Naruto hadn't spoken to his team in days. Since the matter with Namekuji, there'd hardly been a dozen words shared between the four of them. And somehow, they'd managed to share their living space even less, keeping a distance from him despite the cramped quarters designed to house the whole team like sardines.
Not that it mattered much to him in reality. It was uncharacteristic of them, sure. But in the long run for Naruto as long as missions were still completed than all was well. One benefit he saw to this was that he managed to finish all form of paperwork and anything else that was needed of them now that he didn't hear there useless yammering.
"Time is of the essence."
-Yet, a double-standard could be applied when it came to their Director of Intel. Fewer words was a bad thing in the information sector, and the ratio of words to meetings with the man had been increasing exponentially as of late.
As always though, Naruto was unable to say a word in defense. He had no recourse to complain, even when Director Gin handed him the mission assignment like he'd used the paper to squash a particularly disgusting bug.
"Did you not hear me, Boy? The clock is ticking. Your target has just now been apprehended by Vale huntsmen, and so you will need to deal with him on route."
And because the above standard didn't apply here, Naruto had to once again wonder why Jiji dealt with Gin and the council as a whole. Silent but noxious, he kept it to himself until he left the man's presence and opened the parchment scroll to scan the parameters.
Then he blinked.
Just to make sure he was seeing this right he went over the mission details once again and sure enough they hadn't changed. This didn't make sense to him. He walked through the halls ignoring all those around him. To lost in thought about the details of the mission. Even if his fellow, multipolar team leader wasn't already on a mission of her own, he doubted that he'd notice her pestering/ simpering/ flirting with him. Not with his thoughts on the mission details.
-Then again, did he know for a fact that team Shiva was still on patrol? Looking up from the aggravating contents of the scroll, he almost didn't recognize the part of the hall he was in. No, no, no, this wouldn't do at all. He needed to gather his thoughts and focus. As Gin said: time was of the essence. He couldn't afford another mistake.
Speaking of… where was his team?
Not giving into a sigh, he vowed to deal with whatever communication problem had arisen after they got back from this latest…assignment. Currently, he would return to their barracks and gear up himself before gathering his teams' equipment and scouring the halls for them. Thereafter they could leave immediately and not waste precious time. And with any luck, it wouldn't take too long to find them.
But of course, Naruto didn't believe in luck.
Which is also why he erroneously believed that it couldn't get any worse.
Forever Fall was beautiful.
Even with the cloudy weather dulling the crimson trees to a rusty color the place was breathtaking. There was a somber beauty that accompanied this hue- a familiar one, hearkening a dream which had later decayed to a nightmare. Ruby could only wonder what it would look like on a sunny day.
"You've all been given a jar," the blonde Professor accompanying them instructed, perpetually sober voice ruining the daydream. "If you paid attention in class then, you should know how to retrieve sap from the tree." Ruby swore that the witch directed this statement at her specifically. You eat a bag of chips in class one time- one time-, and you're labeled a slacker for life!
Of course, she had also fallen asleep in the class on multiple occasions and was constantly late, but she was sure that had nothing to do with it. It was all because of the chips.
Stupid chips.
"Are you seriously eating chips right now?" Weiss hissed looking over at her partner.
"Huh?" Absently the younger girl asked. She looked down and her hands and sure enough, there was a bag of chips there.
"Oh, right, my mid-morning snack," Ruby chirped happily as if rediscovering this fact. She continued munching on them, the crunches like the thunder looming on the horizon and both lost upon the carefree girl.
"We just ate!" Weiss exclaimed, looking at the younger student.
"What? This is my pre-brunch snack."
Weiss gave her partner a withering glare. "Pre-brunch snack," She repeated incredulously, scoffing at the sheer preposterousness.
"Well I suppose I could save them for linner," Ruby muttered before skipping off. "Love me some linner."
"That girl's going to get fat with the amount of junk food she eats." Weiss sighed in exasperation as she fell behind with the others. No one was in that much of a hurry to get this project over with too quickly. The impending rain in the forecast would do that soon enough for them.
"No, she won't."
Not pleased about being contradicted, Weiss snapped over at the blonde of her team to tell her off, only to pause at the lack of satisfaction on her face. Instead, was that jealousy?
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked with eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I've seen that girl inhale food by the ton for years and she never gains any kind of fat." Kicking at a stray root petulantly as they walked, Yang grumbled and folded her arms as she looked up ahead to her sister leading the way as always with a spring in her step.
