A/N: Well, hot damn.
Seems folks like this story almost as much as Remnant.
It warms an old man's soul to get this much positive feedback from you all.
On another note, this chapter is told from a dual perspective of sorts; meaning we see things from both Naruto and Cinder's point of view. Oddly enough, Coeur Al'Aran's, "Service with a Smile" lent me quite the inspiration for this chapter. I...didn't think it was possible to write a softer version of Cinder. Really helped me get a better read for certain characters and their personalities.
Remember, like Remnant, updates for this will be bi-weekly, that is to say ever two weeks or so.
Or earlier, if I can help it.
Ah, but first let us move back a few days and catch up with Team RWBY...
Recall that Cinder didn't "die" immediately. It took some time.
So. Let's see exactly what happened then, shall we?
Ruby is just plain fuuuun to write these days.
You can tell I had a blast with her bit.
I own no quotes or references!
"Do you have any idea what its like?! To never be good enough? To be used and abused every moment of your life? To be thrown out into the street and told that you're no one! Nothing! I fought my way out of that hell. I EARNED that power! I did things you couldn't possibly imagine to obtain it! I made a deal with the devil herself! And when I finally gained that power, it was taken from me! I sacrificed and I bled and I sweat and I cried! I did everything I could not to lay down and die! But I still did! And now its gone! Who are you to ridicule me?! You know nothing about me!"
"You just described a quarter of my life. To a "T". By all means, continue."
...your life couldn't have been that bad."
"My dear, you have no idea."
~Cinder and Sage.
Doctor's Orders
Ruby Rose was on fire.
Quite literally at that; she'd woken from a dream in the middle of the night and found herself engulfed in flames. Still half asleep, the pajama-clad girl didn't realize what was going on. Not at first. Her first assumption was just that; I'm still dreaming, right? This should be a dream. Yeah, gotta be a dream. Nothing else made sense. She only knew that her body didn't hurt anymore; if anything, the flames felt downright pleasant. Like gentle hands wrapping around her sore muscles, bringing with them untold warm. As if she were hugging a long lost friend. Or were the flames hugging her? She wasn't sure.
Her head was still foggy from the battle at Haven, yet she'd never felt lighter.
But it felt so very niiiiiiiiice so Ruby didn't really care.
Alas, the same could not be said for her sheets.
Nor her bed. Or the rest of her room.
When the scent of smoke finally reached Ruby's nose, reality was only half of a step behind. Which is to say it slapped her right upside the head and then some, pulling her out of her daze like an angry Nevermore on the hunt. Smoke was bad. Fire? Also bad. Very bad. She didn't feel any of it, and the fire was leaving her pajamas alone for some reason, but everything else...
Then came the panic.
"Weiss, Weiss!" she cried, flailing spectacularly! "Haaaaaaaalp! My hands are on fire! My ROOM is on fire!"
"Ruby?!" a muffled cry greeted her. "What in the world-
She'd barely gotten the words out before frantic footsteps resounded from the other room, followed by the door to said room crashing open. To her credit, her partner looked about as lively as she felt; which is to say she was clad in little more than a white shift and looked like death warmed over. Though her hair did look really pretty with it being down and all-no! Bad Ruby! Focus! Fire bad! She must've been in a right state too, because Weiss looked about ready to faint.
Her eyes bulged as she beheld the elemental maelstrom. "What did you do?!"
"Hothothot! Well, not hot, but still! What's going on?! Make it stop!"
"I...you...Ruby! How are you even doing this?!"
"I don't knoooooooow!" Ruby whined.
She wanted it to cool off!
She didn't want to burn her room down! Everyone was going to wake up at this rate, and that meant everyone would stare and nononono!
