Haseo, Atoli and Shino in Canard's Classifieds - .hack/G.U. trilogy. One of the best action RPG's I remember playing on the PS2. Story gets super jank, especially considering there was a series of four games before it /Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine - but gameplay is fun and I found myself attached to characters. If anyone has the third game, hit me up.

As they walked down the street, Jaune nursed his red cheek while Weiss walked ahead of him, slightly faster than he could walk comfortably.

After receiving Weiss's clothes and weapons, and acquiring other basic provisions to tide them over until the next town, they were on their way to the final stop before heading back home so they could rest up.

"Aw, come on Wynter - did you have to slap me that hard? How was I supposed to know what your weapon means? I didn't even pick it! I just paid for it." In addition to having a slightly swollen cheek, Jaune was carrying most of their bags. Fairly easy for him, but still an inconvenience considering they were all in his other hand.

If he had walked fast enough to catch up to Weiss, he would have found that her face was slightly red, and her eyes darted back and forth as she thought frantically.

It's okay, Weiss. He didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure. I'm sure that 'Devoted Affection' just means that he's willing to stick around with me, nothing romantic of the sort. And even if...

Weiss was, for once, so deep in her thoughts, that she walked right past their final destination. It took Jaune running up to her from behind and grabbing her arm to get her attention.

However when he grabbed her, she shrieked in slight start and embarrassment. Raising her fist in order to stave off her would be attacker, she was met with Jaune cowering behind raised hands. The bags were dropped at his feet and his eyes were closed so he wouldn't see the fist that knocked him into probable unconsciousness.

Seeing this, she felt a small amount of pity for him. Sighing and shaking her head to get rid of her embarrassment, she lightly tapped Jaune on the shoulder to tell him that it was safe.

He opened his eyes to diverted eyes and pursed lips. He let his face go slightly deadpan before turning to the last store of the day.

In order for Weiss to follow through with the idea that she was dead, and so she could continue to train without being recognized, drastic changes were in order. Their trip to Canard's Classifieds had netted her some much needed variations in her wardrobe, but ultimately she arrived at a realization.

There was no way that she could continue to wear the things she was used to wearing. There was no way that she could look the way she does now, and not raise suspicion to anyone.

In wearing Jaune's hoodie and spare pair of shorts, she recognized not only the comfortability of such an outfit, but also its usefulness in disguise. With the hood pulled up as far as it was, her eyes were partially shadowed. Its long sleeves and baggy material could hide known marks and scars (not that she had any) as well as conceal other things holstered under it. And with the shorts, they weren't as restricting as she once thought. Instead, they might have been just a tiny bit more easy to move in, allowing her to try new motions and movements to her fighting style that she couldn't attempt before.

She and Jaune had traveled to two other stores to find two more hoodies, and both guy's and girl's shorts along with a belt.

Thankfully, with her haggling skills, it didn't burn a hole through Jaune's wallet.

But her clothes weren't the only telling factors that one would be looking at a not-quite-dead Weiss Schnee. Her eyes wouldn't be that big of an issue - many people had light blue eyes.

No, the issue would be her hair. There would be no way that Weiss would be able to go on with her hair in the long, off-center ponytail. Once again, white hair was still common enough that the color itself wouldn't raise an issue, even a pure white such as Weiss's, but the way the hair looked was where their troubles lay.

Jaune had turned away from her and looked at the last place on their list.

Barber-a's Shop.

Weiss turned to look at the store as well, and sighed as she brought her hair out from where it sat in the hood of her hoodie.

While Jaune didn't quite understand the struggle that girls went through on the daily with their hair, he could understand that, just maybe, Weiss's hair was one of the few things that she had control over in her old life. Her off-center ponytail was a sort of reflection of herself: of the fact that not everything in her life was perfect as other people would normally perceive to be, and having her hair in a non-symmetrical ponytail could attest to that.

Still, that was when people expected great things of someone in her position, and she was put on a pedestal expected to perform to complete perfection all the time.

Now, however, she was dead. That meant she needed a new name, a new weapon, and a new look in general.

