Welcome to my first Fanfiction! I thought I'd try to write one since I enjoy reading them so much, and figured that if I can write something somebody else can enjoy, it'd be worth it. Let me know what you all think in a review, and what I can improve on and all that stuff. I have a pretty good idea of how this story is going to go, I just hope that it isn't painfully amateurish that I lose you before we get there. I hope you all like it, so enjoy!

Love, Liz.

Several police vehicles crowded the normally sleepy area of Vale. Several officers were putting up police tape, the flashing lights of their police cruisers illuminating the dark night. A few passersby huddled around, wondering what had happened. A single woman, a ram Faunus with curved horns, was crying hysterically as she struggled to recount what she found. A detective patiently jotted down the details, his face grim.

"Ma'am, please calm down. I know it's hard, but just try to start from the beginning, alright?" The officer's voice was tired, but he was concerned.

"I-it was horrible…" she sobbed. She allowed herself a minute to compose herself as much as she could, then continued. "I was on my way to the grocery store, and I noticed that the windows were blacked out. Normally Tukson wouldn't close his shop until eight in the evening, so I thought it was odd. At first I thought he had gone out to lunch… so I decided I'd stop by after… You see, he often offers to help me with my groceries."

"Right, and about what time was this?"

"The first time I passed by it was a little past noon… and the second time it was about two? Maybe two-thirty. I'm not sure, my hands were full, and so I couldn't check my scroll." The woman hugged herself in an attempt to stop shaking.

"Of course. So when you were returning from the market, what happened?"

"Like I said, I was going to stop by to check on Tukson. He is —er, was a kind soul… When I came by the second time, the lights were still out, so I tried the door to see if it was open…"

"And it was. What did you see when you stepped inside?"

"I saw blood all over the bookshelves… and I almost let out a scream, but I felt so scared I couldn't. I wanted to leave immediately, but I heard strange noises coming from behind the counter… it was just wishful thinking at that point..." her voice cracked as she recalled.

"This is when you saw it?" The detective had lowered his notepad and looked into the woman's eyes. She was clearly still shaken, but she nodded. "What did it look like?"

"It must have been a Grimm… but I never heard of any like that before. It was almost human shaped, but it was crouched over Tukson's body… Strange tentacles were sticking out from behind his back, and that face… Oh gods!" she cried, burying her face into her hands.

"You mentioned before that it had only one eye?" he asked after a short pause. The woman composed herself once more.

"Yes detective… but it had human teeth! It looked like some sort of corpse possessed by a Grimm. I was so scared I dropped my groceries, and its head snapped towards me! I thought I was as good as dead…"

"What happened after that?"

"We just stared at each other for what felt like hours. Its eye… it was hideous! It was almost all black, but the center was red. I couldn't move… and it slowly began to get up…"

"Did it hurt you?"

"No… it just… left. Once I thought I was safe, I ran outside and called the police…"

"Is there anything else that you remember?"

"The Grimm… it looked human," she repeated. From the look in her eyes, she could never forget its features.

"You said the lights were out, are you sure?" he asked with a tinge of doubt. Hesitantly, he made a note in his report.

"YES! It had white hair, and it didn't have any claws, it had fingers covered in blood. It looked like it was wearing some sort leather clothes or something, but it wasn't fur or scales... well, aside from it's strange appendages."

"Right… I'll make a note of it, but this is unheard of ma'am, I'm afraid that I'll have to consult one of the professors at Beacon to confirm this." The detective sighed as he put his notepad away and rubbed his eyes. "Listen ma'am, if you remember anything else, don't hesitate to call, alright? We're going to get to the bottom of this."

"Th-thank you." The Faunus woman ran off to a human man standing behind the red police tape. The two embraced, and he tried to comfort her. The detective turned to the bookstore, mentally preparing himself. Hesitantly, he walked in. He was careful not to step on any blood, but it was spattered everywhere. Eventually, he arrived to the victim, who was covered by a white sheet. He tried not to focus on the large blots of red bleeding through, and talked to his partner.

"So… we have a cause of death yet? "

"It's actually kind of surprising," said a young woman. She was crouched over the body. "The M.E. said if it was really a Grimm that did this, then the decapitation or disembowelment would have been the obvious cause, but despite the blood everywhere, the victim was already dead when whatever it was began feeding on his body. The blood doesn't show like it was flowing or pumping from the body..."

