6

 had a lot of fun writing the last chapter and finding ways for Shirou to interact with everyone. Shirou's new outfit, as well as some of his skills, will be revealed this chapter. Minor timeskip, as I am following the timeline of episodes to an extent. However, I will be showing the important bits of interactions during these skips from the perspective of the characters other than Shirou.

I thought I answered who Shirou's servant was, but just to refresh some memory, it was Rider Hippolyta. He does have Avalon, as he was saved by Kiri but Kiri died afterwards. Then he was picked up by Bazett's mom and taken to the Fraga clan home. How he summoned Hippolyta will be answered, and we'll see some of his other Np's.

Raven and Shirou do have a pretty close relationship, hence his choices in outfits, but Summer is definitely the biggest influence in his life. Once again, I'll show more of this as time goes on.

Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha have been genuinely fun to write, trying to figure out different ways of going about them interacting will be something I look forward to in the future. More characters will be introduced soon, and Shirou will be facing off against a fair amount of people going forward. Adam in particular, will be one I hope you all look forward too.

Now, as per usual, on to the story.

Chapter 6

Yang was excited. It had been a good while since she had been able to spar with her brother. Ever since school started, she hasn't had many interactions with her brother other than breakfast and dinner. If she was being honest, her and Ruby were actually beginning to become a bit jealous of their two teammates. Weiss would occasionally help Shirou when he baked things for everyone and would often spend some time talking with him about dust and different inventions and such.

Then there was Blake, who had been spending time with Shirou at night. There was some consolation in the fact that Pyrrha would often crash those meetings at time. She figured the two would get along because of their love of stories and things like that, but she didn't think they'd get along as well as they did. It was slightly surprising.

If it wasn't those two, then he was spending time with his team, training, studying, and doing whatever Nora had been able to talk them into. However, she managed to secure time with her brother, mainly by guilting him for setting her up to see her mom again. While they managed to patch things up from their last argument, she still made sure Shirou paid for his crimes of tricking her.

Which led to Ruby and her taking him into Vale and finally managing to get him to change his clothes. While she would have preferred him to stray away from dressing similarly to her mom, she supposed that what he chose did look good. That was phase one, phase two was now about to begin. They had sparring matches in class today, but she doubted the two of them would end up being matched up, so she got him to agree to a spar before classes.

She was currently standing in the middle of an empty training room, well mostly empty. The two teams were watching from some bleachers that had been set up. She was in the middle of stretching when Shirou finally walked into the room, wearing his new gear. A small, victorious smirk was present on Yang's face seeing him.

Shirou had to admit that he may have regressed a bit in his clothing style. He had to please his sisters while also picking something that he himself liked, which was a chore. He picked a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up, the cuffs being red on the end. He chose to have red designs on his sleeves in remembrance of Archer, while also wearing a red waist cape with Hippolyta's sash wrapped around it, altering it to be red and black.

He made sure the divinity wasn't active, but it did offer some good perks without it, such as increasing his strength, speed, and making him resistant to the weather. Though he didn't need to advertise that. He also chose to wear red gauntlets and greaves like Raven's, just to irk Yang a bit. He kept his archers gloves, since he wanted to be able to shoot smoothly. He also traced Archer's sleeveless armor, dying it dark red, figuring some extra protection wouldn't hurt.

The final bits, were in remembrance of his mom. He tied the white bandana of the remnants of her cloak around his left thigh while wearing a white scarf and hood, giving into Ruby's demands after so long. He chose for it to be a scarf rather than a cloak because of Retrograde, but Ruby accepted his reasoning. All in all, he was happy with it. It was a good blend of everything.

He walked to the middle of the room, across from his sister. "You aren't going to use your weapons?" Yang asked him with her hands on her hips. He could see the excitement in her eyes, so he knew that it was more of a rhetorical question. He let out a sigh. Sometimes he wondered where got her competitive and battle junky tendencies from.

It was probably his father, since he hadn't really seen that from Raven. Then again, she was the leader of a bandit tribe, so maybe he just wasn't around her when it came out. He mentally shrugged, he supposed it didn't matter. "Nope, just my fists, just like the old days." He answered, hitting his fists together, activating the runes inscribed on them.

