"Now, a question I'm sure you have all asked yourselves by now. 'What is the Blood Moon'? Or the 'Red Night', or the 'Black Day', or the 'Long Night'. Whatever name we choose to refer to it by, still the question remains: Why does this phantom moon light up the night sky in crimson at the end of each month's lunar cycle, and what is it about this red moon that drives the beasts of Grimm into a frenzy the world over?"
Professor Oobleck stops, his shoes clacking against the floor as he turns to the students.
"To be frank, we still have no idea."
The huntsman professor continues his pacing and his lecture, the heels of his shoes impacting sharply against the wood floor with each step.
"Some believe the energy that lights up the sky is the very same that constitutes the being of the grimm, and that such a surplus overwhelms their natural inclinations. Others believe it is related to the same force responsible for the continuous reconstruction and deconstruction of the moon. And others still believe it to be an effect of the moon itself. Regardless, the fact of the matter is that we do not know the cause of this monthly event."
He stops again and looks to the class once more.
"However, what we do know is the effect. And it is our duty, as protectors, as huntsmen and huntresses, to be ready and to be prepared."
Of Heroes and Monsters
Chapter 26: The Long Night(I)
...
"I'm not hungry so you don't have to deal with me for today. I'll go to the next class when it's time."
His piece said, Naruto shoves his hand into his pocket and slinks off. And the members of both Team RWBY and Team JNPR all look at each other.
"Is it just me or does that just make you worry about him even more?" Jaune asks.
Yang perks a brow. "Yes, but also surprised the first thing on your mind wasn't to take the chance to hit on Weiss."
"Um, yeah no. Guy who seems like he's one really bad day away from climbing to the top of 'Vale's Most Wanted' list first, asking Weiss, now that there's a spot open, if she'd like some company for lunch second."
"Pretty sure they just throw all of 'em in the Bingo Book."
"The bingo-what?"
Ruby lets out a nervous chuckle. Weiss rolls her eyes, scoffs and takes her leave as well.
"Smooth." Nora says to her leader.
"Hey, it was worth a shot!"
"I think out of everyone here, Yang, you're the one who spends the most time with him." Pyrrha says. "Did something happen?"
"More like a couple things that didn't…" Yang sighs. She rubs the back of her neck with a worried frown. "You guys go ahead, I'll meet you at the cafeteria. I just want to check in on him."
"I'll come with you." Ruby goes to her sister.
"I've got other plans for lunch but keep an eye on the rooftops." Blake says. The others give her strange looks and she just shrugs. "I've seen him up there a few times. Apparently, he likes to brood in high places."
Their quieter teammate's words in mind, the sisters set off in search of the wayward Uzumaki. Their next class isn't for a few hours. They have some time and then some to spare for lunch. Still, it's a well-known fact how impossible to find the overpowered teen can be if he doesn't want to be found, and so they go with really no expectations.
"Man, we really haven't had the chance to chat since we got here." Yang nudges her little sister on the shoulder with a smile. "So, how's it going? I mean, I know I'm around for like half of it, but, you know, how's the other half?"
"It's great! Just… you know. Really not how I was expecting my college life to start, heh." Ruby says with a weak chuckle. "Like, right when I was starting to get used to things at Signal, I run into N- the Demon Fox in Vale! And then Professor Goodwitch arrives to save the day… sort of, and then I meet Lord Jiraiya and, whelp, goodbye Signal, hello Beacon! And things really haven't slowed down here either… there was meeting Weiss, being partnered with Weiss, the Wendigo, Ozpin making me leader, Weiss wanting to switch teams…"
Ruby just shakes her head with an exhausted sigh. "You know, weird as it sounds, I'm actually kind of excited for the Blood Moon this month. It's just been one thing after another. I can't wait to finally get down to some good ol' grimm-slaying with my sweetheart!"
Yang just chuckles and pats her on the back. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing great."
"You mean minus the whole thing where Weiss didn't want to be my partner anymore?"
"Yeah, but you know… fuck that bitch. Can't make everyone happy."
Ruby just shrugs. "I guess. Still hope she decides to stay."
"Hmph. I don't." Yang grunts, crossing her arms. She lets out a sigh. "I guess neither of us pulled all too well on the partner-lottery, huh?"
"You don't like Blake?"
"Blake's fine, but you know, it's just…" Yang shrugs, tilts her head side to side and gives a slight wince. "She just keeps to herself and does her own thing most of the time. Like, she'll hang when we do stuff as a team but besides that, she's usually off with her nose buried in a book somewhere. I mean, don't get me wrong, Whiskers has the same energy sometimes but he's always down to hang whenever I ask."
"Naruto and Blake? Same energy?"
"It's like…" The older sister pauses again, searching for the right way to put it. She runs a hand through her hair. "You know, it's like… it's like they're holding a lot back. And I don't mean their life-story and a half on the first date kind of deal but like they feel like they don't belong. Or they're not supposed to be here. A lot of my faunus friends back at Signal were like that sometimes when we went out."
