Greetings and fucking salutations! Is it an error? It is a cancellation? No! It's a chapter.

Fucking incredible.

This chapter almost killed my writing entirely. I've rewritten this twice, deleted at least 25 pages of writing, and ended up with a final copy that had nothing to do with the draft. I actually had 'this' chapter done and released to patrons. I didn't release it to the public because I thought I'd be writing a doubleshot of OFNT to get through the dance arc. Nope!

Does anyone read this anymore? I donno, but here you go. I'm going to go and try to get Incarnation of Selemene deleted from a certain game. Special thanks to Juggl3r and my benefactor without whom this chapter would never have seen the light of day.

Chapter 35.3.0

Two Steps Forward

Naruto knew himself to be a competent person. He also was fairly sure most people would agree with him, too. His team respected him, and so did everyone else — at least as far as he could tell.

So why was he being treated like he was nine?

"Are you sure you have a suit?" Nora asked him with the most blatant of skepticism.

"Am I supposed to be changing my answer?" Naruto asked. "I think I remember saying that it'll be here once… maybe twice. No, wait, it was seventeen times already!"

Nora huffed unrepentantly as she adjusted the pink-topped dress she was wearing. Specifically, the section around her breasts that looked a bit tight as it were. "Renny, could you-"

Ren was behind her before she could finish, zipping the back of the dress up, much to its wearer's relief and much to the disdain of the dress now forced into a small struggle to contain the redhead's bossom. Nora didn't seem to notice, happily twirling in place to show herself off.

School that day had been uneventful. The student body had been charged with a giddy energy. The professors had mostly been understanding, with the exception of Glynda. Even then, she'd been more understanding — assigning detentions for tomorrow instead of scheduling them in conflict with the dance. A rare instance that confirmed a person laid within the twenty-foot walls of stoicism and sternness she kept up at all times.

"Shouldn't you be preparing to pick up Velvet?" Ren asked while fiddling around with the cufflinks of his own black and white suit. The only ground he'd ceded to personalization of his attire for the night was a deep purple bow tie.

"Nah. Velv said to meet her there. Didn't want us getting held up by her team. I guess some of them really want to talk to me?"

"Interrogate you, more like." Ren chuckled.

Naruto couldn't deny that was a possibility. All he'd heard of Coco Adel pointed to her being something of a hellcat. Feisty, quick to rise, and an uncompromising set of morals. Velvet had told him she'd hidden she was a faunus until Coco set her straight. Then she'd beaten everyone who looked at Velvet funny half to death. A nice person that Naruto didn't need or want on his plate right now. If he wanted a rambunctious woman there was a blonde in his life who'd likely be happy to oblige him.

Yang… that reminded Naruto of the one item on his plate that he'd been consistently pushing off to the side. His lack of desire to stomach something that was sure to be dreadful showed he was still a kid — in some ways, at least. He might have been at something of a stalemate with RWBY, yet he'd managed to enjoy his life as of late. Even if he could figure out what to say to the girls, the act of doing so would be a pain in the ass at best. Not to mention that he hadn't exactly figured things out yet.

Thus, with many similarities to a healthy and unenjoyable meal, he continued to push it to the side and focus on the things on his plate he enjoyed.

Caught up in thoughts of RWBY, Naruto was brought back to the present in a rather obnoxious way. "Are you sure you have a suit?"

Naruto slapped his hand to the front of his face. Unfortunately, the pain was not severe enough to negate the annoyance of that question's eighteenth asking.

"I'm sure he has everything figured out." Pyrrha's voice defended him with a lilt of amusement and what felt like less subtle sarcasm. The bathroom door — behind which she was currently getting dressed — made it hard to say for certain.

"Kami… a little faith, please?"

"I trust you implicitly." Naruto could hear Pyrrha failing to stifle a giggle from beyond the door. Pyrrha had been in an odd mood yesterday for reasons he couldn't quite make out. He felt bad for that; their being at an arm's length was entirely his decision. The reasons weren't any his partner in this world had given him, rather they were more… personal in nature. Regardless, he was glad to see the impending dance had improved her outlook where he could not.

While he was thankful for the dance now, it had taken him a while to get on board with the idea. Frankly, most of the huntsmen and huntresses here would have been better off spending a full day training than slacking off at a dance. Of course, there were students like Sky too; a few days out of critical care and already trying to force himself back into his usual regimen. It made sense for a person like him to take a night off and drink the presumably spiked punch. Sadly, there was no way to reward the hard-working without doing the same to the slackers.

Such was life.

"Ignoring all of the sacrilegious backtalk I'm getting…" Nora grinned boldly while the corners of Ren's mouth turned up slightly. He could hear Pyrrha disguising her laughter more poorly than before in the bathroom. "You guys should go ahead of me. I have to wait for my suit and I'd prefer not to be asked for the ninetee-"

"Where's your suit?"

"... Twentieth time where it is."

"I'm finishing up," Pyrrha answered. "If I can get this zipper…"

"I'll help!" Nora immediately jumped towards the door, completely mindless of the way the white skirt of her medium-length dress parted as she did so. Naruto looked at Ren who was already sighing, fingers massaging the bridge of his nose.

"No, I've got it," Pyrrha replied, stopping Nora mid-run and deflating her like a balloon.

Then and there his battle-sense turned on. He could feel energy being molded and given purpose and so readied himself to do the same. It took him less than a second to isolate the direction of the disturbance and he turned himself to address it. Immediately after, Naruto snorted, then doubled over, putting his hands on his knees for support as he started to laugh.

"Hmm?" Ren asked, tilting his head in question

"Pyrrha, did you use your semblance to zip up?" Naruto asked between the racking bouts of laughter. Ren inhaled sharply, eyes dancing with his own brand of amusement.

"You were the one who told me that I should use it less sparingly. You're the one who said to improve my fine control of it."

"To get dressed?"

"Practice is practice." She replied in a playful voice.

Pyrrha was a lot more lively than she was at the beginning of the year. All of their team was… except for Nora, of course. If she had a next level of energy he was perfectly content not finding it.