Having to add yet another impossibility to the contradiction that was Ruby, Weiss felt her eye twitch and her eyebrows knit together as they tried to make some kind of sense from this senseless girl. "…What?"
"Yeah, we think it has something to do with her semblance but don't know for sure," Having put up with it for as long as she could remember, Yang was willing to let it go at that and shrug it off. At least until she saw the look the heiress was giving her. "You think it's bad now, wait till she's our age," The Y of RWBY submitted with a smirk. "She's gonna put us all to shame,"
"You're exaggerating." Denying this, Weiss secretly held out a modicum of hope that there was a basis of truth, as Ruby wasn't the only girl who wouldn't mind surpassing their sister. Said sister whipped out her scroll and pulled up a photo.
"This was Ruby's mom when she went to the beach on a date with our dad," She said as she leaned over to show the white-haired girl the picture. Weiss studied it like a map for Ooblek's class before blinking and comparing it to the reality skipping merrily in front of them.
"So basically, she's gonna turn-Into bombshell with curves that make us look like bra-stuffing pre-teens, yeah." With pride and disdain both, Yang looked between her 'kid' sister and the girl's partner. For the latter, eagerly anticipating the moment when the tight-strung girl would snap.
"I can't wait for linner!" The cheer came from up ahead.
"That. Little…" Sifting her rage with a deep breath through her nose, Weiss stopped herself from continuing and simply walked away with her jar. She had sap to collect.
With her head on a swivel and frown like a radar dish, Ruby scanned the clearing on the lookout for Nora. That girl had an even more resilient sweet-tooth than Ruby herself, and always seemed to show up to eat all the sap once she had finished collecting it in her jar.
This was the fifth time she had refilled the stupid thing.
"Glug glug glug glug glug,"
…
The sixth time.
Ruby turned around to not only see her jar empty again, but Nora had decided to just skip the middle-woman and get the sap direct from the source. With her orange-head clamped around the spout, she was like a piglet suckling at her mother's teat- complete with the slightly-disturbing squeals of gluttonous joy.
"Stop eating my sap Nora," Having gone through this song and dance five time already, the red-caped girl admonished her more in exasperation than actual upset. "Use your own faucet and get a new tree," Ruby looked up at said tree with scrutiny. "I think you've actually made this one skinnier."
The ginger-haired tank (storage, at the moment, though she could switch to battle-mode at the drop of a pancake) gave no sign of stopping, however. She merely paused to jiggle the faucet that more sap would come out of it.
"New tree it is then," Dejectedly the silver-eyed huntress groaned, getting to her feet and began looking for a new tree. Glancing around the clearing, instead of an open slot, she watched as the other students interacted with each other while going about their own tasks. All were holding their jars protectively with the reasonable expectation that Nora would come for theirs eventually.
Within this quintessential plebian scene, there was one thing that was bugging Ruby more than the jars of missing sap or the wasted hours. One, very significant thing, that in reality probably shouldn't have been a big deal.
Jaune had gone missing.
Normally Ruby wouldn't have minded so much, but there was one particular detail about the happenstance that made Ruby worry.
Team CRDL was missing as well.
That was trouble which Ruby knew wouldn't end well for anybody. It hadn't even been three days and the ginger-haired Captain had already gone back on his word. Honestly, the silver-eyed girl shouldn't have been surprised. Honestly, she should have been upset or angry or at the very least mildly concerned. But instead, she had been maintaining the awkward and shy air which her team had come to expect.
Ruby sighed as mechanically sat down, setup and began draining sap from another tree. She'd done this task enough times that her thoughts were free to linger on Jaune, wondering if remembered the conversation they had a few nights ago. Had he not taken her words to heart? Was he confronting CRDL?
Worse, had he confronted CRDL, but it didn't go well for him?
Without another distraction, these thoughts plagued the girl tirelessly as she worried about her friend.
"I've done what I can," She told herself as she watched her jar fill with sap, an excruciatingly slow process. "He'll have to figure out the rest." She added with a firm head nod. She had given great advice, right? Now all he needed to do was stand up for himself.
He didn't need her help.
…
…
…
Setting the full jar aside and only hoping that Nora wouldn't sniff it out, she began searching for her friend.
Ruby watched with great satisfaction as Jaune chopped the head off an Ursa Major with a swing that was more vindictive than skillful, but effective none the less. She, Weiss and Pyrrha had intercepted one another in the search for the two team leaders. What they had found was the totally unexpected scene of Jaune fighting the Ursa.