Remarkably, Ruby's newfound powers responded to her emotions. A wave of biting cold jutted from her open hands, causing the temperature to plunge...perhaps a bit too rapidly. Sure enough the fire gutted out, but in its absence, ice proved just as quick to sprout. Unfortunately, her emotions were also running a touch too high to be controlled - sure enough, one of those icy blocks nailed Weiss right in the gut. Ruby had half of a heartbeat to wince in pity for her partner's plight. Then the poor girl flew out of the doorway like she'd been shot out of a slingshot and collided with an only-just-now-arriving Jaune. The impact knocked them straight through a wall as if it were made of wet cardboard.
Wuh-oh.
"Sorrrryyyy!"
They'd be alright...wouldn't they?
Just like that, the storm guttered out in her grasp, leaving the girl to gawp at the mess she'd made. Ruby Rose could've died of embarrassment at that very moment. She wanted to. But at least her room wasn't on fire anymore. That was good, right? Everything was alright, she just had to calm down and think in complete sentences-myhandsaresparking?! Was that thunder she heard outside? Oh god. Her panic surged and the golden glow in her palms only intensified, hearkening to her panic as she began to hyperventilate-
And then Ozpin was simply there.
At least, Ruby assumed it was Ozpin in control.
Oscar's eyes simply didn't glow gold like that, even on a good day.
Ruby tried to speak, tried to warn him to stay back -he'd get hurt!- but the wind swallowed her words. It didn't matter. As she looked on in quiet terror he strode to her side, reached out and took hold of her hands. Gloved fingers closed on hers, curling around her trembling palms. His serene expression wove a tiny thread of hope back into her heart. Slowly, carefully as not to spook her, the young man knelt before her.
"Breathe, miss Rose." he instructed her calmly, somehow making himself heard over the storm. "Find your center."
"I don't know how!" she wailed.
"Yes," he said, "You do."
Ruby did.
Inhaling slowly, the huntress scrunched up her brow, wrinkled her nose, and willed herself to focus. Right. Center. Happy thoughts. Yang. Mom. Dad. Weiss. Blake. Much to her delight, that was all the catalyst she needed to find her center. In due time the faint tingling sensation vanished from her hands and her twitching fingers came under her control once more. A small, tentative smile touched her mouth When she looked up, she found the rest of her friends waiting for her in the ruins of her rom. Well, most of them. Jaune and Weiss were still somewhat absent.
Because reasons.
...why was Uncle Qrow looking at her like she'd grown a second head? Or three? "Ruby...you...you're...those powers...
"What powers?!" Ruby hiccuped spectacularly, bouncing from foot to foot. "I don't know what's going on?!"
Ozpin favored her with a small, strange smile. "I believe we've found ourselves a new Fall Maiden."
Everyone squawked. Ruby simply squeaked.
Wait.
Wait. Wait.
WaitwaitwaitWAIT!
Cinder held the powers of the Fall Maiden. Everyone knew this. If they'd gone to her...didn't that mean Cinder was dead? Wait. She knew that. They all did. They'd assumed her dead days ago during the battle of Haven. But if the power just came to her now...oh! The proverbial lightbulb all but snapped into existence over her head. Which meant Cinder had only died recently. Which also meant she'd survived. Been alive. And Ruby had been in her final thoughts. That...kinda made sense. A twisted, awful sort of sense, but sense nonetheless.
Blake blinked, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of a hand. "Is she...going to be alright?"
"Eh," Yang barely looked up. "My baby sis' is tough. I'm more worried about Weiss-
"Wait." the faunus's ears twitched in mild concern. "Has anyone seen her?"
A distant crash drew a wince from all parties present and absent.
"RUBY ROSE! YOUR HEAD IS MIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"
Qrow palmed his face. "I need a drink...
Ruby yawned sheepishly.
"Ooops?"
(...0o0o0...)
This man was absolutely insufferable.