Speaking of his team, they were much stronger for the two weeks of training he'd given them. He was happy at how fast they were progressing — Nora being especially adept at her new technique — yet annoyed at how much of their growth had come from his lessons. Beacon did an abysmal job of training students for combat. Taking classes on combat and then throwing kids in a ring to scrap it out was not teaching combat. There was too little focus on developing their semblances, skills with weapons, and combat tactics.

That was the reason he'd taken CRDL under his wing. He was convinced that Beacon would turn them into casualties of war if he didn't and couldn't bring himself to abandon them to that fate. But it wasn't the time for thoughts like that. Today was the day of childish relaxation, fun, and for some, romance.

He didn't need to disperse the thoughts from his head. When the bathroom door opened, Naruto didn't have room in his head for them. His mind, his eyes, everything was filled with one thing.

"Holy crap!" Nora shouted. "You're way too frickin beautiful!"

Pyrrha gave an embarrassed laugh, her gaze dropping to the floor to try and avoid eye contact. "You look amazing as well, Nora."

"I know I look good," Nora smirked, giving her best impression of Yang's hair-flip. The results were more funny than flirty with hair that didn't even reach her shoulders. "But come on! You look like a goddess."

"Stop it…"

"Pyrrha, I know I'm straight… but if you were offering in that dress..."

"Nora!" Pyrrha's face took on the same color as her hair.

"What my partner is trying to say is that your efforts to dress up were not in vain," Ren said with a well-concealed smirk. "I dare to say it has affected your target audience better than you'd hoped."

Pyrrha spluttered, her eyes looking anywhere but at the three of them. The quiet member of the team adding to a joke had been unthinkable at the beginning of the year. He wasn't exactly wearing clown shoes and a round red nose, but he was much more willing to crack the odd joke every now and then.

It hadn't taken much for Naruto's team to start feeling like a team. Sometimes he still felt like he didn't belong — the adult among children — but it was something he needed to consciously reminded himself of now as opposed to the constant nagging feeling it had been.

That wasn't a problem at the moment. Right then, there wasn't much of anything going through Naruto's mind. Not thoughts of their team or of Ren's newfound sense of humor.

"Pyrrha, you look incredible."

The dress she wore was elegant and refined — no doubt expensive. Its color matched her hair, a fiery red that clung taut to her body. The zipper she'd semblanced up must have been low on the dress because the upper half of her back was bared before him as Nora grabbed her shoulders and forced her to do a twirl. What held the dress up was most likely its tight form, the fabric of the front that narrowed as it approached her neck and then tied around it, or magic.

With how she looked, magic was not out of the question.

The way she blushed at him — finding his eyes and then embarrassedly looking away once she did — made Naruto swallow.

Really? Kurama asked him mockingly, sneering at his host from their bed. Isn't she a bit young for you?

The familiarity of being teased by the fox snapped Naruto's mind back to something resembling focus, though honestly still a bit scattered. Pyrrha was… kami, she was something else.

It was timely for him when three evenly spaced raps sounded from their door. "Express delivery for Naruto Uzumaki."

"And I thought you were lying about the suit."

The accusation was enough that Naruto forcibly teared his eyes off of Pyrrha so he could give Nora the flattest of looks. "Really? Why would I lie about a suit?"

"I do not deal in why's with rogues and bandits who would stand against the Alliance of Firefox!"

Naruto looked at Ren, only to receive a shrug as response to his unspoken yet obvious question. He didn't have time to question what was going on as three more knocks were levied as pointless reminder that someone was still at the door.

"Give me a second," Naruto called out, making his way to and then opening the door.

A postman stood there, holding the hangar of the obvious suit-bag in hand. The black bag was a stark contrast to the artistically cursive white letters spelling out the designer's name around where the breast pocket would be. Naruto thought he recognized the name as belonging to one of the most upscale shops he'd seen in his numerous trips to Vale. Confident it was his suit, Naruto accepted. On the off chance it wasn't, then it was a very creative assassination attempt.

Having never received — nor having had any reason to receive — mail, Naruto wasn't sure how it would work. He was beginning to worry there was some sort of mailbox or pickup for each student where his suit would be sitting. He knew who the suit had come from too, so how did it get through security? Did they have a screening process?

"Sign here, sir," The postman asked with the bored tone of someone who was far too used to his job.

Naruto complied with the request, signing the digital device. Years of signing paperwork as his village's leader had devolved his signature into a loopy mess. When you had to sign something a few hundred times a day, you soon lost the ability to care about appearances.

His business done, the postman dismissed himself without a word and walked away, leaving Naruto holding the suit.

"Are you gonna open it?" Nora asked not two seconds after the door had closed.

"I'm going to change into it as soon as you three get going."

Nora gasped. "You're abandoning us? How could you?!"

That was an easy answer. There was more that he needed to do before the dance than get dressed. It wasn't an answer he wanted to give, particularly because of what it was he needed to do.

Ren grabbed his partner by the shoulder and pulled her past Naruto and towards the door. "We will see you at the dance." He proceeded to drag Nora through the halls under heavy protest from the girl herself.

Naruto mouthed a thank you to his lone male teammate who smiled in return. He was willing to bet Ren knew exactly what he would soon be doing, thus the willingness to shield him from the Nora shaped social grenade.

Through their time together, Naruto had learned that Pyrrha was both an exceptional fighter and something of a social diplomat. She could tell just as easily as Ren could that something was going on, even if she didn't know what.

"We'll see you there," Pyrrha smiled at him before following the other two out the door. She didn't ask any questions, pester him, or feel offended that he was keeping her in the dark. She trusted him.

He… didn't know if the feeling was mutual. That was something he didn't feel too great about at present.

Naruto had come to Beacon knowing he'd have to keep his capabilities a heavily guarded secret. Even with teaching a class, training the two teams, fighting Roman at the docks, and even decimating his partner in front of an audience — a partner who was expected to be far and away the top of their class — it was only the tip of the iceberg. They'd all accepted him with what he'd shown, but all he'd shown were abilities that put him at the top half a percent of the huntsmen on Remnant.

He wasn't in the upper percentile of Remnant. He was its ceiling. And there was a whole lot of space between him and whoever was next in line.

That was a lot to trust someone with.