And even more unexpectedly, he had been holding his own too! Jaune had been dodging and blocking mostly, but this was more than could usually be observed during combat class. Neither graceful nor strong, yet this tactic was keeping him alive. And really, in their business, that's all that mattered, wasn't it? This was especially true when it came to fighting the instinctual beasts known as Grimm.
And certain masked individuals. But they weren't involved in this.
…
Hopefully.
Forgetting this for now and hoping their luck would hold out, Ruby rejoined the other two girls in perfect time to witness Jaune as he swung his sword to give the killing blow. They also saw, even from their hidden vantage behind a bush at the end of the clearing, that it would have been just short of its target. Or at least, it would have been until Pyrrha did something weird and moved Jaune's arm up. She hadn't been anywhere near him, but the subtle glowing of her Aura and the matching movements mimicked by her blond captain gave her away.
"Ummm…" Ruby asked intelligently.
"What she said," Weiss agreed with an eyebrow raised in a rare look of accusing at the Invincible Girl.
"Ruby's semblance is speed, yours are your Glyphs," A tad sheepish, Pyrhha listed the other amazing abilities shared by her cohorts, hoping hers wouldn't seem OP in comparison. "My semblance is polarity,"
Oh, of course!
"You have the ability to control Poles!" Stars in her eyes both literal and figurative, Ruby quietly gushed at the redhead and clasped her hands in adoration. "That's so cool!"
"No, you blithering idiot!" Weiss hissed, still unbelieving that this absent-minded girl was supposed to become a model woman. "She's Magnetic!"
"Magnets are cool too," Enthusiasm not cowed by the admonishment, the girl averted her eyes so that they couldn't see her chagrin.
"Why you of all people?" No longer caring if they remained hidden, Weiss turned around as she clawed at a nearby tree. "Why are you my partner?" The tears were flowing at this point, great waterworks to rival the deluge of rain that was about to dump on their heads.
Things had worked out- kinda. At least, it couldn't get any worse.
"We can't come get you in this weather!" Trying not to yell, the man on the other end seemed more frightened of antagonizing Glynda Goodwitch than of the impending storm. "Wind's too fast, there's zero visibility, and I'm not sure if we could even find the LZ." The pilot reasoned with an ugly squall serving as backdrop. "Plus, lightning bolt got a direct hit and now guidance is messed up. Even if we managed to find you down there, it'd be too risky to fly back to Beacon without direct line of sight."
"We can't just stay out here!" Glynda stated calmly, not yelling. Though there was a bead of sweat rolling down her face which might have been lost among the storm crashing down on the dome around her head.
A sudden shift in atmospheric pressure had sucked in a storm which hit Forever Fall hard and caught them flat-footed – and now it seemed literally, with their ride back falling from the picture. Glynda was using her semblance to create a shelter so the she and the students she was accompanying didn't have to deal with the sideways rain which snuck in under the tree branches.
Though there was hardly any avoiding it. Those that could were helping wherever possible. Weiss was assisting the teacher by boosting her range with one of her glyphs, which eased the pressure on the her. But with her neophyte reserves, Weiss couldn't keep it up for much longer.
"Don- worry, we already -tacted a ship in t- area," The pilot assured just as interference started snipping off the ends of his words. He was almost grateful for it, as dealing any longer with Goodwitch and she'd start snipping off other things. "A local r-te. Big-er ship, too. Shou- problem. - there any min- now."
As if this were a staged production, a bright spotlight broke through both the curtain of rain and the transparent dome to shine on Ruby and the others. Unhindered by the now-raging storm, the ship cut through the water like its ancient uncles. Its bow nosed up to the students, dropping the gangplank right through Glynda's dome. Moments later, the freshmen were crowded on the commercial airship among other passengers.
"Glad that's over," Yang sighed, a slight pat to her gilded mane which was healthily-moisturized and not a drop more.
While agreeing with her sister and the others who were in varying states of relief (none seemingly more so than Blake who had escaped the rain even faster than the speedster herself), Ruby reassumed her captainly duties and took stock of their life raft.
It was a good deal more spacious than the rubber dingy they would have settled for- a heck of a lot bigger than their normal Bullheads in fact. All things considered, it was on par with the largest tans-continental transports and its ballroom-sized gallery made the casual flight they'd taken to Beacon feel like a niche café.
