Chapter 21

The old saying goes that home is where the heart is and if that's the case then Naruto's home was among the rowdy bandits of the Branwen tribe, usually located deep in some forest somewhere on Remnant; depending on where Raven thought would be the best place to set up. A little over a year since the last time he saw them, Naruto couldn't help but notice that there were some faces missing and some other faces that he didn't recognize. Still, walking through one of Raven's portals and into the middle of the tribe's camp brought back quite a bit of nostalgia. Both of his swords were in a traveling case held loosely in his left hand while his bow and quiver full of arrows were snuggly attached to his back. Raven stepped out of the portal a moment later, placing her hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiling at him in a way that only a proud mother could.

"Welcome home, little wolf," Raven said just as the rest of the tribe members noticed the new arrivals, whispers breaking out about the return of their leader's son and how he'd grown so much in just a year.

"No place like it," Naruto replied.

"Well well well, look who finally decided to come back!" A voice called from within the crowd of bandits, who soon parted ways to reveal a young woman not much older than Naruto himself.

Dressed in a white torn shirt with a brown vest over it, maroon colored pants with the right side brought up to her thigh, and dark brown knee guards that go down to her brown boots. There was no mistaking one of Naruto's oldest friends. Needless to say, Naruto and Vernal had caused quite a bit of mischief in their younger years, before Naruto had undergone his final rite of passage and snuck off in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately, along with her mischief, Vernal was also well known for her temper; which she properly displayed by walking up to Naruto and straight up decking him. The punch was nowhere near as strong as Yang's, although Naruto thought no one's punch could be as strong as Yang's, it still made both their auras flicker from the impact alone. This also made everyone tense, with the older bandit members knowing just how protective Raven was of her son while the newer ones thought a fight was about to break out at any moment.

Yet when Naruto finally faced Vernal again, rubbing his jaw but with a smirk on his face, he just let out a small laugh, "You still hit like a girl."

"That's because I am a girl, idiot. Now give me a hug you dumb blonde," Vernal chuckled back as the two embraced, with Naruto actually lifting her up off the ground and spinning her around once before putting her back down.

"I see you finally decided to cut that rat's nest that you called hair," Naruto teased, messing up Vernal's hair before she slapped his hand away, "I think this looks suit you."

"Oh yeah, because I care so much about your opinion," Vernal snarked back, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Well, I'm glad you think so highly of me," that little comment got Naruto a solid punch to the shoulder.

"Naruto," Raven cut in, "You two can reacquaint yourselves later, we should get your stuff put away."

"Right, catch you on the flip side," Naruto said, sending a wave over his shoulder while Vernal responded in kind by flipping him off.

Raven's tent hadn't changed a bit since the last time Naruto was in it, except for the literal pile of empty booze bottles in the corner and one of her knives buried into the main pillar. The bed was still a mess, random items were thrown about the floor, and more than one pair of clothing was somehow hanging on more than one of the unlit torches. Should he find it strange just how much his girlfriend's untidiness resembled his mother's, could it say something about his own mentality? Nah, it was just his imagination.

(All the readers cry out in agony over the author's baiting)

Tossing his stuff down, Naruto moved over to the firepit and wasted little time in making a few sparks; Raven was more than happy to see he hadn't grown soft during his time at Beacon. After hanging up her own weapon on it's rack, Raven went to do the same to Naruto's own. Imagine her surprise when she opens his weapons case and fines not one but two swords staring back at her. The first one she recognized, Naruto had been gushing for days after he finally finished building his first weapon, but hauntingly enough the second one looked familiar too. It was one of the first designs Summer Rose came up with before they finally settled on Omen, although that was mostly due to Raven wanting a variety of dust blades instead of just one.

"This is a new one, did you make it?" Raven inquired innocently, or as innocently as a bandit queen possibly could, slowly drawing the weapon out a bit to have a better look at the blade.

"It's a gift, actually. My teammate's little sister made it after that whole incident with the White Fang. She managed to infuse red dust into the blade and…"

"Implement lightning dust for a little extra kick," Raven finished with a grin, "I can see, you know."

Naruto just rolled his eyes, "Anyway, she practically gutted a sniper rifle and turned it into a sheath. Supposedly I can use it to draw the weapon faster, but the harness with the arm is supposed to keep it from flying out of my hand when I pull the trigger."

