"Yang! Let's fight!"
Hearing the call, the blonde turned around to see the bouncing ball of energy she called her little sister charging at her with a wooden sword. Laughing, the elder sister took up the boxing stance she learned from her father, easily dodged the giggling 10 year-old's clumsy swings. Ducking between the trees surrounding their uncle Qrow's home, no matter how hard Ruby tried she couldn't land a blow. The effort she put into defeating her elder sister was adorable in Yang's eyes. She noticed Ruby had a noticeable glint in her eye as she suddenly turned and ran, diving into a thicket, vanishing behind a nearby oak tree.
'An ambush huh? Well I'm ready for anything you have planned.'
The huntress-in-training kept her guard up as she slowly circled the area, wondering where the ambush would come from. She got her answer in the form of a high-pitched yell from directly above.
"yaaaaaa!"
Taken by surprise, she suddenly felt instinct take over. Yang immediately fell into her stance, slipping her head to the left just as the strike wooshed past her head. Dodging what would have been a direct blow to her head, she instinctively countered with a right straight to Ruby's face. The punch connected with a loud crack, sending the younger girl sprawling into the grassy area behind her. Realizing what she did, the blonde rushed to check on her sister.
"Ruby! Are you ok?"
Before she could even reach the downed girl, Ruby righted herself, brushing off the dirt from her little red dress. Oddly enough, she had no visible damage, only the pout on her face indicating any sign of her loss.
"Aww! I almost had you that time!"
Yang released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and began to laugh. "Yeah, almost got me there. That was a pretty good idea."
"You serious! I was actually trying to lead you there from the beginning since you I know you're faster and dad's been training you with your gauntlets and I'm still here with just my-"
"How about we go inside and I'll go get you some cookies for almost getting me for the first time?"
"Cookies! Chocolate chip?"
Perfect distraction. Let her go and she'd go on for a while.
"Of course. Now let's get inside."
"Race you there!", the little girl called as she cheerfully took off toward the house, wooden sword still in hand.
Her elder sister followed behind, already knowing she won the race for snacks. She'd already moved the box of cookies just slightly higher than the little runt could reach anyway. Even if Ruby got there first, she wouldn't be able could reach them. She had considered spiking them with hot sauce like she had last time they were at Qrow's but had the bad luck of them leaving before Ruby could eat them. That phone call from an her angry uncle was not one she'd want to experience again.
The first one through the door was Ruby, giggling as she swiftly avoiding furniture and miscellaneous obstacles in her mad dash toward the kitchen. She leapt over the leather couch in the living room, barely clearing the coffee table on the other side. With that move she knew victory was hers as she crossed the doorway into the kitchen.
"Having fun I see, huh Ruby?"
'Oops.'
In their excitement they had forgotten their uncle Qrow's daily schedule. Right now happened to be his time to be sitting at the kitchen table listening to the local news on his scroll. Well, he had been, until he heard the sound of two girls running through his house. From his spot at the kitchen table he took a sip from his coffee mug, raising his eyebrow at the little girl frozen in the doorway. The faint sound of Zaffre Rain, the local weatherman, emanated from the scroll to fill in the silence.
'here's how the rest of the day shapes up, nice temperatures in the high 60s...'
"Hey Ruby why'd you stop you can't win if you don't-"
And there was the second one.
"Ah crap."
The Hunter tried not to smile at the girls frozen like deer in headlights, knowing they'd been caught. Sure he could forgive them since he knew they hadn't broken anything, but technically rules were rules. He'd decided against any punishment and just gave them a light scolding.
"Now what did I say about running in the house?"
"Not unless it's an emergency" the girls echoed.
'and now for local news. Faunus rights group the White Fang's protest is going as planned in front of local courthouse...'
"Was there an emergency worth running for?" the older man questioned.
"Cookies are an emergency!"
"Cookies?"
"Yes we just finished play fighting and need food and cookies are the best kind of food!" Yang followed her sister along.
"Play fighting." He thought for a moment. "Alright. You can each have two cookies if you tell me how you both did."
"yay! Thanks uncle Qrow!" Ruby chirped as she made a beeline to the box of cookies.
'...due to their recent change in tactics to more violent measures the police department has advised the general public to stay home...'
Qrow turned off the scroll and pushed it farther away from him, his attention now on the girls in front of him as they regaled him with tales of their morning games. The next minute or so for him involved watching little Ruby jump trying to reach the box as Yang laughed at her only to have Ruby climb on her as she reached for the box of cookies. Sometimes he wondered if Summer had anything to do with the little girl's love of cookies. It probably did.
