Ohisashiburi, da na? Yeah, it's been two weeks- feels like two months, believe me. It wasn't my intention to hold this back from you guys for so long, but after slogging through final exams and during a long drive from here to LA in which I had plenty of time to think, I grew dissatisfied with this chapter and decided to redo a goodly portion of it. On the plus side, it is about a thousand words longer than it was before, and I am much more satisfied with the outcome.

You can think of these two weeks as training for the future. For all those who care, I will be gone for six weeks starting in four days and chances are that I won't be able to publish anything during that time as I will be literally disconnected from the modern world for all intents and purposes. So PM's and reviews, while appreciated, won't be responded to until after that. (Just so you don't think I'm ignoring you. All messages until then I will be perfectly happy to answer as best I can).

For what it's worth, this break along with the previous should give me plenty of time and inspiration to keep this baby going! I will also do my best to get what I've currently got sequestered in my head onto paper (electronic) ASAP, maybe even before I go.

As always, I thank each and every one of you for your support. Though I may not respond to all of your well-wishes and disturbingly scant criticism, know that I read and consider each and every one of them. You are not neglected, and I just hope what I can produce is ample recompense for your efforts.

~Hasta mañana, mis compañeros.


Life just seems to have a way of becoming mundane. No matter how exciting things become, it adapts to a new status quo. Debilitations shrugged, and hiccups worked around for the sake of routine.

It is only natural life seeks this… for what it seeks is to be natural. To arrive at a state of harmony with the environment both inside and out.

Not that other 'n' word, which is but a paltry refuge for the those uncomfortable within their own skin.

Comfort can be a necessary sacrifice at times for staying alive. Accepting an uncomfortable situation because it is the best course of action in the long run. This was the kind of thing Weiss was used to, having to stomach an uneasy détente within her own family. Having to pretend everything was alright made it easier for her to accept when it wasn't quite so.

Humans are adaptable, they can get used to a lot. Like in a war, pushing oneself to the extremes. Stay awake, stay alert, stay alive. Keeping on your toes, never quite relaxing for fear that something sinister is coming.

Such as what Ruby and Naruto neglected to do.

A snake after gorging itself lies down somewhere safe, and it was this way for the two of them who were at last given their fill of R&R. Sadly, Beacon was, by definition, not such a protected local. Being a school for combat meant that its walls weren't just for show, keeping things out as well as in.

It was all too easy for them to believe it was impenetrable, a garden of Eden sequestered away from the rest of the tumultuous world, with the idyllic setting and amicable company. But Beacon's walls were built by man, not God, and so were prone to folly just as they were.

One could not say that they were slacking off, however. Those two- nay three intertwined souls were hard at work in their respective fields. And with their noses to the grindstone, it was this that kept them from being more aware of their surroundings.

Having reached a plateau with his weapon form, Naruto returned to the sealing arts with a rediscovered gusto- probably because he had the time and tranquility within his home to do so. Which as it turned out was fine with his teammates, as Neji began taking on more of his Jōnin responsibilities, and Tenten found that she was just as happy to learn piecemeal alongside her fellow pupil in the written art. There was only so much she could help with the foreign weapon, after all.

The large pointy-stick was never the be-all end-all of his repertoire as it might have been for Ruby. Compared to the living weapons which were shinobi, such a thing might be regarded as a crutch in the hands of huntsman and huntresses of her world. By this same logic, relying on friends and teammates might as well be a handicap too.

But either form of human fell short of animals, who had both built-in claws and packs.

Since she couldn't improve on her own weapon skills, Ruby worked on the latter and found a companionable soul in Jaune. They both came from different worlds. He, having a standard abnormality within his family which left him with seven sisters. The borderline misandry within this clan had shaped him into someone who didn't quite know his place. Surprisingly, leading to a result which was not so different from Ruby herself, and so their social disabilities proved a match.

Jaune found it easy to approach Ruby once he'd gotten past the initial and very rational apprehension. Not quite one of the girls he had learned to fear and respect, and not quite one of 'the Guys' who'd hear nothing of his personal problems.

(Of course, it is doubtful that his other teammate was such a chauvinist, but Ren's stoicism made him as difficult to approach as the Uchiha or Hyῡga.)

Irrespective, the impressionable young lad was all too happy to talk with Ruby. And she, all too proud to share. Cherry picking the best yarns from their combined experience to regale her new friend. The male Arc came to treat these stories as gospel, and Naruto as his personal idol.

This came to the concern of his teammates- and his partner in particular, who feared for their captain's grip on reality. He assured them that he was taking these tales with a grain of salt, merely using them for inspiration like any other. To alleviate their fears, he demonstrated his new resolve in a team on team match in which they'd faired remarkably well.

If he was still weak compared to the rest of his companions, oddly enough this did not bother him as much as it used to. That was because the most important thing he was gaining was a confidence in himself. After all, if such a socially inept person as Ruby could get to where she now resided, who was to say that he could not do the same?