Losing what looked to be like a little over two feet of (utterly gorgeous, silky sheets of graceful) hair would be hard, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

Jaune looked back at Weiss and noticed the apprehension on her face. In an effort to appease her, he spoke up.

"You know, you don't have to go through with this. We could just get your hair recolored or something. You don't have to get it chopped."

At his voice, Weiss remembered where she was and shook herself to alertness. She fingered her hair again and bit her bottom lip before refuting him.

"No, this is something that has to happen. There's too much risk in just leaving it as is and changing the color. This-" and here she gestured to her hair, "-has to go."

Jaune just looked at her face before nodding at moving to open the door.

"Alright then. After you."

Steeling herself, Weiss entered the door.

A bell rang, and they saw a blonde haired woman look over at them from her peculiar position.

She was on top of a chair, pinning what seemed to be a flag to a wall.

The flag was red on the outermost fourths, while inner two were white with a lone red oak leaf in the middle.

"Oh! Just a sec, be right with you."

She haphazardly stuck the flag to the wall with a pin, leaving it lopsided. Jumping down from the chair, she turned to yell to the back.

"Hey Aaron! Could you come over here and fix the flag?" At this, a young man wearing an apron walked out from the back with a frown on his face.

"And just why do I have to hang up your flag? Seems pretty anti-national of me to do that. I love my country."

The woman just scoffed at turned away from him.

"Oh, just do it you caterpillar-eyebrowed bitch."

She walked up to Jaune and Weiss with a smile on her face.

"Hello there. Welcome to Barber-a's! I'm Barbara, obviously, and what are you looking for today?"

Barbara looked between the two of them before noticing Weiss's hair.

She jumped to her side immediately, forced the hoodie back and pulled Weiss's hair out of its ponytail, letting it all fall free.

Weiss was understandably startled.

"Excuse me, what are you-" Barbara cut her off with a wave of her hand.

"Shhshhhshh girl." She gently ran her hand through Weiss's hair. That shut her up quick. No one ever had the gall or the stones to do that to her before, so she had no way of reacting to it.

If Weiss was to turn and see Jaune's face, she would have seen him slack-jawed in all of her 'naked' glory. He had never seen hair quite that flowing before.

Barbara had similar thoughts.

"Girl, don't tell me you're going to ask me to do something to these beautiful threads of yours. That would be Barber-ic."

Weiss winced and Jaune grabbed at his heart as the impact of the Dust-awful pun hit him at full force.

Aaron, who was still dealing with flag, nearly fell off the chair.

Recovering swiftly just so Barbara wouldn't be able to tech him for massive damage, Jaune walked over next to her.

"No, don't think of it like that, think of it as you getting a chance to work with some of most beautiful, sexy hair this side of Remnant."

Wow. The complete and total creepiness was just oozing out of him.

"Holy shit, that sounded so bad. What the hell is wrong with you, brain?"

Weiss turned her head so fast it cracked. Mouthing what the f- with a bright red face, Jaune knew he was going to be dead by the time the day was over.

Barbara, on the other hand, just smiled and nodded dreamily.

"So soft~" she continued to run a hand lightly through Weiss's hair.

Although she would never admit it in million years, having a hand ran through her hair felt... good, in a way.

Jaune, once getting over the stupid thing he just said, followed up with another incredibly stupid thing.

"And for the low, low price of 70% off, you get to do whatever you want to it for free!"

There was a beat of silence.

Weiss just face palmed.

Aaron fell off the chair for real this time.

Jaune internally debated shooting himself in the face with an anti-tank rifle.

"Deal."

That would be Barbara.

"WHAT!?"

Three voices yelled out in complete synchronicity. Barbara continued.

"But only if I get to do whatever I want with it, like you said."

And with that, she blindfolded Weiss before dragging her over to a chair, putting a barber smock on her, and going to work.

Aaron picked himself off the ground, about to put a stop to this whole thing.

"Uh, honey, I don't think-"

"It shuts its mouth or it goes in the hole like all the others."

"Yes, dearie." And with that, Aaron went to go call his old friends, asking for a rescue once again.

