(Can I ask you a question? What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving, I know I'm a couple of days late with this chapter. However, I am thankful for almighty God for getting me through another year. Between my depression, and my family life not exactly being the best, I take solace in the fact that a strong challenge makes a better character.
I'm thankful for my father, and the few friends I've made here.
I'm thankful for finally reaching a thousand followers in my stories, something I worked hard on the past three years.
So, I'm thankful for the people that make life worthwhile and chase away the darkness.
To close this out…I would like to leave a quote.
"Another definition of a hero is someone who is concerned about other people's well-being and will go out of his or her way to help them. Even if there is no chance of a reward. That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do is indeed, without a doubt, a real superhero."
-Stan Lee.
Fly high, and may your wings spread wide!
Excelsior!
Blake was stretching as she got up, walking toward the kitchen to get a glass of water. Passing up a past up Naruto and Qrow who were asleep at the table. Slobber ran down their mouths onto the table, in between them was a house of cards. They had begun playing when Yang lost to Naruto and Qrow in Sorry.
Taiyang had joined them, but upon not even been able to stack one card showed where Yang and Ruby got their losing behavior from. Excusing himself from the table, he went upstairs to bed. Blake had temporarily joined them, offering a game of poker.
Naruto decimated them in poker.
So, she suggested they play a game of stacking cards, thusly their current situation. Naruto and Qrow were not half bad, but no one can beat Blake in her house of cards. She filled a glass she pulled from the cupboard up to the brim, swallowing the liquid down with greedy gulps.
'That hit the spot,' Blake thinks to herself and places the glass in the dishwasher.
Walking into the living room she yawns, sitting on the couch. Looking at the fireplace she saw a woman that looked very similar to Ruby standing by Taiyang in an old sepia photograph. She frowned, noting that the gravestone outside only meant one thing.
Ruby lost her mother, and also Yang. Though if that was Yang's mother she definitely took more after her father. She yawns, getting up and walking over toward the decorated tree, seeing all the presents for her teammates, even a few for her.
However, turning to the door, she saw the sack that Naruto had brought. Walking over to it out of curiosity she picks up the sack, opening to look inside. She saw the presents…a lot of them, in fact, the nametag on each indicated there was enough for everyone.
But, why?
Didn't he have any family to go home to, why come here, why buy so much stuff for them? She then took a look further into the sack, finding a gift addressed to her. She felt something tingle inside of her, a warm fuzzy feeling, but it wasn't love.
It was the feeling of being acknowledged, of being apart of something. Something she had felt once, it was misguided, all the youthful rage she had when she was younger was quickly extinguished over the course of time.
She sighs, 'you weren't obligated to bring gifts…but I am curious to what you got me.'
"Zwei!" Ruby calls as Blake suddenly hears stomping from upstairs.
She froze up as she heard the pitter patter of four legs running across the floor. She stood there, frozen, as she felt hot breath at the bottom of her foot. Looking down slowly she saw the assailant of her foot was the form of a salt and pepper corgi.
Ruby finally made it downstairs, "hey Blake!"
"H-h-h-hey R-Ru-Ruby," Blake shook out as she looked down at the adorable little dog. "So, um, can you help me out here?"
"What do you mean Blake, Zwei's a good boy, here buddy come to momma." Ruby knelt, and the dog went running over to her, jumping into her arms.
He licked her face, making her giggle.
"Who's the best puppy, you are. My little fluffy butt doggo, you are! Mah, mah, mah!" Ruby kisses her dogs head as he panted and gave small barks of joy.
Ruby got her snow boots on, she looked at Blake, "wanna come outside with me?"
"Uh…I'm good thinks," Blake replies as she stretches but still kept an eye on Zwei.
Ruby shrugged, "alright then, c'mon Zwei, pee-pee out!"
Ruby opened the front door, walking out with Zwei to take him out so he could use the bathroom. Blake sighed, relieving herself of the breath she held when the dog came up to her. She then heard another pair of footsteps, it was Yang.