The greater alarm held by the rest of JNPR was not so much due to his marked improvement. In fact, after displaying these newfound capabilities in the team spar, both Nora and Ren found little issue with their captain taking supplemental training from his fellow leader. So long as he kept up with their own group exercises, which he did begrudgingly with whatever energy remained.

No, it wasn't even so much the other two which had a problem with this arrangement, but the resident champion who could not stand to see his progress. Or rather, could not bear to see it be at the hand of someone she considered a rival.

Pyrrha must have imagined Ruby as her rival in more than once sense. Sadly, her love triangle would have needed a few extra geometries in order to reflect reality. And it is doubtful if Ruby was even aware of these complicated feelings surrounding her.

"Surround her!"

Not like she was aware of the three members of JNPR flanking her sides and blocking her advance.

One she could do something about, the other was out of her control. We leave it up to the reader to figure out which is which.

"Nora Smash!"

A painfully telegraphed attack broadcasted almost in slow-motion to the speedy girl. She smirked in confidence and was already leaving the earth when the ginger girl's partner reached her.

His twin blades lashed out the moment her feet touched off. But to his surprise, she appeared not to need the benefit of solid ground to change her momentum back to him. A shriek resounded in the training grounds as metal met metal, drowned out only by a cacophony of small-arms fire as Ren unloaded his machine-pistols at point blank.

The flat of Ruby's blade was already in between the two of them to intercept the sweep of blind shots. The single crack of her rifle was a sledgehammer compared to his tapdance, the physical shockwave pounding in his chest as it lifted the petit girl into the air and past the descending Valkyrie who had her own mallet poised for a strike that she could not curtail.

This mattered little to her partner who had learned how to work around his childhood friend's deficiencies. A seemingly choreographed move wherein he leaped off the ground and sprung off his friend's puffed chest caught him up to Ruby's new position in air. Unsurprisingly, the scythe-wielder twisted her body to bring her weapon to bear against his ascent, clashing once more in a show of sparks and gunpowder which fell like rain.

Further bending the laws of physics into an origami swan, Ruby twisted once again to bring her blade around for another teeth-rattling strike which never came, even as Ren tensed in jaw-clenching anticipation. She just winked at him and then winked out of existence.

Not enough of a surprise to totally prevent the young man's ingrained sense of danger however. He used the little time not consumed by shock to pad his hasty guard, curling in on himself as he prepared to be hurled into the ground like a hockey puck.

Everyone already knew that Ruby was fast. But being fast and being quick-thinking are two different things. Thus the bigger surprise wasn't that she was able to dodge the crack shot from afar, but that she noticed the supersonic bullet headed her way to begin with. The sniper on the ground biting her lip to prevent a curse from slipping out just as the other girl slipped from their grasp.

Never so slow herself, the ex-champion immediately fell back on the secondary plan Jaune had drilled into their heads. Contingencies upon contingencies, one might have said too many if they did not know their opponent's uncanny ability to negate so many of them.

All she needed was for one to work.

Something the rest of team RWBY wasn't about to allow as they blitzed Pyrrha through the opening their leader created. With the three of them avoiding Ren's ballistic reentry, the redhead was further forced to avoid a glyph which spawned ice crystals at her feet. After that, a series of corralling shots augmented by a pincer-like ribbon once Blake was in range.

Jaune had figured on at least two of their team being devoted to taking on Pyrrha, who was by no small margin the most dangerous opponent on their side. Narrowing it down further, he realized that Yang would be the worst possible matchup fighting against her magnetic release, leaving Blake and Weiss as the obvious bulwark to halt Pyrrha's advance. He'd even fathomed team RWBY might have commissioned their resident weapons expert to equip her comrades with some form of non-metallic armaments- such as the evidently carbon-fiber sheath to Gambol Shroud.

All this had been weighed and predicted beforehand and gave the deceptively astute boy much needed information. It told him they were expecting Pyrrha to be forced to rely on her seldom-used Semblance. It told him they were confident in their abilities to not only delay Pyrrha, but to delay her sufficient that they could finish the rest of them off. It told him they had a plan of their own, beyond using Ruby to mow down everything in her path.

This was knowledge. But gut feeling, staring at the confident smiles mirrored on two teammates who historically never saw eye to eye, that told him something else.

It whispered words of victory.

And somewhere in between the two was intuition, which made him rush forward into the fray to help Pyrrha before she found herself blindsided by his fellow captain's admirable trickery.

"Where Arc you running to, Jauney-boy?"

Groaning, the young man wasn't sure which was to be more painful: enduring his fellow blonde's puns or her expected beatdown. Propping up his shield in a sturdy defense braced with his sword, Crocea Mors, Jaune knew he only had a chance to change one of those things.

A slim, infinitesimal chance.

"That was bad, Yang. Even by your standards." What he was about to say next was a double-edged sword. An expression which made no sense to him considering his own blade was probably a lesser danger in his hands. "Are you feeling okay? Did they maybe think fighting me was all you could handle?"

