I do not own the Persona series or RWBY. Everything belongs to their respected owners.
"Thanks for helping out with the shopping just now. Although… I guess it really wasn't that good of me to just suddenly ask you on the spot. It's just that I got the text now and that's a lot of stuff just for Ruby and-"
"It's okay." Minato shook his head, helping pass items from a shopping cart onto a conveyer belt. There was almost a rhythm to his movement as he spoke to Yang while she helped him. Ruby meanwhile was staying silent, standing and hanging onto the end of the cart.
The girl was quiet, almost as quiet as Minato. But the difference between them was that he was like that while Ruby's silence was due to her shy personality. He would also catch cautious glances coming from her every once in a while, but then she would always look away whenever he would turn his head in her direction.
As the smaller girl was constantly turning her head back and forth to watch the groceries moving along, the cashier paid none of them any mind as they just kept their eyes on the register and bagging the goods.
Minato meanwhile noticed the swiveling head of Ruby. "Huh?" Yang hummed, looking at Minato. "What are you looking at?" Slowly turning her head, she saw him staring at her little sister. "Something on your mind?"
The blue-haired male either didn't hear or acknowledge Yang's question as he looked back towards the inner-parts of the store. Silently, he walked among the various shelves that contained all sorts of hidden items. He was back within a few seconds though with a box in his hands. Slipping it onto the conveyer belt, he watched it as it was the last bit to go through the scanner.
"That will be 274 Lien." The person at the register stated.
As Yang presented a credit card that belonged to her dad (hopefully it wasn't swiped), Minato grabbed the box while wheeling the cart around and parking it in a designated area. As Ruby hopped off, Minato had the cardboard hover in front of her face. He watched her blink in confusion as she stared at what looked like to be a box of cookies.
Slowly, she looked over to him with surprise. "Is… this for me?" Ruby asked, as if in disbelief. Seeing Minato nod his head, she looked at the box again. Then back to Minato. The process went on all the while Yang was working on the card-reading machine, the blonde both keeping an amused eye on her sister and concentration on the technology. "…Thanks." The red-hooded girl nodded while slightly hiding her face behind the box.
"Aww, look at you, already managing to win Ruby's heart." Yang teased while grabbing a couple of bags by their handles as Minato just stared at her while grabbing another two bags that looked extremely heavy. Ruby meanwhile dropped her cookies into the final bag before carrying it.
Exiting the store, all of them made their way to the sidewalk. Minato was on the direct right of the group and farther from the street. Yang meanwhile was right in the middle. That meant that Ruby was left on the left side. All of them were silent. Minato because he was used to being so. Yang due to wondering on what she should say next. Ruby meanwhile was just stealing glances between Minato and Yang.
They passed many people along the way. From adults to students, none of them really paid any much attention to the next batch of humans or Faunus. Nearing the edge of the buildings towards the forest, since that's where Yang and Ruby lived, all of them passed a couple of students their age.
"Minato?"
Stopping when he heard his name, the blue-haired teen froze at a familiar voice. Turning around, Minato saw him. There was no way he would forget that face. There was no way he would forget those faces. Four teenagers his age with their own separate identities, hair styles, and colors. One had dark-blue hair. The next had light-brown hair. After him was another boy with a shaved head and light-green mohawk. Finally, there was the one with burnt-orange hair.
"Isn't that Minato?" The one with the burnt-orange hair asked with a surprised expression on his face as Minato continued to stare. The sight of the fellow boy made the blue-haired male unsure of how to react.
It began to flood towards Minato again. Most of the ridicule he had to endure back in elementary school. Most of the hatred towards him. All of the taunting and trouble that was brought upon him… because of those four. He thought he would never see them again since they went to a different school. He honestly thought he was over them.
But judging by his reaction, he wasn't.
"Wow. I didn't even notice. Nice catch, Cardin." The one with the mohawk commented.
"What do you take me for, Russel?" Cardin asked, laughing in amusement. "Come on, Dove, Sky, let's say hi." The four of them walked up to the two Signal students and the little sister. Ruby shuffled herself behind Yang while the blonde glared. But they were completely ignored as the guys began to surround Minato. "So, you been good?" Cardin asked.
"Look at you." Dove drawled out, punching Minato's shoulder a couple of time. It looked playful, but then it was meant to hurt a lot. "Your hair is longer. But man, still that usual, dead look in your eyes."
"I thought he would have at least stopped being a freak by now." Sky added with amusement.
"…" Minato only watched the four of them surrounding him. His fist tightened a bit but then he kept it to himself. "Cardin-"
"You know, it makes me want to throw up when I hear you say my name." Cardin mumbled only loud enough for the five of them to hear, completely ignoring the two girls nearby at the moment. "Has being in high school gone to your head? You might want to cool it. Don't want to start another fight and scare everyone again." Minato heard this. He then looked over towards Yang and Ruby. Especially in front of your girlfriend."
