prodigy." Ozpin offered with a sly teasing smirk.
"I don't know about that," Glynda piped in. "It doesn't take an incredible amount of intelligence to outsmart a man like Qrow. With a sweeping kick no less, how novice of you to fall for such an obvious attack like that."
"Hey, sometimes the simple tricks can be the ones to fool you the hardest," Qrow complained. "Anyway, if we're done teasing me about letting him get away, what's the plan with this guy?"
Ozpin's smirk was all that Qrow and Glynda needed to see.
"You can't be serious." Glynda groaned.
"I am afraid I know not what you mean," Ozpin said as he took a sip of coffee out of his mug. "And I am always serious." He felt the need to ask.
"Wait, this meeting was to talk about finding a way to trap that Stone Face kid, you telling me that isn't what we're here for?" Qrow asked.
"Oh no, we will certainly direct some of our resources into the capture of this young man. You will continue your hunt for him, but once he is captured, he will become a prisoner of Beacon." Ozpin looked over his shoulder at the blonde professor. "In which he will be persuaded into using those skills of his for a better cause."
"I can't believe this. You're going to try and turn him over to our side, aren't you?" Glynda asked. Ozpin simply shrugged his shoulders as a response.
"Perhaps, that will be an option I admit, but only that. An option. The fact remains that this man has been killing people, terrorist or no, since he is not a licensed huntsman he is considered a murderer, and even if he was it would still break many laws and rules we have set in place. Every single one of those that he has killed, which could be much more than what we already know of, had a right to be put through a trial to determine a more suitable punishment for their crimes." The headmaster explained.
"The council won't like that," Glynda pointed out. "Though you hold a seat on the council yourself and Beacon has its own separate set of laws and politics, they would still try and push for this… Stone Face," Her face twitched at the odd superhero name the public has given him. "To face their rightful justice."
"And they will, should Stone Face decide to not work with us." Ozpin frowned, turning back to face the window.
"Heh, nice set of choices there," Qrow said. "Join us or spend the rest of your life in prison or potentially receive the death penalty. I wonder which he would choose?"
"The correct one, I would hope," Ozpin replied. The idea of forcing 'Stone Face' into working for them was an odd yet attractive idea. He has not yet explained in full, but he plans to give the vigilante some more training and see what he is capable of. The best possible outcome would be to give the man a license and send him back out to legally go after the White Fang. They have been a problem anyway, and once they were dealt with he would be free, but excommunicated from Vale. It was a harsh price, but a small one considering all that he has killed.
"We have to put into consideration that the vigilante has never killed anyone not part of the White Fang," Glynda added. If the headmaster was going to have a crazy idea like this, then she might as well do her homework. And that she did in the form of doing a quick search through all the police reports and looking at the logged crimes that Stone Face has committed. A few dozen homicides, and the names of all the 'victims' were all labeled as members of the White Fang.
"That we know about, at least." Qrow pointed out.
"Correct, but if Stone Face," Ozpin snickered when Glynda glared at him. "I'm sorry, if the vigilante has not ended the lives of those not in the White Fang, including the ones we do not know of, then we know that he has been specifically targeting the White Fang."
"He does only appear at their crime scenes," Qrow said. "But what's strange about that is that he has a tail. Brown monkey one to be specific."
"He is a faunus then, hm." Ozpin raised a hand to cup his chin as he thought. "A faunus hunting down the White Fang, that is certainly an interesting prospect…"
"Do you think that he could be from Mistral?" Glynda asked. "If so, then it wouldn't be hard to determine if he was one of the victims who suffered during the tragedy of the previous Vytal Festival tournament two years ago."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Qrow spoke up. "He was either one of them and turned tail after that, and is doing something about them in Vale as a way to atone for his sins, or…"
"He was one of the students." Ozpin finished for him, then turned fully to his deputy. "Contact Leonardo and have him give me a full list of all of the students that attended the tournament two years ago. While you're doing that, you might as well contact James in Atlas and Headmaster Rivers in Vacuo. We have a wide list of potential suspects, but focus on those who are known to have a history with the White Fang."
"Understood." Glynda already went to work on an email that she would send to the headmaster of Haven, and would soon compact one for the headmaster of Atlas and Shade respectively. "What about those from Beacon?"
"I will look into that myself, just focus on what I've given you for now."
As they spoke to each other and planned some meetings with the other headmasters, Qrow looked up to the ceiling and thought about the previous night. Stone Face, a stupid name but it fits the image. At first, he thought that the vigilante was called that because of some kind of semblance, but after meeting him in the flesh he knew that it was very literal. The guy actually wore a mask made out of stone. Which should not be very healthy for his neck.