He blamed Bazett for that particular habit. He noticed Yang smile at his words, before she copied his movement, activating her gauntlets. The two then stood in their stances, readying themselves. After waiting for three seconds, Yang dashed forward in her usual boxing stance. Shirou's stance was a bit wider and his arms were held in style that mixed the greek pankration style with the more traditional style taught by the Fraga's.

Blake watched as the two siblings began to exchange blows. Yang led off with a feint, faking with a right then changing it into a kick. Shirou quickly ducked and threw a sweeping kick to her remaining leg. Yang quickly leaped up over the attack and rolled away. This time, Shirou rushed forward and dodged a quickly thrown punch and while throwing his own.

Yang brought her hand up to block the strike, succeeding, however, Shirou used the momentum to follow up with a knee to the midsection, that launched Yang backwards. "Come on, Yang. I know you can do better. Remember that punches and kicks aren't the limit of what I helped teach you." Shirou said, before once again launching forward, attacking Yang who had her arms down.

Blake had to admit, that the two were moving pretty quick, way quicker than she had seen her partner move before. It was actually impressive. She noticed Yang smile just before Shirou's fist reached her, she brought her arms up quickly, taking the punch to grab a hold of his arm, before rocking her head back and bringing it forward directly onto Shirou's.

"Aren't they hitting a bit too hard for a normal spar?" Blake heard Weiss ask. Shirou rocked backward, his arm still held by Yang, who pulled him back towards her to clothesline her brother. However, Shirou spun with the pull and bucked his head back as he was pulled towards her torso. The back of his head ended up causing Yang to let go, allowing Shirou to perform a spin kick that was blocked by Yang, however, the force caused her to skid backwards.

"Naw, they aren't going nearly as hard as they usually do." Ruby answered in reply to Weiss. Blake actually looked towards Ruby with a dumbfounded expression. She noticed that Weiss did the same thing. Even Shirou's team seemed somewhat surprised by Ruby's words.

"Are you kidding me? Those punches look like they could destroy a wall." Weiss answered. Blake had to agree. The attacks they were throwing looked like they were meant to destroy their opponent. Blake turned back to the spar, and noticed the two were now throwing multiple different punches at each other, each was blocked or dodged. She was pretty sure she could feel the air from some of the attacks.

She watched as Shirou seemed to overextend, noticing that it seemed to be on purpose. Yang quickly took advantage of it and threw a hook over the top of the punch that nearly connected, but Shirou managed to duck just in time. He then lunged forward, grabbing Yang around the waist, lifting her up and slamming her into the ground.

Blake was somewhat worried when Shirou brought his fist down towards Yang's head, however, she managed to dodge the attack and deliver a punch to Shirou's ribs, launching him off of her. Shirou rolled with the momentum and managed to spring up to his feet. The two then stood across from each other, panting from the exchange.

Blake was glad that she had her bow on, because her ears were twitching nonstop at that point. For a moment, she thought the two were crazy from the smiles both were sporting. Yang quickly charged forward again, Shirou did the same, both throwing punches that landed against each other at the same moment.

"Well, they aren't using their more dangerous attacks, which they rarely ever do. Plus, they have aura, so it isn't nearly as dangerous as it appears to be." Ruby explained, her eyes watching her siblings closely. Blake wondered if Shirou sparred with Ruby in a similar way. He had trained with his team these past weeks, but they never mentioned anything like this. So, she guessed it must have been a sibling thing.

The two were still exchanging punches and kicks, though this time, Blake noticed that more of the attacks were connecting. She noticed that Yang would often slow or speed up her attacks, alternating to throw Shirou off. Shirou himself seemed to leave an opening for Yang, waiting for her to exploit it, only to block or dodge at the last second and land a hit of his own.

Shirou then caught one of Yang's kicks, only for Yang to spin her body and use the other to kick Shirou off of her. This caused Shirou to stumble back, Yang immediately took advantage of the stumble and lunged forward. However, Shirou only smirked. He immediately regained his footing and threw a uppercut towards the lunging Yang, however, Yang brought a foot forward and stopped herself. Shirou's punch missed, allowing Yang to continue and tackle Shirou to the ground.