Cinder came to this inimitable conclusion only a week into her stay; seven days after she caught a fever and screamed herself hoarse yet again. Thankfully her vocal chords were quick to snap back from this mishap in short order. Her body was not. Every day spent in bed served as a harsh reminder of just how frail she'd become, of how she had to depend on others to survive while her Aura struggled to restore her ruined body to its terrifying prime. Losing her Maiden powers hadn't merely exhausted Cinder, it had hurt her. She was weaker now than she'd ever been. Even her Semblance felt...smaller somehow, reduced to a mere shadow of its former self.
To make matters worse, her host treated her as one would a sickly child.
Every act, no matter how kind, shredded her pride to pieces.
She could have killed him. She should have.
She wasn't that weak. Not yet.
There were times when her temper slipped its leash, when she found that she couldn't walk without aid; couldn't even move more than a few stumbling steps by herself; when she tried she had fallen spectacularly and tore open the stitches in her stomach. The pain had been agonizing and led to another bought of healing and herbs alongside other foul tasting medicine. It taught her a touch of humility. Humility that burned her more than any flame. Despite all her pride and rage, Cinder Fall simply could not force her body to recover faster.
Thus, for the first time in many years, she found herself forced to rely on a stranger once again.
One who forced her to eat all manner of ghastly things, one who waited on her.
Hand and foot, all without a single complaint.
And so she observed him.
At first it was solely out of boredom; though Naruto had given her a book or two to read as she convalesced, Cinder had quickly consumed his limited collection. Soon enough she demanded more and to her initial surprise, her host provided. Cold comfort at best, but she'd take it. Her body might atrophy a bit as she healed, but she refused to let her mind wither. When she wasn't reading, she was watching. Judging his every step, every bit of movement he made, noting his comings and goings whenever she could. She learned much.
For starters, they weren't as isolated as she'd initially believed them to be.
Nor was Naruto the mere "Doctor" he claimed to be. He was more than that. Much more.
She soon discovered they were in something of a rural village of a sort, not quite a slum, but not a town either.
Not a day went by when someone didn't come begging to the doctor's door. Be it for a simple salve, healing, or even a meager bit of advice, he was always there to provide something to someone who needed it. Once he even lent a child the very cloak off his back. Cinder...was uncertain how to feel about these inexplicably displays of kindness. Naruto gained nothing from them, beyond the goodwill of his patients. Goodwill did not fill one's coffers. Goodwill did not fill a hungry belly, no matter how many you helped. And by the gods did these people need everything. Insipid fools. Were they even capable of fending for themselves? How did he attend to so many tasks at once and not fall apart? How did he function with so many people relying on him?
Cinder soon had her answer; because very next evening he performed magic before her very eyes.
At least, she assumed it to be magic. What else could it be?
How else could one duplicate oneself?
Or breathe fire?
At first she mistook it for a Semblance of some sort but no, this was too complex. Arriving in a plume of smoke the duplicate he'd created snapped off a snarky salute as it received its orders. The command given, it then snatched up a bow, darted out of the house, and returned not five minutes later with a dead buck slung over its shoulder like a sack of flour. Not an hour after that, and they had it for supper. A meal that was somewhat expedited by him breathing fire to cook the damn deer in the first place!
"Oh no, I'm no huntsman." he answered when she tried to grill him over their hearty dinner of venison and potatoes. "Just a bit...different."
"Different." Cinder snorted as she cut into her meat with ruthless efficacy and began to chew it. "That hardly describes you."
"Fair point to the lady in red." the doctor yielded with a sigh to ward off her suspicion. "Very different, then."
They chose to eat in stoic silence a moment more, neither willing to speak for a time, lest they broach the subject further. The fire-pit crackled quietly in the center of the room, casting dancing shadows across their faces in roguish glow. Cinder took the opportunity to observe him again. His violet eye seemed to shimmer like the stars in the dark, while the blue remained just as calm and placid as ever. He was hiding something. She knew it...just not what. Uncertainty gnawed at her like a nest of maggots as she ate.
Not for the first time, she was glad to have procured new clothed for herself.
Granted, the simple red tunic and breeches she wore wouldn't have been her first choice, but it at least allowed her to hide her scars and preserve her modesty, if not her sanity.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.