Jaune swore he could've seen Barbara's eyes turn lilac, and then red. Chalking it up to a trick of the light, he took a seat in the chair next to Weiss.

"I swear to Dust, Luna. If this looks bad, your ass is grass."

Jaune immediately stood up and left.

"I'm going to go find some ice cream. That sounds like a good last meal. See you in half an hour."

"Grass, Luna. You know I'm not kidding."

When Jaune returned half an hour later, he had a stomach filled with two scoops of rocky road and a wafer cone. He entered the store double fisting cones of vanilla and green tea. One for a girl's ice cold demeanor and hopefully one to calm the other the hell down. Also preemptive payment for a job well do-

HOLY. DUST.

Jaune almost dropped the cones in his hands when he saw the work that Barbara had done.

Weiss was still blindfolded and couldn't see how it went, but she did hear the bell ring when Jaune entered.

"Miles, is that you?"

"Uh, yeah. I- uh... I mean..." Jaune hesitated, unwilling to voice just how good she looked for fear that she would try him. For sexual harassment.

"He's trying to tell you that you look just like 'Thunder' from the hit video game 'Last Story 31.' Barbara supplied for him, as if she could read his mind.

Of course, not having any idea about modern video games, neither of them had any idea of what that meant.

"And if you don't know what that means, I can tell you his jaw is on the floor. In a good way. Not because I messed up spectacularly."

Barbara walked up next to Jaune and took her green tea ice cream.

Jaune turned his open palm into a fist which Barbara bumped without looking at him, his jaw still on the floor.

"Daah...I...uh..." Really, was he still a stuttering mess?

Weiss ripped the bandana off of her eyes like a band-aid. When she did, she was met with the smirking face of Barbara and the awed face of Jaune.

She slowly turned to the mirror to see that her fears were misplaced.

Damn. She looked good.

Her white hair, instead of flowing down her back like normal, was now slightly shorter, except for a few strands which now ran over her torso in the front.

Although looking slightly unkempt, she now had a clean frame to her face. The right side of her hair had strands that angled down and the the right while the left side of her head had hair falling in a graceful manner.

(But seriously, if this is at all confusing just go look up Lightning from FF13. Literally that, but white.)

Weiss turned her head to look at herself in the mirror from different angles.

From the quiet-yet-totally-written-all-over-his-face approval from Jaune, she found this haircut acceptable.

Not that, you know, she actually cared about his opinion at all. Or something like that.

"This is acceptable. While I have had absolutely no control over the design choice thanks to Luna, this is not hideous or unflattering in any way."

As Jaune had recently discovered, Weiss had a bit of a habit of adopting a fancier speech pattern when slightly embarrassed.

Barbara just took it in stride.

"Glad you like it! The 70% off offer still stands, and I hope you tell all your little buddies about my humble little shop."

She turned to the back to yell at Aaron again.

"Aaron! Ring them up while I get started on dinner!"

"Yes dearie."

While they began a small conversation, Jaune sidled over to Weiss who was examining the different hair care products on the display rack.

She was busy comparing two types of hair styling products for men. In one hand she had a small container of "Valean Entourage" and in the other hand she had a small bottle of "Hatchet: Dark Temptations."

He remained silent as she examined the two thoroughly and decided on the one in the small container. She handed it to Jaune.

"Buy this for me?" More of an order, less of a question, Jaune complied. He gave Weiss her ice cream cone before heading over the front desk and paying Aaron the appropriate amount, plus tip.

"Hey man, thanks a lot. I know it seems like we kinda swindled you, but both of us are in a pretty bad way right about now..." Jaune was about to go on, nothing too detailed, but just to cement his story. Aaron waved him off with a hand.

"As long as Barbara's happy, I'm fine with what you payed." Giving a small smile in Barbara's direction, he handed Jaune a receipt. "Thanks man. Make sure you come back at some point, alright?" Jaune nodded, and left with Weiss, hair care products in hand.

"Alright, now there's one last thing we have to do." Jaune turned his head to look at Weiss, who looked confused. She wordlessly posed the question. He continued.

"We need to check on your eye and your ribs."

