AN: Yeah it took a while again. Sorry about that. Life is a pain sometimes. Just rest easy knowing I don't plan on dropping this thing anytime soon. It just may take a while between updates. I am hopeful however that I can get Chapter 8 out by the 23rd. Here's hoping.

Glad to know people seem to like Djura. I spent a lot of time putting him together and making sure he would fit in this universe. Visually, and on a few levels personality wise he is built off a character from the game Bloodborne. More than a few ideas used in this story will be based on concepts found in that game.

Yang

She stretched up out of her seat as the bell rang to signal the end of class. Today's lecture had been particularly boring and it had taken all she had not to fall asleep on the spot.

"Yay, lunchtime!" Nora practically sprinted out of the classroom, dragging that poor boy Ren with her.

As Yang made her way out of the classroom, she noticed her sister and Weiss being almost…civil…with each other. Ruby thought she was being sneaky. But you don't just disappear for a few hours and show up with twigs in your hair without some kind of story to tell. Apparently 'nothing had happened'. Her and Weiss had simply taken a stroll…through the forest…at night…with their weapons. Yeah, Yang was no spring chicken, she knew something was up.

"I don't know why everyone seems so down on Ichigo, he's a pretty cool guy." Thought she wouldn't hear that eh sis? Something had happened last night, and it had involved Ichigo Kurosaki. Call her overprotective, but Yang wanted no part of someone basically universally reviled by her connections being anywhere near her sister. Sure he had seemed decent enough to this point, but her friends wouldn't just make something up.

They made their way out into the hallway and began to make their way towards the cafeteria. She'd get the truth out of him one way or another. But where would she find him? He didn't seem too interested in hanging around with them. She didn't know much about him either. The older student could be anywhere on campus. Or he could be standing right over there. Good, that made things easier. "Hey, Ichigo!" Their mentor stopped and turned to look her way. "We're all going to lunch, want to come with?"

The older student raised an eyebrow in response. "I think I'll pass." He started walking away.

"I don't think you will." She called out in answer.

He stopped and looked back. "And why is that?"

The blonde smirked. She had him now. "I seem to remember something about you owing me a favor."

"Really. Lunch? That's what you're going to use it on?" He looked bewildered. After considering it for a moment, he answered with a sigh. "Fine."

"Ah come on, it'll be fun!" Fun for her at least. The blonde cold hear Ruby cheer behind her. She was going to get to the bottom of what had gone down the night before. Who better to grill than the culprit himself? Even in the worst case scenario, she doubted he would cause an incident in the cafeteria.

As they walked in, Yang noticed something was different. The Cafeteria was usually one of the livelier places on campus. Everyone sitting around talking and generally goofing off. All in all, one of her favorite places. But as soon as Ichigo stepped in, an ominous wave blew over the students. The older student's eyes grew wide and followed them as the group moved towards an empty table. While the younger ones just looked confused. "Wow Kurosaki, people really don't like you."

"Just picking that up?" Before he sat down, she saw Ichigo unstrap the huge sword from his back. That made sense; he probably couldn't sit straight with it tied on. To her surprise however, he didn't stop there. After unslinging his weapon, he stabbed it down point first into the cafeteria floor, burying its point by at least a foot.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked.

"Yep." Was all the reply he gave.

Not a very talkative guy. Alright. She sat across from him at the table. "So Ichigo, how about this? The other day, my sister just up and disappears all evening, doesn't tell us a word about what she's doing or anything. Now me, being the responsible big sister I am, was obviously worried sick. Sometime after nightfall she shows up with her teammate, looking like they'd been in a fight out in the woods. And wouldn't you know it, neither one would tell me a thing about what had happened. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ruby flinch.

"Yeah, they got in a bit of trouble."

"I knew it!" She was already getting somewhere. "Ha!"

"Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal." Weiss interjected. "I simply…got lost and Ruby and Ichigo helped me find my way back. Right Ruby?"

"Uh…Yes!" the redhead nodded in affirmation. "That's what happened, yep."

"Really?" Somehow she doubted it. "Do you agree, Ichigo? Is that what happened?"

"Close enough." He waved her off, obviously not wanting to talk about it anymore.

Alright, if that's how it was going to be. "Oh I just can't believe it. Hearing stories about the big bad Kurosaki. I had an idea of what to expect, but running off with two freshman girls, I never would have guessed."

He coughed violently, choking on some food. "What!?" Oh god, the look on his face was priceless. She might as well of accusing him of murder. "What'd you just say?"

Ruby let out an eep! As her face turned beet red.

"Hey, what are you implying?! Weiss didn't seem happy either.

"What else could it be?' She continued. "Something happened with the three of you last night and nobody wants to talk about it. What else could it be but some illicit love affair?"

"No, nothing like that." Ichigo shook his head violently. "Stop getting weird ideas." Was that a tinge of red on his face? Was he actually getting flustered? Any suspicion she may have had was rapidly deteriorating. Yang knew how to read men; she had become a master of it during her time at Signal. So that was out. Good, she wouldn't have to kill him. But she still didn't know what had happened. "Your sister came to me for help last night. She couldn't…"

"Ah, allow me." Weiss jumped in, her face twisted in distaste. "I simply got lost on campus and the battery in my scroll died." She explained. "Ruby was concerned when I never came back to room and went looking for me." The heiress said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Isn't that right Ruby?"

"Uh huh, yep. That's how it happened." Came the reply. "Like we said that's all there was to it, sis."

"Now, I'd appreciate it if you didn't slander me like that." Weiss said haughtily. "I do have an image to uphold."

Their story made some sense. It was logical, it could happen to anyone. Beacon had a rather large campus after all. But she didn't believe a word of it. Ruby couldn't lie to save her life. Even now she could see the beads of sweat build up on her forehead. The two of them were hiding something. "So, is this true Ichigo, did Ruby really ask you to help her find Weiss?"

"Pretty much." Whatever brief chink she had made in his armor had sealed. "It was a bit more complicated than that, but nothing serious." The older boy was quiet for a moment before he seemed to remember something. "Weiss, what we talked about yesterday." The girl in question turned his way. "Be at the practice fields at 5 tomorrow."

"You are just shameless aren't you?" Yang commented. "I knew there was something going on between you guys."

"Seriously?" Ichigo replied, clearly irritated. There it was, that look again. If he was this easy to fluster, this semester could be a lot of fun.

