Rogue Huntsman

Acceptance

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213,000 people.

That's what makes up the population of the Kingdom of Vale. Less than half of that population knows what aura so much as looks like, even fewer know someone who possesses aura.

8% of that number die every ten years to incidents involving Grimm. 17,040 lives lost to a threat we so hopelessly fight. 3% of that number are people who possess aura, rounding to 511 aura users every decade.

160 aura users of that population currently attend the renowned school of Beacon Academy every year throughout all of its four graduating classes. Only 39% graduate.

An insignificant 62 slightly successful combatants. 61% fail out, 98 useless failures.

The world is as idiotic as it is primitive. Each bone that makes up this society's back is cracking, its spine breaking, it just gets worse day by day. Its resources are wasted. Civilization, as a race, wastes its time and energy fighting back the infestation of Grimm that prowl our every border and beyond.

If humanity can't fight them, then it can burn in hell under the gaze of the darkness that surrounds it. If we can't even protect our own homes? Then we're no more useful than a gun locked in a safe with a broken dial.

This damned world is going to fall to pieces.

"You know, if you're just going to stand there, I might as well just pour myself a drink," a feminine voice cut in, "That way, I can have as much as I want."

"Ano," my voice came out in a harsh tone, my lime green gaze switching from the glass in my hands to the woman at the end of the bar.

Ano smiled, resting her cheek in her palm as I placed a clean glass on the surface in front of me. I swear her smirk was becoming a trademark of hers by now.

The renowned huntress, or rather, the despised huntress gone rogue. She takes the jobs the majority simply avoids, she takes the offers that only bring blood, she takes the blood-money no one else wouldn't so much as touch.

She's Ano, my one, and only friend.

I fixed the rogue huntress a bloody mary and slid her the drink, letting the glass slip along the surface of my bar and settle into her pale hand, "I don't suppose this is insinuating anything, is it?" Ano asked, lifting the glass to cover her lips, dark green eyes peering over its red-hued rim.

"Not at all," I replied, wiping the counter in front of me before turning and addressing a few more customers. Today was rather busy.

Strangers were in and out, only a few staying for more than an hour. My regulars were here all day, more times than not. Playing pool, betting on losses, and drinking their money away. I liked them for that last part, never questioning why their lives revolved solely around this one bar. They give the place a nice atmosphere, an added touch that my old man seemed to create on his own.

"If you weren't seventeen, I'd call you a liar and walk out of here with my drink," Ano spoke up, bringing my attention back to her.

She was beautiful. Not in the attractive way some might think, even though she's incredibly so, but in a lethal way. She held a dangerous edge in both alluring looks and deadly skill. Sat there at the end of my bar, legs crossed one over the other in a place I couldn't see, she sipped her bloody mary and let her eyes roam.

An air of danger simmered from her pale skin, slipping through the fabric of her brown leather coat. Each presiding invisible streak brimmed beneath the lip of her black cowboy hat, only giving her relaxed smile an even deadlier presence behind it.

The soft features of her face only made the woman more intimidating.

"I'm a seventeen-year-old liar, but you're still going to pay for that," I spoke over the noise of those around me. I let my mind wander from the drunken game of darts a few men were playing at the back as I placed my attention on Ano, "Yet, you let me serve you drinks and give me lien in return."

Ano hummed as she swirled the liquid in her glass, "This is your bar. You are the bartender. I am simply just a customer."

"Like hell you are," I roamed over and refilled a couple half-empty glasses along the way, "You're never that simple."

"Still your bar," She retaliated, restating its ownership to me, "It's quite the popular establishment as well. In fact, I think every soul on the western side of Vale knows about it." Ano's green eyes locked on mine, giving me a reason to look away.

"Inherited." I corrected, "This is my old man's bar."

"Ah," The woman chirped, taking another sip of her drink. I caught a glimpse of a grimace before she turned her gaze, "You're holding up well, though. Especially for someone as young as yourself."

This was my father's bar, nothing will change that. It's held strong for the seven years that it's been open. The customers are less than savory people but they supply me with enough lien to keep the place running. In fact, business has only gone up over the last few years.

He'd be proud of that.

The windows out into the dusty streets of Vale glowed in the afternoon light, illuminating the crowded booths at either side of the front door. The establishment held no grungy smells or grimy looks, but it certainly prevailed in the smoky odor that loomed over its inhabitants.