There was an uncomfortable thought in his mind however, Stone Face was a faunus. That wouldn't bother him usually, and it wouldn't have if it wasn't a monkey faunus. A monkey faunus with a brown tail. Thinking about those features instantly made him think of three people. Marron, her daughter Malienna, and her firstborn son. Kai Matsuoka. The latter out of all three of them was the most concerning. His body type is very similar to Stone Face's now that he thought about it, and the way he moved and the way he fought… He was probably overthinking this, but he just couldn't shake that feeling of the possibility that sweet little Kai was the one going out and doing these things with a mask on his face. Despite everything that happened and what he's said he didn't think that the kid would be able to take a life, except if it were Cinder's of course.
"Is something the matter, Qrow?" Ozpin asked him, noticing how his face looked as if it was deep in thought.
Qrow looked up, snapping out of his train of thought. "Huh? Yeah, everything's fine. I was just thinking of some… things."
Ozpin wondered what 'things' were, but at the thought, he reeled his head back with amusement and nodded his head in understanding. "Ah, I see. Trouble in paradise?"
Trouble in paradise, what? Qrow widened his eyes and cursed with the way his face heated him very slightly. He meant Marron, of course. "Eh… nothing too serious." he lied. Though Kai was okay with them dating, he trusted him and his mother to take care of each other. But he made it clear that he wasn't about to start calling Qrow dad anytime soon. He was alright with that of course, because he would be weird out too with trying to come to terms that Kai was potentially going to become his step-son and Malienna his step-daughter. Honestly, the thought of Raven becoming Kai's official step-aunt was the most concerning. "Kai was a little prying at first, but everything is calming down now."
Ozpin snickered. "And I take it you weren't ready for that? Well, compared to the last time you were in a relationship, I would think you will do fine in this one."
Qrow winced. The last 'relationship' he was in ended back soon after he graduated from Beacon. His semblance went a little haywire, Raven abandoned him and their team, he had a few drinks, and there might have been an explosion somewhere in the middle of all that. He hasn't been with anyone since besides for some casual nights throughout the years. He loathes to admit that he is still to this day that he isn't the most romantically experienced.
"Yeah, me too." He'd take some embarrassment over revealing what he was truly thinking about any day of the week.
"Oh, and one more thing. Qrow, the police has informed me that the terrorists that they were able to arrest will talk given they receive a fair plea deal. Be ready for me to call upon your skills once more."
"So just keep doing what I normally do?" Qrow teased.
"Yes," Ozpin took another sip from his mug. "You do that."
Mercury Black groaned as he made his way through one of their many hideouts scattered throughout the city of Vale. He shut the door behind him and let Neo continue her 'recovery'. In truth he managed to figure out that she's been okay for a while, she just likes to sleep. He doesn't care enough to say anything about it, it would only be such a hassle. Though the nasty scar on his chest certainly had something to say. He just recovered fully for the most part, today in fact. Thanks to Emerald nursing him with whatever meds the White Fang gave them for the past couple of days he managed to recover pretty quickly. Of course, it didn't come without its complications.
"Up and about so soon?" Roman teased him as he drew a hand across his own chest. "Here I was worrying about my favorite little assassin friend, how's the chest?"
"Fine. Where's Emerald?" Mercury asked.
"Chest is fine? Hm, how about that pride of yours? Heard you got real fucked up by that Stone Face guy."
"Ugh." Roman knew what he was doing, and Mercury did as well. He always did that, always said the kind of shit that would get you shot in some places. Since Roman couldn't do it in Cinder's presence, that somehow gave him the privilege to do it every other waking moment where she is not around. It really was annoying, most of the time at least. Sometimes he would give the man credit for amusing him and making him laugh. Other times, which was most of the time, he wanted to stick his metal toe in his eye socket just to get him to shut up.
"Heh, you got pretty good reactions for a kid who killed his own dad." Roman's annoying voice said.
"One more step in that direction, watch what happens." Mercury threatened. There were just some things he wouldn't let by without a fight. His dear late father happened to be one of those things.
Roman threw his head back with laughter. "Haha, chill, chill, you know I'm just screwing with ya. Besides, I wouldn't want to piss off my scar twin too badly anyway."
"Scar twin?" Mercury raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah I didn't tell you yet. Right." Roman pulled down his shirt enough to reveal a nasty scar of his own on his chest. Only his was caused by a burning attack courtesy of Cinder Fall around the times where he was first recruited a few years ago. Apparently, that was what got Roman to finally accept working for their mutual friend. "That my friend, is why I don't be myself in front of Cindy."
