Ren stared at the fighting students on the lawn. He had to deal with a grimm that was causing trouble at the border to the forest, and knew he had gotten back late for his class. It didn't even occur to him that he would miss him class until he had looked at his watch after and saw more than half of it was over, so he didn't even try to get a sub. He had expected that the students would get in the classroom, wait for a few minutes, before trickling out. He wouldn't of blamed them, as this time it would have been his fault but….

But that's not what he came back to. Instead, he found his class having a free for all on the lawn of the school, being watched by Nora. He, honestly, wasn't surprised as he actually registered what was happening. He had forgotten that Nora had a free period today. It made total sense that she would take over his class for the day. And a one team for all fight was just the sort of thing she would do to test the new students.

What did surprise him, however, was the amount of chaos that he seemed to have walked up to. There was only three teams left, CRDL, GOOP, and STRQ, and most of the students didn't seem to be doing very well. Most of CRDL were down, leaving the leader Cardin the only one in the fight, Team GOOP were all still in the fight but they were all split up from each other, and STRQ was missing a Raven, and their team work seemed to be lacking badly, either because of the missing teammate or in spite of it. Not to mention that it was horribly hot out today, making it very clear why the remining students were starting to lag.

He sighed and went in to end class before someone got hurt.

xXx

"Ok." Clap. "So bonding."

"Taiyang, what are you doing?"

"Well I needed your attention somehow, didn't I?"

"Get off my bed!"

He laughed and jumped off Qrow's bed. Qrow grumbled, looking at the shoe marks now on his sheet as Summer looked at Tai from where she was doing homework at the desk.

"So…. Bonding?" She prompted, wanting to know what got him so excited he jumped on Qrow's bed.

"Don't get him started…" Raven grumbled from her bed, doing everything in her power to ignore her partner. They had only been partnered for a week, and Raven had shown much patience dealing with Tai's sunny attitude. Much more than she ever shown when dealing with Qrow after all. But her patience hasn't survived the full day of classes, plus the practice Professor Nora had put them through outside in the hot sun.

"Right!" Tai went on, ignoring his partner and just addressing Summer and a still grumbling Qrow for the moment. "Bonding! I got the perfect thing for us to work better as a team!" He glanced back at Raven smiling. "It could even be... a mission! Perfect practice and all!"

Raven looked over, apparently intrigued but didn't ask anything. When it came clear that Tai was waiting for someone to ask, Qrow was the one who sighed.

"What's this secret mission you're so excited about?"

"Spying!" Tai said, smiling. "Information gathering!" Qrow stared at him before going back to fixing his bed, oddly silent. Tai ignored his change in mood. "We're going to find proof that Headmistress Nikos and Professor Arc are in a relationship!" He ended his excited spiel with a point to the ceiling. Nobody said anything for a long moment before Raven, surprisingly, broke the silence.

"Ok." She said, causing all three of her teammates to look at her wide eyed. "What? It sounds like it could be fun."

Taiyang blinked before fist bumping the hair excitedly as Summer smiled, happy to see her participate. "That's the spirit Raven!" He said. "Let's go see if we can find them then! No time to waste!"

Tai ran out just as Summer got up from the desk. She said and shared a look with her teammates before running after him, fully expecting for the twins to follow her. They did, but at a much slower pace as Qrow had grabbed his sister's arm on the way out.

"What was that all about?" Qrow asked, raising an eyebrow at Raven before glancing forward to keep Summer and Tai in sight. True, he wanted his sister to get along with their teammates, but this is a little sudden.

"Honestly?" She said, glancing at him. He nodded, a little surprised she was going to be honest up front for once, instead of messing with him for an hour before giving him a real answer. "Spying. Information gathering." He abruptly realized the answer to his own question and he wished she would just tell him for once in straight forward words.

"This is for the mission?" He asked, lowering his voice even more, as if there was anyone actually out and about near their year's dorms, not after the disastrous combat class earlier. Raven nodded.

"If the Headmistress and Professor Arc are in a relationship, I'm sure the tribe leader would love to know that." She answered. Qrow just sighed and decided not to argue, just dragging his sister faster to catch up with their friends. It was his mission too, after all, and the logic did make sense.

xXx

"What do you think they're doing?" Ozpin asked, watching as Team STRQ ran through the court yard for one reason or another.

"I don't know." Glynda said, watching as they disappear around the corner. "Probably to get introuble."

"That's a big jump Glynda. All they have done is run across the courtyard. They appear to be searching for someone, and that isn't something that could very easily break the rules by doing that." Bartholomew said, only half listening as he felt along the top of his head, frowning, before nervously floofing his hair back to place. Peter watched him for a moment as Ozpin and Glynda discussed what STRQ could possibly be searching for, frowing as Bartholomew started to do it again.

"Is your head ok?" He asked, causing Ozpin and Glynda to focus on them again. Bartholomew quickly stopped what he was doing and gave him a smile.

"My head's fine Peter. You have no reason to worry. I just can't seem to get my hair to fall correctly today."

"But you only started doing that since Cardin hit your head earlier." Peter said, not believing him. "Is your head hurting?"

"What's wrong with your head?" Glynda asked, looking at Bartholomew a little worried.

"If it's hurting, maybe you should go to the nurse." Ozpin said. Bartholomew sighed before getting up.

"I'll go check it ok? But I swear it's fine. As it is my head, I know what is normal head pain after a small hit and what would be really bad head pain but if it would make you three feel better." He said, before running to the bathroom before they could say anything. Peter, Glynda, and Ozpin shared a confused look.

XXx

Bartholomew sighed, as he got to the bathroom, ignoring the slight pain at the top of his head. He quickly checked under the stalls, making sure no one else was there before he allowed himself to relax.

He waited an extra moment, making sure no one was going to come in right away before going over to the sinks and mirrors. He felt along the top of his head again, wincing. It didn't hurt a lot, not enough to worry or anything, but that hit to the head was just enough to hurt his ears.

He was hoping that the pain would fade and he could deal with it later, when he teammates where asleep, but he couldn't have stopped himself from messing with his ears, trying to help the pain and then nervously making sure his hair was back to place. He sighed and started to part his hair enough to see his ears clearly.

There they were, two cheetah ears, held down gently with a piece of tape. It normally didn't hurt, or even pull, as his hair was long and wild enough to hide them without them being flat of his head, but that hit earlier was making them hurt.

He glanced at the door again before pulling up the tape and moving his ears slowly. It felt good to stretch them, and the pain lessened a lot without them being taped down. He sighed and leaned against the sink, just moving his ears around for a few minutes as he waited for the rest of the pain to settle.

After what seemed like forever, and the waiting just made him more and more nervous, the pain finally went away. He knew it had only been maybe five minutes since he left his friends, but anyone could walk in at any moment. That's why he quickly got ready to reapply the tape and fix his hair-

The door to the bathroom opened and in walked Cardin Winchester.

xXx

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