Yang came down the stairs, wearing black sweatpants and a yellow crop top with her emblem over her left breast. She yawns, looking at Blake and waving at her.
"Hey, you, get some good sleep?" Yang walks over to Blake, punching her arm a little bit.
Blake nodded, "yeah, guess whose asleep at the table."
"I know, Qrow and Naruto, they passed out on Qrow's turn. I found it hilarious, almost used the old warm water trick." Yang says while stretching, jumping up on her toes for a moment to pop her back.
Blake giggled, "I don't think Naruto would've been happy about that."
"Meh, semantics, I'm mostly aiming at uncle dearest." Yang casually states while walking toward the couch with Blake.
Yang looked at the T.V and grabbed the remote from the couch as she flops down. Turning the tele on they saw that it was left on a cartoon, Fluff Tom Round Pants. Rolling her eyes Yang turns the channels over toward a movie, finding a Spruce Willis movie.
Blake perks up, "I like Spruce Willis, you?"
"Like my celebrity crush," Yang teases as she leans back into the couch. "Kill Hard Two: Kill Harder."
"And they say people think this isn't a holiday movie, fools," Blake comments as she leans back and watches the movie with her friend.
Suddenly a loud snore echoed throughout the room, and the sounds of cards falling off the table awaken two sleeping beauties from the table. Qrow saw the cards all in a pile. He fidgeted, looking up at Naruto, who only groans.
"Fu…" both groan at the same time.
Qrow was the first to stumble out of the chair, he swayed over to the chair in the living room and flopped down on it before passing back out. As he began to snore Blake just got a clothespin and put it over his nose.
"Wow Blake, you just made it a silent night." Yang puns while continuing the movie.
Naruto picks up the cards, stacking them back up and putting them in a box. He gets a paper towel from the center of the table, using it to wipe his and Qrow's drool from their sleep. He yawns loudly, groaning as several loud pops emanated from his back as he gets up. Walking over toward the couch, more specifically the fireplace he flops down on the floor by it.
Absorbing the heat. The blonde Fox Faunus looked at them, smiling slightly as he snuggled on the carpet as he watches the movie.
Ruby came back in, opening the door wide so Zwei could run in first. The dog was supposed to make a beeline for her room but instead beelined straight at the blonde on the floor. The Fox Faunus giggled slightly as the dog tackled him a little bit.
The youngest of the family just groans at Zwei, "oh, Zwei…c'mon buddy."
The dog barked in protest, snuggling up to Naruto a little, "I think he likes me, Ruby."
"No duh," Blake groans as she scooted on the couch as far as she could from the dog.
The blonde Faunus merely watched as Zwei walked his nose up his face, and toward his fox ears. The teen laughs as he made his stand up, flopping them side to side as Zwei tried to play bite them. Ruby couldn't help it, she was laughing as she Zwei dive forward and roll after missing Naruto's ears.
Naruto finally relented, letting the dog nibble on his right fox ear. Blake just looked at it, mystified on how Naruto couldn't resist just little one of his Faunus traits being used as a chew toy. However, a bright flash came from Ruby as she got her scroll out, taking a picture of it.
"Totally going on my ValeBook wall, Yang, look at this!" Ruby calls over.
Yang had already been noticing, she wasn't being subtle on her leering, though Naruto didn't take notice as he closed his and laughs when Zwei tried to lick his ear. Moving them away from the dog, which only illicit more barking and playful growling.
The blonde teenage girl was just finding it cute.
"Say chew toy," Yang looked at him. "Every owned a pet?"
"Nope," Naruto answered as he picked up Zwei like a baby before hopping up to his feet. "But I do love my fellow canines."
"I thought dogs and foxes were different?" Yang inquired, trying to recall basic biology.
"Meh," he looked right into her and smiled, "semantics."
