Hey readers, it's me again with another special. I'm still working on the latest chapter, so please excuse my tardiness. Also Happy New Year to all you people out there!

I own nothing.

-IIXII-

Terumi furrowed his brows as he took in the sight of little Ruby chugging down the large bottle of strawberry juice soda like a young thirsty little puppy. Now he was not one to worry too much when it came to others, but he would be lying if he said that watching the little kid chugging down three bottles in a row was not worrying. Heck, did Summer even allow her to drink that much?

It was hard for him to focus on the television at this point, thanks to Ruby. On the other hand, she seemed to somewhat enjoy the cooking show he had been watching for no reason for the past hour. Probably because she was bored as well. None of her friends were here yet anyway, so that was probably why.

Now if I remember correctly, there are a few more of those bottles in the fridge, Terumi thought, eyeing the pathway that would lead to the kitchen. Let's…try a little something.

The miserable excuse for a caretaker shut off the television and, as he predicted, saw Ruby running off to the kitchen for more juice. With a sigh, Terumi brought a hand up and snapped his fingers, which for some reason caused the young girl to whine loudly from the kitchen.

Moments later Ruby came running back into the living room and stood right in front of Terumi. She began to pout at the man as hard as she could, making him wonder what she was trying to accomplish.

"Can I help you, kid?" Terumi asked, though he knew what was coming.

"There's a long green chain in the kitchen, and it's wrapped around the fridge!" Ruby exclaimed. "You did that, didn't you? Can you please remove it?"

Terumi raised an eyebrow. "And why should I do that?"

In response, Ruby blushed in embarrassment and started scratching her cheek, keeping her eyes downwards. "B-Because…I want juice," she mumbled.

"Oh no, you have been drinking that same juice throughout the whole day." Terumi leaned forward and poked the little girl on the forehead, glaring at the same time. "Go get yourself some water for a change," he said.

"No!" Ruby slapped his finger away from her forehead and glared back at him. "I want juice!"

Terumi sighed. She was sure as hell good when it came to being stubborn. Just like Summer. "I can't do that. Like I said, you've been-"

"Juice!" Ruby interrupted, much to Terumi's annoyance. "Juice! I want juice!" she shouted.

Okay. This was really not good for his mood.

"Look kid," Terumi started as he tried keeping his anger in check. "you've had enough of that juice, and drinking more of that damn juice will-"

"I said I want juice!" Ruby yelled. "Juice! Get me juice!"

In that one brief instant, the room went extremely cold.

And somewhere inside Terumi, he snapped.

"Now who the fuck do you think you're talking to!? Being a stubborn little shit and all! You said you want juice? No! I say no! Do you get me!? Now go get yourself some water or else!" Terumi roared, so loud that it would put the fearsome Black Beast itself to shame.

Then everything went deathly silent.

For a short moment anyway.

Terumi leaned back and heaved a heavy sigh, all due to his earlier outburst. He hated doing that, especially when it came to dealing with children. Even if he appeared to be a dick at first glance, he has his own set of rules. Such as not screaming at innocent little kids like Ruby, though that alone was hard to accomplish when you consider the fact that he has problems with controlling his temper. Weiss, however, was okay to scream at. He had decided that long ago…

"Guh…" Ruby sounded.

"Huh?" Terumi glanced at the young child, before paling quite a bit at the sight of her silently holding back her tears. "E-Eh? Hey, you doing okay? Y-You're not…upset or anything, are you?" he asked, which was quite a stupid thing to do to be honest. He was the one who screamed at her to begin with. "Ruby?"

"Uwaaah!"

And so she cried, thus leaving her caretaker in a panicked state.

Thanks to his body reacting quicker than his utterly useless brain, Terumi picked up the crying child and later set her down onto his lap. But he was completely out of ideas after that.

Talking was his only option for now.

"Come on, don't cry now. If Summer sees you like this…" Terumi shuddered. That woman. Despite looking all cute and innocent, she could be downright terrifying in her own way. "…I'll be in serious trouble." Yeah. As if saying things like that would stop her from crying. "Do you want to watch a movie? How about a cartoon, would you like that?" He kept his eyes on the still crying Ruby, patiently awaiting her response, but was unprepared when she suddenly threw a punch right at his face. "Ow! That hurt!"

That was probably her telling him to shut up in her own way.

Fortunately, with some effort that took roughly around half an hour, Terumi managed to calm her down. Though it was a miracle that the whole damn house was not filled with tears by now.

The living room was filled with awkward silence.

Right now, the two sat on the opposite ends of the couch, silently staring at anywhere but each other due to the earlier incident. The sight was rather cute, in a way.

Too bad Terumi thought otherwise.

Shit. She's going to tell Summer. This little kid is going to get me killed today, and I ain't cool with that! Come on, think of something you asshole! Think! Maybe I should-

Luckily, little Ruby decided to break the ice by leaning her head onto her caretaker's side, catching him undoubtedly by surprise. When she started moving was a mystery, though that was unimportant. Ruby sniffled a bit, then mumbled, "I want water."

"Huh?" Terumi gazed down at the child, blinking, before smiling a small and playful smile. "I see. You sure you don't want juice instead?" he asked.

It seemed that he was not the only one who was troubled. Saying that she wanted to drink water only goes to show how guilty she started to feel after calming down. And just by thinking about that made him feel bad for shouting at her earlier, so now it was official.

Both of them were in the wrong.

He could live with that.

"N-No…" Ruby rubbed at her eyes, wiping the remaining tears away. "I-I want water…"

"Well," Looking elsewhere, Terumi reached out and patted Ruby on the head. "water it is then."

As for Ruby, she found herself smiling.

-IIXII-

This one was honestly inspired by the video 'Katsuki's Daughter' on Youtube. It was beyond hilarious!

Anyway, CPL signing out.