Blake watched as Yang quickly leaned back, her body off to the side of Shirou, and readied a punch, but Blake noticed Shirou maneuver himself enough to dodge the punch, much like Yang did earlier. However, Shirou dodged to the outside of her punch, allowing him to use his elbow and foot to knock her off balance. She ended up falling to the side, allowing Shirou to grab ahold of her from behind.

He quickly immobilized her as the two rolled around on the ground. Blake could hear the labored breathing of the two siblings, as the two finally stopped and calmed down. Shirou slowly let go of her, allowing her to roll off to the side of him, both laying on their backs beside each other. "Looks like you win this time, little brother." Yang said as she tried to catch her breath.

Shirou let out a laugh. "Let's count this one as yours. You've improved so much, I had to rely on my sword techniques this time around." He turned his head towards his sister and saw her smiling face. It made him happy knowing that he was able to make her smile like that. He wasn't lying, he did end up using some of Archer's tricks. He knew the specific style he used was meant for opponents that outclassed him, but it worked well as a training aid.

Shirou would often throw it in every once in awhile to get his sisters to aim for openings when they were available. It helped condition them. This time, he ended up having to use it a bit more than usual because Yang actually managed to push him that far. He heard her let out a small laugh. "We need to do this more often, Shiro." She said to him.

"Agreed. Maybe, we can figure something out soon. I can't start going rusty with my martial arts." He replied with a smile. Pyrrha then appeared above him, her usual smile on her face. "Oh, hey Pyr."

"You alright there, partner?" She asked in a sweet tone. Shirou thought about answering honestly, but thought better of it. His body was groaning and he felt like when Bazett first put him through his training. He may have aura, but he didn't use it like everyone else did. Some of those hits actually managed to make their way through. Yang was growing closer to Bazett's level everyday. Maybe in another year or two, she'd be able there. He'd need to start using his aura like everyone else next time. He put a smile on his face.

"Of course, I've never felt better." As if to try and add more pain to his body, Ruby landed directly on top of him. He saw the surprise on Pyrrha's face the moment she landed, followed by her giggles at the sight.

"That was so cool! You have to spar with me next time! Oh, oh, I know, we can spar with just our scythes, that way it'll be like how you and Yang fight. You will, won't you?!" She asked with stars in her eyes. Shirou let out a chuckle.

"Of course, Ruby. Next time, for sure." He said with a smile to cover up the wince of pain. Ruby smiled wide and proceeded to jump up to her feet. Shirou let out a sigh, noticing Pyrrha's hand being held out to help him up.

"You sure you'll be alright for class spars?" She asked as she pulled him to his feet. As soon as the words left her mouth, Nora appeared beside him holding one of the pouches that Shirou kept on his belt.

"He'll be fine, especially with these super healing papers he has!" She reached into the pouch and pulled out what looked like a small bandage. On the small paper was a collection of runes, written with dust infused ink. She quickly slapped one onto his cheek, the array of runes lit up before fading. Pyrrha's eyes widened for a moment, before looking to Shirou for answers.

Shirou let out a weak laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, they're something new I've been experimenting with. Nora has been kind enough to assist me in testing them after our training sessions." Nora let out a small snort.

"Yep, I'm cap's number one test subject. They're super cool, you should try one one Pyrrha! They feel tingly and switch from hot to cold. It feels amazing. It's like having a massage in the shape of a bandage." She added, causing Pyrrha to become interested in her partner's new invention. She was about to ask a question, before a familiar voice beat her to the punch.

"How do they work?" Shirou turned his head, grabbing the pouch from Nora as he did so. He saw Weiss standing a few steps away, eyeing the pouch. He reached in and grabbed a few more bandages, placing them underneath his shirt and on his arms under his jacket. "Hmm, they almost look like glyphs." She added.

"Well, it's because they were inspired by your glyphs." He said, it being a half truth. The runes were his, obviously, but he had an idea to try arrange them in the style of glyphs. With aura, the shape of glyphs, and dust infused ink, he was able to replicate the effects of runes without needing mana. He was actually proud of that achievement. He wondered what effect runes would have on Weiss's glyphs if he taught them to her. Something to ponder on.