Yang puffed her cheeks out, "damn you and your huge fluffy ears."
"Wait," Ruby caught on, "you were awake?!"
"Call it years of sleep deprivation and willpower. I can last on two hours a day if need be, at worse I can go a couple of days." Naruto yawns and looked at them, "but I was asleep until I heard Blake wake up."
"How did you know it was Blake?" Yang questioned, curious to know.
Naruto chuckled, "because the footsteps were a lot closer when they started then they were if you were walking, Yang."
"Wow," Ruby was enthralled as Naruto handed her Zwei, "so is it like your semblance?"
"Nope," Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly. "I haven't unlocked my semblance yet."
"Oh, that sucks," Ruby commented as she bounced Zwei in her arms. "Well, I gotta put him up."
"Okay, well, I guess we could get ready to open presents as soon as dad gets up Ruby," Yang told her sister, watching the short girl quickly make her way up the stairs using her semblance.
The blonde then turned to Naruto who seemed to have a frown come on his face slightly, "you alright?"
"Yeah," Naruto sighed and then smiled. "I need some fresh air though."
"Oh yeah, of course, I'll be back in a few minutes." He replied to Yang, getting his shoes on.
"Well, alright then, need some company?" Yang asks while getting up from the couch, "I really could use a run myself."
Naruto got nervous, slightly red in the face, he then shrugs. "I don't see why not."
Coco woke up in the hotel's many beds, yawning while stretching. Wearing her birthday suit, she gets up from the bed. Looking at the familiar scarlet haired teen she had on her team. His dark skin heavily contrasted with the bed's silky white sheets.
She looked at him, smiling a little bit as she got dressed. It wasn't the first time they hooked up, but they both weren't really looking for anything serious. A more or less friends with benefits situation. He yawns, looking up at her as he opens his up.
"Shit…" he moaned and saw that room was cold enough to make her out, "how was it?"
"Amazing as usual," she giggled and walked over before planting a kiss on his forehead. "By the way Fox you've been studying that one book, haven't you?"
"A little," he admits without guilt in his voice. "You know Coco, its kind of hard to hide this from Velvet and Yats all the time."
True," Coco put her finger to her lips, posing while thinking. "But, isn't it fun?"
"It really is fun," Fox laughs as he leans up, "though you did scratch my back a little bit."
"Ooh, poor baby~" she moans and lightly kissed his neck, "I should've given you a little love bite."
He laughs, she knew his neck was ticklish, "well all is fair I guess?"
"It really is, C'mon, we need to get some breakfast." Coco got her shoes on, " the last one down is an ugly fox."
"You're on…wait a minute!" Fox yells as he gets up, quickly trying to put clothes on.
Kakashi was curious, walking toward Team C.R.D.N's dorm room. There he found that Naruto had left his stuff in a rush. Sighing, he had to give the kid props, the boy managed to be an ace student, but wasn't above forgetting this. The older man looked at the bags, full of clothing.
Noting that his pill bottle made an indent in the back of the bag, "Ah…idiot."
He yawns, walking out of the room, calling Naruto's scroll as he did so.
No answer.
Shrugging, Kakashi made his way back to his office. There as he opened the door, inside of his newly received mug, steaming hot cocoa awaited him. Sitting at his desk and pulling down his mask. The man leans back in his chair, sipping on the contents.
Giving a hearty sigh, feeling the liquid warm his very soul, Kakashi chuckled as he saw the writing on the cup. He then looked at the picture of his family, the ones he had lost, he smiled at seeing his long gone daughter's smile.
'Happy holidays my little wolf,' Kakashi mentally told his daughter. 'I'll see you again…someday.'
A knock came at Kakashi's door, he merely let out a deep breath, "come in."
The door opened, revealing Ozpin, who walks over and takes a seat in the chair in front of his desk. The fellow silver-haired man was sipping on some hot cocoa himself. Looking at the mug Kakashi had been given.