However, while her partner might have focused on the luxury of their craft, Ruby was scrutinizing the cargo. The human cargo, which they had mostly brushed past and ignored in their mad dash from bubble to boat. With the students now occupying more than half the capacity, it was hard to tell just how many had been onboard before they arrived. But it was plain to see the detour made for them wasn't the first emergency pickup that afternoon.
A motley assemblage of figures littered the ship's main bay, intermingling with the equally eccentric huntsman and huntress prospects. The wrinkled lapels of business suits, starched and pressed that morning, stood shoulder to shoulder with teenagers their age our maybe a few years younger; kids, possibly hoping for a wild night in the city before this business caught them more unexpectedly than parents' coming home early to find their house had been turned into a rager.
Then there were the huntsmen. Honest-to-goodness warriors and Grimm-slayers who stood out without trying to stand out- sitting, in fact, on a row of window-side bench seats near the starboard prow. A team of them, the only attempt to normalcy being the light banter between the four and the easy air with which they accepted this hiccup in their day. This was, of course, an air put on solely for the uninitiated. As anyone who had any idea what they were also knew that they were constantly on alert, maybe even more on edge because of this unexpected turn in the weather and now, the sudden influx of chattering huntsman-wanabe's.
It was this last thought which restrained Ruby from flashing over to them and swooning at their muddy feet. She wanted to demonstrate to herself and her team (although, perhaps secretly hoping to be noticed by the four amazing hunters as well) that she had the composure to be in their presence.
Although, the more she looked with sidelong glances cast over her shoulder and between the legs of the crowd, Ruby noticed that there was someone else in their presence who definitely did not look like he wanted to be there. A second glance confirmed the reason why, as the dejected-looking man was shackled one ankle to the burley man left of him and a wrist belonging to the svelte woman on his right.
While she knew it was rude, Ruby found that it was impossible to keep from staring after this discovery. The foreboding which had been at the back of her mind the whole day- the whole week like a lingering cold- now came back full-force. She even felt a sneeze coming on, as if someone somewhere was talking about her.
And if she wasn't so focused on trying to repress this feeling, she might have recognized it. She might have realized that she knew those four huntsmen as well as what they were doing here. She might have discovered the danger before it snuck up on all of them.
She might have noticed Nora sneaking up on her from behind Blake who was huddled underneath one of the ship's emergency blankets.
"Stay away from my sap!"
Ruby was, however, quick enough to react when she felt the sticky fingers (literally and figuratively, in this case) move towards her sap-jar. Cradling the breakable assignment close to her chest, Ruby huddled over it protectively while staving off the squirming fingers which were inadvertently tickling her in their attempt to reach the sweet spot.
In a desperate bid for the gimme-assignment she could feel slipping away, the younger girl used her semblance to escape Nora's clutches. And then continually after that to gain some distance from the hammer-wielding huntress, keeping both her and the precious commodity just out of reach.
Too busy in her grade-dependent game to notice, Ruby managed to bump into someone and knock them both to the ground. Only a glancing collision, yet at that speed, the tiny girl might as well have been her sister's motorcycle and the unfortunate bystander like the lamppost that one time (boy, had Tai been pissed about that. Ruby could only hope this collision didn't result in another mortgage on their house).
"Oh, sorry!" Swiftly offering this automatic apology, it was fair to say that Ruby had crashed into enough people in her lifetime to know what to do. She held in her own discomfort with a hand to her head while the other extended to help the poor boy up. "Are you ok?" She asked with fingers crossed in her red-black hair, hoping that he was. She really didn't want to see what a scolding from Goodwitch looked like.
But as he rose wordlessly and without assistance, these now-paltry concerns were pushed aside in favor of regarding said lamppost which clearly felt none of the damage. The four huntsmen and their charge were also rushed off the stage to make room for this presence which stood alone under Ruby's spotlight.
Spiky blond hair glowed a vibrant-sunny yellow and seemed to repel the damp. And as if to spite the cloudy weather, his impressively thick skin was lightly tanned where it was showing and marred only by six aesthetic marks like whiskers on his face. His face, in contradiction to everything refused to show any emotion to the incident or her inspection. But none of that was what caught her attention. It was the eyes. They were as blue as the sky on any other day but today. Yet, unlike sunny days, they were so-
Ruby tackled him to the ground in an instant- on purpose this time and with no apology foreseeable. Responding in kind, the boy she ran into fought back and the two rolled around the ground with each attempting to overpower the other. Ruby managed to pin him down momentarily against the carpeted bulkhead, but her victory was short lived as she received a knee to the gut. Unlike the spars in combat-class, no punches were pulled, and the red-hooded girl was flung back violently. Arcing over the crowd and crashing down in a spot that vacated seconds before, collectively the passengers all stopped their idle chatter and gasped dumbfoundedly down at her.