Naruto understood his reservations about forming bonds with any of them better. Strangely enough, his talk with Roman had put things into perspective. He cared about them, even RWBY, kami help him. If there was a choice between revealing any of his abilities or watching one of them die, then he'd do it without a second thought, consequences be damned.

Except he knew what came after that. Fallout. The realization of governments and the politicians that ran them that every safety measure they'd considered adequate had been made obsolete. Then they'd try and discreetly learn the limits of his abilities so they could find out what benchmark their own defenses had to meet should he turn rogue.

Then they'd figure out they couldn't do it. No matter the effort or resources they invested into their protection it would be meaningless if he was their opponent. No man, beast, explosive ordnance, or any other means of defense would compare to him. When they realized that, then they'd come to the conclusion they existed at his mercy.

Following that happy thought, he'd have to deal with incessant lobbying for his favor. That wasn't limited to politicians — businesses would join too. They'd ask for his sponsorship for everything from clothing to bills they wanted to pass into law. If he supported nothing and chose to abstain, everyone would grow wary — fearful of what his 'goals' were.

It didn't get better if he supported some or most everything either. The first created schisms between those he did support and those he didn't. That divide had often resulted in physical conflict in the past. While he'd never gone so far as to support things indiscriminately, Naruto could only imagine that doing so would make him look irresponsible. Irresponsible was possibly the last adjective you wanted to be associated with someone who could turn your entire civilization into a smoking crater.

Back in his home, he'd even had checks to his power. Sasuke was his equal. Even without his best friend, Naruto doubted he could take on the entire ninja world alone, especially since the bijuu would likely side against him. In the Elemental Nations, he would be stopped if he did anything egregious.

Remnant didn't have that luxury.

That meant that he would always need to keep his strongest abilities secret. Obviously from people like Ozpin, but even from his own team. If someone who knew about him so much as whispered to the wrong person, his life in Remnant would start down the same road his old one had traveled. Naruto couldn't tell his team. He couldn't tell anyone. To tell was to put his life in the hands of whomever he confided in.

So he wouldn't… but it was hard to consider anyone a friend when you had to lie to them as a condition for survival.

That was what did it. Pyrrha and Nora trusted him, at least about anything that mattered. Ren had glimpsed his chakra. He doubted the calm boy could even comprehend what he'd seen no matter how many times he saw it. It was easy to remember the days where Ren looked moments away from breaking down and running to Ozpin.

He hadn't. Probably because that glimpse was enough for him to understand how pointless it would be. Now, however? It was different now. Ren had placed his faith in him. It wasn't the unwilling consent gained by overwhelming supremacy — not anymore. They joked, messed around, ate, trained, and everything else that a friendship would consist of. Ren treated him no differently than the two girls… or CRDL, now that Naruto thought about it.

How much of that was conditional? They thought of Naruto the super-student as a friend. What of Naruto the demigod? What of the Naruto that could destroy civilization if he — though he never would — wanted to? He didn't think the power had changed him, but obviously, enough people did. If they didn't, he wouldn't be in Remnant in the first place.

Naruto didn't know how long he'd been standing by the door, suit in hand, consumed by his thoughts. Pyrrha was long gone, having closed the door behind her. He racked his brain to try and remember when she'd done that only to come up blank. That level of focus was an undeniable indication of how heavily it was weighing on him.

Part of him wanted a life where those questions were answered for the best.

Naruto slapped his cheeks. Blood rushed to the impact sites seconds after the sharp sounded crack dissipated into the air. He didn't have time for those kinds of thoughts. Cinder was planning something bigger than he'd anticipated. Now was the time to start making his own moves.

The first step was equipping the tuxedo, and Naruto wasn't sure that the verb did enough to describe how arduous a task it was. The simplest part of the process was stripping down to his boxers and putting on the slacks. At least that made sense.

A pristine black shirt went on next — also easy. Following that was a needlessly fancy black dress shirt. It was made to have vertical pleats, which made no sense considering the majority of the shirt was covered by an orange vest. Naruto was convinced that tuxedos must be winter attire. There was no other way to explain why three layers were insufficient, the full ensemble demanding a fourth layer consisting of a heavy jacket over the previous three.

When finally he'd buttoned the dress shirt, tucked it in along with the undershirt, buttoned the vest, and buttoned the jacket, Naruto felt like he'd put on ten pounds and done enough buttoning to last him a calendar year. Now what awaited him was a night of careful movement as he strived to avoid dirtying this suit in a way that would demand it be dry cleaned. If he was lucky, all he'd have to do come the night's end was carefully undress and hang each and every piece back in the hanger provided with the suit bag, lest it wrinkle.

And yet none of these things remained as obnoxious as his final enemy; the bowtie. After fiddling with it for a good five minutes, failing, looking up a tutorial on his scroll, then failing some more, Naruto threw in the towel. The enemy that had bested him in Remnant was the most fearsome of orange bowties.

Resigning himself to the crookedness that couldn't be fixed, Naruto declared his appearance to be within the realm of 'good enough'. His team had gotten ready on the early side of things. If he was lucky, their neighbors didn't share that sentiment.

"Well," Naruto spoke aloud. "You coming?"

"To a dance? Of my own volition? With the bunny girl?" Kurama matched him with extra snark.

"Cinder might be there."

"She's entertaining, true, but nowhere near enough to put up with obnoxious children and music whose repetivity is only matched by its volume. Your pit stop on the way promises to be even less interesting — if that's possible. I don't know why you bother with them."

Naruto sighed. "They'll grow up. Hell, some of them already are growing up. Obnoxious is a bit much."

Kurama didn't respond, instead closing his eyes and curling up on their bed. It wasn't a conversation his partner was interested in having.

Naruto chuckled to himself as he opened and walked out the door. It was amusing how plainly his internal strife was portrayed in Kurama and Gyuki.

Part of him couldn't reconcile his age. He'd seen people die because of tactical failings, overestimation of capabilities, or even something as simple as the pure supremacy of an opponent. He'd danced with death enough to know all the precautions one would take for safety, even if he didn't need them. It was impossible to see his classmates jumping into idiotic fights they couldn't win as anything other than childish naïveté.

Well, less classmates, more RWBY.