Black padded booths and chairs made up the scattered seating of the bar. Circular tables of wood ran through the open layout of the floor, only leaving room for three pool tables and two dart boards near the back of the building. A sputtering display of lights and clear music resided in the corner furthest from the door where a large music player was set up. Its speakers were evenly scattered throughout the ceiling. Hard and worn wooden floors lay beneath us, only a few squeaks coming through from a couple particular places.

My bar still remained the cleanest place of the entire room. I clean its surface eighty-six times a day, give or take a couple extra customers here and there.

Cheers rang out in the background. Someone had just struck a bullseye on one of the dart boards. I doubted it was anyone but the new guy. He was the only sober one.

"Four years," I said, "I think I've had more than enough time to settle things."

"Is that so?" Ano asked, tilting her head in her hand as she looked past me, "Then why does your father's weapon look untouched on its mantle still?"

Damn.

"I've kept the thing clean. I don't intend to ever use it." I stated, glancing up toward the thin black fingerless glove that snugly remained atop its mantle on my highest shelf. Resting where it belonged.

"It's yours now," Ano spoke from behind me, "At some point or another, you'll need to take it up and finish what your old man started."

She forced a laugh out of my throat, "You know how I feel about hunters."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… you hate them," Ano replied, "You despise them. But you can't deny that your father wasn't oneof them."

"That doesn't change anything," I said lowly, "It's been four years. I said I've let things settle, but I never said I'd ever let go of what happened."

Ano hummed but didn't respond. She pressed her soft lips to her drink and finished whatever remained at the bottom of her glass, pushing it off to the side after a few seconds.

The door rang and a new customer strolled in. His weary eyes sought me out immediately, and I watched as a crooked frown crossed his lips. He walked his heavy form over, coat hiding a blade at his side, and found himself a seat in front of me.

He was gruff. A bulky frame and what seemed like a hardy attitude to go with it. Gray hair lay in shambles atop his head, reaching gloomily over his eyes as the rest of his attire seemed worn and dull in more places than one.

"A little young to be running a bar, kid," The newcomer said, resting his thick forearms on the counter, "You even legal?"

"More legal than your kind," I responded flatly, crossing my arms.

"My kind?" The man's brows furrowed, hardening his already cold expression.

"The longsword beneath your coat, the modified 1911 hand cannon hidden behind your back," I reached beneath the counter and withdrew another glass, "The stench of aura exuding from your skin."

A hard fist fell on the counter in front of me and I had half a mind to note that it wasn't cracked.

"Kid, you don't know what kind if shit I deal with every day." My gaze didn't falter from the hateful glare of this stranger, "My job gets me paid, that's all. What I have to do out there is something I just have to live with."

"Your profession is your own. You can speak about it whichever way you want." I placed the glass in front of him and narrowed my eyes, "But I know full well what kind of blood you spill."

The man let out a huffed breath and clenched his fist, "Black blood, that's what."

"Your tainted sword and temper say otherwise," I growled, resting my fingertips on the counter before me as its surface shook slightly. A gentle rumble passed through its marble reaches as this man's aura only seemed to flair more and more.

He reeked of blood.

The man's stool crashed to the floor behind him as he drew his gun, fixing the barrel on my forehead as he cocked the hammer back. His teeth lay clenched in an angry grimace, while the brows beneath his gray hair furrowed with a seething rage, "Watch your mouth, boy. My business is my own. I take it where I want to."

"Oh?"

I turned to see Ano at the man's side. A blazing black dagger pressed against his ribs while her soft hand rested itself atop his gun.

"Is that the only thing you take wherever you want?" She asked.

The man made a move to pull away, only to clench back a cry of pain as Ano's dagger pressed harder beneath his third rib, "You have nothing to do with this condescending prick of a child. So back off before you get a bullet alongside him."

"I've been in more fights than you, honey." Ano spoke hotly, the ends of her brown jacket smoldering as I watched the man's gun slowly melt piece by piece, "I'd advise taking your leave before you hurt yourself."

Ano pulled her dagger away soon after and stepped back. The man's shirt now had a scorched tear at his side as a stream of blood drenched the blackened cloth around it. The flair of Ano's aura was coming down, which meant the heat exuding from her skin was also simmering back to normal.

It wasn't over.

I watched as the man dropped his gun to the floor and drew his sword from his coat, brandishing its shining steel through the air in front of him and causing a couple of my customers to step back.

"Get back over here you little bi-"

His words got caught in his throat as a cacophony of guns being drawn drowned his ears. Silence fell over the bar, not a customer stirred as he remained frozen, shaking slightly as his face scrunched up in anger. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head before he turned his gaze slowly, regarding the entirety of my bar.