"You shouldn't be yourself around anyone." Mercury snapped back. "Now tell me where Emerald is so I can get going."
"Wow, hurtful, you don't want to stay and chat with me anymore?" Roman asked with fake hurt. Then rolled his eyes. "Minty Green is currently helping out some of the animals with another heist. Since this Stone Face kid is running around causing trouble, she wants someone a little more competent to hold their hand."
"Great, tell me where," Mercury replied.
"Can't." Roman shrugged his shoulders.
Mercury resisted the urge to punch him across the face.
"I can't tell you because I don't know either. I don't know what you're smoking if you think that Cinder trusts me for some reason, but I want some of it." Roman added before Mercury could actually go through with his threatening murderous thoughts.
Mercury settled down and shook his head with a light sigh, of course, Emerald would be out the same night he fully recovers. He didn't know what was up with Cinder recently, but she has had some serious trust problems with them recently. Though he guessed that was his fault, since all their trouble sorta started with his crushing defeat at the hands of Stone Face, or so goes for what he told them so far. Which reminded him of a certain horned man that skulked around in his thoughts for basically his entire recovery.
Well, if Emerald wasn't around he figured that he should probably go and find the guy, if he's around anyway. He barely knew the guy, and despite working with him for the past couple of years doesn't know all that much other than he is a high ranking White Fang officer next in line to take over the White Fang after Sienna croaks or retires, he just knows that the guy is a very powerful fighter, and trained himself to the point where not even fully trained Huntsman could stand against him without giving it their absolute all. So the fact that this Adam Taurus, one of these White Fang fanatics went out of his way to betray Cinder and stop him from killing the blind kid's mother and kidnapping his little sister only to offer him, a human, a spot in his plans to betray Cinder supposedly, was a little jaw-dropping, to say the least.
Roman shrugged and went on with his business as Mercury walked past him without another word. Since he pretty much had nothing better to do and Cinder was out doing whatever with Sienna from last he heard from some passing members of the White Fang, he might as well look around and see what he else he can learn. That and look for a familiar head of neon red hair.
After walking around for a few minutes more or less scouting out the area, he noticed that the paladins that were being stored there were missing. Or more like some of them were missing. That meant that something big was about to happen, he really needs to get caught up on everything, if Cinder meant to use these paladins for part of her plans than he needed to get caught up.
A dark black hand the same color as a Grimm wrapped around his mouth and overwhelming strength pulled him away into the dark shadows. His instincts told him to fight and he did so by twisting himself out of the figure's hands, only for the back of his head to be pressed up against the wall as another more human gloved hand locked his lips together. His wide black eyes stared into light blue, and after registering the bright red hair and black bull horns Mercury relaxed and stopped fighting.
Adam's black shadow clones faded away. Mercury didn't know if that was part of his semblance or just some neat trick of his, but it definitely caught him off guard. "You've recovered." The man's deep voice said as he stepped back and leaned against another wall.
After looking around for a moment, Mercury noted that they were in a tight space behind and between some of the paladins. It was a small corridor that never got finished, so there were no lights in it. It was pitch black to him when Adam's clothes and hair stopped glowing that neon red. The perfect place for a faunus to fight a human because of their ability to see in the dark. Mercury swallowed down his instinctive desire to get out of there as fast as he could, and crossed his arms.
"Yeah, no thanks to you." He said, spitting to the side. "I got a scar across my chest now."
"It was a necessary price to pay for Cinder to buy your story. Had I let you go without hurting you severely, what would our mutual friend have thought?" Adam countered, Mercury had nothing to argue with. "Exactly. I apologize for the pain you must have had to endure, but know that the pain is not what is important at this moment. Let's get right into the most obvious, shall we?"
Mercury snorted. "Straight to business, I like it."
"If you have any questions first, now is the time."
Mercury had questions. Oh, he had a ton of them. But one question screamed louder than most of the others, and it happened to be the one to leave his mouth first out of all of them. "Why did you trust me not to rat you out to Cinder? I could have easily gotten you killed like that."
"I didn't trust you at all," Adam said, and began to explain. "I made a gamble, I knew that you held no loyalties toward Cinder then, and I know that you still don't know. She never saved your life and I can confidently bet that she hasn't rewarded you for any of your successes, am I correct?"