Weiss stood there with a dumbfounded look on her face. "You, you came up with something like because of my glyphs?" Weiss actually felt a bit happy about that. Though she would never admit that to him. She already felt like she let down her guard around him too much during the times they baked and talked about dust.

"Yeah, it took some trial and error, plus Nora's invaluable help, to get them to work how I wanted." He said, Nora stood behind him and pumped her fist in the air, letting out a quiet 'yeah'. Shirou let out an amused huff, "I used dust infused ink and shaped the runes into glyphs to allow a seamless activation upon contact with the inured area. Each bandage has my aura stored inside of the glyph design, but the runes and dust are where the healing effect comes from. Upon contact, your aura activates the bandage and it does the rest."

"Hmm, are those runes and dust infused ink what you used to strengthen our gear?" Blake said after helping Yang to her feet. Shirou looked over and nodded. He held the pouch out to Ruby, who promptly grabbed it and began to apply strips on Yang. "Is that a part of your semblance too?" She asked.

Shirou smiled, "Yes it is. Though, it took me a lot of work to get them to work right. Blade Works is very versatile, though the learning curve of how to use it properly is incredibly steep. You can ask Yang and Ruby how many times I've hurt myself coming up with new techniques or blowing myself up while experimenting with dust and runes." He explained to her.

Shirou had to admit, he was somewhat glad that runes existed in Remnant. They weren't the same as the Fraga's, or any of the other runes he had access to. He got around that by citing it as part of his semblance, being able to analyze and make use of the runes he saw and knew. Apparently, the knowledge of how runes worked were lost ages ago. Now, they were mainly in museums and history books.

Lucky for him, his God's Holder sorcery trait was still active, otherwise he doubted he'd be able to make use of the new runes. He called them fairy runes, and they were incredibly useful. He hadn't needed to use them just yet, only using a basic one to empower the dust of him and his sisters. Then he used normal runes to enhance the gear of everyone. Specifically Ehwaz.

"Hey guys, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but class is about to start soon." Ren said, walking up with Shirou's Retrograde and Clarent Rose. He handed them to Shirou. "Though, I'd like to ask, can you teach those to us?" Shirou actually was a bit shocked. Ren was pretty quiet, being more of a zen type person. Over the last few weeks, he actually enjoyed being around the guy.

"Actually, I was going to say, if anyone wants to try and learn some new things, I'd be more than happy to teach them to you. Snow,..." Weiss's attention quickly snapped to Shirou. Something that wasn't missed by Yang. "I think you would get a lot stronger than you already are if you learned to integrate them. Plus, they help dust work better." He said with a big smile.

"Oh, well, I appreciate the offer. I wouldn't mind you teaching me if you think they can help." She answered a bit sheepishly. "But, maybe, we should talk about this after class, I wouldn't want to be late." She added, trying to regain her usual air of elegance.

"She's right guys! If we're late, we won't get to kick butt in sparring class." Ruby said, dashing forward in a flurry of rose petals, grabbing Shirou's hand as she flew by. Oddly enough, silver rose petals began to mix with the red ones as the two disappeared from sight.

"Did she just kidnap Shirou?" Pyrrha asked with widened eyes. "And since when did Shirou's petals appear other than when he uses his semblance?" Yang herself was a bit dumbfounded by that newest development.

"I don't know, but if he's keeping secrets from his big sister then I'm going to have to beat them out of him." She said with an excited smile on her face. "Also, she needs to wait in line! It's my turn to hang out with Shirou." Yang said as she stormed out of the room, chasing her siblings.

"Maybe we should follow, Ren was right, it's getting late." Blake said, knocking Weiss and Pyrrha out of their states of shock at what just happened. Pyrrha looked around, noticing Nora was gone.

"Ren, where's Nora?" Ren raised a brow, before sighing. He pointed toward the door.

"She caught a ride on Shirou's back." Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak, but promptly shut it. "Yeah, Nora has the effect on everyone sometimes." He replied, before walking to class. Weiss let out a small laugh. Blake and Pyrrha both looked at her with deadpan expressions.

"What?" She said, putting her hands on her hips. Blake and Pyrrha looked at each other, before shaking their heads and making their way out of the room. "What'd I do?" Weiss stomped her foot on the ground. She let out a huff, before following shortly afterwards.