"So this was a murder?" he asked confused. It didn't sit right to him.

"If the gun shot to his head is any indication, then yes. The thing that began eating him was just an unfortunate circumstance after the fact."

"This night just keeps getting better and better…"

"Let's just be grateful that she didn't get killed. Say what she will about this Tukson guy, we found some evidence that he was involved with the White Fang. After a little digging, it looked like he was about to flee the kingdom."

"So this was a hit by the White Fang? Geez, nothing can ever be simple around here, can it? First those damn robberies at all the Dust shops a few months ago, which stopped as suddenly as they started, and now this? Some poor bastard gets killed and now there's a Grimm loose in the city? What good are those damn Huntsmen if they can't keep these monsters outside the walls?"

"Either way, we have to ask Professor Ozpin about this. Grimm tracking is way out of our jurisdiction."

"Right, you want to come with?"

"Nah, my girl gets embarrassed when I go to visit her. If you do see her, tell her I said to stay out of trouble, and to leave that poor girl on her team alone."

"If Coco doesn't listen to you, I doubt she'd listen to me," he chuckled humorlessly.

"Yea, well, you can't fault a mom for trying."

The following morning at Beacon, Ozpin was attempting to convince Glynda to be more lenient with the first-years. The food fight had indeed caused a ton of damage, but she was easily able to fix it.

"They're supposed to be protectors of the world, not children."

"I know, but they don't need to grow up so fast. Child soldiers are the first to die in war, and they won't be able to enjoy these days for long. Once classes start, feel free to be as strict as you like, but as of now, it's still technically their break."

Glynda wanted to argue, but decided against it. She took out her scroll to see she had a message.

"It seems that the Vale Police Department is requesting an audience with you."

"Did they mention what this is about?" he asked, taking a sip from his mug.

"No, just that it's urgent."

"Right, well, no sense in keeping them waiting."

On the streets of Vale, a lone figure walked aimlessly. He wore a mismatch ensemble of clothes he had swiped from a local laundromat, and a white medical eye patch over his left eye. While he didn't have any destination in mind, a pleasant smell caught his attention, and he began to follow it.

"Coffee…" he whispered to himself. He found himself in front of a small café. Despite his better judgement, he enters, trying not to draw too much attention to himself.

"Welcome!" greeted a young woman behind the counter. "Take a seat anywhere, I'll be right with you."

The young man didn't budge, as he simply stared at the woman. Or more notably, her large rabbit ears on her head. Was this some sort of maid café deal with a furry theme? It didn't make sense given that she was dressed in casual clothes and an apron.

"Is something wrong?" the Faunus woman asked. She took a better look at his attire. "Are you not from around here? Are you lost?"

"Something like that," he replied, snapping out of his stupor. When she questioned him, her ears moved, as if expressing confusion. He walked over to a corner table and took a seat.

"Well, hello, I'm Marble. Can I get you something to drink?"

"C-coffee."

"Cream and sugar?"

"No, black is fine."

"Great, can I offer you anything else? We are pretty well-known for our cakes."

"Uh, no, I'm not very hungry…"

Marble nodded, and went back to the counter where she poured his coffee. The overall atmosphere had begun to calm his nerves, and when he got his coffee, he felt peaceful. He took a sip and relished in the flavor. His hands held the cup gently as he began to organize his thoughts together. Last night was too close a call. Finding a body was a blessing, but he was so distracted by this that he didn't notice that woman walk in on him. Thankfully he had enough foresight to wear his mask, but how much had she seen? He frowned, knowing that it didn't matter. He was a ghoul, and she would report it as such.

"How's the coffee?" Marble asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, it's wonderful," he smiled politely. He reached into his pocket to take out some money and placed it on the table. "Is this enough?"

"Excuse me?" she asked curiously. She picked up the coins and bill and examined it. "What is this?"

"Oh…" he began to inspect the clothes he borrowed, and found them mostly empty. What he did find was a few cards that resembled credit cards. He took them out and extended them out to her, questioningly. "Uh, is this enough?"

"You really aren't from around here," she said mostly to herself. "Is this all you have?"