A vicious smirk which was usually a precursor to pain flashed across the blonde boxer's face.

"Awe, don't beat up on yourself like that, Jaune." He gulped as Yang smashed her fists together. "That's my job."

His taunt bouncing off her like the harrying gunfire off Pyrrha's shield, Jaune felt some of the confidence he'd won leave him. This being just the first bout of verbal jousts however, he had yet to end up on his backside.

The day was still young.

"Well," He initiated, sliding his stance a hair wider. "are we just going to talk, or are we going to fight?"

"That's up to you, champ." Inspecting her nails underneath the shroud of her shotgun-gauntlets Ember Celica, Yang replied with a mocking casualness.

"What?" Blue eyes darting back and forth between Nor and Ren who were playing at cartoon cats and mouse with Ruby who was outwitting the both, and their ace who was worryingly entrenched in her engagement. "Aren't you going to help your teammates?"

"Aren't you?"

To be perfectly honest, no matter how much he had improved, Jaune's presence could hardly change matters in any meaningful way. If being on the peripheries also removed one of the heavy-hitters from the other team, then that would be more than a fair trade. He'd just have to trust his teammates to adhere to the plan.

He glanced back to Yang who shot a leer from her personal doting along with a shark-like grin. Sighing, he relaxed into a stance with stiff-legs poised underneath his shoulders which he could maintain even with his heavy shield for several hours- not that it would take that long. It was his attention and focus that'd be the first thing to give.

Him or Yang though, whose patience would give out first?

The sound of Nora slamming into the ground as hard as a strike from her own hammer Magnhild made him wince, a move which turned into a flinch as Yang's hands twitched in his direction. Cheeks redden in chagrin and frustration as she chuckled at his skittishness.

What would Naruto do?

Grin like a Cheshire cat, contorting body out of the way of volleys of small caliber and grenades, scythe dancing like a tongue in a limerick. Having fun, but having also enough time to think on what her fellow team captain was thinking. Wondering if he'd break through that invisible boundary which existed in between the worlds of belief.

Ruby was not opposed to being bait. She'd taken the roll willingly because they're wasn't any doubt that she was capable of standing toe-to-toe with Pyrrha- not any more. Giving Weiss and Blake a chance to do something which to bond over.

Not to say that was her conscious intention. One might say bringing people together just came naturally.

In this ill-afforded moment of reflection, she'd let Ren lead her into position. A cartoonish X marking the spot wouldn't have made her situation any more obvious than the impending shadow eclipsing her like the moon.

In the ongoing spirit of those early-morning cartoons she doubtlessly enjoyed, and in accordance with everything else in the girl's life done to excess, Nora had detonated a half-dozen of her dust-imbued grenades to give her hammer an added boost to its already obscene crushing potential. A veritable rocket that would have had dozens of copyright infringements from Acme had such an organization actually existed, speeding down towards the red-cloaked girl who could only blink in surprise.

Then again, maybe Nora should have watched more cartoons, else she would have known that the bigger the explosion, the more it backfires.

This one could be observed all the way from Vale as a mushroom cloud rising above the tree-line somewhere in the vicinity of Beacon academy, and which reflected in the two semi-circle panes of glass worn by one Glynda Goodwitch who was out on the town for a rare day-off. A holiday that would promptly be cut short as she forced a return to the academy upon a Bullhead transport making an unscheduled departure.

There was no such thing as a day off. Ever.

"Did I get her?" The hyper girl wondered as she bent over at the fractured crater in the ground, looking for any sign of crimson cloth.

"Um… no?"

Interrupting the normally scheduled programming was something most certainly not suited to children's television. Though considering it also happened to her a scant three years ago, this line is debatable.

What is not up for debate was the amount of excruciating pain and indignity the smallest member of JNPR was in. A word normally unknown to the exuberant Valkyrie, being all but goosed in front of her childhood friend- not to mention a goodly number of classmates tended to count towards extenuating circumstances.

Tranquility dropkicked out of the way by all gangs of genuine shock, Ren's only warning before his partner was flung into him by the preternatural force was the technique's name announced by Ruby:

"One-Thousand Years of Death!"

The entire battlefield stopped as the three combatants collapsed to the ground rather noisily. Ruby, rolling on her back and howling with laughter, Ren and Nora groaning in various degrees of pain with both their Auras depleted. A stone's throw away, the blonde sister was faring little better with her own hands caught between holding her sides and covering her mouth to stem both the flow of giggles and to hide her grin from the other two teammates who looked positively mortified with their captain.

"Of all the-!"

Clenching Myrtenaster that the spiral-fluted titanium-alloy handle might crack or deform, Weiss couldn't even bare to look at her partner lest her blood pressure trip past that point of no return and the throbbing vein in her forehead possibly burst.

"Actually, she's got the right idea."