"Really? Is that why the dude with the spots on his face always acted so weird whenever he came over?"
"Nah, that was just Gin thirsting over our uncle. But, you get what I mean, right?"
Ruby thinks to herself for a moment and eventually nods. "Yeah…"
Yang takes a second to look around and make sure there's no one close enough to hear something they aren't supposed to hear and leans a bit closer to her sister. "Between you and me, I know why whisker's is acting like that, and it's not just about how you guys are the same age."
"Really?" Ruby responds. Maybe a bit too quickly.
"Yeah." Yang pulls away and shrugs. "But I don't really know what's going on with Blake, so not really much I can do there."
"Hello Ruby. And you are… Yang Xiao Long, if I am not mistaken."
"That's me. How's it going Professor Oz?"
"Hi Professor Ozpin!"
They round a corner and strolling in the opposite direction is none other than the headmaster of Beacon Academy himself. He greets them with a warm but tired smile, warm beverage in hand and dressed in the usual scruffy black suit and dark green scarf.
"A pleasure to meet you." He nods to the older sister, then looks to the younger. "Ruby, would you happen to know where Naruto is? There is something I need to discuss with you both."
"Oh, we were actually looking for him now!" Ruby says. "Yeah, he usually goes to eat with Weiss for lunch but today he said he wasn't hungry and ran off right after class ended so we kinda want to just check on him."
"I see…" Professor Ozpin seems to consider this information for a moment. Then, back to them. "Regardless, please do come by my office whenever you can."
"Ok… um, is it okay if we eat lunch first? I, uh, kind of didn't have a chance to eat breakfast." Ruby asks with a sheepish chuckle, rubbing her stomach.
A weary smile. "Of course. Just at some point today."
"Yes!"
The headmaster takes his leave. Yang gives her younger sister a curious look. "Didn't get a chance to eat breakfast? Thought you were the first one out of the room?"
"Heh, yeah but I had to finish taking notes on all the stuff they want the team leaders to know for the Blood Moon."
Yang just pats her younger sister on the shoulder with a proud smile. "Well, where to next, Ms. Leader?"
"Mmm… let's go up to one of the tower bridges! It'll be way easier to look for him up there."
It's a short trip up one of the many spires dotting Beacon Academy's campus. Between the higher vantage point and Crescent Rose's high-powered scope, they locate him fairly quickly, a head of unkempt white hair seated atop one of the six-story lecture halls, staring off into the horizon.
"It's like a teenaged, color-inverted Batman." Ruby muses.
"What, does that guy like to brood in high places too?"
"Almost exclusively on roofs, yeah."
"Pft."
"Hey, can't you just call him?" Ruby asks, only now realizing they probably could have done that the whole time.
"Already tried." Yang pulls out her scroll and dials. It goes straight to voicemail and she pockets it again. "Guess he forgot to charge his scroll or something. Or he doesn't know how to charge it."
Back down the tower and across the campus grounds they go. Finally at the building, Yang looks to her sister and jabs a thumb at the wall. "Want a boost?"
"Oh yeah, I never showed you, did I?" Ruby perks up. She takes a few steps back to make space and grins. "Watch this!"
Three steps, a running start, then she bursts into a flurry of whirling red, fluttering rose petals speeding up the side of the building and rematerializing into a grinning girl in a red hood, standing just a few feet over the second story building.
Ruby bursts into a flurry of whirling red, the rose petals racing up the side of the building, rematerializing into the grinning girl, standing sideways on the wall.
"Tadah~!"
"Holy crap! That's awesome! When'd you learn how to wall walk?!"
"So, you know the day, er night, when we first got here? Well-"
"Ahem!"
A very deliberate cough catches their attention, and the sisters look to see Professor Oobleck standing next to a sign that reads simply, Please Do Not Walk On The Walls.
""Sorry.""
Ruby hops down. Professor Oobleck nods.
"If there is some business you have on the roof, I can give you access but please refrain from practicing any wall-walking techniques while outside on campus. We like to keep our buildings clean and track free."
The huntsman professor says his piece and goes. Yang waits for him to get out of earshot then turns to her sister with a big smile. "But yeah, since did you know how to do that?!"
"Naruto taught me. That night we, er, I accidently knocked us off the cliff." Ruby blushes a little bit. "He taught me how to water walk and, well, once you know how to do that, wall walking is pretty easy to figure out."
"Well, that is amazing that you got the hang of it so fast. Sounds like you have a real knack for that stuff!"
Ruby scratches the back of her head sheepishly. "Eh, it really wasn't anything special… I think Naruto's just good at explaining all that aura mumbo jumbo."
"Well, you should totally ask him if there's any other cool stuff he can teach you."
"Maybe…"
The direct path closed, the sisters instead decide simply to go to the front of the building and wave to get his attention.