Yang managed to hear that last sentence as she frowned while Minato still looked at them all. But then she saw his metal-grey eyes slowly diverting down to avoid eye contact. "You're making two weak girls carry all that as well? You must be even more pathetic than I remember." Cardin continued on.
Minato continued to look down. He just kept on avoiding eye contact. It was just like back in elementary school. Nothing but those four surrounding him whenever they had free time. He couldn't really think of a day when he wouldn't hear a snarky remark about him from them.
"Hey. Are you going to kick their asses yet or do you want me to do it?"
The blonde stepped forward, the sentence from her managing to snap Minato out of his remembrance of the past. Her tone made all of the guys turn towards her as Ruby fidgeted behind. "Hey, you his girlfriend?" Dove asked. "Do you know how he used to be in elementary? He was always so gloomy, and he'd just sit by himself, with this sad look and-."
Moving the bag in her right hand over to her left, she balled up free side into a fist and held it up. "I was asking if I should have to kick your asses or not. So, shut the hell up and let Minato answer."
Her eyes began to turn red and her hair started to catch on fire. Everyone saw this but only Ruby and Minato knew that Yang was getting very mad at this point. Perhaps that was an understatement. With the flaming hair as well, both of them had a feeling that the blonde was maybe pissed off.
But then Cardin just shrugged his shoulders. "Wow, even have to have a girl do your dirty work for you? Come on, I'll even let you have a free hit." He bent forward towards Minato and tapped his cheek, waiting for a fist. But then it didn't come. "Oh wait, that's right. You won't even raise a finger against me since you would always get in trouble and scare everybody. You don't want to frighten those two, do you?
Minato only continued to stare, his grip on the bags being a lot tighter than usual. Slowly looking over towards Yang and Ruby, he physically hesitated.
Yang rolled her eyes. "Oh please, like I'd be scared of him at all." She scoffed, getting a look from all of the guys. She saw the look Minato gave her. "Seriously, dude? I just went through trying to shove some meds down your throat while trying to survive a monster you summoned this morning. Right now, I think you're not scaring me any time soon." The blonde folded her arms soon after. "I'm not going anywhere no matter what."
"Uhh, yeah, what Yang said." Ruby agreed from behind her sister. "You're a nice person despite your looks…"
Minato blinked at their statements, not exactly sure how to react. He then sighed. Maybe he should have seen this coming from Yang. Ruby was a bit of a surprise though. It was unexpected for the younger sister to also stand up for him in her own way.
Cardin meanwhile just stared at them during their little interactions together. His eyebrow twitched as he immediately began poking Minato's head. While he did this though, he didn't notice Minato gently dropping the grocery bags he was carrying before. "Hey, you ignoring-"
Minato cut off the bully by pinching their collar with his left hand. His right hand meanwhile was stuffed into his pocket. Cardin saw this gesture and tried to pull himself away as he had a feeling that he should run. That he had made a bad decision. The feeling came before when he was a kid, but then he easily got away with it before due to adult supervision. But now, as a teenager, no help was coming.
Rearing his head back while lifting his left leg, Minato slammed his forehead right against Cardin's face while stomping to add more momentum to the hit. A large burst of black smoke ignited from the impact as Minato even recoiled back while holding his forehead with his face scrunched up a bit.
Just as Cardin hit the ground, all of the other guys surrounding Minato snapped their heads over towards their friend and ran to his side. "Dude, you okay?!" Russel asked.
"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?!" Cardin snarled at the boy before pointing at Minato. "Just get him already!"
(Play The King of Fighters XIV – C61 – KOF XIV Ver.- (Ryuji Yamazaki Theme) OST)
As soon as new noise began to enter the scene, music quickly followed in turn. Hearing such, everyone froze at the sudden change. Turning their heads, including Yang, all of them ended up staring at Ruby who had her scroll out with music blaring out of it.
"…Mmm…" Ruby squeaked out in embarrassment. "I thought it would fit the mood."
Minato soon kept his ear open as the tune began to pick up. It was an interesting sound. There would be music blaring in the orphanage he lived in inside closed rooms. But they never really sounded like something he liked. But this tune… it was slightly catching and relaxing. He even found himself nodding slightly to the beat.
"Look out!" Yang exclaimed.
Feeling a fist land on his jaw, Minato looked over to see that Russel had his fist extended and pretty close to Minato. He only rolled his mouth in response. It was pretty much fight back and get in trouble, or take a beating and have the chance of the others getting into trouble back then. Since he would usually go with the latter as a kid, his body was more than durable in many scenarios.
But that didn't mean he didn't hit hard as well.
Quickly slamming his head towards Russel's, he knocked the boy down as well but then the impact was not as bad as when he hit Cardin. Hearing a battle cry behind him, Minato spun around on his feet and saw Sky charging.