"Hey guys!" Distracted from her fun, she turned to see Nora and the rest of team JNPR making their way over to their table.

"Who's he?" Jaune asked, walking up behind his teammate, Pyrrha and Ren following close behind.

"Oh, that's Ichigo, he's our assigned mentor." Answered Ruby.

"Nice to meet ya." The blonde boy waved. Ichigo simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Oh, I've heard of you." Pyrrha stated, moving closer. "You won the student tournament at the Vytal Festival a few years ago."

"Yeah, back when I was a freshman." Came Ichigo's reply.

"That's right, it was quite an accomplishment. Why haven't you competed since then?"

"Haven't felt like it." He replied flatly.

"Oh." The red headed girl was taken aback.

"I'm Nora." The energetic redhead pointed to herself. "And this is Ren!" She gestured grandly to her teammate. "OH! You guys would not believe the dream I had last night!" The girl hurriedly sat down and began her story. "We were surrounded by Ursi…"

Ichigo didn't seem to be paying much attention, but even so, Yang heard him mumble something under his breath. "What was that?"

"Hm?" He glanced up at her.

"You mumbled something."

"I said Ursi don't hunt in packs. They're too territorial."

"They were Beowulves." Ren spoke up. "Sorry, sometimes she…"

"Dozens of them!" Nora continued with a shout.

"Two." Her partner corrected once again.

"…But in the end, Ren and I took them down, and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs." The redhead crossed her arms in satisfaction.

Ren sighed. "She's been having the same dream for nearly a month now.

"Rugs. If only. The old man would line the house with them." Ichigo said to nobody in particular.

"Oh, is your dad a huntsman?" asked Ruby.

"…Yeah." Their mentor replied. "He's always complained about not being able to keep trophies. Said people wouldn't doubt his stories anymore."

"What kind of stories?" Yang could hear the excitement in her sister's voice. Ruby loved all things Huntsman related. She used to badger the father for old hunt stories back when they were younger and the habit had never really left.

He seemed reluctant. "You don't wanna,,."

Yang interrupted. "Oh but we do, what kind of stories?"

He scowled at her. "Well he was once stationed on the wall surrounding the city. During one of his shifts, he noticed something off in the distance, something big. How big changes every time he tells it, but what it was doesn't. A Gillian Menos had wondered close to the city, a little too close for his liking. Hardly ever happens more than three or four times a year, but I guess he got lucky."

"Gillian?" She hadn't heard of that before.

"Reaallly tall, but slow and stupid." Ruby explained, rapidly drawing out a rough, cartoonish sketch. "Looks something like this." When she held it up, all Yang saw was a black cartoon ghost with a pointy nose.

"I've heard of them, but I doubt it, that's too big for one person." Blake spoke up for the first time. "Even with a sword as big as yours, you couldn't cut it deep enough."

At that, Ichigo smirked. "Well, the old man says anything will die if you hit it hard enough."

Yang didn't know this man, but she liked him already.

"Anyway." Ichigo continued. "Instead of reporting to his CO, he just took off after the thing. Of course after he killed it and got back, his CO tore into him. Apparently they thought he had just wondered off from his post. He was put on months' probation for leaving his post without being cleared. If he had been able to bring something back to prove that it had actually been a Gillian near the wall he might've gotten off easy, but Grimm don't leave anything behind."

Something didn't quite make sense. "Hey, what a minute, If it was as Menos like you say, wouldn't someone else have seen it?" asked the blonde.

"You ever been to the wall?" their mentor answered.

"No?" She knew OF the wall, sure. It protected the surrounded the city and protected it form Grimm attacks. It was common knowledge for anyone in Vale.

"There is a lot of ground to cover, and not enough hunters to cover it. One hunter could have a stretch of ten miles or more to themselves. It's likely he would've been the only person to see it." Ichigo explained. "Apparently he did stuff like that a lot before they kicked him off the wall and started sending him on expeditions."

"Your dad sounds awesome." Ruby said, stars in her eyes. "They only let the best go out on expeditions deep into Grimm territory." Her sister was right, only the best go on those types of hunts. Their father had gone on a few of those during his younger years, and their uncle Qrow had become something of a regular. That is, whenever he wasn't boozing it up downtown. "Why can't we have someone like that as a professor? All we get is boring old Port and Goodwitch."

"Yeah, the man is a tough old bear." That grin was back on his face. It was almost mocking. Like he knew something they didn't. It was weird. The more time she spent around this guy, the more things just didn't seem to add up. He had a bit of a bad attitude sometimes sure, but nothing she hadn't seen before. Based on his earlier reaction, he seemed outraged that she would even imply he was doing anything illicit, even if exactly what had happened was still something of a mystery. That really didn't matter though; she'd figure it out eventually. Ruby never was good at keeping secrets.

Everything she had heard about Ichigo made him out to be some kind of violent sociopath. The only evidence of that she had seen was the general reaction to him entering the cafeteria. People seemed to be afraid of him for some reason. But why? She had to admit, he was fairly good looking. Back at Signal, a guy like him with that bad boy persona would've had girls flocking to them. What was she missing? She'd have to figure it out, slowly, through research and surveillance. "So Ichigo, why does everyone seem so scared of you?" Yeah screw that, direct approach is best approach.

He didn't answer. In fact, his attention wasn't on them at all anymore. Something else had caught his eye. Following his gaze, her eyes fell on a sickening sight. A group of four male students were harassing a Faunus girl a couple of tables over. The girl was familiar, but she couldn't remember her name. She remembered the boys though; Cardin Winchester and his band of thugs. Classes had only been running for a few days, but that guy was already building a reputation for himself.

"Ow, that hurts." The other students were trying to tug on her long, rabbit like ears. She was doing her best to protect them, but she was fighting a losing battle. "Please stop." Yang could hear her plea.

Cardin grabbed one of girl's ears. "Ha, I told you they were real."

The other boys around him laughed. "Haha, what a freak!" One of them called out. At this, the poor girl seemed to have enough. She quietly stood and left the table, keeping her head down as the group continued to laugh.

Pyrrha spoke up behind her. "Atrocious, I can't stand people like him."

"You're not the only one." Blake added, looking away from the book she had been reading.