"Well…" Mercury felt like he maybe should defend Cinder, but Adam was right. He wasn't loyal to the bitch, he was just there along for the ride and then got caught up in the whole Grimm Queen mess. He had no way out, and even if he did, where would he go? That was the main reason why he hasn't left already, among many others, some of them including Emerald. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Then my gamble paid off." Adam nodded his head. "I would assume that you are curious as to what Sienna and I's plans are. But before that, I must know one thing."
"Shoot." Mercury waved a hand toward him.
"Would you stand by and let Cinder die if such a situation provided itself to you?" Adam asked him.
It was an oddly specific situation, and the bluntness of the question caught Mercury off guard, and it made him think. Back then two years ago in the past and beyond that the answer to that question most likely would have been a solid no. But now… he didn't know. He always knew that Cinder wasn't a good person, and years ago when she first picked him up he never had a reason not to follow her. She fed him, gave him a place to sleep, and even another person to hang out with when they weren't doing anything important. She caused a lot of pain and killed a lot of people. But then again, so has he, Emerald, most of everyone they worked with, and even the man standing before him. And was planning something that as going to potentially lead to the deaths of thousands. Recently however, she has grown more and more ruthless, and she seemed to fall over the edge when that blind kid used his silver eye powers to nearly kill her. Taking an eye and an arm in the process. She became more punishing of mistakes, all mercy that previously existed within her soul was long faded away, and she became more a monster than Grimm, and was literally becoming one if what he has seen held any truth to it. By no means was Cinder a good employer, so In the literal sense of the question, if Cinder laid in front of him bleeding to death and he was the only one in the area with a first aid kit, would he try and save her…?
"... Yeah." He said after a few moments of thought. Remembering how he took a harsh punishment after the events of the previous Vytal tournament. The fire was still burned into his memories. "I definitely can."
"Hm." The way Adam hummed suggested that he was satisfied with his answer. That became even more apparent when he pushed off the wall and stood directly in front of him. It's been long enough for Mercury's eyes to adjust to the darkness so he was able to see the very small smile that Adam had on his face. "That is good to know, because I would do the same thing. Though, if I were put in that situation I would most likely finish her off myself to make sure she really dies."
Dark, but Mercury could dig it. "I can't promise that I'll be the best kind of double agent for you, but I can at least try. Cinder holds a tight leash on me though, so that is going to be a problem."
"For later, perhaps you are right. But for now and the very near future, she has come to me about bringing either you or Emerald with me to out next upcoming raid on a Schnee freighter ship docking at the harbor in two day's time." Adam's smile became a little wider. Mercury instantly knew who the masked man intended to take with him. "And I know just the way where she won't be able to suspect you at all."
"Oh really? Call me intrigued then, what do you have planned?" Mercury asked.
Adam's blue eyes flashed beneath his mask.
"She wants the vigilante, so you, me, and all who will be working with us are going to lead him right to her."
Ruby fiddled with her thumbs as she paced back and forth across Team KRBR's dorm room. Classes ended early and everything went pretty well all things considered. Jaune and Nora made up, so that was cool and cute to look at, though her poor blonde friend seemed to be caught up in something she didn't understand and had no ways of escaping. Brick said hi to her a few times, and her big sister was happy. Even Kai and Orchid reverted back to their old style of banter with the way they spoke to each other that day. Today was a good day.
Which made it suck bad. Really bad. When Kai told them during lunch that he was okay with them all going on a 'team field trip' into Vale. Gah! This was a lot harder than she thought, and it became a lot harder when Blake and Orchid both left the room to give the two the apparent privacy that they needed. Even though Kai was currently listening to a recorded lecture prepared for him by Doctor Oobleck at the moment. His attention was focused elsewhere, and she only just realized that the speed at which she has been pacing quite literally drove a hole into the floor.
"Are you going to talk to me or keep pacing around like that?" Kai asked her.
"Eep!" Ruby yelped, going as still has a stone at the sound of his voice. Though it might have sounded rude and demanding to most people, he said it in a gentle voice that had Ruby feeling much more comfortable to speak to him. Not that she usually had trouble speaking to him, recently she was the one who had to initiate conversations with the blind boy that she has taken on as one of her best friends in the whole wide world.
Right, enough distractions. Ruby took in a deep breath and turned around to face Kai. He didn't have his blindfold on at the moment, which revealed the same colored eyes that she had, only a little more narrow and masculine with a pearly white pupil centered in the middle of all of it. He was comfortable without it on around her and their team, and was mostly okay with walking around without it in public as well, it was just engraved into his mind to wear it, mostly because it was his late father's blindfold. If memory serves, Malikai wore one during his time at Beacon as well. She wondered if Kai was able to see if he would be able to see through the blindfold.
