AN: First story, never been really good about this, but some inspiring works made me want to make this. Don't own Naruto or RWBY, so there's that. This isn't a very thought out work, but I just kinda started writing anyway and decided to throw it out here. So if things are a little disjointed, now you know why. I'll try to have a more solid plan by the time I post the next chapter, but don't expect much. I'm just doing a thing.
It wasn't the shrieking sound of the earth exploding and breaking apart that woke Qrow up first. No, that honor belonged to the violent shaking that preceded it, which just as well sent him and his camp tumbling to the ground. Remnant's cry for help had him hurriedly stumbling onto his feet with Harbinger whirling into action in the form of a single-edged great sword.
The man kept his breath controlled and mostly even, before the sudden spring of fractures raced forth from one of the few lush forests left in Vacuo and speared towards the man's desert-hillside camp. "Shit!" He spat out, struggling to find his balance, before he finally started a mad-dash away. The need for speed was cut a little short though when the reaching cracks thinned out just outside his space and the land beneath his feet slowly began to still. A white knuckled, trembling grasp kept the long blade in his hand down. He cast his crimson gaze around for a few moments first, then heaved a heavy breath and sat the spine of his blade deftly across one shoulder, "Well... That's a little lucky." He mused somewhat shakily, before his gaze turned up to follow the stretch of splintered land into the thick foliage of what was a small jungle.
Qrow shook his head some and fished out a flask from his belt. The burn of it coaxed his nerves to settle and the man to let out a breath of relief. After he tucked it away, Qrow slicked his hair back and set his feet, the man starting a trek towards the source of nature's disturbance, "I can already tell this isn't going to end well."
The huntsman was shocked to find out it was pretty simple to trace his path through the broken apart lush landscape without being attacked. Not a Grimm in sight. Still, actually seeing the way the earth had cratered didn't provoke any good feelings. It was absolutely massive, dust obscuring the majority of the hole, before a few swift cuts of his blade had sent the screen on its way. Qrow gaped at the sight of the epicenter: some faunus runt. The earth beneath the kid was bunched up around him, acting like a cushion as jagged layers of ridges rippled out of the crater like a pile of glass. That was another oasis gone. The desert was losing more and more of these, and it seemed this brat had wiped one off the face of the planet, mostly.
Qrow was officially overwhelmed when he saw the brat still breathing, still somehow alive amidst all this... Destruction. The huntsman didn't take too long to shake the haze of questions appearing in his mind, and finally dropped down to check the boy over; man, was it a sight. What the hell is this kid? Ten tails, two horns, and some... Strange markings.
The blonde was a naked, battered mess and almost as old as his niece, but these markings were something different. His shoulders bore black ringed circles, and beneath his collar bone were five tomoe on each side. Black lines emerged from his sides and circled the kid's core, another circle there and a smattering of what were some sort of runes maybe. Qrow certainly hadn't seen anything like it. Contours stretched down his legs too, but by that point the dusty old crow chalked it up to some tribal tattooing or something. Wouldn't be the first time he'd seen those, even if this was much different, but ten tails? On a faunus? That was definitely new. The horns were something else, too, and he didn't quite know what to make of that. What, was he some sort of demon fox faunus? The thought coaxed a mild snort from the man, before his eyes finally found the boy's.
"What. The. Fuck?"
Rippling lavender flickered between a blue and orange mash of fox slit and toad slats, both sat one right over the other. The man had to shake his head a few times, before the kid's gaze seemed to finally settle on the most brilliant set of cerulean he could have ever thought to see. They practically glowed. Qrow's attention only snapped to once the blonde's eyes sealed shut and was officially down for the count. He had no fucking clue what was going on, but he wasn't going to let the kid stay here. Questions needed answers.
So many faces flashed by: The long snout of a prideful, giant fox with crimson eyes. Pale, long dark hair and, again, crimson eyes with hints of something spinning in them; then two sets of so vividly green pools, both almost painted onto a lovely face crowned by soft, pink hair. Lavender eyes came with dark waist-length hair, a face that pulled at something in his core. A cyclops with gravity defying hair and a leaf on his forehead. Two blacks eyes with streaking red lines crossing down the cheeks below; the face came with a metal plane mounted by little horns and a long mane of spiky, white hair. Each one mashed together, again and again, so quickly. They were so startlingly familiar, too.
All of it blurred together until it peaked into a pain he couldn't understand. It came white hot, practically roiled in his core, before the sadness hit like a punch in the gut. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe, couldn't catch a hint of air; he was drowning, gasping for a life-line that wasn't there until his puffy, tear stricken eyes finally peeled back to embrace the blindingly white light of the sun peaking into his hospital window.
Immediately, part of him reached out to atmosphere. He couldn't tell what he was looking for, and he knew what he found wasn't it. Despite some minute similarities in sensation, it was alien. It wasn't... What was it? He curled his fingers against the bed and turned over, some instinct overtaking him, before something acidic bubbled up through his throat and spewed onto the nearest... Lap. He didn't see it though, not the legs that jerked; didn't even hear whoever was talking. Everything was wrong, oh Kami, everything was so wrong. His fingers were so small and soft, everyone so large, and his mind so... So deafeningly silent outside his own thoughts.