What a shame that girl had to deal with that. Some people were just assholes like that. "It must be hard to be a Faunus." A loud thump drew her attention back towards the man sitting in front of her. Ichigo looked furious. He pushed himself up from his seat. "Hey, Ichigo…" If he heard her, it didn't show. Wordlessly, their mentor marched across the lunch hall. The other students noticed as well, their eyes tracking him to his destination.

One of Cardin's teammates noticed him heading towards them. "Oh check this out, you got a problem tough guy…What the fuck?"

Wordlessly, Ichigo grabbed Cardin by the back of the neck and dragged him away from the table and towards one of the many exits to the cafeteria. The rest of Cardin's team stood in shock for a few moments before chasing after their captured leader.

"Did he just…" Weiss asked nobody in particular. Staring at the exit door in shock as it slammed behind them.

"Uhh…what do you think he's gonna do to Cardin?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Well that was…something." One minute Ichigo actually seemed sociable, the next he's dragging that goon out into the hallway. Why though? Was it because that girl was getting bullied? Some kind of knight come to save the damsel? Maybe it was the Faunus girl, maybe she was his secret lover. Or maybe there was some kind of bad blood between Ichigo's family and Cardin's…oohh the possibilities, this was getting interesting. Her mind raced with potential reasons for the elder student's outburst. She barely heard what those at her table were talking about, and the fresh set of rumors beginning to churn among the other tables. She was broken out of her thoughts when the bell rang, and as she got up to leave, the blonde noticed their mentor had left something behind. "Sooo, What are we going to do about that?" Yang pointed to where Ichigo had been sitting, more specifically at the massive sword still embedded in the floor.

"You think he'll come back for it?" her sister asked.

"Somehow I doubt it."

"Wow, he wields this thing?" Jaune asked, walking over to where the sword was planted. "How heavy is it?"

"I dunno, but Ichigo is really strong though!" Ruby answered. "You should have seen him last night, it was so cool."

That was a slip. "Oh, what happened last night?" She asked her sister with a grin.

Ruby must've been able to feel the holes Weiss was glaring in the back of her head. "Oh nothing… hehe."

"Well, I'll give it a shot." The blonde boy grabbed the handle of the sword and heaved. There was an audible pop. "My back!"

"Need a little help there captain?" Nora stepped over to the weapon and lifted her injured teammate off the floor. "I got his." After plopping Jaune down onto his seat, she went back over to the sword and grasped the hilt, pulling hard. "..hnnn!" It didn't move an inch.

After she struggled for a few more seconds, her partner spoke up. "Nora, I don't think it's going to move."

"Nonsense, I just have to…hnnn" It twitched, just a little. With one last huff, the bubbly girl dropped to her knees, breathing hard. "Almost there…Too heavy…need more…pancakes."

"Lemme show you how it's done!" Yang pushed herself up from the table and made her way over to the weapon. Rolling her shoulders a few times to get them nice and loose, she cracked her fingers and gripped the hilt tightly. With a grunt of effort, she pulled mightily. The sword fidgeted, still stubbornly refusing to move. Come on you bastard. As she continued to pull, it slowly began to rise, almost unnoticeably at first. "Almost…there." After a few more moments of effort, it pulled free and the girl gave laughed triumphantly. "There, that wasn't so hard."

"Yeah! Way to go Yang!" Ruby said, bouncing with excitement.

"Ah I loosened it for ya." Added Nora.

"He carries this thing around with him all the time?" This is ridiculous. Even after pulling it free, it was difficult for her to hold her balance. Just what was this thing made of anyway? She didn't have a clue how Ichigo could wield the thing, let alone carry it around so casually.

"So, you're just going to carry that thing around all day?" asked Blake. "It looks a little dangerous."

"Nah, I got this." Replied the blonde, despite almost losing her balance again. "Taking it with us is better than leaving it here anyway." That made sense. She knew she wouldn't just leave Ember Celica lying around like that.

"He'll probably want it back at some point."

"If he wants it back, he can come get it tomorrow at breakfast." If nothing else, Ichigo might be fun to mess around with. In fact, she could probably have quite a bit of fun hanging around that guy. Too bad he didn't seem to have the same opinion. Ah, but the ones that got easily flustered were always the best; they made the most hilarious faces. She'd have to figure out some way to get him to stick around with them more often for maximum hilarity. If she had to resort to using taking his own weapon hostage as a start, well then that's what she'd do.

Glynda

"Barely a week into the semester and you're already in my office. Going for the record?" Now this was a familiar situation. Ichigo Kurosaki sitting in her office, once again because of a fight with another student. She was seated behind an ornate wooden desk, papers piled to either side of her. Before her sat the aforementioned vizard; slouching in a chair with a smug look on his face. "I must say, this time it's at least a little interesting. I especially liked the line '…touch her ears again and I'll rip yours off…' it was a nice touch."

"Ah, the bastard had it coming." Ichigo smirked. Oh how she hated that look.

"That's beside the point." Glynda replied, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "We've gone over this time and time again; you can't just pick fights whenever you want. You don't have the authority to just decide when someone needs to be punished."

"At least I actually did something." Ichigo replied. "Apparently he's been getting away with it since initiation."

"You think I was just ignoring Mr. Winchester's actions?" She was the deputy headmistress of this school, and could proudly say very little escaped her watchful eye. As much as the students liked to think they could get away with things such as bullying, it was rarely ever the case. Unfortunately, it was something most of the students would have to deal with at one point or another. Official policy was to let it sort itself out. Cardin Winchester however, had been toeing a very fine line. He had been something of a problem child since he had arrived at Beacon. The boy was a good leader during the initiation test and a very skilled fighter, but it was his attitude which needed help. He was strong, and he knew he was. The attitude he displayed was common among new students from families with long lines of Huntsmen. They were generally trained from a young age, leading to them being far beyond their peers at the start. That would explain the bullying of weaker students. The attitude towards Faunus though, that was probably from his upbringing. "I'll have you know I was going to bring him in here later this week. However, looking at his little display in the cafeteria, it might have been wiser of me to do something sooner."

"You knew and you just let it go on?" Ichigo sat up straight. "What, were you just going to hope it went away on its own?"

"Believe it or not, most of the time it does." The blonde huntress answered sternly. "This is a combat school Mr. Kurosaki, and like it or not there is bound to be conflict. The students must learn to handle whatever problems come their way, including matters such as this." It was for that reason that she was debating on how severely to punish Ichigo for his actions. Last night something had occurred which had given her quite a lot to think about. Leaving her office for the day, she had overseen him and Miss Rose talking about something out in one of the courtyards. She was too far away to judge what they were talking about, but if the girls flailing arms were any indication, it was something serious. When they disappeared in a blur together, she had given chase.