And now her mind was going somewhere else again, dang it!
"M-Matsu." Ruby stammered and tried to look anywhere else than his eyes, which just so happened to be his chest. Despite knowing that Kai is blind, the way his eyes somehow still tracked hers gave off the illusion that he was staring into her eyes.
"Yeah?" Kai asked, setting aside his scroll and giving more of his attention to the young girl. "Is something wrong? You seem a bit nervous."
Drat! The whole sense thingy that he can do. Ugh, that made it so hard to hide anything from him. "Yeah…" She slowly said, rolling her head with each other word that came out of her mouth. "There is something that I need to… ask you… and tell you… and hope that you listen to me."
"You can tell me anything," Kai assured her with a kind smile. "My ears are always open to you, you know that right?"
"Yeah, of course I do," Ruby said much more confidently. Then she sagged her shoulders when she remembered what she had to do. Why did she have to be the one to do this again? Blake is much more cool-headed than she is, she should be the one to have to do this!
You know what? There was a better way to do this than to spar with measly words. Ruby decided that she would do things here the same way that her father and Qrow would when they have something on their minds.
"Let's spar," Ruby said with a determined voice, feeling instantly how her body reacted almost immediately to the mere mention of combat. Professor Port did tell them a few times that sparring was one of the best ways to get to know a person. "Just you and me, one on one."
Kai looked surprised if his raised eyebrow was anything to go by. Ruby felt her awkwardness slip away however as her blind best friend began to stand up. "You don't usually straight up ask me like that, I'll do it, but is there any reason that you want to train this late in the day all of a sudden?"
"Yup!" Ruby replied.
"Are you going to tell me?" Kai asked.
"Nope!" Ruby confirmed something that he already knew.
Kai sighed and chuckled lightly, then rolled his shoulders in preparation. "Alright then, let's go." It's been a while since he used Silver Ebony against an opponent that wasn't Pyrrha, Raven or Vernal. It has been a while since he trained with Ruby, and his shoulder was still a little sore, but he felt like he could definitely go for a few rounds if Ruby wanted it. It would be good to train his reflexes as well. It was a win-win all around since it would make Ruby a better fighter as well.
Ruby grabbed his hand and they sped off to the closest training arena. When classes were over there usually always were an open training center that was open almost every hour of every day. The students had to log in when they entered and log out when they left, and they were trusted to not destroy the entire place with what powers they may have. That was where Ruby took Kai in a matter of a single minute where it would have taken anyone else about ten to get there, and thankfully they had the entire place to themselves, perfect.
"Geez Ruby, excited?" Kai asked as he caught his head with one hand in an attempt to stop the feeling of himself spinning like a top. "I still need to get Silver Ebony you know, unless you want to train how to fight with your fists like your sister."
"That's fine!" Ruby stuttered. "I'll go get Crescent Rose, be right back!" Kai raised an eyebrow as the red reaper sped away using her semblance, he was barely able to sense her doing so, she was really excited for this for some reason. Her heart was beating a million times a second from what he could tell, so that meant that she was nervous or had something to tell him. He decided that she was just excited to spar with him since they hadn't done so in weeks. That answer made the most sense anyway.
When she came back he already had Silver Ebony and his defensive forearm gauntlets strapped to his body. And he could sense the massive mecha-shift scythe that Ruby came to create a few years ago, and has added upgrades to it ever since. He remembered when she tried to take his sword and do something to it as an upgrade, but the metal was way too hard and anything she tried to add to it, like a gun or something like that, Silver Ebony always rejected it. He didn't understand the entire concept of an ore of metal that was purely meant for silver-eyed warriors to use, but he figured that he should do some more research on that. Maybe ask Oobleck or even Ozpin for more information on it. If Ruby got her hands on the material and made it into a new scythe, then she'd have a much more powerful weapon. Not to say that Crescent Rose isn't strong by itself, simply that the metal used to create it was simply inferior to silver ebony.
"Ready?" He asked his fellow warrior as he walked to the back center of a wide-open arena.
"Y-yeah…" Ruby thought on what she wanted to say, and decided not to say it and go for something else instead. "Go all out this time… please."
"What…? Why?" Kai asked, surprised by her challenging aura.
"I want to see how I can do against you going all out." She half lied, Kai was able to sense that there was something more to it between the lines, but accepted what she gave him for now. "It's been a month and a half since we last sparred together, and we've both improved. I want to see if I am still able to beat you."