"Do I need more?"

"Is this all your money?" she asked again, almost motherly.

"Uh, yea, I guess…" he pocketed his useless currency, and sighed.

"Well, look… I don't want to leave you without any lien…" She looked around the empty café and sighed. "You seem like a nice young man, and since my daughter is going off to Beacon tomorrow, I'll be pretty short-staffed around here… would you be able to fill in for her? I mean, if you don't mind working for a Faunus ran business."

It's like Anteiku all over again.

As he had that thought, he felt a headache forming. What was Anteiku? Blurry images of a café entered his mind, but nothing else. He tried to focus on the scene, but Marble's voice brought him back to reality.

"It might actually help business if we had a human in front taking orders…"

"I'd love to work here," he finally managed to get out. Marble smiled gently, and realized something.

"Oh, how rude of me, I never got your name."

"Uh, Kaneki…" he replied hesitantly, as if testing how the name felt on his tongue. He thought a little harder. "Ken Kaneki."

"Nice to meet you, Kaneki."

"Professor?" Glynda asked grimly. "What do you take of this?"

"This is very concerning…" he admitted. His mouth was a line, as he looked over the notes he had received from the detective. "If this is indeed a Grimm, then She must be working on infusing more intelligence… However, if this report is accurate, I'm not sure if it truly is a Grimm."

"What are you saying? Everything is pointing to it being a Grimm."

"At first glance, yes, but there several key things that throw that theory out the window. Firstly, the witness that saw it feeding was a civilian, and in her statement she clearly expressed her fear of it, yet the creature didn't sense her. Grimm are universally attracted to negative emotion, and fear for one's life is as negative as it gets. Secondly, it is never mentioned to have any sort of bone plates on it. Even the weakest Grimm have a mask-like structure, yet this one didn't."

"So this… thing is—"

"Nothing we've seen before. The biggest thing that concerns me is the fact that it reportedly had white hair and a red pupil surrounded by black sclera…"

Glynda's eyes widened in realization.

"This creature might share some sort or relation to her. If that's the case… we might be entering a new era of war." Ozpin sighed after a short pause. "However, if we are lucky, this may be something else entirely. Regardless of how we look at this, this is bad, but perhaps not as bad as we may think."

"With all due respect, what are the chances of that?"

"Slim," he admitted. "I need to discuss this with Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck."

That night, Kaneki arrived at the Café a few minutes before the agreed time Marble had requested him. The bell rang as he entered the café.

"Oh, welcome!" A young woman who looked almost exactly like Marble greeted him. She wore the same apron, although she was clearly much younger. "Are you the new hire? My mum told me about you."

"Uh, yea, I'm Ken Kaneki," he replied. "You must be Velvet?"

"That's right. I'm supposed to show you around a little since my classes are starting up again tomorrow." She smiled warmly at him, as she approached him with a second apron. "I'm glad that you're going to be picking up the slack around here, my mum doesn't know when to give herself a break."

"Oh," he replied, unsure how to respond to that.

"If you come over this side I can show you the different things we serve. The coffee grounds are in that cabinet and all the refrigerated things are in the cooler in the kitchen. There's milk and all sorts of juices."

"Right," he nodded. Velvet glanced up at the clock. "Well, we're usually busiest in the morning and at night, but since everybody is on break, tonight should be pretty quiet. Are you hungry?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine," he replied quickly. "I don't have any money to pay for anything anyway."

"That's no big deal," Velvet grinned. "Mum let's all the employees eat during their shift."

"Really, I'm fine."

"Alright, if you insist." Velvet continued to show him around the café, making idle chitchat. Kaneki, for the most part, was relieved with this temporary situation, but he knew that he shouldn't get too comfortable; he needed to find a steady source of food before he began feeling the damned hungry pains. He blanked out for a second, when Velvet began to wave her hand in front of his face. "Are you alright?"

"Yea, I'm sorry," he replied sheepishly. "Just a lot on my mind."

"Where are you from?" she asked suddenly. Kaneki looked at her with wide eyes. "Oh, I didn't mean to pry, it's just mum told me you seemed lost when you arrived."