"What was that?"
"Ruby are you ok?"
"What are you doing, you dolt?!"
Not responding to the mixed concerns of her team, Ruby scowled and flipped back onto her feet with only a minor wince where her rib pressed into her gut. With enough space cleared around her she pulled out her weapon, her attention never leaving her foe.
Receiving no explanation other than the obvious threat of bodily harm, her team looked to the other party for an answer. But the boy wasn't talking either, doubled over in what looked like pain with shoulders tensed like rock. Then, he stood up.
To show the black mask of a Kitsune.
"They're here," Ruby stated as serious as her adversary, glaring past the mask and into those empty eyes that taunted her day and night.
They-He was always-.
"-YOU-!"
Faster than thought, concern for her sister was immediately burned as fuel for Yang's rage and her explosive leap at the assassin. Responsibility had weighed Ruby down, and so for once she was not as quick to fly off the handle.
"Yang- wait!"
But the blonde's yell drowned out Ruby's own. And Yang's vision was already tunneling so that black was both the focus and at the peripheries. Therefore, she wouldn't see the danger that was coming almost as fast as herself.
Neither seeing nor hearing the fist flying at her face, yet the compressed pocket of air in front of it flickered the fires in Yang's eyes and caused her to draw back at the last possible moment.
*CRACK!*
While the petite fist only managed to glance her chin, the blow still resounded clearly in that confined space and sent the huntress spinning backwards. Boneless, Yang fell into the waiting arms of Pyrrha and Ren who had scrambled over in the nick of time to catch her.
"Oof, I know that right hook," Semblance already reversing some of the damage, Yang was getting to her feet and putting up her guard even before she laid eyes on her pink-haired counterpart. "You'll pay for that, you little Bi-"
"Taisho," Ignoring the verbal threat- ignoring the very palpable threat of several student teams and a handful of professional huntsmen surrounding them- the slug-masked assassin turned her back on them to implore her captain. "We have been compromised. I re-submit my request that we abort the mission."
The closest thing to an 'I told you so' that would ever pass from her lips. Though Sakura might not have been smirking behind her mask, the Kitsune was surely frowning as he remained tensed and unresponsive as if paralyzed by the silver-eyed huntress in front of them.
"Captain, we should retreat-"
"As if we'd allow you to do that!"
Filling in temporarily for Yang, Weiss didn't realize just how large those boots were to fill and shivered in the vacancy. That, or perhaps she was facing her own demons while she stared down Ruby's.
"It is doubtful that you would be able to stop us."
Pickpocketed the students' confidence from behind, the assessment was clinical yet with the barest hint of mirth at having startled the heiress. Not to mention, surprising the redoubtable redhead who had been sneaking around to a more advantageous position. As soon as they were revealed, Pyrrha felt the beady eyes watching her every move.
"…Although, I must second Namekuji's proposal," A controlled sigh allowed team JNPR to turn their heads and see the culprit. They remembered there had been a teen sitting there before, though they struggled to remember his face as anything other than pale. Now it was porcelain white, a mousy mask staring at pen and parchment in lament. "… As much a shame that it is. I doubt I will ever have opportunity to record such a variety of subjects. Certainly, not a specimen as worthwhile as Pyrrha Nikos."
Being able to see just a corner of the drawing, the Invincible Girl felt a familiar combination of flattery and wariness. Soon, the balance swung undeniably towards the latter as she realized she'd been unable to sense him.
"Oi! Listen you little Perv, if you don't give yourself up now, I'ma make sure those crooked little finger of yours never make another sketch, capiche?!" Caught now on two fronts, Yang risked turning broadside to the kitsune and the sole female assassin who were still frozen in détente.
"I'd think carefully if I were you, little miss. There is truth in their words." About to lash out at the latest interruption, Yang bit her tongue as she nearly ran face-first into the wall-like chest of one of the huntsmen who had approached them unbeknown. "However… the same goes for you younglings. I will extend the little miss's… offer, but keep in mind that we have the capability to back it up."
Though his steely gaze was locked on the leader of the assassins, behind the behemoth huntsman, Iro cocked his head.