Once they had each acquired their two cookies, Ruby inhaled hers immediately while Yang only ate one before eventually giving the other one to Ruby. They sat down at the table and Ruby animatedly described the epic battle between the forces of good and evil which took place just outside. Of course, she was the hero and Yang was her rival. Most of the story went as expected with Ruby unable to come close to her older, trained sister, at least, until the end.
"and I swung down with her mighty sword of justice down on the evil empress' head!" she excitedly swung down her imaginary weapon, "and I almost had her too but she moved out of the way in the last second and sent me flying but good shall come back and next time I will triumph!" She pointed at her sister.
"Haha. So I'm evil now?"
"Of course! You're the evil Queen Yang: Eater of cookies and hider of Fluffy!"
She was referring to her little stuffed cat Ruby had received as a present for her fourth birthday from her mother. Yang always made a point of hiding her wherever she could, whenever she could. It was an amusing game and back when she was smaller, watching Ruby frantically calling and searching for her little stuffed black cat was the cutest thing in her mind.
"I don't hide her! She just loves to go on walks!"
Qrow stood from his seat, his coffee mug now empty. While the girls had their play argument he washed his mug before placing it to drying rack.
"Ok girls, that was a great story but how about he figure out what we're going to do today before your father comes to pick you up in the afternoon?"
At the suggestion both girls' heads swung in his direction, their plans echoing a simultaneous response.
"Shopping!"
"No."
Qrow's tone seemed to indicate it was final.
"Why not? Is it the White Fang demonstration in town?" Yang was always perceptive.
"That's right. They've been getting more violent as of late and I'd rather you girls not go where something may happen. Besides, the shops you usually go to are near where they're demonstrating. I doubt they'll be open."
Ruby pouted. It's not every day she got to go to the weapon shop. She even planned to find herself a weapon and finally graduate from that training sword. Yang was already working on her gauntlets and Ruby wasn't going to be left behind.
"Uncle Qrow. Know everyone's hiding from the White Fang but are the Faunus that scary?"
The older man rubbed his short beard pondering how to answer such a complicated and delicate question in a manner that a 10-year old would understand.
'Gotta run away. Gotta run away'
Those words pounded in a young Blake Belladona's head as she rushed through the small forest area of Patch. She wasn't sure what happened or why but she realized something had gone wrong. From one moment to the next the Faunus Rights protest had gone from peaceful to full-scale riot. Or at least, it seemed more coordinated to her than a simple riot. It didn't' matter now. The police had decided to crack down hard on the protesters and were rounding up everyone they could, whether they had fought back or not.
Initially she had stood there frozen in shock at the explosion. The entrance to Patch Courthouse was instantly engulfed in flames. From then on it was chaos. The smell of blood and the vision of burning buildings had thrown her into shock. She hadn't even heard the calls of her comrades telling her to run before abandoning her into the city streets. A large officer's hand clamping down on her shoulder brought her back to her senses. 'I have to run away'
Her form under the officer's arm faded as she left a shadow clone behind her as she bolted off in the other direction. The officer gave chase but his armored clothing weighed him down too much to keep up with the naturally agile cat Faunus.
"Hey! Get back here!"
His order faded behind her as the 12 year-old dashed off through whatever street and alley she could find, not even giving a second thought to where she was going to meet up with the others in the White Fang who got away. Blake had eventually found her way to the small forest area of Patch It only covered a small portion of the island and the population never grew large enough to need to cut it down. She figured if she could find a good place to hide in there until the heat died down she'd be alright.
The young fugitive pushed forward until she entered a clearing, the sight of a house in the middle of the clearing stopping her in her tracks. The two story house seemed unusual to her, especially with her current mood. Scanning the open area for any dangers she carefully snuck up to the house, pressing herself in the corner between the brick wall and a wooden storage container.
'Is there anyone living here I wonder?'
She carefully approached a nearby window, wondering what she would see inside. Was it a hideout? Was it abandoned? Her questions were answered when she began to hear voices from inside the house. She carefully cracked open the window to get a better idea of the people in there.
"-Are Faunus that scary?" 'A young girl.'
"Hmm.." 'With an older man. Is it her father?'
The cat Faunus' ears began to twitch. She'd heard these kind of conversations directed at them before and it hurt. This one was probably no different. Despite the anger brewing in her she kept listening. It wasn't every day she got to listen to a private conversation about them, as offensive as she expected it to be.