Nora was a happy girl and enjoyed having fun and making new friends. She didn't know what to expect from her new teammates when they were first made into a team. From what little she had seen of them during the test, it was obvious that they were skilled fighters. One was a champion from Mistral and the other was some sort of prodigy who joined with his twin sister two years early.

She would have been lying if she wasn't worried about not getting along with the two of them. However, those worries were quickly squashed after spending some time around them. Pyrrha reminded Nora of an older sister type of person, who was always caring and thoughtful. She was always doing her best to watch out for her team.

Then there was her team leader. Shirou was the opposite of what she would have expected if she had only just heard about him. In most ways, he was the complete opposite of his twin and her. He was calm, patient, kind, thoughtful, and amazingly good at making different kinds of pancakes. Nora thought that was important.

If he wasn't younger than her, she would have thought of him as an older brother. In fact, she already thought of him in that way. He looked out for his team like an older brother would and always did his best to try and push them a little bit farther when they trained. When they weren't training, he always did his best to try and spend time with them. Whether that was just doing things with them that they enjoyed, or showing her how to make pancakes and other goodies.

He did all of this with a smile on his face too. She had actually never seen Shirou get upset or frustrated, now that she actually thought about it. He was incredibly smart too, often helping her with classwork whenever Ren wasn't around. Then there was the time he suggested some upgrades for her hammer. That was incredibly fun, even if they did blow up a few times in the beginning. That memory was particularly fun for her.

"So, Nora, after some tweaking, I think I made it possible for your hammer to handle a bigger payload." Nora looked a Shirou with a questioning gaze. "Well, I figured you wouldn't mind a bigger explosion, plus I saw a lot of potential in your semblance. I'm still working on some upgrades on that front, but for now, this'll have to do." He explained with a smile.

"So, my explosions will have more boom now?" She asked excitedly. Bigger booms were always good. Shirou let out a chuckle. "That's perfect, just tell me what to do boss."

"Well, right now, we need to see if these modified dust rounds will fire from Magnihild. My semblance may be great when it comes to blueprints and such, but nothing beats first hand experience. Plus, I want to see if there's anything I need to tweak." Nora looked over at Shirou and nodded.

"Alrighty, I can handle that. Let's try this out!" Nora transformed Magnihild into its grenade launcher form, inserted the new rounds, and prepared to fire. Shirou was busy double checking a few of the blueprints, so he didn't notice until too late.

"Wait, Nora, I didn't mean to fire it now." He managed to get out his sentence, but Nora had already pressed the trigger. The lightning round within the launcher immediately fired, however, the force had bit too much in it. While the round did expel out of the barrel, it immediately exploded after traveling a foot away.

The resulting shock lightning explosion covered a wide radius. After the smoke cleared, Nora was revealed with her hair frazzled from the electricity and covered in dust. Oddly enough, she felt amazing because of her semblance. She looked over at Shirou, who was busy coughing and waving his hand around trying to wipe away the smoke. Nora let out a laugh as she saw Shirou's short hair standing straight up.

Shirou had a lazy smile on his face, "Well, I think we should count that as a fail." He then chuckled a bit as he noticed Nora's hair.

That was fun, especially afterwards when he made her pancakes. It was obvious to her that Shirou was a kind soul. However, Nora was also unusually sharp. Shirou had gone through or experienced something similar to her and Ren. She didn't know how or when, but she knew that Shirou was a survivor. He had a look in his eyes when Ren and her told him and Pyrrha about what happened at their home.

There was an understanding in them that most wouldn't have. It was subtle, but it was there if you looked close enough. Honestly, it made her feel more comfortable around him. Even Ren seemed to pick up on it, as the two were quickly becoming friends. She smiled as she thought about the fact that her team seemed to be becoming close lately. Maybe the four would be like a small family, the thought honestly made Nora giddy with excitement.

Glynda had seen many students come into Beacon in the short time since she became a teacher. None of those students really caught her interest, until the two teams, RWBY and SPRN, appeared. Each member was skilled and each appeared carry the qualities she looked for in an aspiring huntsman. The two teams were leagues ahead of the others in their year when it came to teamwork. Both teams appeared to function together as if they had been working together for years.