"I… don't know," he replied evasively. The truth was that he didn't remember. He only had vague memories of his past. Before he entered the café, he didn't remember Anteiku, but drinking some coffee had triggered something for him to remember. He then remembered something that Marble had said to him when she offered him the job. "Say, um, Velvet?"

"Yea?" She seemed a bit concerned with his apparent amnesia.

"You're mother said it would be helpful if a human was taking orders…" he began slowly. He wasn't sure how to ask if she and her mother were ghouls without giving himself away. "What did she mean by that?"

"Are you serious?" asked Velvet. She didn't' seem offended, but rather curious. "Wait, are you a Faunus with a hidden trait?"

"A what?"

Now Velvet looked even more confused.

"Kaneki… do you know what a Faunus is?" she asked carefully. To her shock, Kaneki shook his head. "Well… I'm one," she offered, as her ears wiggled a little.

"What's the difference between a Faunus and a human?" he asked. Velvet touched her chin as she began to think.

"Well, the simplest way of putting it is that Faunus have traits that resemble animals," she explained. "My mum and I have these ears. There are a few other differences, but that's the most visible ones. A lot of Faunus can't really hide them, so we stick out in a crowd."

"Why would you want to hide them?"

"You really aren't from around here…" she said to herself.

"Your mother said the same thing," Kaneki sighed. He really needed to work on blending in.

"It's kind of a touchy subject with most of us, but it really just boils down to discrimination. A lot of humans don't like us, and will go out of their way to torment us. It ranges from a lot of things… like getting bullied, not wanting to work with us or even trying to sabotage Faunus' businesses, not to mention the racist remarks we hear everyday."

Kaneki remained silent, although he sympathized with the girl. Velvet and her mother seemed to be very kind people and they were likely taken advantage of.

"Anyway, let's get back to business…" Velvet turned and began to walk into the kitchen area.

"Ugh, I don't want to go to class," Yang grumbled as she covered her head with her pillow. "Can't we have another week off?"

"Don't be preposterous," Weiss said to her. "Our break was long enough."

"Are you saying you look forward to sitting in Port's class?" asked Yang.

"Whether I look forward to it or not is irrelevant. We need to learn to become better Huntresses."

"I don't think we'll learn much from listening to stories of his youth," mused Blake.

"Guys, I think we should get back to this conversation later," Ruby announced. "We're going to be late again!"

"Didn't you set the alarm?!" Weiss asked looking at her scroll.

"Talk about déjà vu," Yang groaned as she sprung out of bed already dressed "Let's go!"

The four girls bolted down the hallways leaving a trail of dust as they did. Luckily, they already knew where their first class was and made it with about a minute to spare. They took their usual seats, and began to catch their breath.

"Woke up late again?"

"Yea, I didn't set the alarm," Ruby admitted. She turned to Velvet, who was looking at pictures on her scroll. "How was your break?"

"Oh it was fine," she replied. "I got to work on my photography, want to see?"

"Sure!" Ruby chirped. She scooted closer to the upperclassman and stared at her scroll. Ruby didn't seem to get Velvet's vision, and just laughed awkwardly. "Those are, uh, nice."

"Thanks!" Velvet replied, not hearing the uncertainty in her voice. As she scrolled, there was a clear picture of a bookstore that was surrounded by red tape.

"Whoa, what happened there?" asked Ruby. "Did somebody break in?"

"Oh, no," Velvet shook her head. "It's actually really sad. This was a bookshop I used to go to when I was little, and Coco's mom is working on an investigation on it."

"Which bookstore?" asked Blake, her ears perking underneath her bow.

"Tukson's Book Trade," Velvet sighed wistfully. "I only found out this morning, but Coco sent me the pictures. I didn't want to believe her when she told me what happened."

"What happened?" asked Ruby.

"Tukson was, er, killed," Velvet replied uneasily. Ruby felt a chill go up her spine.

"What, why?!" she asked.

"I don't know the details," admitted Velvet, "This all happened yesterday. The Faunus community is up in arms about it. They demand that whoever did this is brought to justice, but a lot of us already know that it's not going to matter."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"When this sort of thing happens, the first few days there is an uproar, but the police rarely get to the bottom of it. Coco's mom has tried to get cases reopened when new evidence comes up, but most of the time the department doesn't want to spend the resources for it."