"Interesting. You are the same huntsman cell that Shiva dealt with before. And yet…" Looking more like an owl than a blank face, the artist craned his neck to the huntress who stayed behind as their target's sole guard. "Didn't Hachi knock out one of your teeth? You must have a regenerative Semblance- or else a really good dentist."
"Oh, so those were your friends, eh?" With an unhinged smirk showing off her pearly whites, the swordswoman took one step towards the seated assassin and jerked her captive along for the ride. "Then I'm sure you won't mind paying the debt in their stead!"
"Pearl…" Growling at the appropriately-named woman, the huntsman currently controlling the situation returned the same look of warning to the fox-masked teen who hadn't so much as glanced his way yet. "I'll admit, you kids are skilled. If it hadn't been for this little lady stepping in again, I daresay we mightn't have noticed you until you tied the score between us."
As elated as she was to receive such high-praise, Ruby couldn't relish it. Not only was the situation far too tense, but the offhanded way the huntsman referred to their prisoner as a statistic, almost made the compliment he gave meaningless.
"Now that you've been uncovered though, you've lost your advantage. Try anything, and innocent people are liable to get hurt. I know that neither of us wants any unnecessary bloodshed-" If she could have moved a muscle Ruby would have scoffed. And people called her the naïve one. "-That being said, you're grossly outnumbered. And there's no way for you to reach your target now, so why don't you just give up peacefully?"
The statement was such an invitation for rebellion, the students wondered why the man even suggested it.
Sure enough, a shadow from a lightning-flash detached itself from the ceiling. And just as fast as the bolt, the shade struck towards their target who was feeling not unlike a fish in a barrel. Chained and nowhere to go, there was no way the wretched man could have dodged his judgment from on high, even if he could follow the incredible speed.
*CLANG!*
"Oooh, so close," The blonde swordswoman leered, letting the assassin's blade dip down to part her prisoner's hair. "Not bad, Kiddo. Better luck next time?"
"Hn." Much unlike his talkative comrades, the hawk-masked teen issued a simple grunt which had little to do with the amount of effort put into his killing blow. Taka had nothing to say, simply because he wasn't done yet.
There was another crack and a flash of light somehow closer than the storm right outside the window. Those lucky enough to be near the duel could smell the ozone, and the ones unlucky to be near found themselves singed by electric tendrils channeled along the hawk's blade.
The pitiable man (whatever he had done to warrant both group's ire, he was nonetheless pitiable) was thrown to the floor along with his captor and seized by the static charge. Not even in control of his own body anymore, he was forced to process the finishing blow at many times slower than normal.
*CLANG!*
Another piercing sound made the passengers jump and stirred the man out of his paralysis.
"You seemed to have forgotten there were four of us." The third huntsman chided good-naturedly with a smile like the cycle he was using to block Taka's strike.
"So did you." The teen grumbled, not bothering to disguise his effort this time.
"Touché."
Aiming to do just that, the sword-swinging assassin broke off suddenly and swiped at the short-haired blond huntsman's extended legs. He missed, but made the huntsman's female partner duck back down to the floor and abandon her not-so-sneaky attack.
Rather than continue the engagement though, the young man recognized the truth of their situation and retreated before the awestruck teens or anyone else could come to their senses. And rather than take a direct path back to his comrades, the hawk fluttered between the less adroit students and civilians thus ensuring that chaos covered his retreat.
Coming to roost, he surveyed the helter-skelter of students and professionals. Some had managed to draw their weapons but were unable to use them when pressed up against one another. Others were just catching up to events, and somewhere in the background was Glynda Goodwitch trying to sue for order amidst the commotion.
But the lead huntsman remained steadfast, towering over all.
Throughout all of this silver and blue had been staring at each other like there was no one else there. Which for them there wasn't. The tension in those gazes were almost palpable. Something had to give.
And it did.
"We need to leave now." The second-in-command asserted, turning to his leader.
But Naruto had dived into the shadows.
"Let's take them down sis," Yang punched her fist together to her younger sister.
But in Ruby's place were rose petals.
There was a clash which rocked the ship, precipitating an airwave that rattled the airtight windows and knocked a few weaker passengers to their knees. The storm outside was abruptly forgotten as one manifested right in their midst.
The three other assassins were themselves forgotten as even the huntsman's attention was now focused on the meaningless battle whose insanity was threatening to spread across the ship. The helpful little girl had disappeared to be replaced by a crimson gale tearing through the upholstery and whipping the fox's hair to and froe. The Kitsune himself had become a metaphorical beast, unfettered with the bystanders that stood between him and his bane.