Past the bounds of static fury, Weiss lashed back around on whoever had the gall to find merit in such undignified tactics. Blinded by her own rage, hubris, and simple lack of situational awareness, she was unable to complete that pirouette without tripping on her own feet.

Or- was it her fault, or that of the sword wedged between her legs which locked her knees and sent her toppling with wide-eyed nonplus? If only she could have said that she was unconscious before her head hit the ground, it would have enabled her to lie without knowing that the last thing she saw was the embossed heraldry of twin crescent moons, the undeniable mark of the Arc clan, falling upon her.

Stay awake, stay alert, stay alive. Apparently, Weiss too needed a refresher course.

Plans never survived first contact. Like animals, they had to evolve to survive. Backed against the wall, animals do whatever it takes to stay alive. When the pack is at stake, there is no such thing as underhanded tactics, dirty tricks or even honor among enemies. It may have just been a spar, but Jaune was quickly becoming immured to these truths.

"Huh? When did he…?"

Yang balked, pulling a doubletake between the blond-haired, blue eyed man in front of her and the…

…cardboard cutout behind. It's tromp-l'oeil trappings and armor ruined by the jovial expression of infant scribbles and four fingered hand waving at her.

Jaune- the real Arc stood with an uncharacteristic seriousness etched onto his face, overlying a childlike giddiness that the ploy had in fact worked- even if he'd had a suspicion it would all along.

Storytime had not been one-sided. Finally finding someone who seemed to understand the ostracism, Jaune was overflowing with meaningless trivia about himself which he heaped upon a patient Ruby. Some things she found were similar, strangely enough. Others, like the peculiarly mundane life he'd lead before, joining a sports team and taking painting lessons were different but debilitatingly dull.

He was okay with this. Jaune was okay with being dull, with being unnoticeable. Whereas Ruby had accepted her unique conspicuousness, he had accepted his ambiguity. Embraced it. Enhanced it.

Knowing he was forever going to play a support character to those more powerful, he was perfectly content fading into the background. One did certain things, moved conservatively and slow, not looking with the head but with the eyes and treading on the balls of one's feet. Like a hunter- or prey that didn't want to be snatched up.

Once could become all but invisible.

The distraction caused by Nora's overzealousness didn't hurt, either. And the cardboard cutout?

If it was stupid and it worked, it wasn't stupid. This was something else he was rapidly learning.

"So I take it that you're finally over your crush on Ice-Queen." Blake asked with a minute tinge of vindictiveness for her fallen comrade.

"Yo-you might say that…" Jaune all but whispered, casting a sidelong glance at the KO'd girl who even in unconsciousness bore a scowl as if cursing him from the other side.

This lapse of that instinctual mindset caused him to miss several things. The first being the hint of joy on his partner's face as she was given this revelation. The second being Blake's tail-like ribbon whipping up Myrtenaster from under his feet and leveling the revolving chamber in his direction. The third being the telltale whisper of Ruby's scythe reeving through the air between them.

His rear- evidently fed-up with being continually kicked up and down the training ground by this little girl, took its own action as everything from the waist down failed him and his body hit the dirt of its own volition. Back smacking flat just as the half-moon arc of Crescent Rose whooshed over him. With surprising dexterity and presence of mind he snatched up from the ground along with Crocea Mors, Jaune rolled backwards on his shoulder to avoid the follow-on strike canted protectively over the downed Weiss.

Lanky legs springing up underneath him, he had barely enough time to throw his shield in front of himself before it was encased in an iceberg which would have dragged his arm down to the bottom of the sea had he not unlatched his arm from the brace in the nick of time.

None too soon for Ruby to appear on the tip of that ice block and leap off towards him. Unsure whether to be terrified or flattered the remainder of team RWBY seemed to be gunning for him, ever pragmatic, he settled for both while keeping an eye out for Yang, seeing that Pyrrha was already on-course to intercept his fellow captain.

The feeling of something solid, something nigh-impenetrable behind him was what gave Jaune the surety to turn his back on Ruby in favor of the raging bull which was Yang bearing down on him- now the two of them. Pyrrha's taut back muscles holding him up where his own legs stumbled.

"Just the two of us against the world, huh?" He joked offhandedly, not expecting an answer from his partner who was holding back more than her fair share. Taken aback when a shiver ran up their conjoined spines.

"Awe! I'm so happy you think the world of me, Jaune!"

That shiver perhaps a premonition which jerked his vision skyward towards the immediate threat of Ruby descending on them rather than her sister who was a whole second-and-a-half away.

"Pyrrha!"

Cowering came easy to him. But just as running away was a strategic retreat, this was a tactical crouch to allow his partner space to lean back, taking aim with her converted rifle to the sky.

Pow! The shot rang true and slid right through Ruby. The lack of impact was immediately noticed and without waiting for an answer, Jaune rolled his partner off his back so that he could bring up his blade against the one hedging its way furiously at the two of them from the side.