Positioning himself so that his front body face the boy, Minato's began to sag forward with his left side moving to the front where Sky came towards. Just before the boy could get to him though, Minato's left hand snapped forward and punched Sky right on the leg. Watching the leg recoil in pain, Minato looked up and lashed his left hand towards Sky's stomach. But the small combo was finally finished when Minato went for the face.
Being tackled from the side, he looked down to see Dove trying to drag him to the ground. But then he also noticed movement from his other side. Looking in that direction, he raised his left hand to stop Yang from interfering. This was his fight which she encouraged in her own way. That was enough involvement from her. Plus, this was all in self defence in a sense.
Grabbing the top of Dove's head, Minato shoved the boy off of him with the left hand before sending him back with a mustang with the left foot. Cardin managed to catch Minato by a small surprise by grabbing the blue-haired boy's right leg while the other wasn't floored and pulled hard.
Minato fell to the ground and landed on his chin hard. But it wasn't enough to have him be stunned by the pain. Grabbing some pebbles and dirt on the ground with his left hand, he threw them right at Cardin's eyes and blinded the boy.
Pushing himself off the ground while Cardin cried out and began swinging around wildly, Minato looked around and saw Russel coming down from the air right towards him. In response, Minato raised up his left hand and two of the fingers. Watching the boy fall, he caught Russel by the front of the collar. Minato tilted his head, wondering what he should do with the boy who was struggling from the hold he was in. Shrugging his shoulders, Minato flung Russel across the street and watched him slam against a dumpster.
"You son of a bitch! You're dead!" Cardin roared as he managed to blink away the dirt in his eyes.
"Weren't you already saying that about me?" Minato asked, standing while just staring at Cardin with the right hand still stuffed in his pocket.
Hearing an angry cry, Cardin ran towards him in a blind rage. Kicking up dirt, Minato raised his right leg up at the same time. But then Cardin covered his eyes and stopped so the debris would distract him. But then Minato held his right foot in the air until he watched Cardin look up with curiosity and caution. At that moment, Minato axe-kicked the bully down to the ground with his foot on top of the head.
But he didn't stop there. Moving forward, his right foot was still on top of Cardin's head. Lifting his left foot next, Minato began to repeatedly stomp on the rest of the body an amount of times he found appropriate. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.
He lifted his foot again, but then he felt a hand slap in on the shoulder. Expecting a punch or a kick, it didn't come. Blinking, he peeked around to see that Yang had placed her hand against him. Her mouth didn't move, but her lilac eyes displayed a clear message. They told him that he probably did enough.
If that wasn't enough, he saw a pair of silver eyes staring at him from behind the blonde. Both colors made him stop… and think. He then looked down and stared at the bully. Sighing, he moved his left foot backwards and stepped on the street. Before he took his right foot off the head though, Yang got his attention again.
This time… the blonde actually had a small grin on her face. "How about one last kick. For me?"
Minato just settled for staring at her right after. That smile on her face was certainly odd for the mood she had just set before that. Looking over to Ruby, the girl shrugged her shoulders. "That guy is a bit of a jerk." The smaller girl pointed out.
That was when Minato stared right at Ruby as well. His gaze bounced between the two girls who were just staring at him, as if what he did was just normal. After a while, he lifted his right foot and kicked Cardin across the street.
He didn't even have to use his right hand the entire fight.
That still didn't stop from feeling some pain after behind hit a couple of times.
"Well, now that that's over, let's get back home!" Yang patted Minato on the shoulder as the boy just bent down to grab the groceries he put on the ground. She then looked at her little sister. "You can also stop the music now, Ruby. The fighting's done."
Ruby blinked before realizing what Yang was talking about. "Oh, right."
Pulling out her scroll, she pressed the pause button.
(End Music)
And that was a chapter to show that beneath all of that blandness, Minato can still kick ass. Also, he made a friend in young, shy Ruby. Isn't that sweet?
How Minato fought… as I stated in chapter, his style would be like someone from KOF XIV. Almost every fic where Minato is fighting, he does use a Persona which is a given, but then he is just given a blade as well. While that is his standard weapon, I'm not making it like that. Nope, he's going to use his fists!
With punching and kicking being his go-to, his fighting going to be based off Ryuji Yamazaki's moves from KOF XIV (and maybe a couple of other characters from other games).
Since I'm making Minato like a bit of a brawler, I always imagined that he would be a hard-hitter, but moved at an average speed, and be focused more on defence. A reflection of Yang sort of since she's a hard hitter, moves at an average speed but can use her gauntlets for mobility, and she's focused more on attacking.
As for the future, Minato's weapon is already in mind. A hint though… Yang uses shotgun gauntlets. Think about that.
Completely stupid chapter and reason for Minato to display some moves.
No flames please.