Sometimes she was able to beat him, it wasn't her bragging, it was simply factual. Before they went off to Beacon they sparred with each other almost every day. Kai was able to sense the area around him and used that to his advantage, but Ruby had one massive advantage over him that she abused pretty much every time they sparred. Speed. There were limits to what Kai could sense, and those moments where Ruby was able to break Mach speed for a fraction of a second through his senses into a blender. Even when she isn't moving as fast as she possibly could, she was still an extremely fast fighter. All the training they have done made her into the dangerous huntress that she was. If she had the use of her eyes, she might have been an even more dangerous fighter than he was. One of the only things that held her back was her confidence, and the number one way to beat Ruby was to disarm her since her hand to hand combat skills were lacking significantly.
And she wanted him to go all out today. He was worried, he wasn't going to lie to himself. Besides what Professor Goodwitch puts him through in combat training, all he has been doing is going out at night to train with Raven and Vernal, which points his skills more toward dirty fighting and fatal blows more than what Professor Goodwitch teaches them. She teaches them how to fight honorably, and with rules. Things were different out there in Remnant. He's killed people. In brutal ways sometimes. And without the use of his semblance or his most valuable weapon. The thought of accidentally doing that to Ruby scared him.
He needed to restrain himself, he wouldn't go all out right away, but if Ruby pushed him then he would. That sounded fair.
"Okay." He said after a few moments of thinking about it. "Push me and I'll go all out," Kai added as he entered a low solid stance. Against Ruby is was smart to make himself a smaller target, Ruby's oversized weapon always struggled against smaller opponents.
"Got it! Thanks, Matsu!" Ruby cheered as she set herself up for a blitzing opening attack. There was no countdown to the beginning of the sparring match, so they each mutually decided to consider the match started as they stared one another down with their bodies. Kai entered his focus mode and kept a tight grip on the hilt of his sword. Using two hands made him slower, and he needed all the speed he could muster up in order to keep up with Ruby.
No more room for conversation, they both decided. Kai held his ground as he sensed Ruby dash from in front of him to at an angle to his left. She was testing the waters, he immediately figured out. They haven't sparred in a while, so she wanted to see how good his senses were still with keeping up with her speed. She barely touched the ground as she shot around like a bullet all over the arena, and Kai didn't even bother to try and keep his body facing her, he had a general idea of where she was at most points where her foot came in contact with the ground, and he could sense her body displacing the air with each inch of movement she made. The hairs on his arms stood up from their roots, displaying the reason he very rarely wears sleeves as he felt gusts of wind blow the little hairs on his body.
His senses went on high alert as he heard and felt Ruby fire Crescent Rose behind herself, and Silver Ebony flashed white as he raised it and turned around to meet her. Their blades ground against each other, and it could hardly be considered an exchange while Ruby somersaulted through the air and landed softly on her two feet. Kai turned to face her, Silver Ebony flickering as it's light faded away.
Kai felt the swords power dwindle, and in that moment of distraction, Ruby made her next move. Kai drew his sword up and felt himself skidding backwards several feet as his sword still vibrated from Ruby's powerful attack reinforced by her speed. Kai stopped himself and held his ground, sensing that he was just barely hovering in front of the edge of the arena. Almost a ring out by Miss Goodwitch's standards. He kept focus on Ruby but kept trying to bring through the power within his sword, why wasn't it working?
He gave up after feeling it's power flicker a few more times, and decided that it was time to stop feeling Ruby up. She was strong, she could handle him when he tries a little harder. Ruby narrowly dodged a cyclone of wind that would have picked her up off the ground like nothing, and had to play a game of keep-away in order to stop herself from getting captured. Kai weaved the wind through the air and brought it back to himself around his left gauntlet, and held his sword in a reverse grip in his right as he used that air to bolster his speed by firing off the wind behind himself. For a moment he was moving as fast as Ruby, but he wasn't able to maintain that speed, or direct it. Not without the use of his semblance anyway.
A few tiles on the ground were raised up in an angled ramp, and Ruby had to stab the end of the staff end of her weapon into the ground to viciously redirect herself. Kai was going to cut her off if she kept running, so she decided to meet him head-on instead.
White sparks flew as sword clashed against scythe. They passed each other and their auras flared. The vibrating pain in their arms was nullified by their determination to keep fighting. They each stopped themselves, turned around, and blasted off at full speed to catch each other once more. It only got more intense as precious seconds ticked on by, with every pass Kai was able to feel his bones shake, but he could feel himself slowly getting the upper hand. He was much stronger physically than Ruby, she was just much faster and was able to generate a matching striking force to counter his own.