"Hm, the materials are high value, no doubt about that. Is this really what they're letting you students build now?" Raven muttered that last bit to herself, sheathing the blade fully before moving to put both her son's weapons on the rack next to her own, "But the real question is what happened to that armor you had?"

"Oh that? It broke a while ago and I guess I just haven't got around to fixing or replacing it. Besides, it was more of a mixed set than anything built just for me. Half of it I got during my travels, even the breastplate I found while wandering the desert," Naruto said with a shrug, leaning his bow and quiver up against his own bed, located just a few feet away from Raven's own, before sitting down with an almost content sigh.

"We should make you a proper set while you're here. It's good to have a second line of defense if your aura breaks in the middle of a fight," Raven could count the number of times her armor saved her skin on both hands, thanks to Summer convincing her to make some during their first year together as a team.

"Right, but we have plenty of time for that," Naruto just waved it off, hiding his smirk when he saw Raven's eye twitch at his clear dismissal, it was good to see that some things still stayed the same after he left home.

"Well," Raven growled, crossing her arms, "If we've got so much time then maybe we should do some mother and son bonding; the Branwen style."

It should be noted that Naruto's reaction time was even better now than when he first set off on his own, catching the knife that was suddenly thrown at him while also flipping off his bed and landing in a crouch. Another roll got him out of the way of Raven's sword, which she retrieved from the rack after distracting Naruto, and allowed the blonde to not only grab his own original sword but also go sprinting out of the tent. Raven's frown turned into a grin for just a split second; her little wolf was growing up so fast!

"Now lets see if you can take on mamma wolf."

The newer bandits of the Branwen tribe, at least those that had joined in the last year and didn't know anything about their leader's son, were still growing quite used to Raven's form of leadership and all that it entails. Some of them had come off the streets of one of the major kingdoms, little more than thugs and gangsters that had to get out before the law finally caught up to them, and as such they didn't often know how to react when shit started to go down. So when Naruto came sprinting out of the tent, only stopping when he reached the middle of the camp, they were wholly unprepared for Raven to come charging after him with her sword drawn. More than a few of the new bloods went for their weapons, but luckily for them the older bandits kept them from doing anything to get themselves killed.

Naruto turned around just in time to block Raven's overhead strike, drawing his blade just enough to not damage the scabbed but still keep up his defence, before he jumped back a bit to get some distance between the two of them. He had to admit, after the disappointing fight with Adam, Naruto was looking forward to fighting a skilled sword user that wasn't also his teammate. It's why he secured the sheath to his side and pulled his sword out to grip it with both hands, his stance wide enough to properly ground him and his crimson eyes burning in anticipation.

It should be noted Vernal started a betting poll at this very moment.

In the blink of an eye both mother and son seemed to vanish before meeting in a savage blade lock, with Naruto's stronger physical build giving him an edge over Raven's enough for him to break the lock just a few moments later. Raven, in kind, swung out with the intent to take Naruto's head, or at least regain her footing as she stumbled back. Naruto naturally deflected it, only to have to step back himself just as Raven came down with an overhead strike!

Back and forth they went, their blades sparking with every block and deflect, making it look more like a performance than an actual fight.

Naruto came in with a thrust, but Raven practically danced out of the way and swung diagonally to slice his chest. He shifted his weight just enough so that the blow glided right past him before coming down with a devastating overhead blow, which Raven managed to stop cold by bracing both her hilt and blade with a hand each. Their blows connect twice overhead, once down below, before Raven dropped into a spin and swung for Naruto's legs. He managed to jump back just enough to avoid the slash before jumping right back in.

"Ha, you've gotten better!" this was even better than when she watched her son take on the Adam guy, she was so proud!

"I'd hope so, it's been more than a year since our last fight!" Naruto just managed to block a strike to his side, batting it away with a simple swipe of his own blade before thrusting right for Raven's heart; anything less would be insulting!

Raven just barely managed to move to the side and let the blade glance off her shoulder instead of taking a direct hit, her aura flickering for just a moment from the harsh impact. Her arm shot up a second later as well, blocking a kick that even made her bones rattle just a bit. It seemed her son not only inherited her gifts with a blade but some of his father's strength as well! Naruto may not have been as strong as Taiyang, her daughter got that part judging by what she'd seen, but their son was no slouch!