"Whiskers!"
"Hey, Naruto!"
He shifts, noticing them. A pause. Then, from the top of the six-story building, he pitches forward, free falling for just enough time to give them a mini-heart attack before flipping and landing with an unnatural softness and a gust of wind.
"Sup."
"Look, I know you've got, like, super ninja powers but can you please not do stuff like that?" Yang lets out a sigh. She puts her hands on her hips and gives him a look. "I was really worried for a second there."
"Well, for future reference, if you're ever worried about me… don't." Naruto responds dryly. "You'll save yourself a lot of stress."
Yang holds the look. Naruto coughs, rubs the right side of his face and glances away.
"But fine, whatever. Anyway, what do you two want?"
"We, uh, just wanted to know if you want to come have lunch with us and the guys from JNPR." Ruby says. "Yeah, and Professor Ozpin said he wanted to talk to us, so I was thinking even if you didn't want to eat anything, maybe you could just hang out and we could head up together afterwards?"
Naruto perks a brow. "Us?"
"You two." Yang clarifies.
There is a moment, and Naruto narrows his eye, looking back to Ruby. "Did Oz-popo tell you what he wanted to talk to us about?"
Yang grins. "Are you just replacing the end of Professor Ozpin's name with random shit?"
"Yup. Though, I'm still trying to decide whether I want to go longer and more elaborate each time, or just keep sticking random syllables at the end of 'Oz'."
Ruby fails to hold back a giggle, Yang snorts out a chuckle and Naruto's expression softens. Not quite a smile but still better than a frown.
"I don't really know what he wants, but when I ran into him this morning, he said he wanted to talk to us. Together." Ruby answers.
"Anything else?"
"Nope."
"Hmph." Naruto scowls. "Of course."
Ruby and Yang glance at each other with worry, neither quite missing the splinters of red that flash through the blue of his eye.
"But yeah, even if you don't want to eat anything just come hang. You can catch up with the JNPR guys."
He doesn't respond for a second. The mid-day sun casts a shadow over his faces, and he looks to the side, the shadows cast over the white making those crimson cracks in the blue seem that much brighter.
"I don't know. There's… something I'm working on and I kind of want to get back to it."
Then, he looks to Yang, those shadows recede, and he closes his eye, rubbing the side of his face. "But I guess it'll be annoying to just start and stop like that. Fine, I'll come."
"Yay!"
Ruby cheers. Yang grins. She throws an arm over his shoulders. "I know you said you're not hungry, but you have got to try the burrito bar. Everything else is pretty okay but the burrito bar is mmm!"
"The burrito bar…?"
"Yeah, it's pretty good." Ruby blinks, just now noticing something. She leans in a bit closer to get a better look. "Huh."
He notices her gaze. "What?"
"Oh! It's nothing, just, um…" She glances away, looks back at his torso for a second and looks away again with a faint blush. "That shirt is just kind of, uh… small on you."
"Hm?" Yang looks to the boy under her arm and unabashedly gropes his arm, his muscles very decidedly more defined and prominent than she remembers, kept mostly hidden by his jacket. "Whew, it is not just the shirt. Sheesh, whiskers, are you using reinforcement or something right now?"
"Let's just go with 'or something'… and have I ever told you both that you are way too comfortable around me?"
…
"You guys ever think it's weird how the Blood Moon is basically like the grimm having a Remnant-wide period?"
Naruto winces. "Now that's a sentence I didn't need in my life… what? Just me?"
He looks across the table to his fellow males. Ren gives a slightly pained look. Jaune just shrugs.
"I've… known Nora a long time."
"I have seven sisters."
"Hn."
"What, so you think they just all go crazy because of the cramps?"
"Yaaang~… please don't make Naruto think this is all we talk about when he's not here…"
"Fine, fine."
"So, how ya been fishcake?! Aside from the whole not sleeping thing… and the not eating… are you okay? Do you need to talk to someone?"
Nora asks the question on everyone's minds, and Naruto only gives a dull blink in response.
"Nope. Can we go back to talking about grimm periods?"
"It is a rather curious phenomena, isn't it?" Pyrrha says, trying to steer the conversation in a more civil direction. "It would be one thing if the grimm simply grew progressively more aggressive as the moon cycled through its phases, but the red moon and sudden aggression certainly lends to the feeling that it's some sort of apocalyptic event."
"Yeah, it's like someone's just flicking a switch." Ruby agrees, munching on a slice of pizza. "Too bad we can't get up there to check."
"Huh? Why not?" Jaune asks.
"Dust doesn't work in space, remember?" Yang says. "Don't want to sound like some wacko conspiracy theorist, but I'd bet lien that whatever's causing the red moons is the same thing that makes dust stop working whenever you get into space."
"How would that work?" Ruby asks.