She figured that the reason for that had to do with the Rose twins. Though, from watching the footage from cameras, it was clear that Shirou was a big part of both teams. He didn't train team RWBY, but he did offer advice and spars, both team and individual, to the team. It seemed that he was also somewhat of an inventor and tinkerer, upgrading and making new gear for both teams. This included dust.

She was glad that her intuition wasn't wrong about him. Even now, watching him spar against Cardin Winchester, it was clear that Shirou was actively trying to improve his opponent. She had seen him spar and train before, so it was clear that he was holding back. However, she knew that Cardin was getting frustrated and ignoring Shirou's advice. Shirou was fighting with a spear, sword, and flintlock mechashift weapon that he had recently made. He called it Durindana, though she heard Ruby telling her teammates that it was named after a hero's spear from one of the stories he used to tell her.

Oddly enough, Blake actually named the story, saying it was the story of Troy. 'Odd, I've never heard of such a thing.' Glynda thought to herself. Her thoughts were cut short as Shirou decided he had enough of Cardin's attitude. He quickly batted away Cardin's mace with his spear, before quickly shifting it into a rifle and firing off a round that sent Cardin flying into a wall.

However, Cardin's aura was only yellow, meaning the match was still ongoing. She knew she should just stop the match, Shirou was still in the green, not having taken a hit yet. Shirou let out a sigh, before loading a dust round into the rifle, before shifting it into a spear once again. He brought his arm back, aiming for a moment, before throwing the spear, the butt of the spear letting out an explosion from the dust.

The result was a rocket that quickly broke through Cardin's aura, however, before the blade could pierce Cardin, the weapon exploded into silver rose petals. Cardin quickly fell face first to the ground. Glynda walked to the middle of the stage, hearing Shirou muttering to himself. "The transition needs to be bit smoother. And a bit too much knock back on impact. Maybe a piercing round?" A small smile appeared on Glynda's face at Shirou's words.

"The winner is Shirou Rose. In normal tournament rules, the moment one's aura goes red, the official will call the match. However, what Shirou did is also something that can happen and why protective gear is still important, even with aura. His attack destroyed Cardin's remaining aura, leaving him with his armor's defenses." Cardin slowly made his way to his feet, before narrowing his eyes at Shirou, who was ignoring him.

"Remember, the Vytal Festival is coming up in a few months, so keep up your training. If you choose to compete, you will be representing all of Vale, so train hard and do your best. That is all." She said as the bell rang. Her words seemed to excite the students, in particular, SPRN and RWBY. The students began to file out, murmuring. Shirou began to follow, however,..."Mr. Rose, a word if you will." Glynda called out.

She saw Shirou turn and raise a brow. "Yes, professor?" He answered.

"I wanted to know if you and your team were planning on competing in the festival?" Shirou tilted his head slightly.

"I haven't really decided just yet. I haven't been able to talk to my team about it just yet. If I know them, I'm sure we'll end up joining. Really it comes down to Nora, she's usually our team's deciding factor." He answered, while rubbing the back of his head. Glynda let out a smile at his recognizable habit.

"Well, should you and your team decide to compete, do let me know. I'll be sure to make some accommodations ready for your team, such as a personal sparring room and such." She saw Shirou's eyes slightly widen, before he gave her a nod of confirmation. "Now, run along. I don't want to to keep you from lunch."

"Of course, professor. I'll be sure to let you know when we come to a decision. Thanks again for the offer." He said with a smile before heading towards the door, where his team waited.

Glynda was sure that the tournament would likely be very interesting. Vale and Beacon would shine brightly with Shirou and Ruby leading the charge. Her smile somewhat faltered, knowing that Ozpin would likely use them to combat Salem after they graduated. She worried for the two teams, knowing that they would likely face many challenges in the future. However, she knew that as long as Shirou and Ruby were there, they would be there to meet them head on.

Blake came to a very startling realization. She had been spoiled by Shirou's delicious cooking. She knew her ears would droop if she wasn't wearing her bow. The cafeteria food wasn't bad exactly, but it was nowhere near the amazing taste of the things Shirou managed to cook up. Her eyes narrowed at the boxes in front of Ruby and Yang. She had half a mind to steal their lunches.