The tears rolled down his cheeks readily, and a choked sob broke out from his cracked lips; he felt so small, so helpless, and so painfully alone. Shaking, the little blonde curled up and screamed into his knees, the comfort of ten thick, furry appendages boxing him in; making him smaller, and making him disappear when finally some gravelly, cool voice broke him out of what felt like a trance.
"Sheesh, kid. You're going to be a handful."
Slowly, his tails parted away to reveal the tall, looming figure above him; a man with hauntingly familiar, and yet strikingly different crimson eyes. His hair that was just the same as... As... Suddenly, the blonde found his voice, his first word a simple question; one that managed to even make the dusty old crow gape.
"Duckbutt?"
It came in a shaky squeak.
That was when the other presences in the room finally registered; a tall, blonde woman having to cup her mouth lest she prove to be a little less disciplined than she'd like to be about her laughter. Qrow quickly glared at Glynda, and caught Ozpin smirking the slightest bit; the man's eyes a dancing tell of just how amusing hearing that from the little blonde was. The dark haired huntsman just sighed heavily and grumbled about someone else cleaning the mess up on the floor, "Seriously, not a cute kid." He took a swig from his flask and stepped out of the room, probably to change his clothes. Throw up is not something you want to stay on you.
Glynda coughed into her hand and flicked an urging gaze over towards Ozpin when he finally stepped up towards the faunus, his own hand idle as it swirled the contents of his coffee mug some. Patiently, he flashed a thin, warm smile at the odd little boy, "As amusing as that was... Why don't we have a talk?" He prompted gently, eyes glittering just slightly while wide blue pools of innocence flicked back and forth between him and his assistant. Ozpin noted that the faunus boy wasn't quite too focused on the here and now, so very carefully he stamped his cane against the ground and flashed another warm smile, "Distracted, are we? I can't even imagine what you might have gone through to end up in Vacuo the way... It was reported. Perhaps, you can tell us and shine a little light on that mystery?"
The child, on the other hand, just stared for a few moments, before he started to shake his head free from whatever was trying to nip at him in the back of his mind. "Vacoo? Washat?" He asked back uncertainly, broken images filtering through his mind all the while, before the kid had to rub at his eyes in an attempt to make them disappear.
Ozpin and Glynda, however, shared an inquisitive glance, before the headmaster hummed and decidedly sat himself down in another seat, "Let's start with something else then, something simple, a trade if you will. My name for yours. How's that?" Slowly, the boy nodded and scooted back a little, tails crowding around him as he hugged his knees to his chest and tried to make himself smaller. Professor Goodwitch frowned slightly while her headmaster let out a rather soft chuckle, "Well, then. You can call me Ozpin. Professor Ozpin. And beside me is a colleague of mine: another professor, actuall-""Glynda Goodwitch." She intruded with her own trying smile, hands clasped at her front and all.
Ozpin cleared his throat and offered a nod, "Yes, a very trustworthy young woman. She's done a great job here at Beacon as a teach- ... Oh. And asleep he is." He mused aloud, noting the way the little boy fell away under the cover of his tails. It was rather adorable. His assistant certainly thought so, the woman already clutching a hand to her chest some, before she pursed her lips and turned to address the headmaster. "We should let him rest. I sincerely doubt he knows anything useful at this point." She managed in her rather professional tone, "He doesn't even seem to realize what he went through."
"It's certainly curious that there were no lasting wounds either." Ozpin thought aloud, "I think you're right, of course. Qrow can talk to him, I'm sure the man can get more out of the boy than we can."
And just like that, the assistant held a glare and barked back at him, "What do you mean, Qrow can talk to him?! That wretched drunk doesn't have an ounce of tact in him!" As if that were his cue, the man of the hour somewhat stumbled through the door with a lazy, drunken grin, "You know, you're one to talk, Blondie. I think you're being a little too loud for the poor kid's taste." He teased, finger pointing past her to the lump that hid away beneath the sheets of the bed.
Glynda twitched at the sight and shot Qrow a nasty glare that had the man both grinning and bringing his hands up in mock surrender. Ozpin watched in mild amusement as she soon huffed and stomped out the door. "You know... You shouldn't tease her so much, Qrow. She'll eventually get you back at this rate." It was almost whimsical the way he said it. The scruffy drunk let out a bit of a careless chuckle, "You shouldn't joke like that, Oz."
"I'm certainly not laughing." Came the amused reply, before the headmaster followed after his fellow professor. Qrow only sighed and shook his head, again, before slumping into a seat. "Alright, kid." He said rather softly, "What's going on with you?"
It wasn't a question he'd get an answer to anytime soon with the way this brat slept, but given what he'd seen and heard so far... the man didn't mind waiting. Wasn't like his lead in Vacuo had anything to show for itself.