"What the Hell is he doing?!" Sasuke hissed, only to suddenly need to deflect an incoming arrow.
"Get them!" The last huntress who looked no older than the students she rallied, called them with her war cry heard over the growing din. "Don't let them escape!"
Having the unfortunate luck of being nearest to team CRDL, the four boys who'd been previously traumatized that afternoon did not immediately leap to action. And just when they were rousing themselves, an Ursa sprouted from the rear of the ship and barreled into their midst. It scattered the paltry resistance and only contributed to the chaos their captain was sowing.
"What happened to 'avoid the huntsmen at all costs'?"
Joining her raven-headed teammate, Namekuji huffed in petulant exasperation as she surveyed their options and wondered if she even wanted to try and help their leader. The first time had been out of instinct, duty, and whatever of their friendship remained.
"Do you think he means for us to escape?" Already doubting this, Taka felt that it had to be asked because the alternative was that they somehow fight alongside Kitsune's vengeance. "Again, what is that idiot thinking?!"
"Protocol three, alternative five." Slinking up from an inky shadow to join his comrades, Iro answered all their questions with this simple reference. "'Avoid confrontations with hunters at all costs… if it becomes apparent that conflict is inevitable, or if being actively pursued by huntsmen…'"
"…eliminate with extreme prejudice." The beaked mask lowered into a frown while the amorphous slug couldn't form the words.
"You don't mean to say that he's actually trying to kill that girl?" There was a momentary pause wherein the cacophony seemed to drop off to nothing, replaced by an unmistakable solemnity. It was true the girl was confirmed a huntress and therefore fair game for them- but still. The three watched in silence as the black and red blurs of chaos rampaged through the airship heedlessly.
"… I think that he's trying to kill everyone." Blank-faced and without inflection once again, Iro silently looked to the their second in command to see what they should do- to check if this was even possible.
"We need to leave." Less forceful, resignation chiming like a stray bullet that Sasuke deflected with his blade.
"-Without him?!" Somewhere between outraged and fearful, the pink-haired healer grabbed her comrade by the scruff of his civilian clothes with her trembling fist. "We can't. There's no way- we're not leaving without him."
"Didn't I tell you- you're not going anywhere!"
Breaking free of his teammate's normally herculean grip, Taka lunged forward to meet the blonde bruiser charging at them. But he was parried by the young Schnee and Yang was free to continue her mad dash, hoping to settle her own rivalry with the rosette who was in no shape to offer much of a competition.
In leu of a fleshed-out drawing, the bullish blonde was swept off course by veritable river of ink. Downstream, she was headed straight for the expressionist painter who waited with his tanto poised like a tree branch. Before she could be snagged though, Yang was plucked from the black-wash by her equally dark-haired partner's clone.
"Oh, you Son of a Bitch, now you've done it-!"
"Yang, calm yourself!" In an extremely risky move, Blake slapped the blonde whose precious hair now looked more like her mother's than her father's, thus interrupting the apocalypse. "You can't go berserk in a ship hundreds of stories above the ground!"
Looking like she was about to prove this statement false, Yang warred with herself for a few seconds in which Blake feared she might be the next target of her partner's legendary wrath. "You're right," She ground out eventually through clenched teeth. "And hey, at least now we're twinsies." The former-blonde offered Blake a smile- still with her jaw grinding.
"Aren't you forgetting about someone, though?" Those precious few seconds taken to avert meltdown were enough for Iro and Taka to overwhelm Weiss and put her in check. If at all possible, Yang became angrier than before as she saw her teammate helplessly sprawled out on the floor with a foot on her chest and a sword at her jugular. "Surrender."
-But there was nothing she could do. There was little doubt in her mind that these immoral killers would make good on their threat if she put one foot out of line.
"You people are disgusting," The secret cat-Faunus hissed, roles reversed as Yang had to hold her back. "You'd do it, wouldn't you? Whatever it takes, is that it?!"
Painted eyes stared at her accusingly for a few seconds in which both the background noise and Blake's enmity was allowed to settle. For a fraction of that, she fancied that this person might be able to see right through her, that he would peel back her layers and lay her secret bare no different from what he was doing to Weiss. Until he spoke in quiet resignation.
"I suppose so."
"To be fair," Iro offered quietly, "It wasn't supposed to come to this."
This is what he said, but the young man held his own reservations against their assignment.