A crack formed along Raven's dust blade after their next clash, giving her an idea! When next they swung, both aiming for the neck, Raven made sure it connected right on the crack. All but eight inches of her blade shattered, but she was already within Naruto's guard! Raven tackled her son to the ground with all the force she could manage, even going so far as to pump some aura into her legs for just a bit more kick, and down they both went.

Naruto landed on his back with a grunt, Raven landed right on top of him with what was left of her sworn positioned right at his throat. For all the people watching, Raven was the winner. Or so it would appear.

"Looks like you're still a few years too young to win against me, little wolf," Raven grinned, heart pounding in her ears from the adrenaline, only to wince when she felt something poke her side rather painfully.

"I don't know, I think it might be a few months at this point," Naruto grinned, tapping the area right over her liver with his knife and at such an angle that it would slip right in-between the third and fourth rib.

Had Raven mentioned how proud she was of her son lately?

Letting out a bark of a laugh, Raven pulled the shattered remains of her blade away from Naruto's throat and hauled them both back up to their feet, "My son has returned and is better than ever! Lets celebrate!"

Naruto couldn't help but smile a truly happy smile, "There's no place like home."


While Naruto was off having a fun time getting reacquainted with his family, if you could call a tribe of bandits that to begin with, his black haired partner wasn't quite in the same boat. The last time Blake had been on Menagerie didn't end as well as it could have, or more accurately she called her parents cowards for leaving the White Fang before running away from home. Yea, not her proudest moment by far, and with Kuo Kuana in sight the fear she felt started growing worse and worse. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, would it have been better to just hang out with Yang for two weeks, did her parents even miss her while she was gone? Blake just wanted to run away again, like she did the first time or when it became clear the White Fang were getting more and more radical.

"Face it Blake, you may have overreacted just a bit," Naruto's words echoed through Blake's mind from the last time she took off without letting everything play out; she was still a little embarrassed about that by the way.

"OK, Blake, you can do this," Blake repeated like a mantra, reaching up to remove the bow from atop her head, her cat ears twitching at every little sound, "Just imagine what Yang would do."

The thought of herself charging into her old home, bad puns flying left, right, and center, made Blake cringe, "Never mind, imagine what Naruto would do. Yea, better than Yang."

Within a matter of minutes, the ship came to a slow stop at the large docks and the ramp lowered to allow passengers to go about their business in the city. Blake made sure she was the last on off, giving her all the time she needed to mentally compose herself before facing the ghosts of her past. It sounded much more poetic in her head, really it did.

"My baby girl is home!" Blake was blindsided the very moment she stepped off the boat, not even her years of training could save her.

Kali Belladonna may have been Blake's mother, but she sure didn't look like it. If anything, with how young Kali looked, most people often thought that at most she was Blake's older sister. She was also still fit for a woman her age and received many compliments from younger men, when her husband wasn't around of course. Still, despite being about Blake's size and weight, she managed to practically bulldoze her daughter with a flying hug. If Naruto and Yang were there to witness it, Blake could only imagine the type of comments they'd be making right about now.

"I can't believe how much you've grown!" Kali shouted as she hauled her daughter back up to her feet before giving her an almost spine snapping hug.

"Mom! Can't! Breathe!" Blake barely managed to get out, her golden eyes almost rolling to the back of her head from the lack of oxygen getting to her brain, but thankfully Kelly seemed to get the message and loosened up just enough for her daughter to breathe.

"Have you been? Have you made any friends at Beacon? What's your team like? Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a girlfriend? Have you been eating properly?" Kelly began to rattle off question after question, barely even taking a breath in between sentences, leaving Blake to really consider calling up Yang and seeing if it was too late to join her.

"Settle down, Kali," the gruff voice for father, the mountain of a man named Ghira belladonna, spoke up, "There's plenty of time for questions later. You're gonna smother her again."

Kali looked absolutely insulted at Ghira's words, "I am not smothering her! I'm asking all the important questions that a mother should after not seeing her daughter and so long!"

"By asking her about boys?" Ghira's eyebrow rose just a bit, a certain tone now present in his voice, while Kali just gave him one of her mischievous looks.

"Um, hi dad," Blake said softly, feeling more than just physically small in front of her father; she'd said some especially nasty things to him the last time they were together.

