The sun was low and the wind off the cliffside was steady and indifferent, and Kaito stood at the edge of it with his hands in his pockets and the particular stillness of someone who had been standing there long enough that the stillness had stopped being a choice.
Kaito: Damn it all. I snapped again.
Ruby hit him from behind not a tap, not a touch, a full running tackle that drove her arms around him and her face into his back, and she
She felt him exhale.
She pressed her forehead against his shoulder and didn't let go.
Ruby: No more sad. (quietly) I thought you were getting better you've been more upbeat since we got to Beacon, and now you're spiralling again, aren't you. Mister.
Kaito: It's not that hard to know you, Rubes. (a beat) I'm deeply flawed. You know this.
Ruby: Well yeah. But you also need to remember that you're human. You're not the emotionless weapon you think you are.
The Silence from Kaito spoke volumes
They sat down together at the cliff's edge, the lights of Vale glittering distantly below, and for a while neither of them said anything at all.
Then Ruby started to sing quiet at first, one of his songs, the one she'd heard him working on late enough at night that she'd pretended to be asleep so he wouldn't stop.
Ruby:
Take a look inside your heart
What seems fair today
Tomorrow it may not
Just to walk on a journey
Don't stop reachin' high
Don't let the time pass you by
Kaito was quiet for a moment. Then, without looking at her, he joined in.
Kaito:
So many ways that you can try to forget
So many ways you'll find, wake up to regret
Oh
Someday, one day, we'll say live life, I know
Hold on, hold tight
Don't let go, don't lose sight
Ruby:
Feeling life erode
Is one thing new on every turn
But there are lessons to learn
Take a look inside your heart
What once seemed impossible
Today is not
Kaito:
So many ways that you can try to forget
So many ways you'll find, wake up to regret
Oh
Someday, one day, we'll say live life, I know
Hold on, hold tight
Don't let go, don't lose sight
Ruby:
Someday, one day, we'll say live life, I know
Hold on, hold tight
Don't let go —
Can't imagine, can't imagine
Making it on your own?
You got it inside, you got it inside of you
So let it out
Kaito:
Someday, one day, we'll say live life, I know
Hold on, hold tight
Don't let go, don't lose sight
Someday, one day, we'll say live life, I know
Hold on, hold tight
Don't let go
just live life
Live life
Don't let go
Live life
Live life
The last note dissolved into the wind off the cliff. Neither of them moved for a moment. Ruby looked up at him. He looked down at her. The kind of quiet that didn't need filling.
Then Ruby's Scroll went off.
Ruby: (scrambling to check it) Oh crap. We missed the last of classes. Weiss is going to be so mad
Kaito: You worry too much. (He was already standing, brushing off his jacket.) Come on, I'll walk you back. I need to grab Jaune anyway.
Ruby: (perking up immediately) Oh is he getting the surprise Kaito kidnapping?
Kaito: …Maybe.
Team JNPR's Dorm That Evening
Kaito knocked once.
Nora: (opening the door, entirely unsurprised) Oh, hey Kaito. Need something?
Kaito: Yeah I'm borrowing Jaune.
He walked past her and into the room. Jaune was on his bed, comics open across his lap. Kaito assessed this, picked him up by the back of his jacket, slung him over one shoulder, and teleported.
The Emerald Forest
Jaune: (trying very hard not to be sick) Ah Kaito why
Kaito: (setting him down) I'm going to be completely honest with you.
He said it simply, the way he said most things that actually mattered without preamble and without softening it.
Kaito: I'm going to train you. Because I want to make you stronger.
Jaune: (after a beat) Why? What makes me so special? I don't even deserve to be here.
Kaito: Of course you do. Don't say that.
Jaune: No don't.
I faked my transcripts to get in. Okay? That's the truth. I faked them.
Kaito was quiet. He looked at Jaune for a moment with the steady, undramatic attention he reserved for things he was actually thinking about.
Kaito: Mhm. So that's not going to matter once you show off your skills. Thanks to my teaching.
Jaune: Even after all that?
Kaito: Yup. (He turned toward the treeline, hands in pockets.) Then you won't need to feel left behind anymore. Okay? Let's see where we can get you in a week we've got the Forever Fall trip after that, and I'd rather you not embarrass me in front of the trees.
Jaune stared at the back of his head for a moment.
Then, slowly, something in his shoulders came down.
Kaito: Stop standing there and come on. We're starting tonight.