He needed to talk to them. He needed to stop them before they walked into something he couldn't or, more realistically, wouldn't be there to solve for them. Blake's terrorist obsession was worrying enough as is. That he now knew he'd invited the one holding the terrorist's reigns into their little circle with his ramen night?

'Whoops' didn't quite cover it.

And while his life felt like it was getting better, it was by no stretch of the imagination getting easier. Blake, RWBY in general, Cinder, Roman, Ozpin, Glynda, and probably a few others he'd managed to forget were all giving him problems at present. The hope that any of them wouldn't make more in the future was a joke too, and not a funny one.

Things would get a lot simpler if he could figure out how to solve all of those while training two teams, spending time with his own team besides, doing homework, and talking to Velvet. Oh, and attending school functions such as dances.

Yeah, that was all he had to do. How the hell was managing the entire Maelstrom village less work than attending a goddamn glorified high school?

Naruto knew he was stalling now. He knew what came next, not that he could blame himself for wanting to avoid it. Though the decision was far closer than he felt comfortable admitting to himself, he'd decided not to take Cinder out of the equation. For now, at least, she'd still be around.

If he acted, it would be as judge, jury, and executioner. None of those were steps Naruto was prepared to take. Not for Remnant. He'd keep his team safe, Cardinal too… and of course, RWBY. They were the reason he was dragging his feet.

"I'm off," Naruto announced to Kurama. The fox popped open a single red eye, huffed, and then closed it. He didn't expect much of a response from his partner in the first place. He'd said it not to convey his message, but rather to get himself moving.

As soon as he opened the door to leave, Naruto could hear Yang's boisterous laughter. It was even more impressive than usual considering the volume required to penetrate through Beacon's mostly soundproof walls.

"No! Get away from me!" Ruby's muffled shriek also managed to make it into the hall.

"You act like I'm coming at you with a weapon," Yang's deadpan was slightly marred by a snorting laugh she failed to suppress.

"You are!"

"Ruby, they're heels. You know what they are, right? Just put 'em on and you won't look like such a shrimp."

Ruby hissed. "Pure evil, medieval, foot torture devices! Stay away!"

"They aren't that bad. Besides, they make your ass look nice."

"I don't care about my butt! You can't fight in heels! And they're uncomfortable!... And they suck!"

Naruto couldn't hear what happened next. The soundproof walls fulfilled their purpose when they weren't faced with the din created by Yang and Ruby.

"Yeah, okay Weiss! Nobody normal can fight in heels!"

"Excuse me?" He barely managed to make out Weiss' words.

The conversation devolved into something of a verbal brawl from there. Ruby trying to simultaneously explain herself to Weiss and avoid the dreaded heels Yang was trying to foist on her while also egging both her and Weiss on.

Naruto's palm was rested against their door, as it had been for their entire exchange. He needed to do this. The White Fang wasn't a simple terrorist group — as ridiculous as the implication of a terrorist group was — but was somehow serving a larger, more dangerous purpose than faunus rights. It was not the kind of thing a team like RWBY should be mucking around in. And that was something Naruto was going to tell them.

… But not now. His hand fell listlessly from the door, shame and guilt weighing down on him in equal parts, yet even that wasn't enough to make him lift it again. He turned away from the door and walked down the hall, leaving RWBY's dorm behind with a realization weighing down his steps.

He didn't want to do it. Not tonight. As much as he'd deny it to Kurama, part of him was looking forward to this dance. It might not be the most wholesome reason to be happy about a dance, but Naruto was excited to test his first clone learning in kami knew how long. That aspect was something he could admit easily… to himself, at least.

What was harder to admit, even to himself — no, especially to himself — was that he didn't want to risk it. Life right now was more than simply comfortable, it was good. Good enough that he'd been able to make clones for the first time since he came to Remnant. Good enough that the thought of Nora literally dragging Ren along the dance floor was something he was looking forward to.

Maybe it was idiotic, but he liked having things to look forward to again. So for tonight, this one night, he'd leave the problem to be solved another day. Today he would have fun with his team and simply act like the student he was pretending to be.

If only simple desire was enough to rid him of his damn morals. He wasn't a student, wasn't a huntsman. He was a hero. He'd given everything up after the war to pursue strength and power. He'd wanted- dreamed of being the Leaf's Hokage for most of his life and he gave it up. It was simple; there were other people who could be the Hokage. Now others who could hold the line against an enemy on Kagura's level were she to appear?

That had been a two name list, with his so lucky as to be on it.

In something of a preoccupied blur, Naruto's feet had carried him to the garden of Beacon. It wasn't quite dark outside yet, the sun bidding its farewell as it hid itself away beneath the horizon.

Sitting and gazing out towards the vermillion sunset was calming. The buzzing uneasiness fluttering about his heart was somewhat placated by the comforting view. Tonight was supposed to be a night of fun and self, so why not start by indulging himself?

I'll go to the dance. Naruto assured himself as if Nora was looming over his shoulder. As soon as the sun sets.

It was funny how much relief shirking his plans provided him.

The silent tranquility of the garden he'd hoped for wasn't exactly being delivered as hoped for. The awkward shuffling of students not accustomed to their dress shoes was a constant noise in the background. Hushed, yet excited whispers accentuated the scraping of heels on the concrete and tile. None of which was surprising due to the fact that it was placed in a high traffic area, intended so the students passing from class to class would be able to see.

As such, it was funny that there existed something that could surprise him even less. That one particular group of students couldn't manage to keep their voices hushed as everyone else?

That was a given.

"I got ten bucks saying Russel is fucking doomed."

Russel snorted. "I'm doomed? You're the one going after a claimed girl. You're doomed."

"I for one would be willing to side with Russel on this matter…"

"Oh, hell yeah!"

"Really?"

"Were you willing to provide at least ten-to-one odds on my wager."

"Really?" Sky repeated Cardin's previous question. "You think those are his odds?"

"Actually, I'd put our dear teammate's chance of success closer to thirteen percent. Young women do so like the idea of rehabilitating a hopeless, idiotic reprobate and turning him into something resembling a functional man. You can't underestimate the few points he gains due to her knowing she would have total control of their hypothetical relationship either. If there are those who wish to dominate and those who long to be dominated, I believe it fair to say that she is the prior."

