As guts walk his way, he sighs on the fact he cannot train for a while, for his ribs to heal properly. He looks at his surroundings and sees that it is close to sundown, so there is no time to head to the training spot. However, he'll take his time so that visiting hours can pass, he thinks to himself that if he gets there, he'll have to spend the rest of the time on the roof. He cringes at the thought of visiting hours. How he has to present himself to strangers almost every day but came to realize that his looks make him less than desirable, with his pointy ears, scarred nose, obsidian eyes and his stoic scowling expression he looks like a troublemaker at first glance.
As it gets dark, Guts makes it to the gate of the orphanage and there he sees Casca wait for him at the porch. He approaches her, as she walks up to him with a crossed face and looks like she is about to scold him until she sees the injuries.
"Oh my god Guts what happened to you "she said as she crouched down and inspected his face, cupping it with her hands. "Nothing to worry about Casca, it just a-OWCH" he flinches as Casca inspect the rest of his body patting on the bandages. She feels an odd surface under his shirt and lifts it up, seeing the bandages around his torso "this is nothing !?"
"You better tell me what happened or else..." she said, releasing an ominous aura. She may be kind, but she is very terrifying when she doesn't have her way, "ok, ok i saved two girls from a grim and got hurt so they took me to their house and patch me up" he said comedically not wanting to face Casca wrath. She took a deep breath, she did not look worried, in truth Guts always seem to find a way for him to get hurt.
"I swear you'll be the death of me one of these days" Casca complained as she walks with Guts to the house
"So, tell me more about these girls" she asked
"Will there's one with black hair with red tips at the end, her name is Ruby and she's a bit younger than me. She's kind and really nice .... And there's Yang, she's blond and has pigtails and the one responsible for my face" he pointed to his face "she's alright ... punched me a lot but I guess I deserve it" Casca raised her brow, curious, as Gut explained the event before the grim attack
"Well, I think she must of feel embarrassed that she beat you up and still you came to saved her"
"Huh that what their dad said too"
You want to make it up to her" Guts shrugged "invite her and ruby to your training sessions and be friends. You don't have any and I don't want to be lonely" she said solemnly, ever since Guts came to the orphanage he hasn't bonded with the other kids and is molly talking with people older than him, she hopes that the girls can help him allow to be a "kid".
Guts remained silent before answering, "...sure why not, we can work on adding more to the training spot" but in truth guts would like to have some company. He wants something akin to Griffith and Martino, however, see that they are different. He knows that Griffith's idea of a friend is an equal, in a sense of his dream, that much he could understand. With Martino he was like a teacher for a while until he no longer needed one, but since then they have been on equal ground. However, when he asked to go with him when the camp was falling apart, he had no destination; it made him aimless like Guts. So that is why Griffith words are still in effect, Guts wants a friend, an equal. But he must have a dream to aim at. And who knows they might help him get strong along the way.
"Well, that's good, just don't hurt them ok." She said, "Also visiting hours are still affected so what are you going to do" she knew that guts had no desire to be adopted, or else she would have done it. "I going to get some food and waited out on the roof" he said as he enters the house and heads to the kitchen, leaving Casca alone outside smiley as she gazes it the moon
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It was close to being six o'clock and guts was making his way to the Xiaolong resident, he wore his typical clothing and had his sword with him, he did not have any "Nice" clothing to wear but sported a blue blazer borrowed by an orphan at the house and the sword was for his own safety just in case he runs across grim. He approaches the door and knocks on it then waits, as Yang opens the door. Guts was not sure if it was his or her hair that had a tint of red?
" Oh, hey Guts, food is almost ready. Come on in" Yang said as she walked away. Guts enters the house closing the door behind him, as head to the living room where most of the noise is coming from. He sees that both Yang and Ruby are play a game on the tv
"Hi Guts" ruby said as she pauses the game and walks up to him along with yang. As Guts looks at her he sees that she has white powder on her hair. "Um hi ruby. Uh, If you don't mind me asking what is on your hair." Ruby touches her hair and sees the white powder. "Oh we were making a surprise for you. This is just powder" Guts looks towards Yang and raises his brow at her hair, as she takes a sigh. " We were baking and Ruby ate a fist full of sugar and had a sugar rush. She started to throw flour in the air saying "let it snow" and bumped icing on my hair, yelling "strawberry sunrise, hold the ice" so my dad put an end to it and I had to take a shower but the food coloring won't come off!" as she finished she raised her voice on the last part. "Hey it's not my fault that it is sweet" ruby said trying to defend herself Guts nodded in understanding as he looked at the TV with the video game paused.
"ok , so what are you playing?" he asked as Ruby took a dramatic gasp in disbelief. "You never played kung fu ultimate ninja death battle!?"