Blake expected Ghira to be furious with her, he certainly didn't hold back the night of their big fight, but instead of getting a hard stare and maybe some not so nice words she found herself wrapped up in a nice warm hug. Of course a few seconds later her feet were lifted right off the ground and she was spun around a few times, the sound of her dad's laughter almost melting her heart, before being put down and having two big hands rested on both her shoulders. Ghira's eyes practically glowed with happiness at the site of his baby girl, his little kitten, the only other female in his life that had him completely wrapped around her finger from the moment he laid eyes on her.

"Welcome home, little kitten," Ghira had never looked so vulnerable in front of his daughter, a bit of pink dusting Blake's cheeks at her childhood nickname.

"There's no place like it, dad," Blake buried her face in her dad's strong chest, doing her absolute best to wrap her arms around him.

"Well this is just the sweetest thing I've ever seen," Kali said softly, her head doing a cute little tilt while one ear fell flat and the other one twitched.

"Mom!" Blake whined.

"We do not do sweet things!" Ghira continued in almost the same tone of voice, like father like daughter, "We do awesome things!"

"Of course, of course, how silly of me," Kelly tried to stifle her laugh with her hand, ultimately failing, "But we really should be getting back soon, if you both still want me to cook dinner."

Both father and daughter perked up at that, Kelly's cooking was legendary among the Belladonna household. One time she got into such a foul mood with the both of them that she stopped cooking for an entire week. Blake remembered those as the dark ages!

"Yeah, let's go home."

By the time night had fallen, all three members of the Belladonna household were sitting out on their back porch overlooking the ocean. Blake was still relieved that her mom's cooking hadn't degraded in the slightest since she left, with all three of them being stuffed to the brim. In fact, much like the animal she shared traits with, Blake was curled up on the swing next to her mom with her head resting on the older woman's lap. Ghira, much to his own grumbling, was forced to take one of the cushioned chairs next to the swing.

Blake felt like she was about to fall asleep at any moment, one of her ears twitching for just a moment as Kali started to run her fingers through Blake's long locks. Maybe that's why she didn't notice when Kali ended up swiping her scroll, opening it, and meandering through the various new pictures.

"Aw, doesn't this just make you wish you had a brother, Blake?" Kali practically cooed, showing Blake the pictures she'd taken of Naruto and Yang the very first time they'd slept in the same bed together.

"They're not siblings, mom. That's my team leader, Naruto Uzumaki, and our shared partner, Yang Xiao Long. They're actually in a relationship," Blake tried not to let the jealousy slip into her voice at that last bit, but thankfully only Kali managed to catch it and not Ghira.

"You sound rather fond of them," Ghira spoke up, putting aside his fatherly instinct about the boy in the picture, "Did you tell them that you were a Faunus?"

"They actually figured out before I could tell them, but they didn't bring it up until I just about had a meltdown when some of our other friends found out. Naruto actually made me feel little stupid, the way I jumped to conclusions about them without giving them a chance. It was his words that convinced me to come back here when I wanted to run away again," Blake admitted, not looking up to see the surprised look her parents shared.

"Little kitten?" Kali asked, the rest of the question not needing to be asked.

"It was after he got done explaining all the reasons my friends wouldn't judge me for being a Faunus. He said that I may have overreacted just a bit. On my way here I kept thinking about how everything could go wrong, about what if you guys are still mad at me. I was just gonna stay on the ship, see if I could get a ride back to Vale maybe, but then I remembered what he said," Blake wasn't expecting to have the life squeezed out of her again, was her mother's semblance super strength?

"You never have to be scared of coming home, no matter what. You could've run away for twenty years and we'd still welcome you back," Kali half said and half sobbed.

"Not saying that we want you to run away for twenty years," Ghira cut in with the manly chuckle, because he was a man and a man doesn't cry, "But you're our daughter, Blake, and we'll never turn you away. This will always be your home."

Blake felt like her walls were slowly beginning to crack and fall down, until she was rendered little more than a sobbing mess in her mom's arms. Everything she kept bottled up since leaving home was now suddenly let loose, free from the death grip she kept her emotions in. She'd never take her parents for granted again, she'd never take anything for granted again.

"I love you both so much."

"Now tell us about your team, I want to know all about your adventures at Beacon."


Yang didn't know how she'd feel seeing her old home again, even if it really only had been one semester since she and Ruby went off to Beacon to start their own lives as huntresses, but she really didn't expect to feel so emotional! The sight of this boring old house, with its white fence, the garden Summer planted when they were kids and that he dad now takes care of in her memory! Then, to top it all off, Tai was standing on the front porch with the same stupid grin on his face; the one she inherited from him!

