Note: This chapter is set in a universe combining my RWBY and Final Fantasy XIII crossover called "Those Who Hunt Monsters" with "Ordinary Heroes".

X X X

The Babysitters

"Get off me this instant!" Weiss didn't know what horrible crime she'd committed to be stuck with babysitting duty, but she refused to believe that any crime was bad enough to merit this sort of punishment.

"No!" Perched on Weiss's back, Diana nuzzled the heiress's cheek and giggled. "You're ultra cuddly."

"I am not cuddly, let alone ultra cuddly." Weiss reached back to try and pry the little gremlin off, but Diana somehow managed to scamper out of reach. If only she could use her weapon – but the girl was the daughter of two of Weiss's most dangerous professors. "Get off!"

"I don't know, Weiss." Ruby smirked and opened her arms, prompting Diana to leap off Weiss's back and into her arms. She spun the girl around, earning a giggle and a sunny smile. "I have to agree with Diana here. You are ultra cuddly."

If looks could have killed, both Ruby and Diana would have been smouldering piles of ash. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do." Ruby grinned, and Diana grinned too. "My beloved cuddle bunny."

"Please, shut up." Weiss would never admit it, but Ruby was right. Weiss was cuddly. In fact, Ruby spent most of her nights curled up against her. "I don't know why we have to watch this one while Yang and Blake get to watch the quiet one."

"It's probably because Diana has so much fun hanging around with you." Diana nodded sagely as Ruby carried her over to the couch and turned on the television. There weren't any cartoons on, but Diana was soon completely entranced by a documentary about giant killer sharks.

"That may be so, but next time, we're watching the other one." Weiss pointed at the dining table where Yang was locked in a game of chess against Averia. "At least that one doesn't feel the need to climb all over me like I'm some sort of tree."

"But you like it when I climb you like a tree." Diana's smile was bright enough to rival the sun. "Otherwise, you'd never let me do it. I mean you could stop me if you really wanted to."

Silence.

Weiss's eye twitched, and her cheeks flushed. "That is not true at all –"

"Weiss, come here and sit down before you give yourself a heart attack." Ruby patted a spot on the couch beside her.

Weiss sat down. And if she pulled Diana into her lap, it was only because she needed to stop the little girl from flailing around in imitation of the sharks on television. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Diana was the most adorable thing she'd ever seen, or that there was something oddly right about sitting next to Ruby with a child in her lap. It was almost like the two of them had a – no, Weiss thought, she was not going to think about that.

Meanwhile, in the dining room…

"This sucks." Yang glared at the chessboard. "I'm telling you, this game really sucks."

Blake glanced up from her book, studied the board, and then raised one eyebrow. "I don't think the game sucks, Yang. I think you do – a lot."

Averia snickered, and Yang swiped at Blake's book. But the Faunus leaned out of reach. "I am not that bad!"

"This is the fourth time you've lost today." Blake studied the clock on the wall. They hadn't been here long. "Averia is very good, but that's still pretty terrible."

"Like you could do any better." Yang folded her arms over her chest. She didn't care how childish she looked, but she wasn't a fan of losing, especially to a child – even a prodigy like Averia. The fact that she was losing in front of Blake only made it worse.

"Actually, I can." Blake put her book down. "Let's switch places."

Twenty minutes later, Averia glanced up from the board. An amused pair of amber eyes met her gaze. "You're good, Blake – much better than Yang."

Blake chuckled softly. They had set a rapid pace, neither of them in the mood for a long, drawn out game. The game had become a contest of speed of thinking as much as depth of thinking. "Thank you."

Yang had many wonderful qualities, but chess was not one of her strong points. In fact, out of the four of them, Yang was probably the worst. The only one who could really give Blake a run for her money was Ruby. Weiss was no slouch, but Ruby combined a brilliant head for tactics with an incredible ability to improvise.

"But you've gotten better since last time, Averia." Blake smiled faintly.

"I've been reading those books you suggested." Averia frowned at the board, running through all the different possibilities. "I don't have the time to play through all of the different scenarios, but it helps a lot to see them played out and analysed by someone else. I think you're going to win this game."

"I think so too." Blake shot Yang a teasing look. "Do you want to play another game?"

"Okay, I don't know what you two are up to, but it has to involve cheating." Yang stomped over and pulled Blake into a headlock. The Faunus chuckled, and Yang used her other arm to pull Averia into a headlock too. "It's always the quiet ones. I thought your sister would be the one to watch out for, but I'll be keeping my eye on you."

"Well, it is easier to get away with stuff when she's around." Averia squirmed out of Yang's grasp and nodded at the couch. Diana was in the middle of wielding a couch cushion against Weiss in an epic battle to the death while Ruby shouted advice and encouragement. "See what I mean?"