"Well, dust is merely condensed elemental energy." Pyrrha points out. "It… wouldn't be too much of a stretch to consider that there may simply be some sort of dampening field surrounding our world's atmosphere that disperses said energy when it comes in contact with it."
"Or sucks it up." Yang says. She pauses and takes a moment to observe the sauced up and half-cleaned rib between her fingers. "You know, since dust is just energy, how come we can't just pop that shit like candy? I mean, sugar's basically all calories and we can eat that."
"Not that it's very healthy for you…" Pyrrha adds.
"The simplest answer is probably that our bodies aren't meant to metabolize the energy from dust that way and we can only use it with our aura acting as a buffer." Ren steps into the conversation. "Though, it does vary from person to person."
Yang pauses mid-bite. "It does?"
"Well…" Ren glances at Naruto, who only lets out another yawn. "Let's just say dust is considered a controlled substance in Soshima."
"What, so you can get stoned with earth dust?" Yang grins.
"Boooo~!" That was Ruby.
"I also 'boo'. But because that's wrong." Naruto drawls, eye closed. Then, he peeks towards Yang with a slight smirk. "Now, high with wind dust…"
Yang's grin grows. Ruby groans. "Ugh! You're both awful…"
"So, is dust really just like drugs for you guys?" Jaune asks.
The focus of the table shifts to him and Naruto just shrugs. "That's one way of looking at it. Like flower boy said, it varies from person to person but the only people who really get a kick out of it are people with developed elemental affinities. You know, like people who can do things like shoot fireballs without dust."
"So, have you ever…?" Yang asks the younger boy.
"Nope. I ain't got the lien for that crap. The only dust I have is for when everything needed to be on fire twenty minutes ago."
"Man, how come you guys get all the cool stuff?" Nora whines. "I mean, you got your ninja-magic, you don't need dust to control the elements-!"
"-And almost no one over thirty knows how to use one of these things." Naruto deadpans, holding up his scroll.
Yang perks a brow with a teasing smirk. "And you do?"
"Hey, I'm getting better."
"Oh yeah, remember to charge your scroll. I was trying to call you earlier."
"Eh? But I did charge-," Naruto tries to turn his scroll on. He doesn't get anything other than a flash of a empty battery on the screen. "What the hell? I plugged it in and everything last night!"
"Yeah, but did you check if it was actually connected? You know, when that little symbol shows up in the corner?"
"… Anyway, the point is, the Kingdoms have 'everything is also a gun', the Great Villages have 'asspull no jutsu'. Fair's fair."
"I dunno~, 'asspull no jutsu' seems pretty overpowered to me." Yang says with an amused smile.
"That's because you're only familiar with my brand of asspull no jutsu. Normal asspull no jutsu is like 'oh, you thought you killed me, but it was actually a log and don't ask where I got it from because I don't know either'. Much less epic than my asspulls."
"Pft."
"A log?" Jaune asks, confused. Very confused. And now somewhat conscious of his weapon.
"It's… a thing most… all… ninjutsu practitioners know." Pyrrha explains with a somewhat pained expression.
"Hah." Naruto barks out a laugh. "She knows. With ninjas, it's never actually over when it's over. It's always a clone or an illusion or a fucking log or something else."
"You are not wrong…" Pyrrha says with a faint chuckle. "Though, thankfully, illusions aren't as much as a problem for those of us in the Kingdoms."
"Why's that?" Jaune asks.
"Shielding makes you immune to most illusions." Naruto answers.
"Wait, really?" Ruby pauses mid-bite.
"Yeah, that's the dirty little secret they only let us in on after they spend four years training us against it." Yang rolls her eyes.
"Seriously? That's useless." Naruto scoffs.
"I know right?"
"Yeah, with those guys you either have nothing to worry about or you're absolutely screwed."
"What? How's some stupid illusion going to hurt anyone?"
Naruto scratches his cheek and thinks for a second. "Well, at its core Genjutsu isn't just illusions. I mean, the people who suck at it can only make illusions, but like I said, those are the ones you don't have to worry about. The real threats are the ones who understand that it's all about manipulating your senses and abusing that."
"Manipulating your senses? How's that work?" Ruby asks through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"In its purest form, Genjutsu is attacking your enemy with your aura directly." Naruto begins to explain. "It's not like when I throw out a giant blast of wind. That's Ninjutsu, and Ninjutsu is about converting your aura into some sort of tangible effect. The way Genjutsu works is by using your aura to influence other people's aura into creating some effect in their brain. Like illusions? That's just making you see something that's not there. But Genjutsu is definitely one of those 'skill-cap' sort of specialties. At least when it comes to fighting other people."
"Well… what else can they do then?"
"Mmm… I've never had to deal with this myself, since I don't use Shielding, I hear really powerful Genjutsu users can just straight up pop the aura-shielding of anyone weaker than them. I don't know the specifics but from what I understand, it's a 'needle to a balloon' kind of deal. Then, there're the guys who can use your senses to bypass Shielding completely."