"-And it won't have to," Sasuke reasserted control, pressing a little bit harder with his heel into Weiss's sternum as he felt her begin to mold Aura in preparation for a glyph. "So long as we get our captain, we'll be on our way. We'll even forget about the target in exchange for guarantee of no pursuit."
"That sounds perfectly reasonable. However, I don't think you're in any place to be making demands."
Before the swordsman could remind them of the bargaining chip he held in his hand, the sword itself that had been tightly in his grip was wrenched out by an invisible force and flew across the galley. Plucked form the air by a redhead who was uncharacteristically stoic, on either side of the icon were huntsmen and huntresses that had finally sorted themselves out. Where once their numbers had proved almost advantageous to the underhanded assassins, now they stood as an insurmountable wall which barred them from escape.
"Well, that hardly seems sporting." Quipping morbidly, the hawk alighted his prey before she could clip his wings and backpedaled to where his teammates where making their last stand.
Nobody was willing to take him up on his satirical statement, and dozens of eyes glowered at the three of them. They fancied that if there'd been a pyre, they would have already been alight.
"Surrender," The champion threw the demand right back with a great deal more vitriol. "You will not get another chance."
Readily believing, yet the proud youths weren't quite sure if they were ready to give up their honor just yet. They weren't sure if they were willing to die for it, either. But sure as shadows, Naruto would. And that only left the question if they would die for him.
Speaking of…
The line of firing squad was shattered by a black and red cannonball which smashed against the deck and shattered into two equally-sized pieces which tumbled some more before coming to a rest. And then, the two halves were back together again as the Assassin and the Huntress battled for dominance.
Technique had been forgotten, weapons had been forgotten, decency had been forgotten by both the combatants and the spectators who gawked slack-jawed at the bestial duel- more like a no-holds wrestling match at this point for the two whose claws were similarly sharp and sense of righteousness equally inflated.
"Get your filthy hands off my sis- Oof!"
Getting her wish, Ruby was hurled into Yang who tried to hold on to the little ball of energy. But Ruby was running on something much more potent than sugar, and in her adrenaline high she could hardly tell friend from foe. Not to mention, sibling from springboard. Planting both feet on her sister's ample chest, Ruby launched herself back at the black-masked assassin whose snarling fox for once seamed to represent what was underneath.
In between this rebound though, the Kitsune had taken to a knee and was fiddling with one strand of the complex web of straps on his arm. Thinking nothing of it, if the killer had any more secrets weapons, Ruby figured he'd have use them by now. Her normal curiosity for such things had been tossed out the window a long while ago.
The windows flexed as the snap of one buckle was heard throughout the ship. It was if something immense had just drawn a deep breath and all the glass bowed inwards. Many were set off-balance and some were sent to their knees by this unexpected sensation. But already ballistic, Ruby was only sucked in more by this invisible black hole whose center was the snarling mask.
And yet, she was not afraid. Not even when her adversary stood and dragged the ship with him up him ever so slightly. Even if she wasn't already airborne, Ruby was a hurricane of emotions and she was headed straight for the empty nexus that was Naruto.
-Although, that emptiness was being replaced by something malevolent, powerful... monstrous.
Staring the beast down, she roared at it. Met it head on.
Every window shattered at once. Rain was diverted around the craft and the ship itself stalled, nosing precariously towards the ground.
There were screams of different kinds. A flash of light as the lights went out. Chaos.
Against the backdrop of night, an inky bird shot out of the craft like a bat out of hell.
Then the ship caught itself, buoyed up by the negative gravity of its dust-engines coming back online after an automatic reboot.
Two pieces detached themselves and continued on downwards. Two bodies like droplets amongst the rain.
And the rain continued to fall.
Man oh MAN! Am I right now this was a chapter me and Kerby ESPECIALLY liked writing. So looks like three rounds have happened between our resident huntress and her killer foe. Tell us what you think. Seriously I honestly WANT to hear what you have to say. And send some messages to Kerby too because trust me I know he wants to hear from you all too.
I'm looking forward to next few chapters because we are delving deep into the relationship of Ruby and Naruto as well as huntsmen and huntresses.
Not gonna say what. Your just gonna have to wait and see. Well that's all for now. Remember if you follow and favorite me as an author for this story than follow and favorite Kerberos314 as well because we made this story together.
That being said HAPPY HALOWEEN. I published this at EXACTLY MIDNIGHT! Check it out if you don't believe me.
Now that's all for now for real.
READ…REVIEW…and above all else…HAPPY HALLOWEEN!