Arms wavered and stance slipped back slightly. But Jaune still held true against the train-car impact from Ruby's scythe as behind him his partner intercepted the body-tackle from Yang with all the give of a concrete barrier, bouncing off her to lash out at Blake who thought she could sneak in a hit-and-run.

Maybe he was finally getting used to Ruby's mode of attack.

"I think you're finally getting the hang of this!" She bubbled unnervingly.

"Thanks…"

"Maybe in another lifetime you'll finally catch up!"

Given unlimited time he might have come up with a witty retort. No amount of preparation would have made him able to mitigate what happened after that declaration, though. In the same instant his hands let go of his sword- simply unable to hold on to the blade which danced in his hand like a caged pixy- Ruby swept both it and him into her whirlpool arc, spitting the two of them out at unfathomable velocities straight at his teammate who took the full brunt of his gangly weight slamming into her.

Against her wishes and better judgment, Pyrrha was forced to drop the groaning form of her leader after standing up with him in her arms once she realized that she was the only one left standing on her team, and was presently surrounded by ¾'s of their opponents.

"It's over."

The amicably grinning captain declared to an uncharacteristically disturbed redhead. Taking this distraction at face value, Ruby surveyed her surroundings, settling on the stoic specter of Glynda Goodwitch somehow hovering over all their shoulders despite the triangle formation they were presently in.

"Indeed, it is, Ms. Rose." The perpetually stoic woman pronounced darkly.

"Someone wishes to speak to you."


"Ummmm…."

Evidently, what Glynda meant was not literal. For despite the staring contest going on for the past few minutes between the iron bars of a high-security prison's visiting center, neither had yet to say a single word to one another.

The orange-jumpsuit wearing girl rolled her eyes at this dumbfounded expression and unfolded her arms- the most emotion she'd shown thus far in this strange visit. She then mimed writing something down on her pale palm which Ruby caught onto only a moment later. Rummaging through her school bag which she'd brought with her directly from Beacon, she tore out a perforated page from her notebook and slipped both that and a gnawed-on pencil through the bars before any of the guards had a chance to stop her.

Writing materials in hand, the mute girl sent a glare to the two meathead enforcers behind her who made to confiscate the sharp object. Their actions were stymied with but a wave from the blonde woman lurking in the corner. The prisoner then turned to the scant page and began writing with her head down, words shielded behind pink and brown locks.

Ruby waited awkwardly for the other girl to finish, flicking her gaze over to the glowering redheaded man in the next stall over, who was insistent on being present for this but unwilling to say anything more than his accomplice.

A crinkling drew her attention back to the front as the taco-folded page was thrust through the bars. Ruby grabbed it gingerly as security on both sides of the barrier tensed yet again. Turning it in her hands until it made sense, she scanned the once blank sheet now filled with neat cursive and perfect but cramped flowcharts.

"This is…" The other girl's head nodded seriously just above the page. "But… why?"

Letting the incriminating document drop so that she could have an unobscured view of the stoic girl on the other side, she regarded the quasi-iridescence shimmering in eyes which shifted from brown, to white, to pink and back again.

"Yeah, Neo. Why?"

"Hey! Pipe down!"

Roman scoffed at the guard who took a menacing step towards him, one hand on the shock-baton at his side. Torchwick never took his eyes off his partner, whom he appraised without concealing his contempt and betrayal.

Neo stared back equally unwavering and unblinking. At last winning the silent confrontation as the elder man turned away with a huff. She then turned back to Ruby and gave her a nod which had significance perhaps only to her, but which confirmed her decision irrefutably.

"Thank you."

It was Neo's turn to scoff, cutting off the view of her strangely attractive eyes and spinning in the stool which was riveted to the ground. With the 'conversation' being over, Ruby turned to the other criminal and offered the man a polite nod which was spurned just like before. She began to get up herself, clutching the incredibly important hand-written document to her breast as she pushed back in her seat.

Mid-way through standing, her arm shot out displaying 'V' for victory back at the menacing bars. A needle-sharp pencil rested in the crook of her two fingers. Beady point staring at her, superimposed in front of the smirking Neo. The hand with which the older girl cast the writing tool like a dart waved a fleer at Ruby through the bars before the girl pivoted on her heel and strutted back into the halls ahead of her minders who were waddling to catch up.

Ruby stared at her returned pencil as a breathless Glynda sidled up behind her, split between trying to see if her student was alright and trying to catch a glimpse of what was written on the page.

"What on Remnant was that all about?"

Nibbling on the yellow tool, Ruby stared at the tidy scrawl with a restrained wonderment.

"I think… she said she believes in me."


"Do you think we can trust her?"

'Do you think I can trust you'- is what Ruby wanted to ask. Considering the man in front of her had been playing chess with her life since before she was aware of his existence. The same man who placed immeasurable faith in her without giving a single good reason, and who all but used her as bait to lure an ancient witch out of hiding.