"No, should I have" Guts never played most of the children's games, let alone video games, he spent time training or doing merc work. Ruby dragged Guts and Yang to the front of the tv and forced them down to sit, she then gets her controller and placed it on his hand and unpause the game
"Play" she said pointing at the controller in hand. Guts looks at the control in confusion and was about to tell ruby that he rather not but the stern expression she gave him told him otherwise. Considering that he never played a game, he started to mash the button and toggle as he got wrecked horribly. Yang did not miss a beat to tell him so
"0 to 16 wins. I thought Ruby was bad, but you suck" Yang said as she beat Guts... again. Her character does a victory animation where he pulls out a log and snaps it on his knee. "I can do that." Gats said with a bored expression, as the girl look at the screen then back to him in surprise
"No way I call bull" yang said with disbelief on her face however Ruby was more willing to believe him. "Really!?" she asked, "show me!!" she said, beaming with excitement. Guts subconsciously give a small smile to her reaction. "Sure, do you have a log for me to break" he asked as he was quickly dragged by ruby across the room. "We have firewood in the back." is all ruby could say before taking Guts outside, as Yang gets up and follows after them.
"I gotta see this" when she got outside, she saw ruby jumping with excitement holding a wooden log, in front of Guts. as he looks at the ruby's little display in front of him and takes the log. He tensed up as he got ready to break the log. He brought it down on his knees and snapped the log making it into two. Yangs jaw dropped at the stunt, Ruby immediately brings out another log to break
"Again" Guts complied, breaking the second one too. Ruby brought him another one. Guts was about to break it, when yang intervene
"Guts did you unlock your aura" she asked while thinking how could a seven year old have the strength to break a log
"Pretty sure they don't unlock it until your thirteen" he said referring to the academy officials
"The how are you this strong"
"I don't know I just always been" he said, but in truth he always saw that his strength was a result of his training, but telling them of his prior mercenary life might not be the best to develop a relationship, unknown to the children, two individuals watching them from the second story of the house
"You know, when you told me that some seven year old kid had killed a beowolf, I thought for sure you were pulling my leg," the first stranger paused while taking a swig of presumably alcohol from his flask.
"From what he and the girls said it was an alpha beowolf" said the second stranger
"Sigh, I would have preferred if this was a joke. Now I have to interrogate him and see if he could be a threat."
"Do you really have to do that?"
"You know Ozpin would want to hear about this Taiyang," the stranger said, taking another swig from his flask.
"Since when do you care about what Ozpin would want Qrow?" Taiyang asked his former teammate. Qrow was a pale skinned man with slick back hair and a five o'clock shave and has red eyes. He wears a white and gray suit with the coral being black, adorn with a tater red cape, black pants and shoes and wears a tilted Rosario
"I may act like I couldn't give two shits about what I do, but I actually take my job very seriously. You said he broke his ribs yesterday?" Qrow asked, looking down at Guts, who was doing push ups with Ruby sitting on top of him.
"Yep."
"Then how the Hell is he doing this without collapsing in pain?" Qrow asked. Awestruck that the boy is unphased by his injuries
"Either he has a huge healing factor, or he has really high pain tolerance, or maybe both. I'm not sure."
"And you say he lives at Patch Orphanage?"
"That is what I said."
"And the wounds you said that they were..."
''there scars but He had cuts, stab wounds, burn marks and even gunshot wounds.... He got a large one around his shoulder pretty sure it was a shotgun that did that"
"I'll have to question the people there too." Qrow said with a sigh. "More work, just what I wanted. Shouldn't you be calling them inside for dinner?" Qrow asked. Not bothering to wait for an answer, Qrow walked out of the room. "Never mind, I'll do it myself."
Back Outside "I don't mean to spoil the fun," Guts said, fatigue clear in his voice, "but my ribs are really starting to hurt. Could we end this now?"
"Five more and then you can stop," said Yang with a grin. Guts was currently being forced to do one handed push ups with both Yang and Ruby on him. Guts groaned. Normally, he could have gone for much longer, but his still healing ribs severely limited what he could do. No one noticed Qrow walking up to them.
"Is this how you treat boys you like?" Qrow asked with a mischievous smirk. Yang blushed and got off Guts. Ruby, with her innocents, didn't understand what Qrow was implying, so she didn't get off Guts.
"Oh hey uncle Qrow! Of course I like Guts. He's really nice and cool." Ruby said with an innocent smile. Knowing Ruby was a dead end as far as reactions go, Qrow turned his attention to the boy under her.
"What kid, no reaction?" Qrow asked. Looking at the boy, seeing that he actually well built.
"Sorry, but right now I'm focusing on not falling with Ruby on top of me." Guts said, sweat starting to form on his head. "Can you get off me now Ruby? I did five more push ups like Yang asked."
"Oh right, sorry Guts," Ruby said as she got off of him. Guts got up and rolled his shoulders, sighing in relief.
"What do you want, Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked, her blush having mostly receded at this point.
"Your dad says that dinner is ready." They all walked inside and had dinner. Taiyang was actually a really good cook, as evidenced by the pasta and meat sauce he made. Guts ate a surprising amount of the pasta. Qrow in the meanwhile takes note of his behavior and sees the scar across his nose as well as his eyes.