"Wait, what?" Yang pauses mid-bite. "That's a thing?"
Naruto nods. Then, a shrug. "That being said, I don't really know the specifics since I don't use either."
"I can explain it on some level." Pyrrha says. "Obviously, Shielding has to allow a certain amount of sensory information to pass through it, or we would end up blind and deaf whenever we used it, yes? Well, if a Genjutsu practitioner is able to use one of our senses as a medium to deliver their technique, our Shielding isn't able filter out the harmful effects from the sensory information."
"Oh yeah, I think I've ran into a few of those before." Naruto muses. "I know it might be kind of redundant, but if you ever see someone with some weird-ass pattern in their eyes, do not make eye contact with them."
"What? Can they put you in an illusion just like that?"
"Yup."
"Indeed."
"Damn, that's actually pretty scary…" Yang murmurs to herself. "But, I mean, it's just an illusion right? How bad can it be?"
"Well, the most powerful genjutsu I've ever experienced was getting tied to a post and stabbed in the gut for 72 hours straight in a few seconds."
That gets him a round of both confused and horrified looks. One or the other, from those who don't understand and those who do, respectively.
"72 hours… in a few seconds?" Jaune repeats, his brow furrowed.
"As Naruto said, Genjutsu is about manipulating an opponent's senses…" Pyrrha explains in a shaky tone. "That includes their sense of time."
"Yup."
Realization. And then, horror for the rest of the table's occupants a few steps behind.
"That sounds… awful." Pyrrha says. "I'm sorry you had to go through that…"
Naruto just gives a lazy shrug. "I lived. Might have crossed a few wires up here but I'm still functional. Mostly. Most people don't get out that well when they run into an S-rank in the Bingo Book. But, let that be a lesson to you that if you do ever run into anyone in the Bingo Book with an S next to their face… well, chances are that if they wanted you dead, you'd already be dead, so you ought to get the hell outta dodge before they change their mind."
He shoots a pointed look at Ruby. Jaune lets out a nervous chuckle. "I mean, duh. But, I mean… those guys are like the most powerful people in the world. Even I know about them. What are the chances any of us runs into one of them?"
"Yeah… heh… what are the odds?" The quick glance Ruby returns goes entirely unnoticed, and she takes the lull to quickly scarf down the rest of her food. "I'm done! Ready to go?"
"Mhm."
"Where're you two going?" Jaune asks as the 'children' of the group get to their feet.
"Got a meeting with Ozfart." Naruto says with a perfectly straight face, Ruby breaking into a slight fit of giggles. "He wants to talk to both of us together for some reason. Wanna do the thing?"
"Yeah, let's do the thing."
Jaune blinks. "The thing?"
Her right and his left. They bring their hands together and their fingers join to make a seal, and the two fifteen-year-olds vanish in red, gold and starbursts of silver.
"Yeah, ninja magic is way cooler." Nora props her elbows up on the table and drops her chin into her palms. "So, you guys think they're dating?"
"Nah, I don't think whiskers sees her like that."
"So, he doesn't…" Jaune mutters under his breath.
"It's always fascinating to hear about the intricacies of the shinobi aura arts." Pyrrha breaths with a certain energy to her tone. "Their system of combat is just so divorced from our own and there's little to no documentation available on it."
"They are ninjas." Nora shrugs. "Probably don't want their ninja secrets getting out, you know?"
"What's the deal with those weird shapes Naruto's always making with his hands?" Jaune asks. "Does Ruby know how to use, uh, 'ninja magic' too, since she made one of those finger things with him?"
"Ninjutsu… and not quite." Pyrrha corrects him. "From what I understand with shared hand seals, they're typically only dependent on one of the participants being skilled enough to perform the required aura manipulation. But they're generally fairly rarely used, as most ninjutsu users prefer to keep their distance. I've only encountered them once before, in one of my matches in the Mistral Regional Tournament."
She looks shyly at her team leader. "If you'd like, maybe we could get some coffee and I could tell you about it?"
"Nah I'm good."
Swing and a miss.
They arrive in front of the headmaster's tower in a flurry of embers and rose petals.
"Once you get used to it, it really is a super convenient way to travel, isn't it?"
"When pretty much all you have to do is slam your foot on the gas pedal, I'd think so." Naruto shrugs. A pause. "You can let go of my hand now."
"Oh! Right. Hehe…"
The aid at the front desk informs them that Ozpin is just finishing the meeting, and that it should just be a few minutes longer. For while the headmaster's door is always open for his students, it is only expected that he at least finishes any immediate business first.
There is a line of chairs set up against the wall. Ruby sits. Naruto opts to stand, folding his arm and a half over his chest and staring impatiently at the elevator door.
"So, what do you think he wants to talk to us about?" Ruby asks.
"Dunno." Naruto shrugs. He rubs at the dark circles over his cheeks. "If it was just me, then I might have an idea but I dunno why he'd want to see both of us together."