I believe I already stated that my customers were less than savory. That didn't mean they were useless scumbags, not in the slightest. These guys were the kind of people you avoided in alleys and on the side of the street. These guys were the kind you'd see riding loud motorcycles and sporting gang emblems on their clothing.

These guys were the kind you'd expect to carry a loaded weapon wherever they go.

"Put that blade away," Ano said, casting a glance over her shoulder at the sword the man held, "Before you regret ever drawing it."

Her words were emphasized by hammers being drawn back from every seat in the house, an assortment of guns aimed at every inch of this man now priming live rounds of ammunition.

Everyone in my establishment loved Ano.

She was a regular as much as they were, after all. She may be hated by the majority that only know her by name but, those that know her by face, they have nothing but respect for a rogue like her.

The man only growled, "Why? He's a gutless bag of hot air behind a bar. He's not even old enough to run one. Why protect the scrawny child?"

Ano sighed before turning around and placing a couple fingers on the flat side of the man's longsword, "Because his father got gunned down before his young eyes in a situation much like this one." Heat radiated down the man's blade as I watched Ano's aura signature burst in a brilliant blaze of orange, something only I could witness, "I protect him because I'm the last guardian he has left."

The smell of scorched flesh suddenly filled the room as the man dropped his sword, rearing his hand back and clutching it in his other. Metal clattered to the ground as his aura melted down through his arm, surging to the severe burns on his once callused hand.

A dry shaken breath left his throat as he watched Ano take her seat.

"Get out of my bar." I broke the silence, my bright gaze brightening as the very air around me seethed in pent up energy. A presence swept over me and I felt my aura surge through my blood, almost boiling over as the man quietly stared at me.

No more words left his lips.

He took up his ruined gun and cooling longsword… and he was gone.

The activities throughout the bar resumed not a moment later. Before long, the hollers, muffled laughter, and drunken proclamations filled the room once again in a familiar atmosphere.

It remained like that until closing time.

"You know, Niro. You're of age now…" Ano trailed off, her voice hinting toward something obvious as the last of my customers left the bar with faces of mirth and a stumble in their step.

The young woman flicked the tip of her cowboy hat up slightly as she rested her chin in her slender hands, elbows resting gently on the bar as she leaned over it. A small clatter of a couple glasses jingled out before I shut the cabinets below, the last of the shot glasses now having been cleaned and stored.

"I'd be an idiot if I didn't already know. But I'd be an even greater one if I ever decided to follow through with something like that." I said, resting my arms on the counter in front of her. The sleeves of my thin black trench coat didn't slide, a practiced maneuver I did often when talking to customers.

It was then that she tapped my own cowboy hat up slightly, revealing my lime green eyes more as she smiled calmly.

"Beacon's looking for students. Why don't you apply?" Ano asked, her voice soft with a strange gentleness to it.

I felt sick.

"There's no way in hell I'd ever willingly try to get into a school that trains hunters to kill other people." My gaze shot to the side, bringing my face with it as I made my claim.

It was brought back with a small pressure to my chin and the soft touch of her delicate fingers. She was a fighter, a killer, a thief… how were her hands so soft…

"It's a school for those that can learn how to fight." She offered.

"I already know how to fight." I countered, my eyes meeting hers.

"It'll be worth your time. You'll meet people there, get placed on a team, maybe even meet a cute girl…"

I knew what she was doing, and it made me sick, "Beacon trains students to fight other people as much as they do Grimm. It's the reason why exiled hunters exist."

"Exiled hunters kill people because they want to, not because they were trained to," Ano refuted my claim and pulled her hand back to herself, "Beacon wasn't the cause of your father's death."

"It might as well have been," I grumbled, "Just let this go. I'm not going to attend a school like that."

"Maybe not, but you're a special kid, Niro. You have a semblance that's unlike any other. You have power beneath your fingertips like no one could ever imagine. Your aura is strong, stronger than I've ever seen," Ano tilted her head as her voice grew softer, "I'm not asking you to become what you hate. I'm asking you to become the man your father always wanted you to be."

"My old man's-"

"Dead or not, he always knew you'd be a fighter. It's why he started training you the day you learned how to walk. He taught you to run before you even mastered how to crawl. You learned how to use a sword before most kids your age even knew how to speak." Ano's eyes softened now, attempting to crumble the resolve my hard eyes carried beneath the shadow of my hat, "He taught you how to become stronger. He taught you how to learn. He taught you how to live, Niro."

"…Ano-"

"If you don't hone your skills-"

"Ano."