"You're not a necromancer or something, are you?" she asked at last.
"Hardly. You're healing well, in any case." Naruto retorted, deflecting further questioning with all the bluntness of an Ursa. "I should be able to take the stitches out soon and get rid of that cast. You might even be ready to go outside tomorrow." As she looked on, the faintest green glow coated his right hand, gone almost before she could truly hope to glimpse it. She wasn't entirely certain what he meant by that, but if it meant her freedom and expedited her recovery, she was more than willing to give it a try. A thought occurred to her, then.
"If you can heal me quickly, why didn't you do so earlier?" she snapped.
A blond brow rose again. "You weren't ready. You still might not be. Your body's part Grimm...it won't react well."
"Me? Not ready?" Cinder slammed her fists against the table with a snarl. "Who decided that?! I decide such things and I say I'm ready!"
"You're incredibly stubborn, I hope you know that," the blond continued as he polished off the last of his meal. "Most would be bedridden by the injuries you sustained. Yet here you are. Up and about, telling me to hurry and cure you. I'm not sure if that's amazing or damn foolish."
With those words her temper cooled, if only a touch.
"Of course." she scoffed. "I'm a survivor. It'll take more than this to kill me."
"So it would seem," Naruto dabbed at his bearded face, only to frown at some minor irritation. "Tch. Maybe I should shave...
Cinder couldn't help but preen a bit at his praise; backhanded though it was. After taking such a brutal bruising, her ego was eager for compliments. Starving for recognition. She wanted to prove her worth to someone, anyone really. To show that she was above the common rabble. Remind herself that she had purpose. Worth...or she would, once she ripped back her powers from that girl's corpse! That brat was probably even now training, learning to control her gifts. Stolen gifts! Once she retrieved her powers no one would dare question her again.
Sensing her negative thoughts, her Grimm arm spasmed. She clutched at it angrily and willed it to be still.
...say, does that make you a zombie now that I've revived you, then?" Naruto queried suddenly.
Her wooden plate -now empty- sailed across the table at his face. To his credit, the Sage didn't bat an eyelash; instead he nimbly caught the dish and whisked it back onto the table where she'd first snatched it. Yet again she found her opinion of him called into question. Naruto claimed not to be a Huntsman, yet he possessed absurd reflexes and a host of other unnatural abilities. Not to mention the fact that he'd quite literally brought her back to life. Normal people didn't do that. Huntsman couldn't do that. Hell, she wasn't even sure Salem could bring back the dead. Could she?
"Right, then." Naruto declared, sensing the sudden shift in her mood. "Time for bed, I think."
Cinder drew back. "I'll get there myself. I don't need your help this time.
"No, you really can't." came the retort. "You know that."
Her lone eye narrowed. "Naruto, I will end you."
"Bah!" he scoffed. "Empty threats."
Cinder tried to shrink back when he stood up and circled around to her side of the table, knowing full well what was coming next. As always she found herself powerless to prevent it-much less escape. Lashing out with her Semblance did no good anymore; she'd given up after the first day of that. In short order he swept his arms beneath her legs, pulled her into his chest, and carried her back to her cot. By all rights, he carried Cinder like a princess. THAT WAS THE PROBLEM! This was inane! Excruciating! Humiliating!
"Fear me, damnit!"
Gentle laughter rumbled in his chest.
"Right now? You're about as terrifying as wet kitten."
Cinder certainly hissed like one. "Oh for the love of-stop carrying me! I'm not going to die if I take a few steps!"
"No, that's not what concerns me at the moment." Naruto hummed as he laid her back down on the cot. Foolishly, Cinder took the bait hook line and sinker. In a fit of pique she twisted her hips and kicked out at him with all her might. Her cast cracked him upside the head. Again, she may as well have kicked a Beowulf for all the damage she did. Her host only arched an eyebrow and she found herself forced to slump in defeat.