"Crap… when you put it like that, maybe he does have a shot," Sky admitted.

"Am I supposed to be happy or punching you both in the face? I can't tell."

"Wait," Sky ignored Russel completely. "If you think his odds are closer to thirteen percent, why did you ask for ten to one?"

Dove chortled. "Because I believe Cardin places his chances at some infinitesimally small number practically approaching zero, leading me to believe he will accept my offer regardless of the few percentage points I've deviated from what I believe to be the true odds."

"Damn straight. You're on."

"Okay, I'm definitely supposed to punch you all in the face."

"Hmmm… while some men in your position might benefit from roughing up their appearance to evoke a woman's propensity to take care of a man, I believe your appearance to be disheveled enough that adding to it might push you over the edge of your precarious balance of hopeless to that of being worthless. Remember, you are a redemption story! Put your best foot forward and it's possible Weiss might mistake you as a man who can be fixed."

Cardin and Sky both laughed at Russel's expense. Even without turning to see it, Naruto could envision the coy, polite smile on Dove's face and Russel's reddened face.

"Fuck you! Fuck all of you!"

"Sorry, don't swing that way."

"Fuck off, Cardin! You know what I meant."

Leaving a trail of expletives behind them, the voices of Cardinal soon faded into the distance. The banter between the two was something Naruto had quickly come to appreciate as he'd started training them. It was… grounding, in a way.

That was the crux of the matter, wasn't it? Team CRDL, Team NNVR, both made this new life of his feel more like a life. Ren had accepted him, Nora had never not accepted him, and Pyrrha was always there for him if he needed it. Even showing himself to be the strongest of their year had ended in nothing but acceptance… or, in Pyrrha's case, a desire to beat him. Training them, training CRDL, and simply being with them both was a stabilizing force on his life.

RWBY was the opposite. Fighting terrorists, risking their lives, the childish gall of those who fought against evil but never expected to face death. Everything they did felt like an anchor to Naruto — to who he really was. An identity he no longer wanted to face.

The mantle of a hero.

Barring the hypocrisy of telling them not to run headfirst into danger as he had, Naruto didn't want to be the one to tell them. He knew they were following their hearts — their sense of right. He knew firsthand how dangerous it was. That's why saying they should leave it to the professionals wasn't a hypocritical statement. He knew for a fact they were biting off more than they could chew.

"You might make the sun run away if you keep staring at it like that."

Naruto jumped a bit, less surprised at who was talking than he was at failing to notice her approach. The frequency with which that had been happening was something of an embarrassment.

"I thought I got rid of you, Pyr."

His partner bent over at the waist, bracing the bench with her forearms as she leaned over it. Pyrrha looked at him and flashed a tiny grin. "Nora may have mistaken the time the dance started. So she says."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Hearing the already excitable girl had managed to get herself excited enough about dancing with her crush to accidentally mistake the time was hardly a surprise. "I'm guessing they didn't head back to the dorm?"

"Oh no, of course not," Pyrrha giggled. "Going back would 'ruin the mood' so they 'had no choice' but to take a walk around Beacon together."

"Naturally," Naruto chuckled. "And you didn't go with them because?"

"Ren did offer…"

"Of course he would," Naruto sighed. "And you said no?"

"I may have gotten a look from a certain someone to inform me that was the answer I should give."

"Of course you did."

Pyrrha giggled again. Naruto joined her, basking in the glow — the feeling of warmth their team gave off. His partner righted herself and stretched, Naruto's eyes following her as her arms left the bench and the raising of her shoulders lifted her dress the smallest bit. Her already lithe and athletically feminine frame accentuated even more by the crimson dress that clung tight to it.

"May I?" Pyrrha asked, gesturing to the bench.

Naruto nodded and patted the bench twice. When Pyrrha circled the bench and failed to take the spot he'd shown in lieu of one a few inches closer to him, Naruto had to forcibly push certain thoughts from his mind, turning his eyes back towards the sunset. He wouldn't have even noticed her like that under normal circumstances.

Damn dress.

Pyrrha sat down, using her hands to carefully tuck her crimson dress as she did so to prevent a snag. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?" She asked, her eyes looking towards the horizon as she did.

"What do you mean?"

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, not taking them off the sun as it waved its farewell to make way for the night. "As you would say, 'give me some credit'," She paused for a second. "I've been your partner for months. I know when something is on your mind, even if you never tell me."

Pyrrha's words didn't have any judgement. They didn't come from some hidden cache of resentment. It was the simple admission that she knew he'd willingly kept her at a comfortable distance. They were an acknowledgement of the reality he'd forced on her that she had accepted for him. The small, satisfied, slightly victorious smile on her face as she looked out towards the sky was her way of declaring victory. Even though Naruto had done his best to build distance, she'd closed that gap on her own to the point where she could understand him.

And he understood her well enough to know that she counted it as a victory over him. He'd tried to keep her out while she tried to worm her way in. And if he was being honest, with how comfortable he was sitting next to her he knew who'd won that contest.

His reservations hadn't evaporated, but neither were they as strong as they once were. A confession — if not a whole one — was easily plyed from his lips. "I'm just dragging my feet."

"You? Impossible."

"Ha ha, Pyr," Naruto deadpanned sarcastically. Pyrrha's laughter defused his attempt at being droll. "I'm a little stuck, that's all. Nothing you need to worry about."

Pyrrha hummed in agreement. "You're probably right. I'm sure if I left you alone you'd figure your problems out. I'll do it too if that's what you want," Pyrrha's eyes glanced towards him before returning to what was almost the night's sky. "That doesn't mean it's what I want."

"I know…"

The two of them sat quietly. Minutes passed as the light winter breeze washed over them while the orange and red hues slowly gave way to stars and darkness. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence that gripped the air, rather it was a tranquil stillness that the two of them lazed in. Two people both usually too busy to enjoy such things taking the time to relax and be still.

When the time came to talk the words weren't forced. They were easy and natural, falling from the tip of his tongue past his lips without any hesitation.

"I don't like what I need to do about RWBY."

Pyrrha didn't respond. The only sound was the breeze bowing down the grass and flowers around them.