Or maybe those were just the feelings of her mental tagalongs bleeding in, because at this time Ruby still had no doubts about her abilities to vanquish every task the headmaster laid before her or her team. This Ruby was characterized by an unwavering confidence that sometimes bordered on foolhardiness.

"I do."

An assurance which all too readily spread to everyone she held within her circle of 'friends'.

Ozpin must have realized this bias as well. He regarded both the girl and the paper with a stone-faced appraisal.

Yet that same masked interest he had in her life caused him to ignore common sense and nod smartly, believing in her as well. Maybe they were simply more alike than what might be surmised. Maybe Ozpin was not so different from the others in her life, after all.

Does anyone recognize themselves from the outside looking in?

"Very well. I will pass this on to my other agents. If even half of what she implies here is true, then the situation is every bit as dire as I feared, and we will need to act swiftly and deliberately to counteract the plans She already has in place."

The nod Ruby gave was accompanied by a beaming grin, inferring from the headmaster's words that she and her team were going to be used again. Things had been getting rather mundane as of late, mired in the doldrums of school. So this would be a nice break.

Regardless, a healthy caution was still a good idea. An idea which found more observers in those silent 'others', their vow to guard over that innocent never wavering. There was only so much that could be done from their side, however.

"So, just tell me when and where, boss man."

The statement was a strange aftertaste which caused a pursed reflection in the man.

"No… I do not think it would be appropriate to ask you girls to take part in this."

"What?"

Ruby really couldn't understand the words which had come out of his mouth and repeated them several times within her own head, denial echoing in that empty cavern where once her self-doubt resided.

"Dealing with Roman and his cronies- no matter how capable some of them seemed to be- was one thing. The White Fang and unknown agents which have ties to Salem are another thing entirely." There was an unaccustomed sternness in the headmaster's voice which she rebelled against.

"You can't do this to us."

The daze on his face was impossible to hide, and it was unfortunately construed as a form of contempt by the girl who was so used to people looking down on her.

"Excuse me?" He stood slowly, staring at her with furrowed brow which made her feel like a child, an insect, an inferior. The very sort of thing she loathed. "This is my school. I can, and I will."

It was not a harsh ultimatum, but it was firm. It was an obstacle, made to be overcome.

"No, you can't." Her voice was steady, but eyes dilated and palms sweaty. "That note was for me, because Neo trusted me to do something about it. We can take this on with or without your approval, and you won't stop us because that's what you want too."

"Oh?" His own dry palms folded behind his back, that implacable face drawn and tight in a mask for his disappointment. "And what would you know of what I want, Ms. Rose?"

Her heart skipped a beat. Felt by all souls tied in as she realized the truth.

"For as long as I have been alive, I have been fighting a battle against the evil which that woman embodies. To that end, I have undertaken vast projects such as this school, sacrificed the lives of countless others who entrusted their wellbeing to me." Emotion flowed through the throbbing veins against his taught skin, swallowed before they could reach his face. "Compared to either of those… you do not matter as much as you might think."

No lies were detected. This was the official edict, spelling out in no uncertain terms just where she fit in his hierarchy. The lack of anger made it no less palatable- if anything, made it worse.

"Skilled though you may be, there is nothing that makes your life that much more important than anyone else in this school, and I have to do my best to protect everyone. Even if that sometimes means having to make unfavorable decisions."

Ruby's thoughts were manifested internally by the physical reactions she experienced. A tightening of the chest, breath which came short and hot, rasping. And knuckles which popped under immeasurable pressure. No, it was not a pleasant feeling, though maybe lying would have been worse in the end.

"And of the other lives… what makes you think your teammates would even agree with you on this, hmm?"

It was unbearable because it was the truth. Her dreams were the only thing she could count on.

"I had… hoped to spare you from this, for at least a few more years." The bloodshed or the devaluation of her ego? Both were looming in the lintel as was the man as he lay a hand on the detached girl's shoulder. "Don't be too eager to throw your childhood away, Ruby."

Oh, it was far too late for that. As much as her protectors wanted to snap at that calloused hand (maybe she wanted to do much the same), Ozpin would get his comeuppance soon enough, if he believed that it was still possible to protect something made to be thrown away.

"So then… what purpose do I serve?" No one could take away her value so easily, she existed not only for herself, but for the two watchers desperately reaching across the divide to embrace her with ghostly arms. "I can fight, alone if I have to. I will also protect this school and everyone in it, no matter what."

The hand fell from her shoulder as all tension and color drained from Ozpin's body.

"Oh Ruby, did I… was I the one who turned you into this?"

More frightening than his solemnity was this despondency, the question barely whispered to himself in self-doubt that was not appropriate for a man so above everything else.

As much as the man rubs me the wrong way, I cannot put this sort of blame squarely on his shoulders. The world- the two that we know of, are cruel and unsympathetic places. It was this knowledge which turned her into the person that stood before him- for better or worse.

