Dear potential reader:
Please know that I do not own the characters appearing in this tale. Rooster Teeth owns them and I am merely borrowing. This tale is not intended to generate profit; it was written for the entertainment in writing and, hopefully, for your entertainment in reading. This is also not connected to my other current work, To Find Your Way Home.
A warbling trill, from a high pitched voice, intruded on the peaceful quiet and darkness. Fortunately, it quickly halted, allowing silence to exert its rightful supremacy. Moments later, a gasping sigh, from a lower voice contested the silence but it too, quickly halted. Yang Xiao Long rolled over in bed and forced her face into the pillows, hoping that silence and darkness would reign for the remainder of the night. Of course, that's when the racket started.
It began with a slow creak of flexing wood that quickly increased in tempo. Suddenly, it was the loud drumming of wood on wood, heavy blows that shook the entire building. Years of training kicked in, prompting Yang to spring out of bed, ready for action...only for the blankets to wrap around her feet and drop her on her face. She had tossed back a few too many toasts at the pub before calling it quits and returning to her father's home.
With her face against the floor, the vibrations through the wood rattled her teeth. She struggled to claw her way to her feet, grabbing the other bed in the room to heave herself onto her knees. Her face above the mattress, a thought managed to penetrate the fog in her brain.
"Ruby!" She hissed. "Do you hear that? What is it? What's happening?"
There was no answer and the moonlight pouring through the window allowed her to see that not only was her sister's bed unoccupied, it was untouched.
That wasn't right. Ruby and her partner, Jaune, had left the pub an hour before she had, claiming that they were exhausted from the road. When Yang had reached Taiyang's house, she had been as quiet as possible, which probably wasn't very, in order to not disturb her sleeping sister. The moon had been obscured by clouds, so she hadn't been able to see the other bed...not that she could recall actually trying to look.
She shook these random thoughts out of her head. The pounding wasn't letting up, although she could now hear a couple of excited voices calling incoherently in the middle of it. That meant trouble and she now realized that the racket was coming from down the hall. Heaving herself completely to her feet, she rushed towards the bedroom door, only to fall back on her face before she could take a step. In her haste, she had forgotten to actually remove the blankets from around her feet before trying to walk.
Growling in frustrated irritation, she managed to remove the offending bedding from her under-performing appendages and heave herself, once again to her feet. The pounding stopped, followed by two voices having a whispered conversation, before rapid footsteps sounded in the hall and down the steps. She recognized the route; someone had left the guest room and had gone downstairs.
The guest room was where the racket had come from. The guest room was where Jaune was supposed to be staying. Something was seriously not normal, so Yang barged out of her bedroom and stumbled down the hall, using a wall to keep herself steady. The guest room door was slightly ajar, allowing her to see the scene of carnage within.
Blankets and pillows were scattered about the room at random, mixed with rose petals. The bed wasn't in the center of the room, like it was supposed to be, but was pushed up against the inside wall. Jaune was lying on the floor, under the window, with an expression that was equal parts exhaustion, shock and joy on his face. The blonde boy was clinging desperately to the window frame, his breath heaving. He was covered in rose petals and sweat, but what portions of his limbs were exposed told Yang that once the petals dissipated, she would be seeing a great deal more of him than she really wanted to.
"Excuse me Yang," a familiar voice sounded from behind her.
Yang turned as her sister stumbled past, her legs unsteady, and delivered an entire pitcher of water to Jaune. The blonde boy seized the vessel and, with shaking arms, lifted it to his mouth and started to gulp. Looking closer to confirm her suspicions, Yang noted that both Ruby's and Jaune's hair was seriously disheveled, as were her sister's pajamas. Choking down a growl, Yang was able to address her sister in a somewhat civil tone.
"Ruby," she whispered, through a mouth that felt like it was full of cotton. "Could we have a word, in private?"
"Uh...sure," the younger daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long agreed with her sister. With a quick murmur of "sorry," to her partner, she rose and followed Yang towards their room.
Despite the apology, Ruby didn't appear to be particularly contrite.
Soon, both sisters were seated on their respective beds. Of course, they weren't really their beds anymore; Yang had spent the last few years attending classes at Beacon and teaching at Signal, both part time. Ruby had been living the huntress's life for the same time. Still, their father had kept their room for them, so both felt at home here.
"Just what was happening in the guest room?" Yang demanded of her sister.
"What do you mean?" The younger sister asked. Unfortunately for Ruby, she had aged beyond the 'adorable innocent' look.