"So," Ozpin starts as he looked at Kakashi with a smile. "It seems that Namikaze is very open toward you."
"He is," Kakashi agrees as he placed the mug down onto the desk, "he's a good kid from a bad life."
"Well, it seems like he's making a turnaround here. Hopefully, it can keep up, I know what its like to just want the world to let you go, but the world doesn't always want to let you go either." Ozpin says while placing his thermos on the desk coaster.
Ozpin then looked at Kakashi's hand, noting that it was already healed up, "I am always stunned at how fast your aura heals you."
"Well," Kakashi chuckled a little, "it is my semblance."
"So, what's the pan for the rest of the week? With the hotel party now over, the instructors and I are planning to go have a few drinks." Ozpin laughs a little bit, "you should come with us."
"Ah, sounds nice, but I'm not much of a drinker. Rain check on that one Ozpin," Kakashi picked up his mug and took another sip out it. "Besides, someone still has to keep Beacon secure as its staff gets plastered once a year."
"Hear-hear!" Ozpin lightly cheered.
"I thought you said you were walking?!" Yang yells as she watches Naruto jump between trees, trying her best to keep up with him.
The blonde ran backward, hopping from tree to tree, "this is walking for me."
"Jeez!" Yang breathes out in anger as she tried to sprint and keep up.
Naruto stopped hopping tree to tree, landing on the snowy ground with a small slide to slow down completely. He chuckled a little bit, rubbing the back of his head. He was never one to admit things openly, but the country air of Patch was a godsend to him.
He loved it, more so that smog of the city. In fact, if he ever got the money, he was going to move out to Patch when he got done with his training as a Huntsman. The blondes looked at one another, one looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion, while the other looked barely winded once so ever.
"What are you, a frigging machine or something?" Yang questions, clutching her knees while breathing hard.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I train most of the time when I'm by myself. I think I do about five hours of combat training a day."
"Like every day?! That's insane damn it, you're going to break yourself before a Grimm ever has a chance. I mean seriously, slow down a little," Yang breathes as she finally caught wind and stood up straight. "You're strong enough as it is."
"Untrue," Naruto crosses his arms. "One can always be stronger."
She rolled her eyes, "well that's big talk coming from a dancer."
"Hey!" Naruto yelps as he points a finger at her, "my dancing goes into my fighting style."
"Here I thought you were trying to pick up that good looking instructor," Yang winks at him, making him blush. "Ooh does someone have an older crush~"
"N-no," Naruto stutters as he blushes a little bit more. "I mean Paloma is beautiful, but she's too old for. Besides, I'm more focused on becoming a Huntsman right now."
"Speaking of that, you had the chance to get rid of Cardin and his goons…why didn't you take it?" Yang suddenly changed the line of questioning around, trying to find out why he kept them around.
Naruto hummed a little bit, "it's a bit complicated."
"Well," Yang looked around them. "We're out in the middle of the woods, in the dead of winter."
"True…" Naruto gave in and sighs, "I felt sorry for them."
"Eh?!" Yang screeches surprised to hear someone actually feeling sorry for those goons.
"I really don't get it myself, sometimes I hit my head on the wall because they still screw up time to time. But," Naruto thought about Dove and Russel, "there's a couple of them that deal with hidden pain…pain that easy to write off when someone doesn't talk about it."
"Oh please, you're the biggest hypocrite." Naruto felt a whisper in the back of his head, "why don't you just go home with your pity party bullshit…no one cares."
Naruto pushes pasts the voice in his head, "and besides I can relate to them in a way. Life sucks, it beats you over the head, but that doesn't mean we get to lash out at other people."
"There's no excuse for that, what someone does to you shouldn't define who you are in the long run. I see it every day, someone justifying their negativity with past trauma, but all things have to fade away. I tree doesn't keep its leaves in the fall, and grass doesn't always grow greener in Summer." Naruto continued to speak, surprising Yang on how down to earth and deep he was.