Ruby ended these trade-offs by letting Kai push her back. He overextended and nearly tripped, just managing to catch himself on his front foot. He felt a heel slam into the back of his head however, fully knocking him over. He rolled through with the force however, and pushed himself back up with one hand in a powerful flip. Ruby was on him instantly.
His teeth grit as he reacted to his senses accordingly as Ruby didn't let up a single second. A merciless assault that would have drained anyone else if they weren't expecting it. His muscles were screaming for him to slow down and take a break, but he didn't let them rest as he parried or blocked each attack that Ruby through at him. Though a few did manage to graze his aura. Finally, he found his opening when he caught hold of Ruby's scythe, catching it by its staff and using his superior strength to stop her from spinning around with all those movements that she loved making.
Ruby growled lightly and tried to twist the staff out of his hand, but he still held on. Ruby might have been weaker than him, but she was able to use her entire body and weight to pull back and twist on top of that while he only had his arm and shoulder and some of his upper body muscles.
She surprised him when she let him take her weapon, letting go. Kai nearly fell over backward, but kept his balance with a gust of his semblance. With both hands occupied and Ruby already in his guard, he felt her forehead smash against his.
Even blind he was able to see the stars that danced across his dark blurry vision as he dropped Crescent Rose. He held his ground however and refused to back down, then sensed as Ruby's bottom struck the ground as she fell backward while holding her forehead in whining pain. Kai went to punish her for the foolish mistake of literally butting heads with him. But Ruby disappeared, Crescent Rose along with her.
She was behind him. Kai already knew. The hooked blade of Crescent Rose skidded against his defensive gauntlet, and she cried out a 'Woah!' as she spun along with the weight of her weapon uncontrollably. She recovered, but didn't move a muscle as she saw the tip of Silver Ebony directly in front of her eye, and a strong arm wrapped around her waist.
Exhaustedly, Ruby started to snicker in the face of defeat as she noticed Kai heavily breathing and on the verge of falling over, just like she was. After a few moments, Kai smirked and laughed along with her as he let her go and slid his sword back into its scabbard. They both then fell backward into a sitting position. Laughing the entire time as they held their heads which were still throbbing with pain.
"You almost beat me this time," Kai stated honestly as he rubbed his forehead, one of his eyes were scrunched tightly as sweat threatened to spill into his eye. "Definitely might have if you didn't rock yourself like that."
"I had to do something!" Ruby complained between giggles. "You're too strong for me, so I had to pull out my special secret move out of my sleeve."
"And that secret special move is head butting me at the speed of sound?"
"I didn't say it was a smart move."
Kai laughed and shook his head. Classic Ruby, always being able to surprise him like that. He was impressed though, with his insane training regime between Miss Goodwitch and what Raven puts him through, she was still able to keep up with him and almost beat him. It made him feel a sense of pride he hasn't felt in a long time. She was growing to be a powerful huntress.
The thought of that made him smile, despite the very real probability that she would get roped into the battle with Salem because of her eyes. Kai trusted her to handle herself though when the time comes, she may be young but she was growing, just like he was.
Ruby's laughter slowly died down as he thought about that. It was enough to catch his attention, especially when he sensed the emotion of dread and sorrow within Ruby. If the sigh following that wasn't enough to tip him off, then her moving closer to him to wrap her arms around his shoulders was.
"I'm sorry…" Ruby whispered into his ear as she rested her chin on his shoulder.
"Sorry?" Kai whispered back. "Sorry for what?"
Ruby hugged him a little tighter. "We're going to go with Sun tomorrow night…"
"I know," Kai said, slowly raising one arm to hug the girl back. "I'll be there with you, we'll stop the White Fang together. That is what we agreed on, right?"
"Matsu… Kai…" Ruby pulled back and held Kai's face, looking into those blind eyes of his. "You're not coming."
Kai felt his blood freeze, and Ruby paled at the way he widened his eyes and pulled away from her touch. His exposed eyes showed her an emotion that wouldn't have been seen if Kai had his blindfold on. Anger. Sorrow. Confusion.
The one that stung the most was betrayal.
"What do you mean by that." Kai's desperate laughter made Ruby feel like crying. But this needed to be done. "You're joking, right? This is some stupid joke that Orchid came up with, right? You're not being serious," His eyes scrunched downward. "Right?"
"You can't come, Kai." Ruby continued, feeling the guilt flow through her like a waterfall. "There's something wrong with you, and you won't tell us about it. We're worried that you're going to do something that is going to get you in a lot of trouble."
"So what, you don't trust me!?" Kai accused her of, his anger boiling within him.
