Reunion: Carrot
Weiss stepped off the bus, pulling her bag along with her. "I mean it. We really could go stay at my place next week."
Ruby and Yang joined her, followed slowly by Blake. The Faunus girl looked up from the book she was reading in one hand. "We'll go for the week after. We've got four weeks of vacation, after all. It's not like we have to rush it."
Yang nodded. "Yeah, I thought you weren't looking forward to seeing your dad."
Weiss shook her head. "You're not listening to me. My father isn't going to be there for most of next week. We should go then."
Tightening the straps of her backpack, Ruby looked up at Yang. "I think it's a good idea."
Blake stepped ahead of her friends, turning to face them. "Okay, listen up. We can work that out when we get there, but for now we focus on getting where we're going."
Weiss reached back and pulled a hood over her head. "Right. First step is disguises." The Schnee heiress was wearing a black hoodie and khaki shorts, with dark green boots reaching up just short of her knees. Her signature hairstyle was gone, her hair now hanging loosely out of the hood and falling down her front.
Blake, who had opted for a gray light jacket over a simple black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, sighed at Weiss' attempt to be inconspicuous. "No, first step is not disguises. I'll grant that you probably don't want people seeing Weiss Schnee around here, but you're the only one. Ruby and Yang are fine."
Ruby pumped her fist and Yang threw a double peace sign. Yang was wearing her usual attire, and Ruby was wearing the outfit they'd nicknamed 'Slayer'.
Blake continued. "We're walking the next three blocks, so stick together."
As Blake turned to start walking, Yang starting asking questions. "So, if you grew up in the White Fang, how do you know where this place is?"
Blake sighed. "I lived here for a few years. The White Fang can't do much to train a newborn. As soon as my father thought I was old enough, he took me away. We came back every once in a while. Last time I was here with my father was… seven years ago."
Ruby was next in line to pry into Blake's family life. "Is your mother nice?"
Blake shook her head. "She's a trained assassin and a contract killer. She has all the motherly love of a Beowolf."
Ruby looked down at the ground, lowering her voice. "I bet she makes good cookies, though."
Weiss cut in. "Well, then your sister is cool, right?"
Blake burst out laughing, surprising all of them. "Jinto? Cool? Maybe in her own mind, but even there I doubt it."
Yang scratched her head idly. "Well… if you don't like your family, why are we staying with them?"
Blake sighed and shrugged. "We're going to be staying with your dad in Patch for a week, and then in Atlas for a week at Weiss' place, so I might as well introduce you to my family as well. Besides, I left most of my belongings there and I want to make sure my mom hasn't sold them."
As they walked through the neighborhood, Weiss found herself distracted. It was the middle of the day, and there were groups of men gathered in front of houses and at the side of the street. Some were fixing cars, some playing basketball, and some were just standing around playing obnoxious music from boomboxes. It all felt totally foreign to her.
"Blake, what are all these guys doing?"
Blake glanced around, seeing all the people up and down the street. "Socializing. The general rule is that if you mind your own business, they leave you alone."
"Umm…" Yang put her hand on Blake's shoulder. "Then we have a problem."
Blake turned around. "What?" She stopped as soon as she saw Ruby crouched down beside a car. The car was surrounded by several large tattooed men. Ruby, however, was completely focused on petting a small dog, much to the amusement of the men. "Yang, do something."
Yang headed over to Ruby, stopping a few meters short. She looked at the men. "Sorry about this." She sighed and looked down at Ruby. "Hey, sis. Come on."
One of the men laughed. "S'alright. Not our dog."
"Right… well… Ruby, let's go." Ruby stood up and backed away from the dog. Yang grabbed her hood and dragged her back to Blake and Weiss. "That was embarrassing."
Ruby slumped. "But it was a Dachshund!"
Blake turned back the way they were headed. "Can we go now? I can see my house from here."
Following Blake's lead, they made their way up to a townhouse. The stairs led up to a front door with no porch whatsoever, and not even railings to keep them from falling off the sides of the stairs. They could feel a heavy bass beat from some music playing inside. Weiss eyed the doorbell, noting a hornet nest only a foot away from it.
Blake knocked on the door. After waiting a few seconds, she handed her bag to Yang. "I bet my mother's on the roof." She quickly started scaling the front of the house without anything more of an explanation, disappearing over the top.
Then the door opened, drawing their gazes back down, and then further down. A little girl, around six years old, clutching a toy stuffed cat, stared back up at them. Her hair was long for a child her age, and straight black. Her eyes were a familiar bright yellow, and a pair of black cat ears poked up off the top of her head to seal the deal.
Yang blinked. "Oh my God, they shrunk Blake."