"So," Yang says as she rubbed her arm. "What you're saying is that the past doesn't matter?"
"It does, but instead of letting it be an excuse, let it be something that changes you for the better. You see, when I was the prep academy for Atlas, I met a girl there…her name was Ilia." Naruto smiles, "and she was my best friend."
"I was always lost in my own sadness, chasing a dream I felt like I was never going to reach, and Atlas had a habit of bullying Faunus newcomers. I…was, well…I almost did something stupid. Ilia stopped me, talked to me, she was a Faunus like me." Naruto continues and looked at the falling snow.
"My greatest friend and I trained together, ate together, fought together. We were inseparable, like the sister and brother we always wanted. However, things weren't always so good. She had a disaster befall her, her entire family was wiped in that mining accident a year back…and she ran off to the White Fang." Naruto stopped talking and turned away from Yang.
He didn't want her to see him cry over it, "for three years I always had a holiday to look forward to…and then it all just went away. I felt so alone, and in a way, I do feel alone."
"Well, don't be alone, you're a friend to me and my sis!" Yang cheerfully spoke as she walked behind him, "besides aren't foxes supposed to be sociable creatures?"
"Actually," Naruto dried his face with the arm, faking snivels. "Foxes are mostly solitary…"
Yang draped her arm around Naruto before punching his other arm, "well you'll be apart of my social circle then!"
Naruto looked at Yang, smiling, "thanks…"
"Don't mention, besides there's also Velvet and Team C.V.F.Y, Coco isn't a bad friend to have. Besides, screw the haters' man, they ain't got nothing better to do than sink others down to their level." Yang continues as she looked up at the broken moon, which was always visible in the winter times.
"Yeah, you're right…thanks, Yang." Naruto chuckled as he looked at her, "you know your aura is very warm."
"Aww shucks, you could say I'm a burning beauty." She puns, making him chuckle.
Naruto hummed a little, feeling the darkness recede in himself…he had no power today. Not today of all days, today was a day for friends and happiness, there was not going to be an episode of darkness in him. At least for this week, he was going to fight against it.
The blonde Fox Faunus just blushes, "well, I'm not going to state otherwise…your temper and all?"
Yang growls a little bit, shoving him off her until he hit the ground, "last one back to the house is a rotten egg!"
"Oi!" Naruto yells as he got up, "cheater!"
Taiyang gives hearty laugh as he sat out the various dishes for the people gathered in his home. Mac, pot roast, mashed potatoes, various sides including sweet potato casserole, and baked BBQ beans. There was even a small honey glazed ham in the middle of the table.
Qrow was drinking water to get over his hangover, he had a bandage over his nose where a bruise had formed from the clothespin. Blake was sitting by Yang, chuckling at one of her puns as Naruto was seated by Qrow and Ruby.
"Well gang," Taiyang flopped down at the head chair. "Happy holidays."
"Happy holidays dad," Ruby smiled as she looked at her father. "I'm thankful to just be here in this moment."
Yang nodded, "me too, thanks for the dinner dad."
Ruby lightly kicked Yang's shin under the table, making her give a light yelp, but then she smiled. "I love you pops."
"I love you too, my little angels, and of course I love you. You old drunk," Taiyang says as he looked at Qrow. "I'm thankful for all the help you've given raising these two."
Qrow smiled, "and I'm just thankful to be in your lives."
"Aww," Ruby coos and lovingly snuggled against her uncle. "Love you too, Uncle Qrow."
Blake smiled, "I'm just thankful for the food and good friends to share it with."
Everyone laughed as they turned toward Naruto, with Taiyang smiling, "so what are you thankful, Naruto?"
Naruto smiled, closing his eyes, "I'm just thankful…for knowing I have friends like you all."
