"Well sweet thing, where do you think you're going?" A gruff voice said, cornering a small girl into an alleyway. The girl turned around and looked at the man, standing roughly 6'1 and had large muscles. The girl rolled her pink and brown eyes. Another idiot who thought that because she was small she couldn't take care of herself. She sighed and reached around her back, looking to grab her umbrella to teach this bozo a lesson. Only for her hand to grab air. She grabbed again, and started patting herself down, looking for her only means of defence.

The girl began to hyperventilate when she couldn't find her weapon. While without her weapon, she was fully capable of taking this man down, she felt helpless without it. Her weapon was a source of comfort for her, and without it, she was remembering times before she had her umbrella. The man advanced on her. "What's wrong, where's that cocky attitude gone?" The man grabbed her arms and held her with his large hands. While the girl wasn't weak, she was not physically strong enough to pry herself form the man's clutches. "Oh, we're going to have some fu-" The man suddenly got a dumb look on his face and fell down face first in front of the girl.

The girl looked up, shocked at what could have happened. What she saw was a young blonde boy, holding her umbrella in one hand, and a fist shaking in the other. "Jerk." He muttered, staring at the unconscious body. He looked up and met the girls eyes, his deep blue orbs penetrating her mixed eyes, currently filled with awe. "Are you alright?" He asked kindly. The girl simply nodded. The boy sighed, a small smile coming onto his face.

"Good, I got worried when I saw that guy go after you." The boy lightly kicked the body. "Oh, and you forgot this in the parlour, um," The boy looked down at the handle of the umbrella "Neopolitan?" He handed the umbrella to the girl, who took it, but then grasped the handle and showed it to the boy once more, her hand now covering some letters. "Neo. You preferred to be called Neo?" The girl nodded once more, the boy now noticing her differently coloured hair. "Suitable." He mused.

The girl nodded her head towards him, a questioning glance on her face. "Oh, right, where are my manners. My name's Jaune, Jaune Arc." The boy said, holding out a hand to Neo. Normally the blonde had a small bit after his introduction, but he decided not to say it based on current circumstances. She took it, shaking it gently. Jaune gave a genuine smile as he shook her hand, a kind of smile Neo had never before seen, but she wanted to see it again.

His smile soon turned into a frown as he glanced down. "So, what do you want to do with this guy?" He asked, kicking the body a little bit harder than intended. A blade shot out of the tip of Neo's umbrella, causing Jaune to recoil a bit. "Ok hold on hold on." He said, waving his hands, catching Neo's attention. "While I do agree that this guy is a jerk, and should probably die." Neo smiled and nodded raising her umbrella. "I think that we should let the police handle this one." Neo pouted looking up at Jaune.

"Well it's better than killing someone." He stated. "And having an unexplained body this close to an ice-cream parlour might be bad for business." He chuckled slightly, then realised how dark the thought he just had was and shuddered. Neo however, found the thought amusing, and retracted her blade. "Good, now just let me call them." He dialled a number on his scroll, and began a conversation with someone on the other line.

Seeing Jaune use his scroll made Neo remember what she had originally walked down this alley for. She took out her own scroll and stared at the message she had received. "Target is large, brown hair, leather jacket. Get his scroll and wallet. He has important contacts and admittance that we need." Neo looked down at the fallen man, realising that it was him who had been following her, without her even knowing.

If Cinder wanted this man, or at least his information, he was probably very dangerous, which made her all the more grateful to Jaune. Both of her eyes turned pink as she looked at him. Jaune, who just finished his call looked back to Neo, confused about her eyes. He felt it would be rude to mention. "Alright, they should be here in a moment." Jaune said, pocketing his scroll and looking at Neo, who just smiled happily.

"You don't talk much do you?" Jaune said in a joking manner. Neo stuck out her tongue and shook her head. Jaune just shrugged. "It's cool though, makes you look like one of those silent warriors in comic books or something." He told her laughing. While she didn't speak, Neo certainly did think.

"Oh no, he's an enormous nerd." Her eyes twinkled slightly as she watched him laugh. "I love it." Neo and Jaune waited comfortable in silence for the officers, until the man began to stir. Before Jaune could raise a fist and pound him again, Neo stopped his arm. She gave him a look that made Jaune understand that she wanted to knock out the guy who tried to attack her.

Neo flipped the man over onto his back. The man groaned and his eyes flitted open. Neo smiled as she looked into them, and then brought her boot down onto the man's face. Jaune winced slightly. He was probably going to have a broken nose or something. He didn't wince because he felt sorry for the man, he hated him with his heart, trying to attack a girl this late at night. He winced because he feared what would happen if he got on Neo's bad side. The girl smiled and turned back to Jaune, who smiled awkwardly in return.