"Eh? What do you mean?" She cocked her head innocently, for that was also who she was. "I'm me. I've always been me."

With a shake of the head which turned into a whole-body shiver the headmaster regathered himself. Picked up the pieces and held them steadfast with a straight spine.

"Yes, of course." He adjusted his glasses tactically, hiding whatever insight made its way there. "Of course. I have no doubt that you can handle it. However, I would hope that you trust me enough to do things my way. I am merely concerned about how the rest of your team would take to this."

"They could handle it."

"Perhaps." He was back to his old ways, regarding the unwavering faith with an aloof diversion which hid his scheming. "Skill-wise, the four of you- or should I say the eight of you have improved greatly over the past weeks." He cocked his head to the side much as she had done. "But how much do you really know about them? Do you think that their allegiances have always been to Beacon?"

Belaboring the fact that she knew them about as well as they knew her- to say not very well at all.

"Please, just get to the point." Her voice was subdued, still vacillating between disappointment and frustration.

"One of your teammates is not who she appears to be."

"Blake is a Faunus."

The cat was already out of the bag, but Ozpin still held another secret above her head which kept him in control.

"Yes, but she was also part of the White Fang before I allowed her entrance to my school."

"So?"

He was clearly stifling a look of incredulity like before at what appeared to be a childish retort. There was something clearly pressing him to look further, though, past this naïve demeanor. And for a brief moment he might have seen the other two staring back out at him.

So many of Naruto's current friends had started off ignominiously, either displeased with him, hating him or outright trying to murder him. And now there was no doubt he could stake his life on them.

They had even converted an infamous demon into a guardian angel, devastating anger fading away rapidly into legend. Why could she not count on Blake?

"There is the possibility that she still harbors feelings for her former comrades. What they were fighting for was a laudable goal, and their methods have not changed that fact."

"She can handle it."

Feelings were fickle things. As believable as Blake's remaining sympathy might have been, so too could deep-seated animosity. The two feelings were closer than one would like to believe. Closer than humans and Faunus who shared these emotional pallets.

Ozpin sighed wearily as he collapsed back into his armchair. The double-edged gift that Ruby had dumped into his lap was welcome, but not without its own demands. The energy for which he was now spending arguing with a teenage girl. He shut her out the only way possible, shielding his creased face with rough palms. Emerging after a while, not-quite reborn.

"Fine. I'll give you a trial run while I gather my agents. According to this, the White Fang are holding a rally in two-day's time. Roman was supposed to unveil some new Atlas weaponry there, and since he obviously won't be attending, this will be a good opportunity to see if Neo was telling the truth. I'd rather confirm this first before I go alarming General Ironwood with hearsay. Thus, your mission is one of pure reconnaissance. Understand? Use any means necessary to avoid conflict."

"Yes sir!" She saluted with a smart salute and grin, as if the past conversation had never taken place.

"This will also be a good test for Blake. I want you to observe how she reacts and see if she is willing to divulge the organization's methodology."

This was agreed to less enthusiastically, wording the acceptance to allow herself a loophole so as not to betray her own sense of fealty. Ozpin might have seen this and declined to say anything. Perhaps simply too worn out to put up more of a fight. There were countless things that he would have to take care of in preparation.

As would Ruby. But she too was tired. Worn down by unpleasant revelations, and still dragging around the few unanswered questions they raised.

Sleep, does not always bring peace of mind.


Naruto stared across the table at 'Bara-chan' unblinkingly, a strand of noodles dandling in his chopsticks until it became too soggy to bear up under its own weight and flopped back into his bowl. The subtle splash sending drops of broth into his face and drawing the attention of the other two who stopped talking as he rubbed salt out of his eyes.

"What's up, Naruto-kun?"

Grateful he wasn't caught staring, he shook his head.

"Nuthin." He said, fishing around in his bowl and stuffing his face with a large wad of food to save him from having to say anything else.

That poor excuse wouldn't have been enough to convince anyone, least of all his teammate. Ramen was his worst tell, and if he wasn't wolfing it down, it was a sure sign that there was something amiss.

As had been the case for the past few weeks though, Tenten decided not to say anything about his absent staring. Interactions had become consistent with them during that period, at least. A lull in village activity in which even the Hōkage felt free enough to attend an emergency summit between nations, accompanied by his perverted master as penance for their little escapade. The downtime allowed them to bond at a slow pace. Bara-Ruby might not have been comfortable being the center of attention, but it was only natural, and it would be a while before the novelty wore off.

Unless something were to rekindle the fascination, such as that spark of inspiration.

Getting lost once more in his thoughts, Naruto opted to stare at the colloid broth instead of what was really on his mind. The miso particles floating around within their own little nebulae like palm-sized galaxies.

The sight made him think back on one of Ruby's classes, way back when. One proctored by an overly enthusiastic Tai Yang in which they learned about astronomy and another world beyond their own.