"-then you'll never grow. You can fight better than anyone else your age. You can become even more powerful than you are now-"

"Anoel!" I yelled. The woman before me flinched back slightly and lowered her head. I used her full name, something I rarely ever uttered.

My eyes closed as I let out a slow breath, taking in new air as I cleared my head and collected my thoughts, "Give me one good reason why I'd ever consider accepting the words you're speaking right now."

Ano's gaze remained fixed between her elbows, hidden now beneath the rim of her black hat as we waited for a few moments of silence.

"I tracked down a lead that could bring you to your father's killer."

Her words dulled my senses for a moment, my breath leaving me now as I clenched my teeth. The words she uttered engraved themselves into my mind, running straight through to my heart within my chest as I opened my eyes, "Tell me."

I watched, waiting in aggravating silence, as Ano took a breath and turned her gaze further away, "The headmaster of Beacon Academy knew your father. The two were close. If anyone might know the identity of your old man's killer… it'd be him."

Damn it, damn it all.

My fists clenched, fingers digging into the depths of my palms as I pushed away from the counter and ran them through my hair. This is bullshit. I hated every minuscule prospect of a school built to train hunters from the ground up.

I hated it.

Agitated step after agitated step, I walked back and forth before taking up a cleaned glass and hurling it across the room. Little lights glinted as it shattered against the far wall, loudly piercing the tense silence that currently ensued before I planted my hands on the bar and rested my head heavily against them.

This wasn't happening.

Ano's leads never led anyone astray. Her info gathering was a large part of the reason why everyone who knew her face loved her dearly.

She was never wrong. Her information was never stale. There was not a chance in the furthest reaches of Remnant that her lead was a hollow one.

My fingers clenched around the edge of the counter as I growled into my pale skin, "How do I get in?"

IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

Most of the Author's Note below this announcement has been refocused as of chapter 58!

Yes, hi, this is me from the future. I want to be transparent about something until I can get around to adding in additional scenes to these beginning chapters.

To explain, you'll notice Niro is mostly prominent in these early chapters (due to him being an outlet for me). But as the story progresses, you'll quickly notice my interests in the starred characters start to shift over to encompass a few others.

This is due to my own interest drifting away from that outlet, but it's also due to the fact that this story became a bit of a three-way collab later on. Certain characters became more "collab-able" as they developed.

You'll see who those particular few are later on (if you do continue reading).

Niro will STILL BE WRITTEN AND FOCUSED! He will not be written out or changed in any way! Just know that he becomes vagrant during some of the later mid-arcs.

He is still someone I like writing, and whenever a first-person perspective comes up, know that it IS him, but he does get vagrant at times. I want you to know that.

I've been striving lately to work him into more arcs (he does steadily appear more and more at chapter 45 and onward (when the Omakes began)).

The dry spell for Niro begins at chapter 35 (so to be clear, he's vagrant in the range of 35-45). Before that point, his appearances are fairly steady, fluctuating as the chapters go.

If this makes you unhappy, you don't have to go further into this story. But if you're okay with this, I'd be happy to see what you think of the story as it progresses.

For now, feel free to read the Author's Notes as you go, but do keep in mind what I've said here in this important announcement! They're also embarrassing, too, because this is no longer a side project... XD

This essentially became a main story on its own.

Enjoy!

P.S. yuri is very prominent in this story. Or rather, most of the fluff in this story will be yuri (outside of things regarding Niro. He is a man, after all).

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ENDS HERE.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or anything associated with the canon pieces of its development. They belong to Monty Oum and the rights of Roosterteeth. However, I do own all original concepts and original characters. Those are mine.

This story is going to focus on Niro as the main character. At the moment, he isn't quite as redeemable as he will be later on. He's very pessimistic and overly hateful about numerous things. Just makes you wanna remove/change him XD. Well, his development will be the focus.

He will gain some highly redeemable qualities down the line. So, don't feel bad that you take no interest in him at the moment. He's a realist after all. He has no reason to believe in the world right now.

All of my other characters will make their own appearances within the walls of this story. However, all plots linking them to their own stories will be severed.

This world is disconnected from all other worlds. Any character can show up. Any character can be presented in any way I see fit.

Anything can happen.

It'll be a world where all other worlds converge.

A fun little side project of mine. Maybe, just maybe, it'll be concluded as well since it's not supposed to go for too long. I will say that this isn't a priority for me right now.

I'm in college after all. My time gets eaten up like no tomorrow. So, the free time I do have might be placed onto my main story. We'll see.

Chapters will remain in a sweet zone of 3-7k words, depending on the events transpiring.

For now, Favorite and Follow this new story.

I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.

Cya XP