"I know what I should do," Naruto continued, clarifying his previous statement. "That's not the problem. I know and I don't like it… don't like it to the point that I'm here instead of talking to them like I thought I would be."

A bird chirped from somewhere but he didn't know where.

"I've never been like this. I'd see a problem and do whatever I needed to do fix it. I haven't hesitated to do the right thing before. I don't get why it's so damn hard to do it now…"

Because he was having fun? Because it was a chore? He wasn't that childish, was he?

"And not understanding why I'm acting like this is making me more frustrated than anything else. I had my hand on their door ready to talk to them and then I walked away. Why'd I do that? I know they're not ready for what they're messing with. I know that. So why haven't I forced them?"

He could make them capitulate. Then again, he could remove any threat against any of them entirely, making the argument entirely moot. He could do anything. Nothing could stop him. Nothing except himself.

It was at that point that Pyrrha decided to speak. "Do you not want to talk to them?" She asked, turning her head to look at him straightly.

Naruto sighed, disappointed in himself. "It's that obvious?"

"You all but said it yourself right now. And I think most of us could tell before."

Naruto grunted. While he knew that he hadn't exactly been subtle, curiosity still got the better of him. "What gave me away?"

Pyrrha's eyes left his and turned back towards the sky. "Mmmm… I can't say for the others, but I know you're not one to let things stew. If you wanted to talk to RWBY you would have talked to them. Because you want to and because you think it's right; that's what makes you decide to do things, isn't it? It sounds like you think it's right to talk to them, so for you to be avoiding them..."

Pyrrha's voice trailed off while Naruto couldn't find his. He didn't answer because there was nothing to say. She's said it better than he could have himself. The only way he'd come up with to get RWBY to stop was something he desperately wanted to avoid.

And so with the quiet taking over once more, the two them lounged in the ambiance of the day's end. Night had wrested most of the sky from day and the twinkling of stars could be seen in the sky. Bright specks in the sky that managed to show their light from an unthinkable distance. Their brightness was something he'd not been able to see until the sky darkened around them.

But regardless of whether or not Naruto had noticed them, the stars had been there all the while.

Pyrrha's heart hammered in her chest as she fought the gravitational force on her right that tried to drag her sight from the skyline. Naruto's words, the atmosphere, the feeling of sitting right next to him as he confided in her; it was more than she'd dared to hope for.

He'd confided in them once before. One night where he'd ended up in tears not long after he started. Pyrrha didn't remember that night with any fondness. It had, after all, marked a turning point much for the worse for their team. So much so that this was the first time Pyrrha had seen her partner open up since. The two events weren't the same, though. Comparing the two was that of apples and tomatoes.

Both fruit? Yes. Similar taste? Not even close.

His emotions before had been like a badly shaken bottle of champagne; creating more and more pressure within him until they couldn't be corked down any longer. The way he spoke to her now was like watching a flawlessly opened bottle elegantly filling a crystal flute. Pyrrha fought to keep the smile that was fighting to escape to her lips caged. The ease in which Naruto poured his worries and woes into her was unprecedented and she knew how much it meant.

Looking towards the stars, Pyrrha smiled.

"Huuuuuuuuhhh," Naruto sighed. Pyrrha wasn't sure how long it'd been since one of them spoke. Was it too long or no time at all? She couldn't remember. "I need to stop being a baby and get over it. Doesn't matter if I want to stop them, I need to."

"Because it's the right thing to do?"

"That and I'll feel even worse when they end up dead in a ditch later because I didn't want to deal with them now."

While she knew that was actually just a result of Naruto's sense of responsibility, Pyrrha decided to take the conversation elsewhere. "Knowing that you should do something doesn't mean it's any easier to do."

Naruto sighed, lacing his hands through his hair as he looked straight up into space. "Tell me about it."

When she couldn't find the words to say next, Pyrrha merely waited for her partner. It was a strange thing to have known someone for such a short time and still trust them so completely. It felt like ever since they met her life's path had gone from winding and indecipherable to simple and straight. Not knowing what came next didn't mean she didn't have faith.

Naruto didn't disappoint. "It sounded like you know the feeling."

Pyrrha hummed pleasantly, her trust rewarded. "Most people would. It's normal to not want to do something even if you know you should."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "I can't remember the last time I felt like this. I've always found what I thought was right and just did it… no matter what."

"That's easy when you want to do the right thing. It's easy when you don't have a strong feeling one way or the other too. It is very different than trying to do what you think is right when your soul rebels against it."

Her words were stronger and more emphatic than she intended, such was the emotion behind them. Her partner clearly noticed, tilting his head towards her so his eyes could scan over her. In the end, he didn't comment on it. Much like he wanted from them, Naruto didn't pry them for anything they didn't volunteer.

"How'd you deal with it?" He asked.

"I... I'm not sure my situation would be helpful to you."

Naruto nodded. "If you don't want to tell me that's fi-"

Pyrrha punched him lightly on the shoulder. "That's not it. It's that it isn't a problem I ever managed to solve."

"You're still dealing with it?" Naruto frowned, looking straight at her. His obvious concern gave her stomach butterflies.

"No no. It's solved, but I'm not the one who solved it… you are." She admitted, answering the question she was sure he was about to ask.

"Me?"

Pyrrha laughed gaily at how completely flummoxed Naruto looked. "Is it really that surprising?"

"Yes?" Naruto answered, baffled at how she could think anything else. It only made Pyrrha laugh harder. "What the hell did I do?"

She wiped away a tear of amusement from her eye, careful not to let it drip and ruin the small amount of makeup she'd used for the night. "You don't know? You really don't know?"

Naruto growled at her grumpily, sending her into another fit of laughter. "I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just so ridiculous that you don't know."

Naruto returned her punch to her shoulder. She felt like such a child for relishing the moment his hand connected with the bare of her back as he did so. Naruto glared at her without a thimble of spite to the look. Pyrrha reigned in her amusement with great effort and shifted her entire body towards him.

"Well, you know I'm from Mistral, right?" Naruto nodded. "It's obvious when you look at a map that I moved almost the entire world away from my home to come to school here. I wanted to leave my life there behind and start somewhere new."