"I do." Yang wandered over to a shelf in a corner of the living room. "How about we try a different game?" She came back with a pack of cards. "Do you guys know how to play poker?"

"Poker?" Blake shrugged and began to pack away the chessboard. "I've played it a few times."

Averia took the cards and started to shuffle them with expert skill. "I know a little bit about playing cards."

That display should have sent alarm bells ringing in Yang's head. Ten minutes later, Yang was convinced that she was the world's most unlucky person. It was bad enough that Blake was a card shark, but Averia was one too.

"Who taught you how to play cards?" Yang asked. They were betting candy, and at this rate, Yang would have to run down to the store to get some more. As it was, both Blake and Averia had enough sugar in front of them to give a whale diabetes.

"My mom is really good, but my Aunt Vanille was the one who taught me." Averia grinned toothily and began to shuffle the cards again, the cards zipping through the air. "She's good and lucky. How about you Blake?"

"Oh, an old friend and I used to play." Blake took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She and Adam had passed the time between missions playing cards. It was one of the things she missed the most. "But it's been a while since I've played."

"Yeah, well, you're not rusty." Yang picked up her cards. Great – she had nothing but junk. "Remind me to bring you along the next time that I go to one of Team JNPR's poker nights. You'd never believe it unless you saw it, but Nora is great at poker."

"That's probably because she hasn't got any tells." Blake peered at Averia, but the girl's expression gave nothing away. "She acts like she's won the lottery no matter what she's got."

Averia paused to calculate the odds of her hands being good enough to win. "Remember when Team JNPR had to babysit me and Diana?"

Yang threw her head back and laughed. "I do. Your mother had them cleaning toilets for a month after that mess."

"Yes, it was quite amusing." Blake hid a smile behind her cards. To make matters worse, Nora had treated the punishment as an adventure, singing and dancing as she cleaned toilets and scrubbed floors. "Although they never did give us the full story."

"They didn't?" Averia pushed some of her candy into the pot. "Well, it's like this…"

X X X

"I can't lift it." Diana huffed and strained to pick up Magnhild. The hammer was as big as she was. "It weighs too much."

Nora giggled and helped Diana get it off the ground. "Here, let me help you." She lifted the weapon up, settled it in Diana's arms, and then flicked a switch to transform it into its grenade launcher form. "Cool, huh?"

"Wow!" Diana peered down the barrel of the weapon. "This is so awesome!"

"Uh… Nora…" Jaune stepped forward slowly. "Maybe you shouldn't let the little girl play with your grenade launcher."

"Oh, it'll be fine." Nora ruffled Diana's hair. "Diana knows not to do anything."

Not far off, Averia was sparring with Pyrrha. The pair exchanged blows, the redhead driving her back with a series of sword strikes as the girl sought to land a blow with her spear. Ren was watching, offering up an occasional tip.

Sadly for Team JNPR, however, Diana did not know not to do anything. The girl tilted her head to one side and pulled the trigger. For a split second, Jaune saw everything unfold in slow motion with perfect clarity: Diana's eyes widening in surprise as the weapon kicked back against her, the smile on Nora's face freezing as she realised what was happening, and Ren, Pyrrha, and Averia all running for cover.

The grenade hit the wall and blew it apart. Diana and Nora went flying, the redhead instinctively wrapping herself around the little girl to cushion her from the impact. When the dust finally cleared, Jaune was imbedded in one of the walls while Ren and Averia huddled behind Pyrrha's raised shield.

Not far away, Diana and Nora were laying flat on their back, laughing their asses off.

"That was so awesome!" Diana cackled and jumped back onto her feet, reaching for the grenade launcher. "Can we do that again?"

X X X

With Diana swiping at her with a couch cushion, Weiss had no choice but to respond in kind. She was not about let some impudent child get the better of her. Grabbing her own cushion, she twirled it around with a flourish and turned to face her opponent.

"Prepare yourself, Diana." Weiss lifted her cushion up into a ready position. "I'm going to show you the difference between a true huntress and a child."

"No way." Diana leapt forward, swinging her couch cushion with all her might. "I'm going to win!"

"You might have enthusiasm, but you lack technique." Weiss avoided each strike with expert skill and then disarmed her young opponent with a flick of her wrist. Smirking, she gestured at the cushion. "Pick that up and try again – if you dare."

Diana crept over to the cushion and eyed Weiss warily. The young woman was much tougher than Diana's friends. She was even better than Averia. But Diana wasn't going to surrender. She was going to fight until she got good enough to win. "Take this!"

The pair fought across the living room exchanging blows. Once again, Diana found herself on the losing end of the skirmish. But her next attack had a little help from someone very familiar.

"Let's work together, Diana." Ruby picked Diana up and tucked her under one arm. "Are you ready?"