It was easy for her to stay unnoticed if she so chose. Always stay downwind when tailing someone with a nose like that. Seeing him do what he did was…surprising. To both do what he did to save the girl and take her to the infirmary afterwards, not bad. Glynda liked to think of herself as a fairly intelligent person. Maybe there was a pattern to this that she hadn't been seeing. Her plan had been to look through the previous incidents and try and make sense of them. The two massive stacks of paper were his freshman year alone, a good start at least. However, before she knew it, the subject of her study was back in her office.

She had made a deal with Ozpin after the teams had been assigned to break him off from his assignment in the event of something like this, but… She couldn't say she disagreed with how the boy had reacted. Like it or not, discrimination was still prevalent in their society. There were many Cardins out there who treated the Faunus like second-class citizens. She had been putting together her own plan to deal with Mr. Winchester. Now that he would be recovering in the infirmary over the next few days though, perhaps she wouldn't have to get involved.

Ichigo on the other hand, would have to be punished. Here it was, the opportunity she had been waiting for. But, she was torn. Going out of his way to help the Schnee heiress was a point in his favor. Why he hadn't gone directly to her or someone else on the staff though… What was she thinking? That was never an option to him from the beginning. Port had explained it to her dozens of times. Ichigo had that damn complex of his. Whether he was conscious of it or not, Ichigo viewed himself as some kind of unofficial watchdog of the campus. Saving the Schnee girl, teaching Cardin a lesson, it was the same. Perhaps it would be best to let him off the hook for this one…No, she refused to do that. Ozpin and Peter may make concessions for his sake, but she wouldn't. Vizard or no, he was a student at this Academy and would be treated the same as any other. There would be no special set of rules. After rubbing her temples for a moment she continued. "I would have Mr. Winchester tell me his side of the events, but I can't do that until he regains consciousness. Luckily Ms. Inoue is working on him, so he should be able to do so by tomorrow morning.

There was a knock at her door. Who could that be? She wasn't expecting anyone else to come by. "If you don't mind I'm busy at the moment please come back lat…" Before she could finish her sentence, the door flew open to reveal a girl with short brown hair, wearing sunglasses and a brown beret along with the normal school uniform.

"I'll be just a second." Stated the new arrival.

Who did she think she was, barging in like that? "Miss Adel now is not the time…"

The girl ignored her almost completely, holding up a single finger, as it telling her to wait. "Just a second." Her focus seemed to be on the rooms other occupant. "Remember me?"

"Nope, don't ring a bell." Ichigo shook his head, seemingly unfazed.

"Well, I'm the captain of team CFVY. That Faunus you helped out today was on my team."

"Really."

"Yeah. She's been dealing with that crap for the last couple of days. I wanted to tell you I appreciate it, she asked me to tell you she does as well." The girl walked over to the still seated Ichigo and extended her hand.

The young vizard didn't shake it. Instead he raised an eyebrow. "Why isn't she telling me that?"

The girl seemed surprised. She hadn't been expecting a response like that. "Well, Vel is timid, especially so when you're involved, apparently. Then again, around here everyone seems to feel that way. Am I right Glynda?"

Oh, so she was going to be included in this after all. "Mr. Kurosaki knows very well his reputation on this campus. He's heard it from me at least once a week for the last three years." Wait, had she just called her by first name? She couldn't believe the nerve of this girl. "This is not the time Ms. Adel, if you want to speak to Mr. Kurosaki, do so after he's through here."

Ichigo closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Timid huh?"

"Yeah, she doesn't do well with conflict." The brunette affirmed.

"You know, watching those guys mess with her made me angry, but watching her sit there and take it was just as irritating." The young vizards' brown eyes opened.

Coco raised her shoulders and shrugged. "Hey, that's just how she is, she doesn't like conflict."

"Well she better get used to it!" the older student raised his voice in response. Here we go again. Why Ms. Adel, why did you have to come in here and set him off. "This is a combat school. Besides, even if she wasn't going to try and defend herself, why didn't you guys, HER TEAM, do anything to help her out?"

Glynda decided to sit back and let the two of them do what they wanted. Once Ichigo got going, there wasn't a lot that could slow him down. That was something she had learned over the dozens of times the two of them had met here in her office. Poor Ms. Adel, she didn't know what she was getting herself into.

Coco grit her teeth. "It's not that easy. Vel asked us to let it go, that it wasn't a big deal. You don't think I wanted to go over there can kick the crap out of them?!"

"Not a big deal…" Ichigo shook his head in frustration. "So what, she's fine with that? Being the victim?"

"Of course not!" the brunette answered. "She doesn't show it, but I can tell when something is bothering her. That asshole was really getting to her."

"So she's just content to mope around and not do anything to help herself."

Coco ripped off her sunglasses and glared daggers. "Listen asshole, she's trying as hard as she can. You know why she has to deal with that freshman punk? Because she got injured, saving our asses last year. She missed too much time and has to make up time in her classes. That girl could have quit, but she didn't. To catch up, she's taking twice the usual course load!"

When Ichigo spoke again, he voice had dropped down to normal levels. "Good for her. Even more reason to take care of the guy herself. Eventually she's going to have to deal with problems like that on her own. People like that guy will just keep popping up if she makes herself look weak." He turned in his chair to face the door to the office, eyes narrowing. "For instance, when she leans against closed doors, listening in on conversations she should be participating in." There was an audible "eep!" from the other side.

"You…jerk!" The girl turned around and stomped out of office, slamming the door behind her.

Well that could have gone better. It's not as if what he was saying was wrong exactly, but his words could have certainly been presented better. "Mr. Kurosaki, if you and Ms. Adel are finished, we should get back to what we were discussing."

Suddenly the door flew open again, revealing the same trespasser as before, making a beeline straight for Ichigo. Quick as a whip, the girl lashed out and audibly slapped the boy hard across the face.

"What the hell!?" the young Vizard growled out, rubbing his injured cheek. Now was that really necessary? She decided to let it slide, maybe he would learn from it. Oh, who was she kidding? As the furious girl stomped out of her office, Glynda cleared her throat and got back to business. "Like I said, regardless if Mr. Winchester deserved it or not, we can't have you brawling with the other students in the hallways, especially not the new arrivals. I could remove you from your assignment for this, or even hold you back another year until you learn more self-control."