Qrow reached over, gripping Naruto's shoulder and shakes him a little with a proud smile on his face. The group then said a quick prayer, chowing down on the delicious food. With Naruto grabbing the end piece of the ham and filling his plate up.
Everyone rushing to grab a piece of the feast, with Taiyang watching as the children at the table began to talk amongst each other. Staring at the chair at the end of the table, where a lone, empty plate laid. He closed his eyes, smiling.
A woman with an awfully similar appearance to Ruby sat in opposite front of the table. She looked at the high chair where a babbling baby with short, but similar colored hair to her own and silver eyes played with toys. Meanwhile, a girl was playing with her sister while trying to sit normally in her seat.
"Dinner's almost ready Summer, children acting good?" Taiyang questioned while he smiled at her.
"Bout as good as ever, Yang stop taking Ruby's toy!" Summer chastised the girl, giving the girl back to her youngest daughter.
"Sorry mama," Yang rubbed the back of her head, "rove you."
"La, Yang, La. Love you too sweetie," Summer laughed as she rubbed the girl's hair.
Taiyang took to placing the small dinner around the table, smiling at her and giving Summer a kiss on her head as he placed her plate in front of her. He took his seat, looking at her, and the decorated tree behind her. There were small presents in the back of the tree, while larger ones, mostly dolls laid at the front.
"So, Summer, what are you thankful for this year?" Taiyang slyly questions as he looked at her.
Summer smiled, "I'm just thankful to have a loving husband and two little girls."
Tai chuckled, "and I'm just thankful to share this life with you."
"Where's Qrow, wasn't he supposed to be coming over?" Summer inquires, looking at the empty.
"Oh," Taiyang looked at the empty plate. "He's busy, won't be in until tomorrow."
Summer rolled her eyes, "let me guess, gave you the Q-Daddy excuse."
"Q-daddy gotta do what Q-daddy do." Taiyang rolled his eyes while repeating the very same words Qrow told him.
"And, then there was the sound of punching and kicking and broken glass?" Summer furthered, asking if she had heard the same thing.
"It's like when he goes to a bar that thing turns into a war zone, for no reason, I think he does it on purpose to avoid the scroll." Tai answers and smiles, "but he'll have some leftovers waiting for him."
"Ah, that's good…well let's eat. I don't want the food getting cold after you put so much effort into it, dear." Summer says while getting a spoonful of sweet potatoes.
Taiyang looked at the chair smiling, looking at their daughters, 'I know you're here with us Summer. I love you, and Happy Holidays my rose."
"Sick!" Ruby shouts as she opened her gift, "Yang I got that new fighting game!"
"Aww yeah, time to kick your butt and uncle Qrow's!" Yang cheered while opening her gift.
It was some hair products, not cheap stuff either, a whole six months supply for Beacon. She looked at her dad, smiling and looked at her gift some more. Taiyang knew that Yang loved her hair, she cared for her beauty, and knew that his daughter would "die" if she couldn't take care of it properly.
So, he went out of his way to save some money up for the good stuff, and his reward was seeing his daughter smile and walk over toward him. She wraps her arms around him, giving a bone-crushing hug that made him wince a little.
Qrow was handed a round object by Taiyang, tied in a bow, "got you some good stuff."
"Ah, thanks, Tai, Dragon's Breath? Hello, Q-daddy the revenge…" Taiyang glares at him, "after the holidays."
Naruto watches them open their gifts from each other as he walks over to his sack, "I almost forgot about this, but I did some shopping of my own before coming here."
"Hmm," everyone but Blake turned toward him.
Naruto walked over with the sack in his hands, taking a moment to set it down carefully. He flopped down, getting them out randomly. First off, he managed to grab Ruby's gift.
"I know it ain't much Ruby, but I think it's fitting for you," Naruto tells the young girl as she opens the gift.
It was a…a gift card, a gift card to a bakery in Patch Town?!
"Oh yes, I love this, thank you!" Ruby cheers, "though I don't think it isn't little, it is actually nice."