Amidst the debilitatingly boring filler about the history and science, almost hidden had been the marvelous fact about how large their universes were. And not only large- but fast. Expanding many times faster than what one could possible accomplish- faster than what one could possibly imagine.

Now, he had done the impossible and envisioned it.

Though lacking the words to describe this revelation, he had somehow pictured how something so large and complex could appear to be standing still. And yet, evolving and developing worlds of thought in what it would regard as a blink of an eye.

It wasn't his ramen that was like that. It was Ruby.

Bara was a stinger left behind by some meddlesome insect, the affected area had swelled, acclimating to a new level. But Bara-Ruby had introduced something below the surface that was slowly but surely changing their anatomy. Not just theirs, but hers as well.

So slow was the change, that it didn't register on any scale. But looking at it removed, stepping back to the planetary scale, the shy girl which had popped out of nowhere had been moving stars to get where she was.

"N-Naruto." It wasn't the ghostly pale skin which changed, but the degree to which the pink spread over it. "Y-you're staring at me."

"Oh…oh! Sorry." Chuckling at his own chagrin, he couldn't help the small smile which had formed without his knowledge.

"Wanna tell us what you were thinking about?" His teammate asked with a knowing smile of her own.

"Mmm," He hummed, thinking about how best to distill what it was. "Just how amazing you are- I mean, it is." His blush was but a pale comparison to Bara-Ruby's.

"Oh?" The weapon-loving girl's smile broke past its bonds to spread endemically across her face as she leered at the other girl who was trying to burrow into the wooden floor like a termite.

"P-please, Naruto. Don't say things like that. I'm- I'm… not so great."

Such a familiar statement, and one so irksome to his ideology. It was even more troublesome that he couldn't remember where it had come from, and both these facts made him want to frown. Instead, that small smile which the blush had failed to extinguish was buttressed up by a swelling pride.

"You know that's not true." A statement filled with righteousness instead of admonishment, adjacent to which Naruto's teammate began to feel something else instead of playfulness. Perhaps wistfulness, longing to hear that kind of thing directed to herself. "Life in general is amazing. But that's not what I'm talking about. What I mean is, I think I've finally figured it out."

"Figured it out?" Embarrassment put on hold for curiosity. Naruto nodded, setting his chopsticks horizontally across the rim of the bowl.

"Yeah. I finally figured out who you are."

Both girls looked puzzled by this, and Tenten a little troubled as she realized that this was something else out of her depth.

"You're not Ruby, but you are a part of her. You're her doubt."

Where anyone else would take that statement as a one-way ticket to the funny farm, their relationship had developed to the point where his teammate looked instead at the subject critically before deciding her position.

"I'm… Doubt?" She spoke as if it were a name, trying it on like the glass slipper from one of the stories her mother so often read.

"Yup." He flopped back into the wooden chair, looking both satisfied and weary from this revelation. "And that's why what you are doing is so incredible."

"I don't know, doesn't that seem sort of… silly?" It was clear however, that Tenten felt far sillier for suggesting this.

"No… it explains things." A serious look washed away whatever else was blemishing Bara's perfectly white skin. "Why… Ruby has been acting so impulsive and stubborn lately. It also explains why I feel the way I do, here and yet not." She looked to Naruto. "…A person, and yet not."

"You are Ruby. An important part of her."

A famous philosopher was once erroneously quoted as saying 'I think, therefore I am'. Yet it is more accurate that his words translate to: 'I doubt, therefore I am'. Hesitation, like any human emotion is both a gift and a curse. It stops them from doing something foolish. But becoming too strong, stops them from doing anything at all. Like all things in life, moderation was key.

"I am Ruby… I am Ruby." Hands balled together and pressed against her chest, ready to release a shackled anxiety. "I'm her, I'm her doubt."

There was a certainty behind these words. At times, irony can be good.

In fact, the only one at odds with this joyous mood that late-breakfast had garnered was Tenten who wore a conflicted joy. Happiness yes, but that other part was hard to identify. It couldn't have been jealousy, could it? Of what, was perhaps a better question.

Sadly, this moment was overshadowed by another earth-shattering revelation.

"What in the heck is that?!"

Plates rattled, floorboards groaned, and their chairs tap-danced across the room. It appeared as if the heavens above had taken offense with this acquiring of knowledge.

Propper earthquake etiquette would have had them remain indoors, but they were all ninja (and one huntress in training) and so they rushed out the various openings in the apartment to appraise the situation.

Upon arriving on the rooftop, the chilling shadow which awaited them there froze the three solid.

Staring up at that massive earthen sphere which eclipsed the sun, one would have expected a myriad of thoughts to be pinballing through each of their heads, such as when Naruto found truth in his noodles. Yet, they could barely even form one, and that sole focus was on survival.

Except for Naruto, who lucidly imagined that this was how the moon was broken.

"I am God" A voice from on high declared with a gravity that seemed to tug at their very core- or was that the mass of the gargantuan marble?

"And you will know my Pain."