"That's bullshit!"

Glynda supposed he had some right to be angry. That cheek of his was turning red in a hurry. "But, I'm not going to do either of those." The headmistress continued, fixing the hot headed student with an icy glare. "Not only would Ozpin certainly find some way to reverse it, but I don't think either would do you any good." She had to think of something he would despise. Some kind of punishment that would make the young Vizard miserable. What did he like? Fighting, hunting, sitting atop that tower, wondering the grounds. What could she do to lock him down and force him to be civil? Suddenly, an idea occurred to her, and she began to hatch a plan. "No, I've got something else in store for you." The staff would hate her for it. But some sacrifices would have to be made.

Blake

Ichigo hadn't returned to the cafeteria after the incident. Cardin and his goons hadn't either. When you factored in how Ms. Goodwitch hadn't made it to the scheduled combat class afterward, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

During their combat class, one of the older students had stepped in for the absent professor and everything else had gone according to schedule, however Yang had gotten a couple of weird looks when she walked in carrying that impossibly heavy sword. Well carrying might be the wrong word. More like stumbled in trying not to follow over and accidentally kill someone. After that show, the students had paired off and fought in a series of practice bouts to hone their skills. Her partner for the spars had been Jaune Arc, the male captain of team JNPR. The blonde had been…underwhelming. The poor boy hadn't put up much of a fight at all. Had Beacon's standards really fallen so low? It was almost as if some random citizen had walked in and picked up a sword. Had he been that poor of a fighter before? Blake could remember his performance back during the initiation test. Jaune had kept his cool and successfully organized his team once the situation had turned dangerous. Or at least that's how she had remembered it. Had she missed something?

After their classes had finished for the day, she found herself heading towards the school's library. She needed some time away from her still freshly formed team. She supposed liked them all well enough but, well…they were…loud. Yang couldn't stay out of trouble and Ruby was way too energetic. She wasn't sure what to make of Weiss yet, but her and Ruby's' bickering didn't help things. Every now and then she enjoyed a little peace and quiet. There was none of that to be found in their dorm room.

Entering the building, she began to make her way towards what was rapidly becoming her favorite spot; third floor, off in a corner. It was a solitary spot at a table well away from the others. It was peaceful and solitary, but still commanded a good view of the lower floors. As she settled in, her thoughts turned towards Ichigo Kurosaki and the earlier incident. She had felt there was something strange about him when they had met. What it was though, she hadn't been able to place. Both times she had been around him; her senses had gone on high alert. Almost like her subconscious self knew something she didn't. It had been something of a mystery from the moment they had met. She had felt it again when they had all sat together at the cafeteria. Just like before, it was subtle. Just enough to notice, just enough to make her uneasy. It was tolerable for a time, but when they all noticed Cardin start to bully that poor girl, it started getting worse. As she watched, she could see his hands tense up into fists and begin to shake. He had been furious. That much was clear. What he did after dragging Cardin out of the cafeteria was anybody's guess, but she had a pretty good idea of what happened.

If Ichigo was true to his reputation, things probably hadn't turned out well for her fellow freshman. Judging by what she had learned about Ichigo since coming to Beacon, there was a good chance Cardin was in the infirmary right now. Honestly, she didn't know what to think about that. On one hand, the bully had been dealt with decisively. On the other, what happened to him was arguably worse than what he was dishing out. Was it really ok to attack him because he was being a jerk?

What was really bugging her was why he had cared so much. Outside of the weird sensation, Ichigo seemed like a normal enough guy. Nobody else had done anything. Even her own teammates who seemed disgusted with the whole thing, just sat around and watched. But he had actually gotten up and done something about it. Could he be a Faunus? Was he like her? Hiding what he was to avoid that kind of treatment? No, it didn't seem likely. From what she could tell he didn't seem to be the type to do something like that. Besides, that didn't explain the weird sensations.

Speak of the devil. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ichigo moving through one of the floors on the floor below, pushing a…cart full of books? That was confusing. Did Ichigo work in the library? He certainly hadn't seemed like the bookish type. As she gazed on curiously, he eventually made his way up to the third floor. As he got closer, something became apparent. The older student's scowl was in full force. He was scanning the plates on the sides of bookshelves, apparently looking for something.

Whatever it was, he didn't seem to find it. "Goddamit it, how are these things supposed to work!" The older student threw his hands up in frustration.

She stood up from her seat; curiosity got the better of her. "What's the problem?" She asked, making her way towards him.

As he turned to look at her, his scowl dropped somewhat. After a moment he seemed to recognize her. "Blake right?" She nodded in affirmation. "How am I supposed to know where all of these are supposed to go? They all just have this numbers on the side."

"Numbers?" She glanced down at one of the books. "The Dewey decimal system. Libraries use it to organize everything."

"You know what it means?"

"Yeah, I'll show you." She picked one up. A Shattered Dream: The Fall of Mountain Glenn. "See the number on the side?" She pointed at the books label. "See how the first number is a 9? That means it goes under history."

"Why don't they just keep everything alphabetized, that'd make it easier."

"Not really." Blake answered. "This way, you can subdivide the books based on what they are about. For example, all the ones on history are together."

"How many different types?"

"10."

He sighed heavily. "Great, this'll take a while."

Something was becoming quite clear. Ichigo did not want to be here. If he didn't even know what the different types of books were, he obviously hadn't spent much time in the library, much less work for one. Was this some kind of punishment for earlier? Probably. Suddenly she had an idea. "If you want, I can help you put these away." At the very least she'd be able to ask him about what happened with Cardin.

He looked uncertain. "You sure?"

"Yes, I don't have anything else to do at the moment."

"Alright." With that, she began to help him. Pointing out which category each book fell under, where each one went, even organizing them on the cart to make things faster. They moved slowly through the row of the library, putting every book back in its place. After a while, she spoke up. "Hey."

"Hmm?"

"So uh, what you did today."

"What about it."

"I was going to say it was nice of you to help her, even if it was a little excessive."

He scoffed. "What, you think I should have just asked nicely?"

"Well, you wouldn't have ended up here sorting books." She replied, placing another book. "That is what this is right? Some sort of punishment?"