"Were you and Jaune having sex?" Yang decided to come out and face the Goliath in the room.
"Yes," there was no embarrassment on Ruby's face when she said so.
"That boy's getting a piece of my mind!" Yang hauled herself to her feet again. "What does he think he's doing? You're only..."
Twenty years old.
The realization dropped Yang back to her bed to study her little sister. She was Ruby, of course; but she was different. She was a bit taller, her face a little leaner, and her figure had filled out a bit. Yang hadn't noticed these things a few hours ago when the girl had arrived, completely unexpected, while a small group of friends and family had been celebrating Taiyang's birthday. At that time, everyone was just excited for her to have made it. Taiyang in particular had been ecstatic; having both his girls home at the same time was the greatest birthday present he could have imagined.
Yang shook her head again, forcing herself to change her attitude despite the alcohol-induced slow wits. Her little sister was no longer a girl; she was clearly a young woman.
"Okay," Yang managed to adapt to the new reality. "But why did you activate your semblance while the two of you were...well..."
"I didn't mean to," Ruby admitted, in a small voice. Now the younger sibling was blushing. "It just sort of happened."
Yang couldn't stop a snort of laughter, which prompted an embarrassed giggle from Ruby. For a few minutes, it felt like being kids again; sharing secrets that they would never tell their father.
"Just how long has this been going on?" Yang asked, with a wave towards the guest room.
How long have we been lovers?" Ruby asked. "Or how long have I...well."
The last question brought the little blush back to her cheeks.
"Both," Yang clarified.
"The first, for about a year," Ruby told her. Again, there was no sign of shame or nervousness in her manner. "As for the other...this was the first time it happened."
"Why was that?" Yang asked, not really paying attention to what she was saying.
"Maybe we're getting better with practice?" Ruby suggested. That brought on another round of laughter between the two. The tension was now gone.
"Y'know Ruby, this is a little on the crass side of things," Yang was now able to address her younger sister with a jovial tone. "Bringing your partner back home for dad's birthday then leaving the pub after a single round, claiming to be tired, coming home to bang the guy and nearly destroying the guest room!"
"We thought we'd have the house to ourselves," Ruby protested. "It would have been a first for us. While innkeepers are nice and give us their best rooms, inns are still inns, places that shove as many people as possible under one roof. When we're camping, well, even when it's just the two of us, we're always listening for someone or something approaching. We didn't think we were going to have any worries, anyone to offend, no need to hurry things so we didn't hear you come in."
"No offense taken," Yang assured her. "But what if dad and Uncle Qrow had come home? What if Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck had come home with them? That would have been an embarrassing way to let everyone know the two of you were an item."
"We were pretty sure they would stay at the pub," Ruby answered. "And we planned on letting dad know tomorrow...but not in so many words."
"Oh?" Yang's eyebrows shot up, letting her sister know that she had to explain things.
"Being a huntress pays well," Ruby reminded her older sister. "And being part of a team pays even better. Jaune and I are making a name for ourselves."
Yang nodded. While Ruby and Jaune did a great deal of duet work, they occasionally had one or two additional partners with them. When they did, it was usually Ren and Nora but occasionally, others of their age would accompany them. Even Yang had accompanied them on a couple of occasions. Looking back, the elder sister wondered why she didn't see this relationship coming some time ago.
"Well, we don't live a wild life," Ruby continued. "So we've managed to save a tidy sum of money. We just put a down payment, as well as a quarter of the principal, on a nice place about a half-kilometer away, closer to town."
Yang's eyes flew wide, considering the implications.
"Closer to town?" She gasped. "As in closer to the schools and other conveniences? Ruby, are you..."
"No," Ruby shook her head. Yang breathed a little easier. "Not yet."
"Yet!?"
"We're going to take another year," Ruby explained. "Save more money, increase our reputation to the point where we will be welcome to join the island guard or even the staff at either Signal or Beacon. Then, we're going to move into that house and start trying."
"Ruby! You'll only be..." Yang's protest was halted not by her sister, but by her own reasoning.
Uncle Qrow always said that hunters and huntresses lived harder and faster than others. Yang was starting to see just how true this statement was. It had been just over four years since the horrible day that grimm overran Beacon, she lost most of her right arm and Pyrrha had been killed. Ruby and Jaune had spent most of that time on the road, tracking down leads and fighting both grimm and man. While Yang had spent her fair share of time the same way, it didn't amount to a fraction of the time her sister had.