She was so focused that she was actually ignoring her book, which Shirou picked up on. "Not an interesting read?" He asked, causing Blake to flinch slightly. She looked towards Shirou, who was currently multitasking in the conversations. He offered a small smile at her, before pointing at her book.

"Uh, no, it is. Just had something on my mind." A cooked meal made by Shirou being on her mind. However, Blake wasn't going to mention that. She instead switched gears. "So, I noticed you have a new weapon." She said, hoping to throw Shirou off the trail.

"Oh, yeah. I made some great progress with my semblance, finally managing to call forth my new weapon. Which has a gun to satisfy Ruby." He added on the last part a bit less enthused than usual, causing her to smile. She then noticed Shirou begin to tense up slightly, obviously bothered by something.

"You really prefer your bow, don't you?" She asked, though she already knew the answer. After her question, she noticed laughing come from somewhere in the cafeteria. She glanced around and noticed Cardin and his cronies bothering a faunus girl.

"I do. But, when Ruby wants something, she's relentless. Though, I will say that my bow will still be my main ranged weapon." He answered, his hands beginning to clench. Something Blake noticed, quirking a brow at the behavior. She had never seen this behavior from Shirou before. It was a bit jarring and she wondered what could have been causing it.

She then saw Yang lay her hand on Shirou's shoulder. "Relax, Shiro. It's not worth it. Just breathe." She said, obviously trying to calm him down. Blake was puzzled, not understanding what was going on. Until she heard the cries of the faunus from earlier. Then it all clicked into place. However, the moment the girl said 'that hurts' Yang hung her head and let out a sigh. "Well, crap."

What she saw next actually caused her to flinch. She didn't know if anyone else saw it, but she sure did. Just before Shirou turned and made his way to the girl, his silver eyes seemed to glow for a moment. She noticed Yang turn to Ruby and say something to her, but Blake was still focused on Shirou. The sight was definitely not something she expected, nor what happened next.

Shirou stood and walked over, clearly on a mission. Blake noticed a slight tremble coming from him. Cardin was still laughing when Shirou's hand grabbed a hold of his wrist. "Let go." Shirou spoke in a low, cold voice. However, Cardin only narrowed his eyes at the words.

"Or what? You gonna make me tough guy?" He said, but those words were obviously the wrong ones, as Shirou's glove lit up, much like they did when he sparred with Yang. He squeezed, causing the armor to immediately give way. Cardin let out a cry and let go of the girl's bunny ears. Shirou then turned his head.

"Go on, I'll handle things from here." He spoke calmly, in a much softer tone of voice. Though Blake could still see the shine of his silver eyes. The girl quickly nodded and began to walk away. Shirou turned his attention back to Cardin, ignoring his goons. "I don't care how you got into Beacon, whether it was your dad or money, I don't care. But you are here to be a huntsman, so act like it!" He said finally letting go of his arm. "If I see you or your goons messing with another faunus or anyone you think is weaker than you, I will break you."

Honestly, those words were more than a little frightening to all who heard them. Though, Blake noticed the faunus students react with surprise at his words. She herself was more than surprised at his declaration. She then noticed Ruby and Yang begin to stand and make their way towards their brother.

"You don't know who your messing with kid." Cardin tried to fire back, but Shirou was unimpressed. With a mental command, multiple swords began to from, however, Blake felt that these weapons were different the usual ones he called forth. A faint hum of power came from each one. There were two she recognized, both being ones Shirou had shown her, Hrunting and Muramasa. The swords all pointed towards all four present in front of Shirou.

"You are the one who doesn't know who he's messing with." Shirou replied. Blake couldn't see it, but she knew his eyes must have became more intense, because Cardin's expression changed. She then noticed strange circuit-like patterns crawling up Shirou's neck to his cheek and down his left arm. She felt an intense feeling of power come from Shirou when they appeared, it was nearly suffocating, for a split second. Then it was gone.

The swords all vanished in silver petals and any kind of tenseness had disappeared. Yang grabbed a hold of Shirou's left arm, while Ruby wrapped her arms around him from behind. Ruby whispered something to him, something that most wouldn't be able to hear, however, Blake wasn't most people. She had her ears to help her.

"It's okay, Shirou, everything's fine. It's over, nothing will happen now. Let's just go back." Ruby said, hugging him tighter. Yang then added something in.