Jaune was right. In the excitement of getting away with their lives, finding out secrets about one another, and the mad dash to gather supplies once a partnership was established, both of them had neglected Weiss's fairly obvious wounds. It wasn't until Jaune had actually mentioned them that Weiss acknowledged the dull, aching pain from her face and abdomen.

As she cringed a little at a slight movement, Jaune moved immediately to take whatever bags Weiss currently had on her. She recoiled at the notion.

"I'm not so fragile that I can't do this on my own, Luna!" But Jaune wouldn't have any of it.

"I know that you think of yourself as stronger and better than me in many ways, and while that may be true, I'm not going to stand here and have you potentially injure yourself by doing unnecessary things."

"I'm just carrying ba-" Jaune interrupted her.

"Especially carrying bags. Give them up."

Reluctantly, Weiss handed the bags over to him. Taking a second to position them appropriately, he began to walk. Slower than normal so as not to irritate Weiss, but not too noticeable that she would call him out on it.

Arriving at home, Jaune set the bags aside and proceed to root through one of them to find appropriate medical supplies.

There was nothing some alcohol pads, more butterfly bandages, and some wrappings couldn't fix.

Sitting down next to Weiss, he proceeded to gently pull away the bandage that was already on her face, so as not to irritate the wound.

He was mildly surprised by what he saw.

"Uh, Weiss, your eye is already healed... I'm not entirely sure what to do..." While he was at a loss for anymore words, Weiss startledly pondered that for a second before figuring it out.

"Oh yeah, my Aura must've healed the outward wound. It makes sense that it was only a dull throbbing, instead of sharp pain." Jaune, however, was still at a loss for words.

"...Your what now?"

"...My Aura, Jaune. You know, the mystical power that binds all human and faunus-kind together, serving as a barrier to any dangers and healing wounds quicker. And when unlocked, is able to manifest abilities that are known colloquially as 'Semblances?'"

...

"You have no idea what the Dust I'm talking about, don't you?" Weiss deadpanned.

"Ye- Not a clue. Is this one of those things that everyone knows about?" Weiss wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Yes, Jaune. Everyone knows about this. Except for you, apparently." Jaune just sighed.

"Great."

"Seriously? You don't have any idea about Aura or Semblances or anything like that? You said you wanted to be a Hunter, how did you miss that part of class. You said you went to a school before..."

"I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly the greatest student." Weiss threw her hands up in exasperation, momentarily forgetting about her still-aching ribs and immediately regretting it.

"So what, your parents never unlocked your Aura for you? This is one of the first things that anyone does when they aspire to be a hunter." Jaune grimaced at the mention of his parents.

"Let's just say that the family issues cut pretty deep and leave it there, for now. I don't feel like getting into it, and I'm still worried about your ribs." Weiss gave a small huff.

"Alright, well we'll cover that later, then. But first I need to know something." Weiss frowned and turned to face Jaune head on.

"Is there a scar over my right eye, now?" Jaune nearly dropped the box of wrappings at Weiss's question.

"Uh, yeah. It goes very vertical and it's about 3 inches, but it's only the one. Your mystical 'Aura' doesn't do anything about that?" Weiss got up and walked to the bathroom to see the scar for herself. Jaune followed her.

Upon seeing the scar, Weiss began to look at it from every angle, progressively getting more and more depressed. Until Jaune broke her out of her funk.

"Honestly, it doesn't look that bad. Combine it with the hoodie over your eyes, not a lot of people would notice it, for one thing. It also has the added effect of making you look tougher." He slowly moved closer to Weiss and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're... gonna be okay, right?" Jaune asked slowly, treating Weiss as if she were about to explode.

Weiss just blankly looked at her reflection. It started back at her, the mark of her failure. The failure to stop Junior, the failure to defend herself.

The failure to be perfect.

"...President Schnee doesn't care about imperfections." She raised her fist, as if to punch the mirror.

Recognizing the motion for what it was, Jaune quickly grabbed Weiss fist and held her back.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? You can't just punch a mirror! We've got to pay for that!"