Diana punched the air with one hand. "Let's go, Ruby! We'll use our Super Diana And Ruby Ultra Team Attack Number Four!"

Ruby stopped mid-stride. "How about Number Five?"

"Oh yeah!" Diana's eyes lit up. "We'll go with Number Five!"

Ruby grabbed Diana and then vanished in a swirl of rose petals. The pair reappeared next to Weiss. Ruby attacked from one side as Diana darted around to attack Weiss from her other side. Then Ruby was vanishing again, stopping just long enough to grab Diana, before she set up another attack.

As fast as Weiss was, she was soon on the back foot. Ruby alone would have been challenging, but Diana was just good enough to be troublesome, and her small stature made her almost impossible to keep track of while Weiss was fending off her teammate. Finally, Weiss made a mistake. She overextended a fraction on one of her strikes and tripped over Diana's couch cushion. In a flash, the little girl had sat down on her stomach and whacked her over the head with her cushion.

"We win, Ruby!" Diana and Ruby exchanged a high five. "Yay!"

Clapping came from the dining room, and Weiss blushed. Yang, Blake, and Averia had seen the whole thing.

"Way to go, Weiss." Yang cackled. "Beaten by a six year old."

"To be fair," Blake added. "Diana did have Ruby's help."

Ruby tugged Diana off Weiss before she could push Weiss too far. "Nice work, kiddo."

Weiss would have said something, but her stomach gave a loud, angry rumble. "Um…"

"I guess that means we should order dinner." Blake ignored the scowl that Weiss sent her. "I'm thinking…"

"Pizza!" Diana and Ruby cried together. "It has to be pizza."

"I can go for some pizza." Yang punched one hand with the other. "I'll get on the phone."

X X X

Weiss eyed the pizza with distaste. "I don't know how you cretins can eat this – umphhh!"

Ruby lowered the hand that had just shoved a slice of pizza into Weiss's mouth and turned to face the kids. "Don't do that, okay? It's rude." She paused and grabbed Weiss's wrists so that the other woman couldn't hit her. "But sometimes it's necessary."

Diana and Averia nodded. They'd seen their parents eat pizza enough times to know that there were times when desperate measures were necessary. Weiss glared at Ruby but continued to chew. The pizza was actually quite nice, not that she'd ever admit it.

X X X

"Okay, Diana, it's time to go to bed." Ruby bit back a laugh as the little girl fought to open her eyes and appear energetic. Despite her best efforts, however, Diana could barely lift her head off Ruby's lap.

"Can I have a story first?" Diana yawned and then covered her mouth. Ruby smiled knowingly. "That wasn't a yawn! I was stretching my mouth, that's all."

"I guess you can have a story." Ruby shifted, easing Diana into a more comfortable position. "You've been very good today, and you deserve a reward for helping me beat Weiss too."

"You two cheated, that's why." Weiss lifted her chin at the pair of them. "Next time, I'll deal with both of you."

"Yeah, yeah." Ruby waved one hand at Weiss. Weiss was all bark and no bite when it came to her and Ruby. "Okay, Diana, how about a story about a princess and a huntress?"

"That sounds nice." Diana closed her eyes as Ruby ran one hand through her hair. "Keep going."

"A long, long time ago, there lived a very pretty princess, who was also very rich." On the other side of the couch, Weiss lifted one eyebrow. Ruby waggled her eyebrows and pressed on. "Unfortunately, this princess was also very mean and snobbish, and she thought she was very good with a sword, even if she wasn't."

Weiss tried to kill Ruby with her eyes.

"She doesn't sound like a very nice person," Diana said. "I bet she looked like a troll too."

"Oh, when she was mad, she looked like a troll." Ruby fought to hold back a burst of laughter at the look Weiss gave her. "But one day, this princess was wandering around trying to find monsters to fight so that she could become famous. But alas, she was no good at fighting monsters. She was about to get eaten when –"

"I don't think you're telling the story right." Weiss nudged Ruby out of the way and held Diana. "You see, Diana, the story is really about a wonderful princess who was super kind and extremely beautiful – and perfect with a sword. When she was wandering through the forest she stumbled across an incompetent huntress with a ridiculously huge weapon who was about to get eaten by monsters."

"And that's where you're wrong." Ruby snatched Diana back. "Because it was the huntress – who was ultra cool and awesome – who saved the princess from being eaten."

"I think this story is weird." Diana scowled. "You guys keep changing it."

"Anyway," Ruby said. "The huntress and the princess eventually became friends and had lots of adventures, together with a crazy cat and a pyromaniac."

Weiss's lips curled in amusement. "Yes, that's what happened."

Diana yawned again. "That wasn't a very good story."

"Well, it's the only story you're getting." Weiss lifted Diana up. "Come on, it's time for you to go to bed."

"But you said you'd tell me a story, Ruby, and that one was lame."