"That sounds terrible," Ruby whispered.

"Good morning class!" boomed Professor Port. The five girls scooted back to their spots as the lecture began, although now they only thought of the incident in Vale.

"Will that be all for you sir?" ask Kaneki with a polite smile.

"Yeah, I think so," said an older gentleman. He was reading a newspaper and furrowed his brow at the contents.

"Great, I'll go get that started for you." He walked over to the counter and wasted no time in getting the drink ready. Marble looked on from the kitchen window with a small smile. No more than two minutes passed and Kaneki served the hot coffee to the customer. "Enjoy your coffee, and let me know if we can interest you in any of our famous deserts. Our special for today is tiramisu, but we have others available."

"I'll consider it, young man," the man with a small smile. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you new?"

"Yes sir," Kaneki replied with a bow. "Today is my first day."

"Well you're doing an excellent job. Normally it's Marble or her daughter that take orders, but you're every bit as hospitable."

"I'm glad you think so sir." With the conversation done, Kaneki walked over to other tables and began to clean them. He listened to the news playing on the screen behind the counter.

"VPD have yet to release an official statement of the incident last night, but neighbors are already up in arms about it. Tukson, owner of Tukson's Book Trade, was found dead in his shop in the early afternoon Sunday. Some are claiming that it was race related, while others have spread rumors that Tukson was involved with the White Fang. If you have any information, please, contact the Vale Police Department."

"Gee, that sounds pretty bad," sighed the older man. "Poor ol' Tukson. He was a nice young man..."

"You knew him?" asked Kaneki before he could stop himself. The older man nodded solemnly.

"Yea, he was a book-loving man, but I guess he might have gotten involved with the wrong folks... Wonder what's going to happen to his bookstore..."

Kaneki nodded, feeling a tinge of guilt, before he tried to rationalize the situation. It was true he found a body in the bookstore that he began to eat, but he was already dead. It's not like he killed him. He shook the thoughts from his mind. He made his way back behind the counter to wipe it down.

Team RWBY sat quietly in the cafeteria. Ruby was shook from hearing there was a murderer on the loose. She had long ago accepted that there were monsters that were out to end humanity, but for a person to go out of their way to kill another seemed wrong. Humans and Faunus were all on the same side, why would there being inner fighting?

Blake seemed visibly upset from the news Velvet shared, but knew she couldn't do anything. She hadn't known Tukson personally, but she knew that there were a few Faunus that had tried to leave the White Fang long before she did. To know the fate of the deserters made an angry knot form in her stomach.

Weiss felt guilty. Not too long ago she knew that if she heard the same news, she would be indifferent at best. At worse, she'd think "good riddance". Her team, mostly Blake, had opened her eyes and it made her sick. She stole a glance towards Blake, wondering how she was taking it.

Yang poked at her food, not having an appetite. She was well aware of bad people (her mother being exhibit A), and while it didn't sadden her as it once did, it definitely bummed her out. Seeing Cardin pick on Velvet the semester before, and seeing how Blake hide her heritage made her realize how much she has taken being human for granted.

"Guys?" began Ruby. "What do you think?"

"It sucks," replied Yang, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

"Do you think the White Fang are really behind this?" asked Weiss. "I mean it's what I've heard on the news."

"The news is full of bias idea," Blake sighed, "but that doesn't mean it might not be true. The only way to know for sure is to investigate this ourselves. If the White Fang did do it, then Tukson was trying to find an out... and if they aren't... somebody must be hunting down members, not caring if they're active or not."

"How can we be sure that this wasn't a one time thing?" asked Yang. "I mean, sure a lot of what you guys are saying is true, but it could have been a robbery gone wrong, right?"

"That's true," nodded Ruby, "but I think we should still look into this."

"Agreed," Blake nodded.

"I'm not going to let you do this without me," Weiss added. Blake gave her a meaningful look.

"Then count me in too," said Yang.

"Alright, first thing after classes, we'll head out to Vale.

I wasn't sure if I should have kept going or not, but I decided I should wait before I introduce anymore characters (even if they are canon) to the plot. I hope you enjoyed it, and let me know hat you think of it!

Also Thank you FineChyna for helping me with this project. I hope you see this!

Love, Liz