A pause. "So, I didn't want to ask this around boobs, since she still seems to be on her shit-list, but how're things with you and sneeze? You patch things up?"
"Yeah! We're, like, totally besties! We even went shopping for combat skirts over the weekend!"
"Right…" a short sigh escapes his lips. "Sounds like she's actually trying to be a part of the team now. That's good. So, everything worked out."
"Well, not everything…"
"Oh right. I guess you got over it well enough but big sis's still upset?"
"Not really… I mean, yes, Yang's not happy about it but that's not what I'm talking about."
"Hm?"
"Aren't you still stuck with Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby asks. That the partners of Team GwyN are really only partners in name is a well-known fact to anyone who actually knows either of the two.
"That was sort of the plan." Naruto shrugs. "You know, if or when, I gotta blow this joint, she's the most… equipped to handle the fallout."
"When?"
"Or if."
Ruby stays silent for a moment at that, the thought settling in her gut like a lump of coal. Still, she tries to keep a positive attitude. At least on the outside. "Well, that's… what… heh, I mean, isn't Beacon pretty awesome? The dorms are nice, the cafeteria has a burrito bar, and the weapon engineering stations are like the best I've ever seen. Why… why would you ever want to leave a place like this?"
The lone blue eye and shadows shift away. After a quick silence, Naruto answers. "… I can think of a few reasons."
"L-like what?"
His answer is interrupted by a ding. The aid at the front desk waves to get their attention and nods towards the elevator. "Headmaster Ozpin is ready to see you now."
"That was quick." Naruto says. He goes to wait for the elevator. Ruby follows, that slight unease still knotted in her stomach.
The elevator doors open to reveal the form of one Professor Glynda Goodwitch. And Ruby watches as the partners walk past each other without a word, a glance, a nod or any sort of acknowledgement.
A shiver. It feels like she got a cold shoulder, back and face, just from proximity. 'Wow, and I thought our team dynamic could use some work…'
Still, manners are manners, and Ruby turns, waves and greets the huntress, expecting entirely for it to be ignored. "Hi Professor Goodwitch!"
The instructor stops, turns, gives her a short nod, a quick "Ms. Rose," and is on her way.
Ruby blinks. The surprise lasts only long enough for her to remember what she was doing, and she quickly catches up to Naruto in the elevator. A moment for the doors to close. Then, she asks, "So… what's the deal with you and Professor Goodwitch?"
Naruto doesn't give any particular reaction. "Well, that depends. Do you mean the current 'deal' or the pre-Beacon 'deal'?"
"Both, I guess?"
He appears to think to himself for a moment. The elevator starts to move. Then, the answer.
"She was on a mission with a bunch of students a few years ago and I killed them. So, I don't really blame her for hating my guts."
… That's… a lot to take in a single sentence. Amazingly and terrifyingly, all at once. An answer that raises so many more questions. Ruby rolls the declaration around a few times in her head and gets to somewhere between 'Students? Like us?' and 'A few years ago… we'd have only been, like, thirteen or fourteen…' when the elevator dings and the door opens.
Seated at his desk, Professor Ozpin greets them with a warm smile. "Ruby, Naruto. Please, come in. Do forgive me, I haven't had the chance to prepare anything as this was on rather short notice."
"Oh, that's no problem!" Ruby takes the left seat in front of the headmaster's desk. "Well, you said you wanted to talk to us so here we are!"
Naruto drops himself into the right seat. "Hn. So, to what do we owe the displeasure? I assume it's something bad or annoying or you wouldn't have gone to the trouble of meeting us face to face."
"Naruto~, be nice. You shouldn't talk to Professor Ozpin like that."
"Hn."
"It's quite alright." Ozpin smiles at the pair regardless. "Have you been well, both of you? I hope you have been getting plenty of rest. This will be a very busy week, and each of you has a very important role to play."
"Yup! At first, it was a little bit weird sleeping in a room with a bunch of other people but now it's no problem! Well, Yang does snore sometimes, and Blake can be a little noisy since she usually stays up but it's really not that bad once you get used to it."
"I'm glad to hear that." Ozpin says politely. Then, he looks to Naruto.
"Alright, cut the crap. What are we here for?"
Ruby winces. "Naruto…"
But he doesn't respond to her, his lone ashen eye set in a dark glare at the headmaster. "You wouldn't have called us up here if it was anything good… am I right?"
Ozpin lets out a sigh through his nose. He looks to the younger boy with a melancholy smile. "You have sharp instincts, though I will assure you in advance that it is nowhere near as bad as you believe it to be."
"Mhm…"
"Now, there was a task I asked for you to complete for me last week. Do you remember what that was?"
A sheepish wince. Naruto glances away, going instantly from 'scary S-ranked mercenary' to 'child who forgot to do his chores'. "Psh. That's… I don't… whatever. It's not like what I chose would matter anyway."