"Okay, okay." The silver-eyed woman patted Diana on the head. "How about we tell you about one of our missions?"

"Yay! Are their explosions? How about monsters, there have to be monsters, right?"

"Yes, yes." Weiss sighed. "Calm down, and we'll tell you the story once we've tucked you in."

Getting Averia to bed was a little trickier. The older of the two siblings was in the middle of a game of monopoly with Blake and Yang. In typical fashion, Averia had conquered most of the board with Blake coming in second and Yang a distant third.

"How are you so good at this?" Yang whined. She jabbed one finger at the board. "I can't go anywhere without paying you money."

"My Aunt Vanille always says that mercy is for the weak." Averia yawned and struggled to keep her eyes open. She'd spent her whole day at school and then spent most of the afternoon before her parents had left practicing in the backyard. Combined with all the games she'd played with Blake and Yang, she was exhausted. "She always wins when we play, so I have to get better…"

Blake darted forward to catch Averia before her head could hit the table.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that." Yang checked to make sure it was just the three of them and started to rearrange the board.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked.

"Come on, Blake, let me have this. If Weiss finds out that Averia even beat me at Monopoly, she'll never let me hear the end of it."

"If find it amusing that you're willing to cheat against a child." Blake leaned over and pressed a kiss to Yang's forehead. "But don't worry – I won't tell." She lifted Averia into her arms. "I'll take her up to her room. Can you finish tidying up down here?"

"Sure thing." Yang watched Blake go and found herself smiling. Blake was so good with kids.

X X X

"So, how were the kids? I hope they didn't give you too much trouble."

It was hard for Ruby not to stare at Lightning. It wasn't everyday that she got to see the legendary huntress in a dress. And the sight of Fang in a suit was equally surprising – the dark-haired woman looked very good.

"Um, they were pretty good. Nothing exploded, in case you were wondering."

"Well, that's why we ask you guys to watch them and not Team JNPR." Fang's eyes flicked over the living room, which was mercifully free of any scorch marks or holes in the walls. "Did they get to sleep okay?"

"Weiss and I told Diana a story, and I think Averia got tired from beating Yang in everything from chess to poker."

"You played poker against Averia?" Fang sniggered. "I'm surprised you have the clothes on your back. She's good."

"Yes, she is." Yang gave Blake a mock scowl. "And Blake is a bit of a card shark herself."

"Anyway," Lightning said. "Thank you for looking after the kids. We really appreciate it." She tugged at her dress. "Despite how important it is, Beacon still has to go in search of further sources of funding. Once you all graduate, I'm sure you'll find out for yourselves. Public appearances are one of the academy's ways of generating funds."

"You two are pretty famous." Ruby scratched the back of her head. "But I don't know if I could ever go to one of those fancy parties. I don't know the first thing about dancing –"

"I'll teach you." Weiss blushed furiously. "If you go in a dress like that, I'll teach you."

"Oh… okay."

Fang and Lightning exchanged a look. "Anyway," the dark-haired woman said. "Thanks for watching the kids. We'll see you tomorrow morning in class." She waited until Team RWBY was gone and then turned to Lightning. "Kids, huh?"

"Kids?" Lightning thought back to the way that Ruby had latched onto Weiss's arm and the way that Yang had very purposefully put one arm around Blake. "I wouldn't call them kids exactly. They're huntresses."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own Final Fantasy or RWBY. I'm not making any money off of this either.

This particular chapter has been a long time coming. Ever since I started Those Who Hunt Monsters, I've gotten requests to write something involving the kids from Ordinary Heroes and our favourite RWBY characters. So, here it is.

Anyway, I can definitely see Fang and Lightning taking advantage of their positions as professors to use some of their students as babysitting minions. How well that works really depends on who is doing the babysitting. Nora with Diana basically spells disaster, whereas I can see Ruby getting along very well with Diana but still keeping her under control. Poor Yang finds herself on the losing end of things in this chapter because I think Blake would make a great card shark and Averia has spent years trying to get the better of the greatest card shark of all (Vanille). If people like this chapter, then I'm willing to do another like it at some point, so let me know what you think.

I also write original fiction, mostly fantasy. You can find links to it in my profile.

Also, today (Friday 4th July, Pacific Standard Time), The Last Huntress is available on Amazon for free. You can find a link to it at the top of my profile. If you're a fan of fantasy, check it out. Here's the blurb:

Scarlett is the last of her line – a huntress sworn to kill all monsters.

Rose is a girl searching for the power to take back her homeland.

In the icy forests of the north, on the trail of the only werewolf to escape her, Scarlett will teach Rose what it means to be a huntress. There can be no room for softness in a huntress's heart, no room for weakness. And a huntress must be willing to kill anything – and anyone – that poses a threat to the innocent.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.