"That obvious?" Her mentor shook his head. "He'd have laughed in my face and gone back to what he was doing. Every year a few like him show up. They're always the same." "Some chumps who think they can do whatever they want."

"You've done this before?"

"I hate people like that. The kind of punks that take joy in other people's misery."

"Not many people would have done what you did." Blake wasn't sure anyone would have. Nobody else seemed willing to do much of anything.

"Yeah I noticed." She could tell he was irritated. "Nobody else got up and did anything."

"The girl was a Faunus. There are a lot of people who were probably cheering him on." That's just the world they lived in. Some people hated the Faunus. In many ways her kind was still treated as second class citizens. "That's not why they didn't act though, that was the bystander effect."

"The what?" he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's the name of a phenomenon seen in groups." She explained. "If something happens around a large group of people, everyone waits for someone else to make the first move."

"Assholes." He was silent for a time. "All too scared to put their necks out." There was a long moment of quiet between the two of them. The sound of the squeaking cartwheels the only sound. After some time, Ichigo broke the silence. "You read a lot don't you?"

"Yes, I do." That was one way to put it. She loved to read, that was a large reason why the library was her favorite place on campus. Reading allowed you to experience something greater than yourself. It took you places you could never go, allowed you to meet fantastic people you could never meet, it brought the ideas and thoughts of people from all over the world, modern and ancient. It was a beautiful thing. Such a beautiful thing could reveal to you almost anything. Anything except what she wanted to know at this moment. "Is that why it made you angry? Because no one did anything?"

"No. I just hate people like that. He picked on her because he thought she was weak. He probably thought it would be easy." The older student stopped the cart. They had come to a new section. "But he has it backwards. The strong shouldn't prey on the weak. My father always taught me it was the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak, because they can't do it themselves." He grabbed a book from the cart. "But that girl…"

"You know her?"

"I don't remember her name." He said with a wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter though; she could have blown that guy out the room whenever she wanted to. I've seen her fight."

"Maybe she just wanted to avoid fighting."

"Bullshit." His head shook in annoyance. "You just sit there and take treatment like that and it'll go on forever."

That was one way to look at it. Blake couldn't say she completely disagreed. "You know, when you were first assigned to us, we heard some…interesting stories. A lot of them were about how many fights you get into."

"Yeah well, a lot of people piss me off."

It was all starting to add up. The anger, the solitary behavior, why he had gone out of his way to help that girl. It all made sense now. Maybe she had been right after all. "You're a Faunus aren't you?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. After a moment he answered. "Nope, I'm not one of you guys." What?! He knew? How? Was her disguise really that easy to see through? Her confusion must have shown on her face. "Don't be so surprised, if you're trying to hide it you aren't doing a very good job; I'm sure all the professors know by now." They all knew? If they knew that, what else did they know? "Don't worry about it, if they cared, they would have done something by now."

Blake composed herself quickly. "I see."

"So, why do you hide it?" Ichigo asked, replacing a book.

"You've seen how the Faunus are treated. Even here in Vale, there are those who treat us like scum."

"You aren't the only one here. There are a lot of Faunus here at Beacon; you're the only one trying to hide it."

"I'd rather be treated like who I am then what I am."

It was quick. So quick she couldn't be sure she had seen it. But it was there. For a moment, however brief, he seemed to hesitate. "I hear ya."

"So why do you do it?" Blake asked, after placing another book. "Why do something like this over and over again?"

"I just do. Alright?" he answered flatly.

"You just do?" What kind of an answer was that? "So what, you're just some vigilante running around dealing out justice as you see fit?" It was too similar, she felt like she had seen this before. "In case you didn't notice, people are scared of you."

Apparently that hadn't been the right thing to say. "Scared of me?" He turned from the bookshelf to glare at her. His scowl had returned to full force. "Instead of worrying about why I did what I could to help, ask yourself why you didn't!" The older student was angry, barely able to keep himself from shouting. "Ask yourself why you and your teammates just sat and watched that girl, a fellow Faunus, get tormented like that!"

The question cut deep. Why hadn't she tried to do anything? She knew what the Faunus had to deal with; she had hidden herself in fear of it. Seeing someone else deal with that, she should have acted…no. That wasn't the way to do things. Violence, an arm for an arm, that wouldn't work. No, she had been right. Let the staff deal with that, it was their job. She didn't have to take this. She didn't have to be talked down to by someone like this. Blake turned to leave, she'd find somewhere else. Somewhere by herself, without people that didn't make sense.

"Hold up." She stopped after a few steps. "Sorry, I shouldn't have blown up like that." As she turned back, she could he was rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Sometimes…I guess what I'm trying to say is…Sometimes, people like him… you just have to hit someone really hard to get them to listen to you." That was what he seemed to settle with, but he didn't seem comfortable with it. "As for why…" He hesitated another moment. "It's just who I am."

She understood him a little now. It didn't matter if the girl was a Faunus or not, he would've helped anyway. Was it because he felt the need to help people? Or was it because he didn't tolerate Cardin's type of behavior? She supposed it really didn't matter. She walked back to the book cart and picked up another book. "Be careful with that mindset. Eventually, you can justify anything." But even so, Blake couldn't abide this type of behavior. He was on a slippery slope, she should know, she had seen it before. It started with something small, but eventually it would grow to a point where anything could be justified. After all, what were a few human lives when an entire race could be free? "Oh, by the way. Just thought you'd like to know, Yang has your sword."

"What?" He stopped to look at her, face twisted in confusion.

"Your sword." Blake answered. "After you stormed off and didn't come back we decided not to leave it there. Yang was the only one of us able to pull it out of the floor. She said she'd give it back tomorrow morning."

"The blonde one? She…picked it up?"

"Yes she did. She had to really strain to do it, but she was able to pull it out. She carried it around with her the rest of the day too." Many of the other students had found it hilarious, if terrifying. "What is it made of anyway? I thought it was heavy, but that sword was way too dense to be made of steel."

Obviously still stunned, it took Ichigo a moment to answer. "She's stronger than I gave her credit for." He turned back to the book cart. "I don't know what it's made of. My father got it made at a shop in town when I started here."

That was odd, most hunters and huntresses made their weapons themselves. It was an extension of its wielder, and as such were generally custom made to work with them as perfectly as possible. Repair shops and rentable work benches were common, but buying a premade one was almost unheard of. "What kind of shop? As far as I know, there aren't specialized weapon shops in Vale."