Naruto's face darkened. A seriousness and regret washed over Pyrrha like a crashing wave. It was thankfully brief, her leader literally shaking the emotion that had come over him from his body. She should have known better. They'd been together for months and yet Naruto never talked about where he was from in any specifics. It was obviously a sore spot for him.

And he would talk to her about it if he wanted to. Until then, she'd respect his privacy. "It was always expected that I'd be a huntress when I was a child. That was fine when it was what I wanted. When it wasn't… those expectations felt like anchors pulling me down into the ocean."

"I'd train six to eight hours a day in addition to both my classes and my fighting events. My whole life was consumed by the expectations held of Mistral's prodigal huntress-to-be. My parents were so proud of me, so proud of what I'd accomplished, and that made me feel like I needed to rise to those expectations."

Naruto looked at her, pure empathy twinkling in his blue eyes. "I don't think anyone could say you let them down."

Pyrrha sighed. "I didn't let them down, I let me down. Between not being able to make friends and capitulating to everyone else's desires, I finally couldn't take it anymore. I'd reached the end of my rope and the only thing I could think about was escape at any cost. I found a reason to run as far away as I could and hoped against hope my life wouldn't find a way to catch me."

"I was about to give up," Pyrrha confessed. It wasn't hard for her to do. Not to him. "The first person who had a conversation with me here was Weiss. It was a conversation I've had so many times I could have navigated through it in my sleep. She talked about how we were both elites, how suited we were for each other, and then extended an offer of partnership. At that time I was terrified; scared that I hadn't run far enough to escape Pyrrha Nikos, Mistral's champion. I was scared my dream of being Pyrrha Nikos, student of Beacon would only ever be a dream."

"And then you bumbled in," Naruto huffed at her choice of verb. That feigned indignation was a favorite of his that always made her laugh. This time was no exception. "Hehe. It's exactly what you did. You had no idea who I was, you didn't care either. You had no expectations of me beyond a hope that I could help you find your locker. I remember thinking that maybe if I got you as a partner… maybe things would be okay."

Pyrrha paused to gather herself — gather her thoughts. Doing so brought a smile to her face. She remembered worrying what she would do if she ever got a chance to talk about things with him like this. What if she panicked? What if she froze? It surprised her how unnecessary such worries were. She was excited, oh yes, but being next to her partner like this left her without a worry in the world.

"And I was right. Things have been okay. I'd even say they'd been great if it wasn't for a certain someone hiding themself away for the better part of a month."

Naruto chuckled, his eyes leaving hers as she looked straight through him. "Sorry about that. Being at Beacon… well, it was easier in my head than in practice. I spent a long time alone before coming here and-... forget about it. Just know that it didn't have anything to do with you three."

Pyrrha nodded, humming contentedly as her legs moved to and fro, her joy practically bubbling out of her. "We knew. Or, well, we figured it out," Naruto turned back to her and arched an eyebrow. "Even when you tried to keep us at a distance you were always worried about us, about our safety. Everyone decided that the best thing to do was to give you the space you wanted and hope you came around."

And he did. He was. This conversation was proof of it, right? Pyrrha fought to push her expectations down as they continued to rise as if to spite her effort.

"That's who I am. The hero who saves those in need," Naruto's wistful melancholy flowed from his mouth and was carried onto the breeze. "I would have tried to save anyone."

Pyrrha didn't need help pushing her expectations down after that. Her stomach dropped like a stone, worry and fear inundating every thought. "O-oh… It was just-"

"But," Naruto interrupted her, a wry smile on his face. It was mocking- no… admonishing in a way, yet Pyrrha didn't think it was directed at her. "I think I have gotten closer to our team. Cardinal too, damn them."

Her heart felt like it was on a roller coaster and Pyrrha had no idea when the ride was going to stop! Her cheeks were flushed as the blood of embarrassment rushed to her face. She was so giddy she felt lightheaded, which was the only possible reason she could come up with as to why a veteraned champion such as herself would manage to slip, sitting down, on a perfectly flat bench.

And when she tipped over, her head nestled itself perfectly into the crook of his shoulder and neck. Her hair was close enough to tickle his nose if a single one was out of place, which there wasn't. The warmth of his body through his suit radiated onto the bare skin of her shoulder. When he turned to look at her in surprise, his warm breath blew atop her head.

Then, against all odds, proving that there were most assuredly gods — all of whom were watching over her now — Naruto rested his head atop hers.

Pyrrha's brain fizzled. Too much blood had rushed to her head and none of it was doing what it was supposed to. Instead of focusing on something that might be useful —say, thinking of actual words to explain what just happened — at least ninety percent of her brain was happily focused on how perfect their heights were for each other. Her neck wasn't strained at all as her head rested against him. She could stay like this for hours and hou-

"Pyrrha?" Naruto prompted her, her name sounding like thunder through her addled brain.

"Bwuh?"

"You were saying?..."

Yes, she was saying, wasn't she? What exactly had she been saying again? She almost couldn't remember.

"Mmmmm…" She sort-of replied, filling the space as she prayed for her brain to work again. Thanks to the merciful gods above, it did. So much so that Pyrrha realized something she hadn't. "I was going to say that thanks to our team, I've left that life behind me, but that's not true."

She could feel Naruto tense against her body — feel his concern physically. "It still bothers you?"

"Not at all," Pyrrha denied it with complete confidence. "It's just… what's actually changed?"

"Now I'm lost."

Pyrrha giggled. "What I mean is that my life is still practically the same, isn't it? I go to class, train, and then spend most of the rest of my time catching up on homework or training some more. When I look at it that way, it doesn't seem like the things that make up my life are that different, yet I know how much I feel different."

Naruto's face scrunched up. "I think I understand what you're saying and it still doesn't help me."

"I'm not sure it will," Pyrrha agreed, sidling a little closer to him as a gesture of comfort, her legs only a fraction away from his own. "I found reasons to be happy."

"Scratch that. I don't understand and it's not helpful."

Pyrrha shoved him as reprisal, not that it did much. Her partner easily righted himself. "I guess I shouldn't be upset with you…"

"You say that so reluctantly."