"I have worked my ass off trying to be perfect, all for him. And some lone Ursa has to come around and completely screw it all up!" She began struggling against Jaune, trying to erase her reflection.

Jaune winced as she began hitting his weak spots. He opted to say the first thing that came to his mind.

"Well, screw him! If he can't see his own daughter for who she is- a beautiful, wonderful, incredibly strong-willed girl -what the dust does it matter what he thinks!"

Weiss slowly stopped struggling against Jaune but her ire wasn't completely satiated.

"If his opinion isn't worth anything, then why should yours be any different? You've barely known me for a day, Jaune. You think you know me well enough to say these things?" Jaune let her go, and she immediately pushed herself away to look at him.

"I can say these things because I've seen the imperfect side of you. And honestly, I like that side a lot more. A more genuine you, who isn't afraid to speak her mind, or be sarcastic or crass. A real human being."

"What, I'm not being real enough for you right now?" Weiss got up into Jaune's face, who pushed back with his own.

"You and your father need to learn that no single being on this earth is perfect! Everyone has their own flaws. If what you've told me about him is true, then it's very obvious that your father is the most flawed of the entire damn human race!" But neither of them were satiated.

"So I should just forget what's gotten me this far? He may have cast me aside like yesterday's garbage, but this has been who I was for the past 14 Dustdamn years! You tell me- How am I supposed to just forget?"

"By realizing that there's other shit in the world to deal with than seeking out 'perfection.' Isn't that the entire reason for being a Hunter? Because no civilian's gonna be mystified by your so-called 'perfection' when an Ursa is clawing them in the face. Now, I may not know what Aura is, but I can say I'm more of Hunter than you are." Weiss just laughed at Jaune's reasoning.

"You? More of a Hunter than I? Don't be ridiculous, Jaune. You can barely hold that sword of

yours, what good are you going to be out there against Grimm?" Jaune just continued to press.

"I saved your life, didn't I?" At this, Weiss was the one left speechless. "Weiss- the imperfect side of you- the one who cares about other people, about other goals rather than being perfect - that's the most perfect you're going to get. And as corny as it sounds, that's the side of you that's going to go down in history. Not the "Weiss-who-was-the-best," but the "Weiss-who-saved-as-much-as-she-could."

"And how are you so sure that people would appreciate me for trying to save them? Look at President Schnee. As long as his own life is saved, he could not give less of a shit about those who've died along the way." But Jaune threw all of his sincerity, as well as his seriousness and bitterness into his next statement.

"The Weiss that fights to protect - that's the Weiss I would see as perfect. The one who willingly lives in service to keep others safe. That's the most perfect ideal to me." Jaune left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

"And you shouldn't give a damn what President Schnee would want. The aim of the game... it's to kill him, isn't it?" Weiss could just barely hear him through the door, left alone with her thoughts and words.

It would be a little later when Weiss would leave the bathroom.

Jaune took no notice, opting to close his eyes and rest his head against the couch he was sat on.

He did notice, however, when Weiss plopped down onto the couch cushion next to him.

Her eyes may or may not have been slightly puffy. He chose not to say anything, letting Weiss start the conversation again.

"You're... going to help me with this... right?" Jaune, not following, just prompted her to speak more.

"You know.. this." She gestured between the both of them. "Us. This partnership. You're going to stay with me right? You won't leave me alone?" Jaune turned and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Weiss. There is no one else I would rather begin a journey with at the age of 14. I'll try my best not to slow you down." Jaune smiled infectiously. As if a load of tension was released, Weiss spoke.

"Then that's it. I'm going to be your teacher. If this Weiss-who-saves-people is so important to you, then I'm going to try my best to follow that." Her eyes turned serious. "But only if you promise to stick by me until this business is over." Jaune just kept smiling.

"With what you know, and what you've told me, I'd follow you to the ends of the earth."

...

Weiss couldn't hold it in any longer.

She began to laugh. Hysterically. He pouted.

"Hey! I was being serious, you know!"

Almost been a year. No other excuse other than I'm a lazy piece of shit. Expect more soon. Not much to do with this early college move in.

Name change Weiss next chapter.