"I wouldn't be entirely sure about that. That being said, as you didn't respond yourself, I was forced to give the council a response in your stead."
"Wait, the council? What do they want with Naruto?" Ruby asks. "Do they know about…?"
"Indeed." Ozpin confirms. "In fact, they have offered him an opportunity: Should he complete his training at this school and dedicate his life to the defense of the people, they will erase his criminal record and allow him political asylum in Vale and her allied nations."
"Really?! That… that's amazing!" Ruby looks at him with a bright smile. "So, it's actually official now! That means you really don't have to be the Demon Fox anymore! Right?!"
Naruto just frowns, not meeting her gaze. That knot in her stomach tightens.
"… right?"
"That was the intent, yes." Ozpin sighs. He looks at the younger boy. "However,-"
"The politicians are pissed that I fucked up some assholes without their permission." Naruto scowls.
"Their official stance is that they are concernedthat we were unable to verify your intel, and that only one in five bodies was able to be identified." Ozpin elaborates without missing a beat. "Regardless, they have asked me to impose certain restrictions on his movement as a result."
"They're… grounding you?" Ruby asks.
"Grounding?"
"You know, like when a kid does something bad and their parents don't let them go outside to play?"
Naruto stares at her for another second before deciding to move on. "Okay… Sure, maaaybe~ I went a bit overboard with the rip and tear, but bad? The first thing the head honcho offered while begging for their life was the first choice of any of the 'merchandise' that they got their hands on for the next year. Let's not pretend Remnant's not a better place without em."
"Uh…"
"'Merchandise' means slaves. Try to keep up."
"Slaves? You mean, like, actual human traffickers?"
"Believe it or not, I don't just help people rob grandpas, wolfie."
"What happened to the people who were being held there?"
A shrug. "Brought 'em back to town and let 'em go."
"But that's… good? Isn't… didn't he do a good thing, then? Why's the council upset with him?" Ruby asks, confused.
"They are concerned that we were unable to verify your intel, and that only one in five bodies was able to be identified." Ozpin recites in the exact same tone and cadence. Then, he breaks character. "Unofficially, the council wishes for the White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox to quietly disappear, and incidents such as these only serve to further draw the public's eye towards him."
"Oh. Okay. That makes sense… I guess."
Naruto lets out a silent scoff. Ozpin glances at the younger boy, then turns his focus back to her. "Now, this brings me to the reason I summoned you both here. Ruby, you are the only student here at Beacon Academy who is aware of the true nature of Naruto's enrollment. To my knowledge."
A pause. Ozpin looks to Naruto for confirmation, and Naruto only closes his eye. Not a yes, but not a no either. The headmaster returns his focus to her.
"As the only student with this knowledge, this makes you uniquely suited to fulfil a certain role. I mentioned earlier that the council requested I place certain restrictions on Naruto's ability to travel to and from Beacon. Currently, he is largely able to come and go as he pleases. However, that will change once we implement the new system. Part of that system involves a liaison, a 'handler', at times exercising their own best judgement whether he should be granted permission to leave the campus grounds and accompanying him if they should deem it necessary."
Naruto finally speaks up with a raised brow. "That's the one you went with? I figured when I forgot about it you were just going to default to the one where I basically could never leave campus."
"We are trying to keep you from attracting attention, not give you a reason to leave and never return."
It's not very hard to see where the older huntsman is going with this. Ruby glances at her friend, then to the headmaster. "So… I'm guessing you want me to be the one to be the one keeping an eye on him?"
"That's correct." Ozpin nods. "The less people who know the better, which is why you would be the ideal choice for this. Assuming you accept, of course."
"Hey, hey. Pause. Hold on a second." Naruto sits up with a scowl. "Why're you trying to get wolfie roped into all of this? Shouldn't Goodwitch or one of the other professors be the one keeping track of me?"
"Because you can make clones, and we want you to actually work and communicate with this person instead of viewing them as an obstacle to be avoided."
"I can do it." Ruby says with an excited nod. She shifts in her seat to look at him. "I don't mind. Besides, it's way better than having Professor Goodwitch hound you all the time, right?"
Naruto doesn't say anything, silent with his head down. His expression tightens. His eye narrows. And maybe it's a trick of the light or the mid-day sun, but she swears that for a second, the shadows around his face darken and thicken and bleed into his eye, like ink cast into water.
The embers flare crimson. Without a word he rises, almost knocking his chair over, and makes for the elevator.
"Hey, where're you going?" Ruby calls out after him, more than a little concerned. If being Yang Xiao Long's little sister has taught her anything, it's that red eyes(or eye in this case) means trouble.
But Naruto only raises his hand in a shrug. Without turning back to face them or breaking his stride, he answers back with an all too casual tone. "Sounds like there's no reason for me to be here. Don't know why you even called me to come in the first place if my decision's already been made for me. Anyway, I've got shit to do. So, I'm leaving."