"Welcome home, gir-oof!" Tai couldn't even get out a proper greeting before his youngest daughter, and by far the one he worried about the most, slammed into his gut and nearly sent them both to the ground.

"Dad! Dad! Dad! You wouldn't believe all the stuff I've learned at Beacon! There's so many different kinds of Grimm to fight, people have so many different semblances, and I found so many new types of weapons! There's even a sword that can catch on fire!" Tai didn't have the first clue what his youngest was saying, to be honest she was a lot like Summer when she got like this, but he would put up with it if it meant she was already recovering from what happened with the Fang.

"Jeez, Ruby, it's like you didn't miss dad at all," Yang teased, walking up the porch steps with both hers and Ruby's bags; filled to the brim with everything they'd need for their time away from Beacon.

Ruby did the mature thing and blew a raspberry at her sister.

"It's fine, I'm just glad to have my girls home. Even if it is only for a little bit," Tai said as he got up off the ground, Ruby's nonexistent weight not being too much for him to handle, and pulled both girls into a family hug before either of them could escape.

"Daaad, common, you're embarrassing me," Yang didn't even try to pull away, but she did have a reputation to uphold.

"What, no welcome home hug for me?" came a voice from the doorway behind Tai, a voice both girls recognized.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby slipped out of Tai's embrace in a flurry of rose petals, getting more than a few of them in Yang's hair, and latched onto the young Branwen twin's arm with a near defending squeal, "Did you miss us, huh?! Did ya?!"

Qrow seemed to think about it for a moment, grinning, "Nope!" and dropped Ruby like a sack of potatoes.

"Get tired of chasing around girls half you age?" Yang jabbed, making Qrow adopt a hurt expression with both hands over his heart.

"That hurts, firecracker, right here in my heart."

Yang grinned some more, "That might just be the heartburn from all the fast food you eat."

"Alright, alright, save it for after dinner you two," Tai said, getting in the middle of the uncle and niece, "Why don't you two go put your things away and wash up. We'll be eating in a little bit."

Ruby didn't even grab her things from Yang before shooting into the house, right past Qrow. Yang just let out an exasperated sigh as she followed right after, although not before giving her uncle a quick hug and a smirk that reminded him far too much of Raven. Once they were both inside, the air between Qrow and Tai turned just a bit more serious.

"Have you heard anything from Raven yet, does she know what almost happened to Yang?" Tai asked, having called upon Qrow to deliver the message when he couldn't reach the mother of his eldest.

Qrow let out a grunt, still feeling a bit sore from his long flight, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about in person; I couldn't risk someone overhearing our calls. Raven was there that night, at the docks."

"W-What?" Tai didn't quite know how he should take that, "She was there a-and didn't do anything?"

"Not quite," Qrow cut Tai off before he could come to the wrong conclusion, "She was about two seconds from charging in there and butchering them all before something else happened. Something no one really expected to be honest."

Tai did feel a little relieved at that bit of information, his shoulders slacking for just a moment, "Then what happened, because the news and everyone else said a group of veteran hunters got them all out?"

"That's just a cover story Oz came up with. It was actually a single person, a student to be more specific, and if you want to get even more specific than that it was Yang's team leader. Old Oz has been having me keep an eye on the kid, thinking he was one of you know who's enforcers, but now he's not so sure. Anyway, the kid went in there and single handedly butchered an entire cell of the Fang."

"Qrow," Tai sounded tired at this point, like really tired, "I don't want my girls involved in this stuff."

"I know, I know, I don't want them involved in it either. That's why I'm doing my damnedest to keep them as far away from it as possible. I just figured you should know the truth."

"Alright, alright, I understand. I don't like it, but I understand," Tai said, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, "Just please don't tell me Yang's got a boyfriend, because I don't think I could handle any more surprises right now."

"Well…," Qrow had the decency to look abashed.

"Whatever, I'm just gonna go make dinner and you're gonna set the table for everyone," Tai didn't even give his brother-in-law time to say no before walking into the little house.

Qrow's grin returned just a bit, "Yes dear."


Alright, so the second part to this story is all planned out. I've got story goals to reach, secondary plots to continue, and baiting my readers with lemons for shits and giggles. Enjoy my lovelies, because I most certainly will.