Immediately, an older girl closer to their age rushed in and grabbed the child, lifting her up in her arms. She looked up at the rest of team RWBY, almost a mirror image of Blake. "I'm so sorry, I told her not to answer the door. Uh… alright, and you all are…?"
Ruby answered for all of them. "Oh, uh, I'm Ruby, this is Yang and Weiss. We're Blake's friends."
The girl nodded. "Okay then… and where's Blake?"
Yang sighed. "She climbed onto the roof."
"Of course she did." There was a moment of awkward silence, during which the smaller girl, still in the arms of the other, poked a straw into a juice box and started sipping slowly. The older of the two continued. "Well, I'm Cheren. This little nuisance is Carrot."
Ruby grinned. "Carrot?"
Weiss nodded. "I was about to guess that."
Cheren rolled her eyes. "Her name is Karutta. Carrot is a nickname."
Holding up the stuffed cat for them to see, the girl cut into the introductions. "And this is Blake, the greatest Huntress ever to live!"
As Ruby and Yang tried and failed to hold in their laughter, Weiss eyed the toy. She looked to the girl holding it. "You've been looking forward to Blake's visit, haven't you?"
The girl nodded eagerly, then went back to her juice box.
Cheren smiled. "Well, I'm gonna take her out of the way. The entrance here will be swarming in just a few seconds, and we don't want to add to it." She stepped out of view, taking Carrot with her.
A moment later, Blake appeared. She took a moment to try and analyze her team's faces. "Okay… who came to the door?" She shook her head. "Never mind, come in. My mom wants to meet you."
Entering, they found themselves in a small kitchen. To their left, a wooden counter ran along the front wall and the side wall, with a stove and a refrigerator on either end. A sink full of dishes was set into the counter right next to the fridge, a door leading to another room on the other side. The stove was the only thing between the counter and the front door. At the back of the room, only two meters away, a small round table with only two chairs sat covered in papers and seemingly random other things.
On their right, there was a door that led to stairs going down to a basement. It was the only place Cheren could have gone, considering the direction she went. Beside the door, there was a shelf on the wall where a CD player sat blaring.
A woman who couldn't have been out of her thirties walked in from the other room, giving the girls a warm smile. She was wearing a soft-looking dark green bathrobe, but apart from that she looked the part of Blake's mother.
Ruby turned to Yang, whispering. "Oh yeah, she makes great cookies. I can tell."
The woman approached them, looking at them all in turn. She smiled at Ruby. "You must be Ruby. The cape gives it away. Yang, of course, the blondest of blondes. And… Weiss."
Yang and Ruby gave pointed looks to Blake. Yang voiced their thoughts. "How much do you two exchange letters?"
Blake glared back. "The only person I've written to since entering Beacon is my cousin, Lila. Wait…"
Her mother threw her arms out wide, presenting the house to the team. "Welcome to our home, girls! Make it your home too."
Blake crossed her arms. "Lila's here, isn't she?"
Dropping her arms to her sides, Blake's mother gave a dejected look. "Of course she's here. All of your cousins are here."
Blake gave a disturbed look. "Great. Which one answered the door?"
Yang answered. "Carrot answered the door."
Cutting the line of conversation short, Blake's mother turned and headed for the other room. "Don't just stand there. Come on in and sit down." Grinning, she looked back at them from the doorway. "My name's Krista, by the way. Jinto's in here with your cousins."
Once she was gone, Weiss turned to Blake. "How many people am I going to be confusing with you while we're here?"
Blake sighed, then started counting them off. "My mom, my sister Jinto, and my cousins. Lila, Cheren, and Kali."
Yang grinned. "A house of catgirls. With Carrot, that makes seven. This will be an awesome vacation."
Ruby explained to Blake. "Carrot answered the door, so we met her and Cheren."
Blake held up her hands, stopping them. "Hold up a sec. Who's Carrot?"
As soon as she spoke, she was hit with the force of a small child wrapping their arms around her legs and slamming their face into her back in a greeting hug. Struggling to not fall over, she turned at the waist to try and see who had attacked her.
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang watched nearly gleeful as Blake stared in shock and surprise at the little girl hugging her. Cheren appeared at the top of the stairs, following after Carrot. She stopped to watch the spectacle as well. There was a barely audible low pitch wail beginning to fill the room, which Weiss quietly determined was the sound of Blake's mind frying.
Slowly, forcefully, Blake called out towards the other room. "Mooom? There's a child in the house."
When no response came from the other room, Cheren stepped in. "Blake, this is Karutta. Your little sister."
This chapter I officially introduced Krista, Cheren, and Karutta! Next chapter we'll meet Jinto, Lila, and Kali! Hope to see you there!
You are a ray of sunshine in a dark world. A spark of hope in a life once written off. The reason for all my struggles. It was all worth it.
Next: The Cat, The Rat, And The Elephant In The Room