"But-"
"I asked you to come to this meeting because we want your approval as well before moving forward."
That stops him. Naruto glances back over his shoulder, one skeptic eyebrow raised, and Ozpin continues.
"This isn't about just control and punishment. We are well aware you are capable of walking away from this arrangement at any time. That's why I want there to be some incentive for you to stay. Trust. Companionship. Something better for you than the power and reputation that has been built up around the mask of the Demon Fox."
"I had hoped you and Glynda would be able to put aside your past and form some bond, but that was naïve of me, and I do apologize." The old huntsman admits. "That is why in this matter, I am trying a different approach."
Ruby gets up and goes over to him and puts a hand on his arm. "Yeah, come on, we can talk about it. So, let's just calm down and sit back down and we can work something out!"
"I am ca-," Naruto starts to growl before he stops, squints his eye shut and scrunches up his face. A hard breath. She sees, visibly, him trying to relax, to calm himself down.
"Fucking moon…"
A quick curse, said under his breath. She wouldn't have caught it if she wasn't standing right next to him, but she is and she does and one ashen blue eye opens again and shoots a glare back in the headmaster's direction.
"… If this is a bad time, we can continue this conversation later." Professor Ozpin says in an accommodating tone.
"Hn."
Naruto just grunt, goes to the elevator and jabs the button. Ruby gives the headmaster a quick 'sorry' through a glance, goes over to her friend, and waits next to him.
It's obvious enough he doesn't like Ozpin. Why? She's not sure. Even Professor Goodwitch gets a warmer reception from him, and that's saying something.
She waits until they step into the elevator and the doors close before saying anything.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asks.
"I'm… fine." Naruto grounds out through a clenched jaw after a slight pause. "I just hate talking to that guy. He lies with about as much effort as he breathes."
"But what about you?" Ruby asks. He perks a brow and glances at her, and she motions at her eyes. "You've, uh, kind of got a thing..."
He presses his hand against the right side of his face. A quiet moment passes, the tension drains from his shoulders and he lowers his hand.
"Better?" He asks, cracks of crimson still bleeding through the blue.
Ruby shakes her head. "You've still got a bit…"
"Mmm…" a low rumbling growl. He presses his hand against his face again and rubs at his eye. "Fucking pain in the… now?"
"No, you still kind of look, sort of… evil."
"Like, generally or just the eye?"
"Just the glowing eye of doom. Yeah, it's really…" She decides not to elaborate on the way it reminds her way too much of a grimm's. "I mean… so, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm fine." He grunts, closing his eye and shoving his hand in his pocket.
"Naruto, Yang's my big sister. I know what red eyes means!"
He shoots an irritable glance at her as the elevator comes to a stop. "Well, I'm not boobs."
"Yeah, but your eyes still turn red when you get riled up, right?"
The doors open. His mouth opens and closes without a word, and he simply exits the elevator with an annoyed grunt, Ruby following after him.
She thinks for a second as she trails behind him. The realization comes just as they exit the building, and she catches up. "What do you think Professor Ozpin was lying about?"
That gets his attention. Naruto slows, glances at her for a second and continues walking at a less hurried pace. "… It's… hard to say. He's… he's hiding something. I know he is. I can hear it in everything he says."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asks. "Are you sure?"
He stops. His gaze goes to his feet and his frown deepens. He drags his knuckles against his cheeks. "It's… hard to explain. But I can hear it. His words are hollow. Everything he says, it's all…" another pause to gather his thoughts. "It's all a front. A smokescreen. A curtain. He's telling us exactly what we expect to hear from him, so we aren't thinking about what he isn't saying."
"You really don't trust him at all." Ruby says more than she asks.
Naruto just shakes his head, the shadows around his eye deepening, the crimson glowing brighter, his face twisting with an anger simmering just below the surface. "He's the worst kind of liar, the kind that thinks they're doing it for your own good. I can tell. They think they're doing it for your own good but the second they lose control everything's going to go to shit."
He lets out a hopeless little sigh. His shoulders slouch. The anger drains to a pained acceptance. "… Whatever. You don't believe me. Why would you? He's Ozpin and I'm… me. Why would you ever believe someone like me?"
He turns to leave. She grabs his arm and says, if only to stop him from going, "I-I believe you! It's just-"
Crimson shifts to her.
It's involuntary. A flash of rejection from years of fighting monsters and creatures, Beowolves and Ursai and Nevermore and Boarbatusks, all with those same eyes. And the eye sees. The red. And the blue. As one, they peer at her, into her, through her, and they see.
The fear. And the doubt in her heart.
"You really suck at lying, wolfie."
With that, he gently frees his arm and walks away.
AN: Nothing really much to say here either, so I'll just ask the usual. Favorite part? Least favorite part? Anything you just skipped? Anything that was missing?
Other than that, thanks for reading and I'll see you all next week.