"Since I didn't understand until a minute ago myself," Pyrrha continued, sticking her tongue out at him once she'd finished her sentence. "When I left Mistral, all I wanted was to be a normal girl and leave my accolades as far behind as possible. Now I'm pushing myself even harder when I train than I did before I left. It's easier for me to do because I want it now like I've never wanted it before. All these new experiences helped me find a new reason to want to get better."

Because I want to catch up to you.

Naruto didn't have a response. Not at first. Her partner sat there, comfortable with her head nuzzled into him. Comfortable with her body warming him against the crisp evening cold. He was comfortable with her being with him while he worked through his thoughts.

And that made her happy.

"You think I could find a reason again?" Naruto asked her. He'd closed his eyes like he was afraid to see the answer to his question. "I might be a hero… with powers like mine, that's my obligation, isn't it? But I don't know if I could ever want to fulfill that destiny again. All you do is give and give as much as you can, yet the world still manages to take more than you can handle."

Pyrrha wished that his admission surprised her. She wanted nothing more than for her friend to know nothing of the pressures placed upon the people's champion. That's what he'd given her; the relief from that pressure. She might have been Mistral's star, but Naruto had quickly become Beacon's sun. The light with which his power shined had cast shadows large enough for her to hide in. The headmaster, the teachers, her fellow students all treated her like a normal person. One of them.

Because compared to Naruto Uzumaki, she was.

That was why she had to get stronger. That was why she'd found the will to train even more. She knew better than anyone how isolating it felt, how lonely it was at the top of the mountain. She wouldn't let her partner bear that alone. She would catch up, stand there with him, and never let him be alone.

"I think so," Pyrrha moved her arm that she rested on her leg around his shoulders, wrapping him into a hug. He didn't push her away. "Sometimes people can't find a reason to keep going. That doesn't mean there isn't one, just that we haven't found the right perspective to look at life so we can see it. I know if you keep looking you'll find your reason."

I found mine, after all.

Naruto lifted his hand and rested it on her head the same way he'd done to Ruby many times before. She welcomed it, ignoring the fact it might make a mess of her hair. She'd closed the gap between the two of them and that hand resting on her hair was Naruto's way of accepting that. His hand that was now running through her hair like some sort of caress was worth anything her hair might have to endure. There was nothing more important-

"Oi, Fuckface! You got your paws on the wrong girl!"

The woman's voice had Naruto jolt like they were being ambushed. He immediately separated from her, turned to face the newcomer, and grasped the bench ready to take cover behind it. Just like that, the calm and comfortable ambiance they'd built was shattered. Coco Adel had made sure of that.

Pyrrha wasn't sure she liked Coco Adel anymore.

She stood in a chique black dress that was perhaps a little too short for her. Pyrrha was willing to bet that was intentional on Coco's part. A necklace of black pearls were her accessory of choice for the evening in addition to her standard black shades and beret.

The more concerning dress was surprisingly the more modest one. Velvet stood next to her, shoulders hunched in her signature nervousness. At least she had the candor to realize the two of them had completely interrupted something! The chocolate brown cocktail dress clung to Velvet in all the ways Pyrrha didn't want it to. Not when the wearer of said dress would be spending the night dancing with her partner!

"We were just waiting for the dance," Naruto explained as if their actions needed explaining. Pyrrha didn't think they did. She and her partner were more than welcome to wait for the dance together at whatever proximity they liked thankyouverymuch!. "Our teammate got the time wrong and we left early."

"You left early and you're still late? How the hell'd you swing that? You know what? Forget it," Coco dismissed her own annoyance along with any possible excuses Naruto could offer. "Get over here and take my girl to the dance like you promised."

"Coco, you're not my dad. Stop acting like it," Velvet deadpanned, offering a look of apology to Naruto quickly after. "I'm so sorry about all of this. I was waiting for you by the entrance when Coco saw me and-"

"Oi, don't apologize for him being late. Grow a spine, woman."

Right as it looked like the two of them were about to have a row, Naruto's hand left the bench and he started walking towards them. "She's right. It's my fault for losing track of time. Sorry for making you wait."

Coco nodded acceptingly. "That's better. Now come over here and escort my fine young lady before I go back to my dorm and get my handbag."

"Is… is that supposed to be threatening?"

"It's also a gun."

"Ah," Understanding dawned on Naruto. He took three steps before turning back to Pyrrha, looking at her with an apologetic shrug. "Sorry about this. Meet you at the dance?"

"Of course," Pyrrha replied, having to utilize all of her years of training to pull off a cordial smile. Naruto continued to frown, waving a farewell before he turned back to Coco and Velvet. Pyrrha saw his very own smile go up as he did so.

It made the brusque evening feel even colder.

The three of them walked towards the dance, Coco literally shoving the two of them together until Velvet's arms were wrapped around Naruto's right in the fashion of a proper high-society male escorting his lady.

And Pyrrha simply sat there. Alone in the cold air of the now dark night… but that didn't describe how she felt.

Progress had been made. Nothing Coco or Velvet would do tonight could take that away from her. She wasn't miserable about what she didn't have. Pyrrha was happy with what she'd managed to get. The night's chill couldn't reach her, she was running hot.

As she watched Naruto's silhouette disappear around the corner there was only one thought on Pyrrha's mind. A single world that encapsulated everything she felt and thought so succinctly.

Mine.

For those who are curious, this chapter is about this chapter. I suppose it would be more accurate to say there are strong ties to the writing of this chapter. I didn't want to write OFNT anymore, couldn't find a way to make it enjoyable, and loathed every word I wrote in service to RWBY. Because of that, I've followed the advice of a very wise man and temporarily put them on a bus. That shit is future-kamorge0's problem. By doing that, I was able to find the joy that OFNT captured originally and write a chapter that I'm quite satisfied with.

Let that be a lesson. If you can't find joy in what you're doing, change your perspective or your method.

Also, although morals come at the end of most stories, this one is far too important for that. Never ever do what Pyrrha is doing in your real life. If the structure of your being is ever based around a singular person you will have a bad time. I don't care if it's a wife, family member, best friend, whatever. Be prepared to figure things out on your own when the time comes. If one person represents the entire framework of your life it's both prone to corruption and stands as the only pillar that needs to be knocked down to fell you.

So yeah, be careful.

Next chapter eventually. Hit that pa+reon if you want it faster. If you don't, good for you!