Neo leaned back against the wall, now in a much better mood. Jaune looked upon the girl, taking in her appearance. She wore white boots and brown pants, a sort of strange shirt that showed off her hips, and a white jacket that only covered the top half of her torso. Jaune skipped over the part that the coat showed off, as his father told him it was rude to stare. He met her eyes again, staring into the pink pools. He maintained eye contact for a while, before realising that he was staring at her and turned away shyly, blushing.

Neo smirked at his actions. Good to know he wasn't the kind of guy who thought he was all hot stuff. After a few short moments, the police arrived on the scene. Two men in shirts and suspenders came over to talk to the young couple. "So this guy followed you down the alley?" Neo nodded. "And then you whacked 'im?" Jaune nodded. "Well, way to make light work of paperwork."

His partner nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it. Every other case it's all 'He shot that' and 'This blew up' and 'It was also a gun'." The man sighed. "Too many details." The officer closed the door to the squad car that currently held the unconscious near-do-well. "Bring 'im to the station, we'll find out who he is. Weird he didn't have any identification though." The policeman mused as he got into his partners car.

"Well that was, something." Jaune said, watching as the cars drove away. He turned to his pink and browned haired companion. "Are you going to be alright getting home, or, should I go with you?" Jaune asked uncertainly. Neo simply nodded. "Wait to which one?" Jaune asked, scratching his head. Neo held up two fingers in an answer. Jaune nodded. "So you want me to walk you home?" Neo smiled in reply. Jaune copied the gesture, and began walking out of the alley, only to turn right back around.

"Ok, I don't know where you live, so, I'm gonna sorta need you to show me." Neo giggled silently and nodded, also exiting the alleyway. They took a right and walked side by side. Neo had a sudden urge to grab onto Jaune's arm. While she didn't need him for protection, she wanted to see what his muscles felt like. A cat's cry in the distance gave her an excuse, as she wrapped her arms around Jaune's left arm, startling him slightly.

Realising what was going on Jaune just shook his head slightly. The girl must be scared senseless. He allowed her to hold onto his arm. Neo, smirking, knowing her plan had worked, began to subtly feel Jaune's muscles. She had to say that he had her impressed. He certainly didn't seem like the kind of guy who even had muscles. Maybe it was his clothing that led her to believe that in the first place. He wore a black hoody, but for some reason he didn't use the hood part of it, blue jeans with two belts. One holding up his pants, and the other holding up his weapon, which appeared to be a sword. He wore blue jeans and black runners, which, Neo could have sworn, had the words 'Left' and 'Right' written on them. He was also wearing light brown gloves.

"Is this the place?" Jaune broke Neo out of her train of thought. She looked up and saw that she was indeed, where she should be. In front of a club with a sign that read 'Closed for Repairs'. Jaune looked at the place incredulously. "You live here?" Neo laughed silently. She shook her head and pointed a finger upward. Jaune followed her finger and saw that there were lights on in small windows. "Oh, there's like an apartment above it?" Neo nodded. "Cool." Jaune simply stated.

Neo smiled, and released his arms, much to her disappointment. "Well, I'll be seeing you around maybe." Jaune said, smiling as he looked down on the mute girl. Neo nodded, trying to think of a way she could meet him again. "Stay safe alright?" Jaune told her, before turning away. Before he could make it a few feet, something grabbed his hoody. He turned around to see Neo looking at him, waving her scroll around wildly.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Neo pointed to her scroll, and then to him. "You want my number?" Jaune asked. Neo nodded happily. Jaune smiled and complied. He gave her his number, and immediately after doing so, received a message. "Do you want to go to the ice cream place tomorrow?" he read aloud. He looked at Neo, who smiled as he read the message. "Yeah sure, I think I'm free after, five?" Jaune said, questioning his own statement. He'd have to check his timetable.

Neo smiled again, and Jaune received another message. "That's great :) I'll probably be there before you, so don't worry" Neo giggled at the fact Jaune had said 'smiley face' out loud. Jaune just nodded again. "Alright, I won't miss it, or you. Kinda hard to miss someone like you." Jaune told her, a good natured smile on his features. The slightest of red tinges flashed across Neo's face upon seeing that smile again.

They said their goodbyes (messaged in Neo's case) and went their separate ways. It was only as Jaune Arc was halfway back to Beacon, that he froze. "Wait. Is this a date?"