"That girl is okay. You proved your point. She wouldn't want you to act like this, Shirou." Blake's ears twitched at those words. There was more to Shirou's anger then. She didn't want to pry, figuring that Shirou would likely share it with her when he was ready to. She noticed Shirou take a deep breath before nodding. He gave one last look towards Cardin and his team, causing each one to flinch, before he turned around.

"You and Ruby head back, I'll take care of the trays, alright?" Yang said, getting a slight nod in reply. Blake watched as Ruby and Shirou walked out of the cafeteria, the door shutting behind them. Yang let out a deep sigh, before sitting back down. "Man, that was rough."

"What was that about?" Weiss asked. Yang looked up and noticed everyone looking at her. She let out a laugh as she scratched her cheek nervously.

"You don't have to tell us if its personal, Yang." Blake added, wanting to try and respect Shirou's privacy. But Yang only shook her head.

"No, it's fine. Shirou wouldn't mind, he would probably tell you anything if you just asked." She said, then let out another sigh, before continuing. "I guess the short story is, Shirou sort of has certain issues with things like what just happened. He made a friend back in patch, she wanted to be a huntress and was one of the few friends Shirou made himself."

"In fact, she was a lot like that girl earlier, maybe that's what set him off so bad." She said to herself, before shaking her head. "Anyways, some kids would bully her when Shirou wasn't around and, one day, they basically abandoned her in the woods. Shirou found out and immediately went to look for her. He eventually found her, but she had some injuries that caused her to not be able to be a huntress."

"That's the short story. If you want to hear the full one, you'd have to ask Shirou." She finished, obviously feeling a bit better after explaining everything. Blake figured that Yang may have wanted to get that out there so no one would be scared of her brother. She noticed that no one at the table seemed frightened earlier, they were more worried than anything. Even now, she could tell that everyone wanted to make sure Shirou was okay.

"Is he alright?" Pyrrha asked softly, obviously worried about her partner. Yang looked towards her and smiled sadly.

"Of course, though he still feels some responsibility for it. Maybe you all can help him with it. It is something he has struggled with for awhile." Blake's ears twitched momentarily, before she began to stand up.

"Oh, going to check on him already?" Blake stopped in her tracks, looking towards Yang, who had a knowing smile on her face. Blake looked at her and wondered how she was able to go from solemn to teasing that fast. Blake then raised a brow, before a small smile appeared on her face.

"Why are you saying that to me? What about those two?" She said, nodding her head at Weiss and Pyrrha, causing them to flinch somewhat. Yang quirked a brow, before looking to the two in question. Blake knew that Yang was likely going to say something to them, that was when she'd make her escape.

"Well, I think as his partner, it's sort of my duty to check on him. In fact, as a team, that is our duty, Right Ren and Nora?" Pyrrha said, easily taking any heat off of herself. She knew that by getting Ren and Nora to come with her, she wouldn't have to deal with anyone saying anything. Not that she cared or anything. Ren and Nora looked at each other, before nodding.

"Have fun, vice captain!" Ren and Nora said together, though Ren's was less excited than Nora's. Yang began to laugh out loud at the two of them leaving Pyrrha out to dry. However, she stopped when she noticed that two people were missing that shouldn't be. Even Pyrrha noticed, before realizing that Weiss and Blake both disappeared while they were talking.

"That's not fair!" Blake heard Pyrrha say from the cafeteria. She thought about a phrase Yang said to Weiss a lot, 'you snooze, you lose.' Blake smiled inwardly. Besides, she was friends with Shirou first.

Unknown to Shirou, his outburst was felt by three individuals. One was the headmaster, who didn't know from where the feeling originated, only that it was present. Another was Raven, who was currently flying around Beacon, waiting for a good time to visit her family. The pulse was eerily familiar to her, as she had felt it once before. This only caused her to fly faster, she had to make sure her family was still okay. The third, was located deep underneath the school. A woman's body reacted to the pulse, for the first time. She was dying, but something told her that her salvation was within the school. She only had to find a way to call out to it. Eyes slowly fluttered open for a moment, flames were expelled, then just as quickly, were closed. The beacon was sent, now, she had only but slumber and wait.