"No. They're not. In fact, most of the Faunus are good people. It's the White Fang. They're...misguided. They didn't used to be violent like this. In fact, the original group used to be peaceful. I guess their new leadership doesn't think like they did. In the case of the individual Faunus, it's just like everyone else. It's up to you to make friends with them and see if you can trust them. Like our current guest."
Blake was startled from her spot under the window. She was sure her training had kept her from being noticed.
"KITTY!"
Ah. Her ears.
The window burst open and she was immediately set upon by a tiny girl in a red dress who seemed intent on not letting go. Looking out from the window at the scene was a young blonde around her age and an older man.
"LET. ME. GO!"
"Ruby's not going to let you go you know." the elder sister said, "not until she's finished petting you."
"I'm not a pet!"
"Yeah but you remind her of her favorite stuffed animal."
"I'm not one of those either."
Blake eventually surrendered under the grip of her tiny captor wondering exactly what she got herself into. The blonde who introduced herself as Yang jumped out the window and helped Blake up, the girl's giggling little sister still latched on to her waist.
"Ok girls." Qrow chuckled to himself, "How about all of you come inside to play. I hope you don't mind miss..."
"Blake." She decided to keep it simple. These people didn't look threatening at least. It would also be a good place to wait out the chaos before trying to make it back.
"-Miss Blake. You're the first Faunus they've gotten to talk to. If you have the time of course."
She silently nodded, still weary of the older man's questioning gaze.
Ruby cheered as she dragged the older girl inside, bombarding her with questions she didn't have to answer but would probably have to answer later on.
Once they were inside, Qrow excused himself citing some work he had to get done in his study upstairs. The girls settled themselves in the living room while Yang brought the rest of the cookies and placed them on a plate on the coffee table. By that time Ruby had already noticed Blake's weapon and had the girl explain everything she could about it.
"So your weapon has 3 different forms? Oh that is so cool!"
"Well essentially, but the third form is more of a sheath." The faunus girl explained, sheathing and unsheathing her Gambol Shrowd as a demonstration.
"Still! I can tell that the sheath also works as a cleaver for stronger enemies that your katana form couldn't handle!"
Blake blinked in amazement at the young girl's analysis. It may have been one of the easier things to notice, but it would still be something only a 10 year-old wouldn't normally say when shown a weapon like hers.
"You're right, though I don't get a chance to use it that way often."
"Yang has a weapon too but it doesn't have blades like yours does."
That sparked Blake's curiosity.
"You have a weapon too Yang?"
The blonde puffed out her chest in a show of bravado.
"Of course! It's a great weapon too! And once it's complete I'm going to go on a lot of adventures as a huntress!"
Blake's eyes narrowed at the mention of the word "huntress".
"So you're going to be a huntress?
"Of course. Ruby too once she's old enough and chooses her weapon."
"Is your...is your father a hunter too?" she said, gesturing up the stairs where Qrow disappeared to.
"He's a hunter but not our dad, though he's a hunter too." Ruby chimed in, "He's our uncle. Our dad's picking us up later today."
"I see..."
Yang had noticed how uncomfortable the conversation was getting and decided to jump on something new to lighten the mood.
"Enough about that I think. Let's play a board game!"
"Let's play Remnant!" Ruby yelled out her favorite board game. " I want to be Atlas!"
"Sure. I'll be Mistral. Blake can be Vacuo."
Their house guest relented and joined in on their game. From then on the tenseness faded amid the clicking of the plastic figures on the cardboard map of Remnant. The girls seemed to enjoy their game, even if Yang seemed to be dominating the first few games. Ruby's mirthful laughter came to a head once Blake got a hang of the rules and turned Yang's war plans on their head.
"You did it!" Ruby cheered, pumping her fist into the air. "Yang's finally been defeated and now comes the new age of Blake!"
Even the normally standoffish Faunus couldn't help but smile at the girl's natural cheerfulness. She was smart for her age, especially when she was seemingly untrained but still had an innocence to her that could probably make even the most hardened criminal smile. Even Yang's older sister act toward both of them had a sense of warmth she normally didn't see in the harsh, rigid power structure of the White Fang. If she hadn't been so wary of them she feared she would almost feel it natural to be around them. Maybe if they weren't a family of Hunters, she might have even considered meeting up them in the future if she ever got the chance.
"So Blake, what's your family like?", Yang asked as she took a cookie from the plate.
"My dad travels a lot." She looked away, "On business."
"And your mom?" Ruby added.
Blake paused, wondering what she could say.
"She...She died."
"oh."
Unsure if she should breach the topic farther,Yang let the silence linger.
"It's ok!" Ruby hugged her from behind,"Our mom's gone too."
Ruby was immune to such considerations it seems. Yang thought she may as well follow along.