"Hey," Yang looked at the Namikaze, "you aren't trying to make moves on my sister?"
"And start a harem?" Naruto handed Yang's gift to her, "not a chance."
Taiyang bursts out laughing, Yang's attitude got thrown back at her harder than she could ever punch, which made her flush with color in her face. Blake was struggling, while Qrow clocked out at the very end of it, clutching his sides.
She pouted as she tore open her present, pulling out a hoodie, she smiled a little bit. It was a size too big, sure, but it was fine. The color matched her emblem and she looked at Naruto with a huff before smiling.
"Well consider me game," she commented as she winked at him, immediately turning it back around Naruto who blushes.
The blonde Fox Faunus grumbled as he got out Taiyang's and Qrow's gifts, "sorry guys, but I didn't know what to give you all."
Both of them tore open the gifts, revealing matching flasks. Taiyang chuckled slightly, it was big enough to hold a full can of soup if he needed it too. While Qrow found his bingo ticket to sneaking some grade A alcohol into "dry areas" in Vale.
"Thanks, Naruto," Taiyang placing the flask on a nightstand, while Qrow did the same with his.
Naruto reached back into his sack, grabbing Blake's, "and here's the last gift!"
Blake got it, she sighed, "I kind of…took a peak."
"Hmm, oh, you looked inside of the bag? Meh, I'm not too concerned with it, open it!" Naruto cheerfully rushes Blake into opening it.
Blake opened the gift revealing a tea set, it was a cheap grade, but nonetheless, the gift was thoughtful. She then took notice of the wrapping paper, noting that it was each of their favorite colors related to their emblems.
"So," Blake smiles as she speaks. "You do pay attention to all things around you."
"Well if it wasn't for you Blake I'd died in at the bridge. So," Naruto shrugs as he looked at her, "I owed you one."
"You owed me nothing, what are friends for, right?" Blake held out her fist, to which Naruto bumped.
Taiyang laughs, looking at Qrow, "look at that sleepy beauty made some friends."
"Oh, shit, that reminds me…" before Qrow could say anything Ruby held a jar up to him.
"That reminds me of the no swear rule, Lien, jar now please," Ruby ordered Qrow with a playful smirk.
The man grumbles, placing a few liens in the jar, making sure to cover for "future" expenses. The girl jangled the jar around, smiling as she placed it back on the nearby nightstand at the opposite end of the couch.
"Anyway, crap, that reminds me. Yang, very back of the tree!" Qrow points at a present wrapped in red, "it has Naruto's name on it, there's two of them."
"Two?" Naruto questioned, looking at both Qrow and Taiyang.
They both smiled, "well, we knew you'd be the type to buy us gifts, so we went out and got something for you."
Naruto was handed the gifts, he looked at them, both embellished with chibi foxes.
"That's my B," Ruby points out as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yang chose the color, and I chose the design."
"I'm not mad," Naruto whimpered a little bit as he started to open the gifts.
The first one had a hoodie in it, an orange hoodie with his emblem on the back of it. The second gift had fingerless heavy duty combat gloves, not cheap mind you, and perfect for Naruto's hands. Everyone watches as Naruto suddenly started to sob, clutching the gifts close to him.
"Did we do something…wrong?" Ruby inquires to her father.
The man got down on the floor, with Qrow, placing a hand on Naruto's back, "hey kiddo…you alright?"
Naruto nodded, "yeah…I'm just…I'm just…"
"So happy…" He finishes and looked at them with a smile, "best holiday ever…"
Everyone scooted over to him, giving him a hug, and for the first time in a very long time…Naruto felt like he belonged.
Outside of the house, two women stood, one with black hair that slowly changed toward red as it got closer to the tips. A woman with long red hair looked at the house as well, they both turned toward each other, acknowledging each other with a nod before a gust of wind kicked up a bunch of snow flurries around them.
And they faded with that very wind.