Yang studied her sister again, seeing her for how she was, without the lens of past memories. There were squint lines around the younger woman's eyes, telling of countless days facing a bright sun or windblown grit. Perhaps they spoke of nights spent with the campfire's smoke blowing into her face, or maybe endless hours staring into the dark, wondering if the noises in the night were caused by animals, wind, grimm or hostile people. Ruby's face was weathered a little from harsh elements, her neck and her limbs had thickened and firmed. Her hands and feet sported callouses. Even now, wearing cute pajamas and sitting in bed, her weight was over her feet, ready to spring into action if needed. Recalling bits of the conversations between Ruby, Jaune and others, Yang realized that the two partners had developed a very common sense attitude towards work, finances, and the world.
In conclusion, despite being two years her junior, her younger sister had become somehow older than her.
There was also the fact that Ruby had the very rare, silver eyes. Summer Rose had been a silver-eyed warrior, much like her daughter. While Yang flinched inside to think of her sister as breeding stock, she had to admit that it would be very unfortunate for the world if something happened to Ruby before she had a chance to try to pass on the trait. The hardships of the traveling hunting team had forged Ruby and Jaune into a powerful partnership, meaning that Ruby was going to try to pass on that trait on her own terms, with someone special to her.
"Well, I hope you manage it," Yang honestly told her younger sister. "Uncle Qrow said that Patch is a good place to raise a family, if you're in to that sort of thing."
"I'm ready," Ruby told her. "It's peaceful here, at least for the most part. It's close to dad and best of all, it's a long way away from Jaune's home town."
"Don't care for his family?" Yang asked.
"That's not it," Ruby corrected her. "They're wonderful! It's just that he has seven sisters. There's only so much exposure to aunts that a child can take!"
"That means I get to be the favorite aunt!" Yang almost crowed. "This is going to be great! I'm going to be to your kid what Uncle Qrow was to us! I'll be able to get the little tyke hyped up on sugar, caffeine and adrenaline then hand him back to the two of you! I'm going to drive you and Jaune up the wall!"
"The insanity aside, I hope you are," Ruby told her, now very serious. "I wouldn't have turned out as well as I have if Uncle Qrow hadn't taken me under his wing."
"Count on it!" Yang promised her sister. Then, feeling the conversation getting too serious, she told her sister, "you better be ready for the kid to spend an awful lot of time with grandpa. Dad's had a serious case of the empty nest syndrome ever since I moved out."
"Jaune and I thought of that," Ruby smiled back. "There was another place available, a little closer to here, but we thought the temptation would be just a little too much for dad. This way, he'll have to walk a bit to visit."
"I predict dad going through an awful lot of shoe leather in the future," Yang told her, with a chuckle. "Seriously, I'm happy the two of you got together."
From the spare room, they could hear wood scraping on wood. Jaune had apparently recovered and was putting the spare room back in order.
"Well, we've been through a lot with each other and realized we're a pretty good team," Ruby now smiled gently. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather face the next step in life with."
"Okay, but let me make a suggestion," Yang told her. "You might want to get a little control over that 'activating your semblance during an intimate moment' thing. You could have seriously injured him...or at least parts of him...and if I understand your plans correctly, you'll need to keep him alive, uninjured and functional for the foreseeable future."
While Ruby blushed a little, she also got a predatory smile on her face.
"That doesn't mean you're supposed to practice it yet tonight!" Yang snapped, understanding what her sister was thinking of. "I still want to get a little sleep before sunup!"
"Spoilsport." Despite her expedited maturity, Ruby's pout was just as adorable as it had been when she was fifteen.
"Argh!" Yang turned away. "Doing what the two of you did isn't the only way to get dehydrated. I had too much to drink, so I think a couple of glasses of water are in order."
Yang got up and stalked towards the hall, only to pause in the doorway.
"Let me offer you a piece of advice," she said over her shoulder. "The two of you might not realize it, but with all the time you've spent fighting bad guys and using your auras, you've become almost super human. You're capable of physical acts that civilians don't believe are possible and it's these civilians who design and build things like houses and beds. There's nothing wrong with pulling the blankets off the bed and making a nest on the floor for your activities. It's a lot easier on the furniture and a lot more discrete. In fact, if you're careful, you can even do the deed without waking up someone in the same room."
With a wink, Yang was in the hallway and heading towards the stairs.
"I'll take that under advisement," Ruby gently called to her. Then, the younger woman's eyes flew wide. "Yang! How did you figure that last one out? Just what all did I sleep through while we shared this room?"
"Yang!?"
A/N:
For anyone interested, I have added onto this tale with a prequel/sequel; Conversations with Mother.