"Yeah, she was a Huntress too. We're ok talking about it though." Yang took a deep breath. " There isn't much to say though. One day she went off on a mission and just never came home. They won't even tell us what mission she went on. I'm guessing it was something important."
"She was the strongest Huntress ever! She was strong and fast and she took down an Ursa that was thiiiiis big!" She spread out her arms wide to demonstrate.
"Your father's strong too right?"
"Of course. They were on the same team and that's how they met."
A sudden knock on the door interrupted their conversation.
"Hey dad must be here. You can meet him."
The two sisters stood up from their spots as their presumed father on the other side knocked again on their wooden front door. Yang cheerfully opened the door to greet their guest only to find someone they didn't recognize staring down at them. He was tall with short red hair that matched his shirt. Yang would have said he was handsome if it weren't for the glare he seemed to have leveled on them.
'Those horns on his head match that look of his'.
"Where's Blake?" His voice was stern. "Bring her out now."
"Just who do you think you are?!"
"I'm here." Blake stepped out from around the corner. Her countenance was serious, as if trying to match the stranger.
"We're leaving."
"Aww. You're leaving now Blake?" Ruby seemed disappointed.
"Sorry but I really have to go now."
"-Oh do we have guests?"
The sudden voice drew their attention to the top of the stairs where Qrow seemed to be looking down at the tense scene with amusement.
"I'm just here to pick up someone who belongs with us."
The older Hunter leisurely approached the group, never once taking his eyes away from their new guest.
"and your name would be?"
"none of your concern."
Qrow however was unfazed.
"Of course." He turned toward the children, "Sorry girls but it looks like Blake's playdate with you girls is over."
"Aww do we have to?" Ruby pouted.
Yang placed an arm around her younger sister's shoulders, "Don't worry Ruby, Blake can come visit us again, right Blake?"
Blake silently nooded before standing next to the red-haired Faunus.
"Thank you all. I had...fun."
"Hn. Let's go already."
With that, the two Faunus turned and left, Ruby yelling her goodbyes from her spot behind the doorway.
"You not allowed to come back here ever again."
"What? Why?"
"Don't tell me you didn't realize it?"
"That he's a Hunter?"
Adam stopped walking completely and looked Blake straight in the eye. Blake felt like she said something stupid.
"Starting tomorrow we're going to ramp up your training. If you couldn't feel how strong that Hunter was then you're obviously still weak. Which reminds me, you ran away today didn't you?"
"I'm sorry..." She felt like a foolish child.
"You will do better next time. In the end we still accomplished our objectives."
Right, their objectives: steal a certain relic and kill a certain judge. He had a reputation for zealously oversentencing Faunus for even minor crimes. Good riddance.
"You have to realize what we're doing isn't just for us but for all Faunus. You're going to eventually join us. It's the reason your father left you under my care."
Blake just nodded, not feeling the need to question him on it. Looking back she began to wonder about their methods. The White Fang, everything they did was for a good reason, at least that was before today. That explosion was large and by nature indiscriminate. The ones who made the bomb knew it. Her father knew it. Adam knew it. She wondered how many innocent people were caught up in that explosion and whether or not they cared.
Inside Qrow's study
Qrow looked out the window as he watched the last of the White Fang retreat. His cell phone already mid-dial.
"So Qrow, how's it going?"
"Taiyang, you can call the rest of the team off. They've already retreated."
"You sure about that? The White Fang can be tenacious if they want."
"I'm sure. They were just here to pick up the girl."
There was silence on the other end, deep in thought.
"You think she was someone important?"
"It's very likely. They don't just surround a simple house for just anyone. I think the bull Faunus may have been somewhat important as well, even if he was young."
"Well, in the end we did get some information about who's important, as lofty as two kids are."
Qrow chuckled into his phone.
"I think the older one was about twenty."
"Hey at my age they're all kids to me."
Qrow opened a bottle of scotch on his work desk, pouring it into a glass.
"Speaking of kids. I'm taking Ruby under my wing."
Even from the other side of the phone, he could hear Taiyang sigh heavily.
"That probably took a lot to get out didn't it? No matter. You know she's as much your daughter as she is mine."
Qrow downed half of the glass in one shot in favor of responding.
"You think she can handle it?She is 10 years-old." Taiyang continued.
"Of course she can. She has rare ability. More so than even Yang."
"Rare ability. Just like her mother."
"Yes, like her mother."
Qrow finished off the rest of the glass.
AN: Well it's begun. Tell me what you think. Next chapter will be a year later with Weiss and Blake.