"Couldn't tell you that either. Never met the guy." Her mentor responded. "Friend of the old man, it was a present for me entering the school."

What was with this guy? The longer she talked to him, the more questions popped up. As she continued to help him with the books, that odd feeling still nagged at the back of her mind. It had disappeared for a moment when the two of them had been talking, but when he was angry, it had slowly crept back to the forefront of her mind. What was it, what were her senses trying to tell her?

His heart was in the right place; that much was obvious. At the very least, she could tell the rumors they had been hearing around campus weren't entirely true. Based on what she had just heard, she wouldn't be surprised if every incident Ichigo had been involved in didn't have the same sort of issue at its core.

"What a minute…she wants to give my sword back tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, why?"

"When?"

"Breakfast."

"Damn her."

Jaune

"Seven point one meters off target to the right."

Ugh, was he actually getting worse? During combat class he had looked like an idiot in front of everyone; now here he was at the firing range making a fool of himself all over again. An older student had been assigned to his team as a mentor. His name was Uryu, a senior student currently ranked at the top of his class. One of the first things he had done was criticize their fighting styles and send them about doing various tasks. His was to learn how to use a gun. Apparently a hunter without the ability to fight at range was some kind of disgrace. The assigned mentor had taken him to Beacon's firing range for some target practice, and was currently standing there beside him as he fired at the distant target, telling him just how badly he missed.

"Keep your arm steady." And giving useless advice.

Jaune fired off another shot.

"Seven point three meters to the left."

For some reason, he was only allowed to use one hand to fire the overly large pistol and his arm felt like it was about to fall off.

"You're lucky you ended up with Ms. Nikos." Uryu said, pushing up his glasses.

Didn't he know it, Jaune hadn't understood the significance of it at the time, but apparently his partner was some kind of famous fighter, she was on a cereal box and everything. Uryu had praised her during their first meeting. He fired again.

"Eight meters to the right."

"Agghh! I can't do it!" The blonde boy lowered the firearm and began to rub his sore bicep. Everyone else made it look so easy. He had been out here for almost an hour and hadn't hit the target once.

"Giving up already?" Uryu asked, eyebrow raised.

"It's no use; I'll never be able to do it." He flopped down on his back and stared up at the sky. Why did he think he could do this? He had barely been here a week and it was already obvious how hopelessly far behind he was compared to everyone else.

"Never? How fatalistic." His mentor answered. "I'd think someone as accomplished as you would be able to pick this up easily."

Accomplished? Hah, that was a joke. He hadn't accomplished anything. He had never been to a combat school before, shoot this was the first time he had ever held a gun. It took him at least a dozen shots to stop flinching every time it went off. But that's not what his transcripts said. No, according to them he was an accomplished self-taught huntsman in training from the prestigious Arc family. The recruiters had been thrilled when he had shown them such a wondrous history. The fake had been good, too good honestly. How was he ever going to live up to such a lofty history; even if it was almost entirely fake?

"If you're thinking about your fake transcripts, don't bother. I already know."

"You…what?" Oh no. He was dead.

"It wasn't difficult." The elder student stated. "With skills like yours you wouldn't get into Signal, much less Beacon."

Wait, something didn't make sense. "If you know, then why are we even here?"

"If I know, the professors know. I doubt you fooled them in the first place." Uryu turned to look at Jaune. "It's not my place to decide who gets in and who doesn't. My job is to make sure you get as good as you can under my tutelage."

Well that was…nice? God, they knew he had been lying from the start. How pathetic. He couldn't even cheat right.

"Mr. Arc, why is it that you want to be a huntsman?"

He thought for a moment. "Well…I want my parents to be proud of me." He came from a family of huntsman and huntresses. That was what their work, their life. His parents had been Huntsmen, his grandparents had been Huntsmen, and even his three older sisters were huntresses. He had always been the odd one.

Uryu's gaze moved from the target to look down at Jaune. "There are many ways to make that happen without risking your life on an almost daily basis."

"No, it has to be this." The blonde boy said as he sat up. "Everyone in my family has come through Beacon. My mother, my father, three of my seven sisters… Shoot my grandfather has his own statue back in my hometown!"

His mentor sighed. "I knew one of your sisters. She was a year above me, graduated last year I think."

"Yeah, that was Serah." How could he forget? She was the youngest of his three older sisters, and had graduated near the top like the other two. To make matter worse, his younger sisters looked like they would follow in their footsteps. How was he ever going to live up to that?

"That's right. She used to talk about her 'kid brother'. I suppose she meant you."

"What did she say?" Why did he ask that? He knew it wasn't going to be good.

"She said you were soft, that you would rather chase girls than learn how to fight. Apparently it's common to have group training sessions at your home, but for some reason you were rarely ever there. Needless to say, she was very surprised to hear you had made it in."

More interested in chasing girls? "That's not true!" I mean sure he tried, but what teenage boy didn't? Blame the hormones damn it.

"Really?" Uryu questioned. "I seem to remember hearing something about you attempting to flirt with a few of the other students; most notably Ms. Schnee."

"Huh?!" How did he know about that? Did everyone know about it? Ah man, people must think he was a total loser. A constantly rejected, useless example of a huntsman. God, why was he so pathetic.

"I must have hit the nail on the head." Uryu's gaze lazily shifted back towards the distant target. "But, true or not, people's opinions of you do matter. For example, right not I'm not sure if you actually want to be a good huntsman or if you just want to look like one."

"I do want to be a huntsman!" Jaune rose to his feet. How could he question that? If he didn't want to be a huntsman, why would he go through all this trouble? Did he know how many times he thought he was going to die out there in the initiation test? How hard it was going to combat class knowing you were going to get pounded into the dirt by whoever they put you up against? Hell, he had to work his ass off just to get all the money he needed for those forged transcripts. If he wanted to do anything else, he would have quit a long time ago.

"Well I need some convincing." The older student crossed his arms. "Because if you really wanted to be one why haven't you tried until now? I've only met one of your sisters, but she was a fine huntress and the older two have already made names for themselves. You must have had every opportunity…" Uryu seemed to trail off in thought. "That weapon of yours, what was it you called it? A hand-me-down?"