After dinner, Taiyang told Guts to wait in the living room while he, Yang, and Ruby went to get something. Qrow decided to wait with him. He wanted to use those few free minutes to start asking him stuff.
"So Guts, I gotta ask, is that really your name?" Qrow asked cocking a brow in disbelief
"Yes, that the name I been given" guts respond making his own assessment one the man before him, he is clearly an active hunter
"Taiyang tells me you're an orphan. Do you have the slightest idea who your parents are?"
"No sir," Guts replied half heartedly honestly.
"Call me Qrow. I saw what you did outside. Pretty impressive for a kid. You always had that kind of strength?"
"As long as I can remember." Guts said, a little uncomfortable at the questions Qrow was asking. moreover Qrow could sense something within the boy, something unnatural. Before the conversation could continue, Taiyang walked out with Ruby and Yang. Ruby was obviously excited, while Yang seemed uncomfortable.
"Thank you Guts!" Taiyang and Ruby shouted while presenting him with a platter full of... sugar cookies?
"Thanks," was all Guts said as he didn't really know how to respond to being given cookies as a gift.
"Try one!" Ruby said while shoving a cookie in his face. Guts took the cookie and took a closer look at it. It had red velvet frosting and black sprinkles. Shrugging, Guts took a bite of the cookie. He chewed and swallowed. He froze in wonder.
"It's... good," Guts said as he scarfed down the rest of the cookie and reached for another one. "Why cookies?" Guts couldn't help but ask.
"Cookies are good for any occasion. Each cookie has a specific meaning and usage, kind of like roses." Ruby said with a smile. Guts deadpanned and looked at Qrow.
"Is she serious?" Guts asked the hunter.
"You have no idea. Remind me to tell you about the time when Taiyang and Ruby ranted for fifteen minutes straight on why bringing snickerdoodles to a barbecue was 'Aesthetically insensitive.'" Qrow said. Guts shrugged and grabbed another cookie. By now, everyone except Yang had grabbed a cookie.
"What do sugar cookies represent?" Guts asked ruby, humoring "the cookie aficionados".
"Two things actually," Taiyang said as he stopped eating his cookie. "The first is gratitude. The second is an apology." Taiyang said while sparing a quick glance at Yang. She was nervously tapping her foot and hiding something behind her.
"I get gratitude, but why an apology?" Guts asked. Someone tapped his shoulder. Guts turned and saw Yang holding out a sugar cookie. This one was different from the others. This one had orange and red frosting along with yellow sprinkles. Confused, Guts took the cookie.
"Sorry," Yang mumbled while looking away.
"For what?"
"You know, for punching you in the face a lot and being mean to you." Yang said. Guts looked surprised for a moment before returning to his regular expression.
"You're still hung up on that, huh?" Guts said looking away, scratching the back of his head. Yang paused for a moment, not expecting that answer.
"You're not mad at me?" Guts shook his head. "Does this mean we can be friends?" Guts light heartedly snickering this time.
"I feel as though I should be asking that." Guts said as he took a bite out of Yang's apology cookie. "Strawberry and orange huh? I like it." Yang sighed in relief that Guts wasn't mad at her. She enjoyed the rest of the evening with her family and newfound friend.
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...Beacon Academy, 1 week later...
"...This is a very interesting development," a man with glasses and silver hair commented. "And you're sure you weren't able to find any history on this boy whatsoever?" The man asked the familiar hunter in front of him.
"Trust me, I was pretty thorough. It's almost like he just appeared out of nowhere one day. The kid has no birth records. I checked, and the name "Guts" doesn't exist in Vale, Vacuo, or Mistral," the scruffy hunter said.
"What about Atlas?"
"I'd rather not give Ironwood any indication on the boy's existence. Knowing him, he would try to take him to Atlas and turn the kid into his own personal soldier." The man said. Judging from the silver haired man's reaction, it was clear that both men really didn't like this guy.
"Also, there is a weird vibe coming off of him, not like personality but spiritually" Qrow said. The other man nodded in understanding
"Thank you for telling me about this boy Qrow. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on him. As for you Qrow, I'm going to need you to go and check on how 'she' is doing." he said. Qrow nodded, knowing what he meant by "She."
"I may be gone for a few months this time." Qrow warned.
"That's fine." the silver-haired man said. Qrow turned around and started to walk out of the man's office.
"Qrow?"
"Yeah?"
"Now's not the time to look for your sister. Don't let it distract you." he told Qrow. the room was silent as they stared at each other
"...Yeah," Qrow mumbled as he walked out. The silver-haired man Ozpin took a sip out of his coffee cup and sighed. He has silver hair, green eyes and a pale complexion. He wears a green under vest and black blazer and pants adorn with gold buttons and wear a green scarf with a cross on it.
"Just what are you Guts?" Ozpin said to himself.