"I do trust you!" Ruby proclaimed. "We all do! Yang, Brick, Rick, Blake, Orchid, me. We all trust you." She sighed. "I just can't trust you not to go off on your own to try and fight Cinder all by yourself in case she shows up. Even if there's a small chance, I know you would if she did show up."
"There's nothing wrong with me Ruby!" Kai roared. "Why does everyone think that there is!? I'm sorry that I changed, I'm not the same Kai that is willing to tuck you into bed anymore, or cuddle, or hang out every waking hour of the damn day. People change, Ruby, that doesn't mean that there is something wrong with me."
"You did change," Ruby accepted. "But you changed in a way that's horrible, Kai."
Kai reeled back with shock, like he had just been slapped in the face.
"You're a cruel person, you know that right?" Ruby asked as she bawled her hands into fists, tightly holding on to her skirt as tears began to drip from her eyes. "You always go out at night to train with Yang's mom, and that tattooed girl. You always have this dark aura around you, like you are always thinking of doing something terrible. You try to hide it from us, and it worked for a long time, and I mean a really long time. It took me years to figure you out, and when I did, it makes me want to cry every time I think about you." She looked up at him with teary eyes. "Don't you care about how we feel? How I feel? We always worry about you, and we always ask if you're okay and you always answer with fine. But that's not even the worst part." She took in a deep breath. "All you want is revenge, don't you?"
Kai snapped back into it, and rebelled. "Cinder killed my father, Ruby." He said, his hands balled into fists. "She killed him, and turned my life into hell. I'll make sure-"
"See!?" Ruby slapped a hand against his chest, cutting him off. "That's the thing! Always with Cinder. I get it, I really do Kai, out of everyone in this school Yang and I know what it feels like to lose a parent! At least you know how your dad died." Ruby violently rubbed her eyes of the tears. "That doesn't give you the right to ignore your friends and go on some revenge quest that's going to end up getting you killed!"
Kai opened his mouth to argue, but shut it with a growl. He wasn't going to yell and scream at her, even though at the moment he really wanted too. She just thought that she was doing was right, and that he did need in fact need help. That was just how Ruby was. Honest, kind, and caring, and she genuinely believed in every word that she said. He felt guilty enough as it was for what immediately popped up in his mind.
"Please Kai, just don't make this any harder than it needs to be," Ruby begged, grabbing one of his hands before he could turn to leave. "I'm sorry for being harsh… I-I just want you to get better… even if I might not have done such a good job just now." She laughed bitterly, and let her hands fall limply away from his hands when he didn't return the gesture. "Just please understand why I am doing this… please."
"Fine, go without me." Kai's angered voice said as he turned around and walked away from her. Ruby couldn't even look at his back as he moved away from her. She felt guilty enough as it is.
He said nothing else as he gathered his things and made his way to the door. "I'll be staying with my sister for a while." He added before he left the room.
As he left, Ruby hung her head, refusing the urge to cry as she felt the friendship she had with Kai fracture.
It's for his own good… She kept telling herself. He'll understand… he always does.
"RARGH!" Kai screamed as he smashed his fist against the wall outside of the school in a secluded location. He felt as the surface cracks made their way all around the wall, and if he through another one he knew the whole thing would come down due to his semblance.
"Damn it! That little…" He couldn't bring himself to say anything rude about Ruby, even if there was no one around to hear him. "Fuck!"
This concern his friends had for him was getting out of hand, clearly. He didn't even know what he did wrong to deserve this kind of treatment. He was just being himself, and yes, he knew that he changed. It was his mind and body after all. Being able to keep track of his own personality was not something he was not used to doing. It was little wonder how or why this happened as well. Cinder brought the White Fang and Salem's allies and attacked a colosseum full of innocents, killed his father, and dragged him into a war he would have much rather have taken no part it. The only reason he was part of it was because of his father's message that was given to him when he thought that he was dead, and the last thing that he has ever said constantly echoed through his mind every day.
Live…
The only way he could live a long life is if he was able to stop Cinder, Salem, and kill them. As long as they lived, he would never be able to do what his father asked from him right before he died.
"Kai Matsuoka won't go…" He said as he grabbed hold of the concrete within the wall. "But someone will."
If Ruby forbade Kai Matsuoka to come with them, then he'd just go under another name, with a different persona.
Stone Face.
Uh oh, Ruby done fucked up. I love this chapter for many reasons, and I hope you all share my thoughts. Kai is getting a little unhinged here, but after everything that has happened and everything that he has been doing, it's a bit understandable. And they are all teenagers as well, irrational decisions is what they are best at.
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