Jaune looked over at his weapon lying in the grass beside him. Crocea Mors, the sword/shield combo his grandfather had used in the war. It had been handed down to him after his parents had learned of his admittance to Beacon. They had claimed it was an honor to receive it, but he wasn't sure he hadn't received it simply out of necessity. He had never made his own weapon, and frankly he knew his acceptance had been a surprise to everyone. "I mean, compared to the others…"

"It isn't flashy enough? Is that what you were thinking?" Uryu cut him off. "That sword made it through the Great War and kept your ancestor alive. It deserves your respect."

That man really knew how to make him feel worthless. "I didn't mean any disrespect. It's just…I don't know…behind the times?" Crocea Mors was just so…simple. One could argue that simplicity was a good thing in a weapon, but to Jaune it was anything but. "I'm not a good fighter, I know that. I need help. I don't know how to wield it correctly, I can't fire a gun straight, I didn't even know what Aura was until you brought it up two days ago."

"You think a special weapon makes someone a better fighter? Is that it?" His mentor was annoyed. Before Jaune knew it, the older student had left the spot he had been standing on this whole time and closed the distance between the two of them. "Give me the pistol."

"Uh…sure." He gingerly handed over the weapon, careful not to accidentally pull the trigger and blow his foot off.

In the blink of an eye, Uryu raised the pistol and fired off five quick shots. For a split second, Jaune could see it. A light blue flash across the eyes of the older student. It was his semblance. Zoom he called it. It allowed his eyes to site in like the scope on a sniper rifle. It was impressive, a perfect match for his sharp shooting mentor, and also a reminder of something else Jaune didn't have. All five shots pierced the center of the target. Five perfect bullseyes. "There's nothing wrong with the gun, try again."

"Look, I don't have that special eye or whatever I can't do this as well as you." The blonde boy growled in annoyance. It was humiliating. What he had struggled to do once in the last hour, this man had done five times over in half a second.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Uryu did something Jaune didn't expect; he closed his eyes. Once again, in the space of no more than a second five shots had been fired. Turning to look back at the targets, he could see the results. Five shots, five bullseyes on five targets.

"There, I did it without the help of my semblance."

"Wow." That was ridiculous. He had never seen anyone with accuracy like that. He didn't even have to look at the target.

"Do you know how I can do that?" His mentor asked, handing the pistol back to him. "It's because I practiced every day since I've been here at Beacon. Every morning and every evening I come down to this range and fire at these targets. First, I practiced with the stationary ones at the closest setting, and then moved them back when it became too easy. Eventually, I advanced to the moving targets. Now, even those I once thought impossible are nothing more than daily practice."

Every day? That was insane. Was that all he did? He couldn't even imagine it. All those hours spent just sitting her staring at those distant marks day in and days out. "That's…"

"Jaune, here's how things are, as simply as I can put it." His mentor's eyes locked with his. "If you want to amount to anything, you're going to have to put work into it. Being a huntsman isn't something you do half-hearted. It certainly isn't something you do in your spare time to impress women." Uryu turned to look out at the distant target, its center still smoking from the impact of ten straight bullseyes. "Every one of those shots was perfect; I practiced until they were perfect. Do you know why?" When Jaune shook his head in answer, the elder student continued. "If I miss with one of my shots, I may die. Or, someone else may pay that price for me. There is no room for error." Uryu looked down at the watch sitting on the wrist of left hand. "Looks like we still have this space for another twenty minutes. Now Mr. Arc…are you going to give up, run home, and continue to be the failure you fear yourself to be? Or are you going to start shooting?"

Huntsman Profiles

-The following data is pulled from the Beacon Academy Huntsman database. Here, the parameters of a huntsman/huntress are recorded and scored. A value of 5 is set as the base level expected of an average full-fledged huntsman/huntress. The highest value (10) will only be given to those who push the boundaries of human achievement.

Profile: Yang Xiao Long (Stage 1 Classified)

ID #: 0490

Occupation: Freshman level student at Beacon Academy

Previous Occupation: None

Strength: 7/10

Skill: 4/10

Speed: 4/10

Intelligence: 5/10

Experience: 4/10

Rank: T (Trainee)

Team: RWBY Partner: Blake Belladonna

The first of two daughters born to current hunter Tai Yang Xiao Long. Daughter of former hunter Raven Branwen. Exceptionally gifted physically and received top marks in combat classes during her time at Signal Academy. However, records report some shortcomings in more academic pursuits. Records also indicate some troublemaking tendencies. Has a younger sister, Ruby Rose who also attends Beacon Academy in the same year.

Confirmed Slayings: Grimm: 1 Nevermore (assisted)

Profile: Blake Belladonna (Stage 2 classified: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY)

ID # 0492

Occupation: Freshman level student at Beacon Academy

Previous Occupation: White Fang Operative

Strength- 4/10

Skill- 6/10

Speed- 5/10

Intelligence-7/10

Experience- 6/10

Rank T (Trainee)

Team: RWBY Partner: Yang Xiao Long

Faunus. Believed to be a former child operative of the White Fang terrorist group. Reports indicate Ms. Belladonna may have defected from the White Fang some time ago due to the recent change towards more militant tactics. Transcripts were forged in attempted entry into the school, but admission was cleared due to an executive decision of the Headmaster. Threat level considered minimal. However, student warrants close monitoring to ascertain any potential ulterior motives. Believed to have a relatively high amount of experience and skill for one her age. Extremely high marks on written exam.

Confirmed Slayings: Grimm: 1 Nevermore (assisted)

AN: The point of this chapter was too expand on Ichigo's character somewhat. To do so, I decided to approach him from the eyes of three different people and their preconceived notions vs their new actual experience in talking with him. I hope that came across well.

The last segment of this chapter focused on Jaune. He was kind of an oddity in canon. It's implied that his family is on some level known for their ability, but he seems to have no real experience in a fight whatsoever. So, I tried to construct a believable reason for why this happened. I think I succeeded, but tell me what you think. As most people guessed, the mentor for team JNPR is Uryu Ishida. I think he'll work well with them.

I also wanted to stress the competency of the professors at Beacon. Too often, people seem to fall into the "teenagers save the world" story setup where the obviously more powerful/experienced elders do very little to eliminate the threat. That's unrealistic at this stage.

Lotta options being thrown out as far as pairings are concerned. Once again, I have no clue where that will end up. But the usual suspects seem to be the most popular. Feel free to continue to spitball on that front.

As always, feel free to ask me a question if you have any. I will try to get back to you when I can.