"Fine." the words escaped her in low growl. "What the devil's bothering you, then?"
Too late, she realized she'd given him an opportunity.
Bastard even started to count on his fingers.
"Your attitude, anger, and your-
"That does it! OUT!"
Her pillow sailed right at his head like a cruise missile and promptly found itself snared to be placed beneath her cast. He straddled the bed beside and began to check her bandages, leaving her to cross both arms before her bosom and sulk impotently. She thought about killing him. It should have been easy. He was certainly close enough. All she had to do was reach out with her Grimm arm and snap his neck. She knew it wouldn't work this time, just as it hadn't before. She'd already broken his neck before. Any wound she inflicted on him healed instantly. Any aggression on her part would be simply result in laughter and yet another round of drinks.
"Would you like your eye back?"
At first, the question floored Cinder, if only because it came out of nowhere.
Instinctively, her hand flew to the ruined side of her face to cup it as she turned away from him. Her hair still hid the scar, but the marks there served as a constant reminder of her wound. She didn't like to think about it, about her wounds, or what she'd been forced to become. His inquiry threatened to stir up old memories. Ones best left forgotten.
"Bullshit." she spat the word as though it were poison. "What are you playing at? Why offer me this now?"
...because you look miserable." Blast him! That explained absolutely nothing! Infuriating man!
She forced a smile. "I see. Do you expect me to repay you with my body? Is that it?"
He yanked the pillow out from under her leg and smacked her upside the head.
Much to Cinder's surprise, it hurt more than any slap.
"What was that for?!"
"For being an idiot." Naruto snapped without any preamble. "Do you want my help or not?"
She did. More than anything. She'd never admit it aloud. Her traitorous heart had leaped at the idea of being restored to some semblance of her former glory. To admit as much would be the same as placing herself in his power. He wanted something from her. He had to. Everyone wanted something. The alternative terrified her. If there truly was someone in this rotten world who only sought to help others; who sought no reward or means of payment, then what did that make her? She'd lived by her creed, trampling others underfoot to get what she wanted. This man was the opposite of her in every way shape and form, a being who contradicted her and all but challenged her on every level. She couldn't take it. Couldn't admit it. Could barely even speak.
In the end she managed a stiff nod.
"Then grit your teeth. This is going to hurt."
With that, he laid his right hand on her ruined eye. Cinder had just enough time to glimpse his marked palm before her world went white.
"I don't feel anythiiiiiiiiiiiing?!"
Her voice betrayed her.
Naruto would later explain that it wasn't simply a matter of healing her; that he'd been essentially forced to revitalize dead skin-her scars-make her blood to circulate in an area long since dead. He'd actively regrown her eye in its socket and that...her body didn't know any other way to respond to this marvel beyond base instinct. He hadn't been joking. This pain went beyond what she'd experienced at Beacon; if only because it focused on a single locus, a singular point. There was no escape from it. And so she screamed. Over and over again, until her voice finally failed. At first, it tried to reject what it viewed as a foreign object, which in turn ratcheted the pain tenfold. Who could say how much time passed? Seconds? Minutes? Hours?
Quite suddenly, the pain vanished.
And she could see.
Cinder blinked.
"Where...
A shadow shifted in her peripherals.
"Welcome back." Naruto's gruff voice greeted her. "Again."
She glimpsed him at the foot of her bed, changing her bandages.
She rose, slowly at first, struggling to make her body respond the way she wanted to. Everything hurt. Dimly, she realized must've blacked out at some point; because the gentle light of day filtered through the roof, leaving her to squint against it as nocturnal predator might its own shadow. She felt like death. No, worse than death. Her skin slicked in stale sweat, her throat burned itself hoarse. But she could see. With both eyes. She didn't realize it at first; all the world felt wrong; after viewing it through a single lens for so long, she almost couldn't quantify it. Why was her face wet? Oh, gods. She wasn't crying, was she? No. Absolutely not. She hated such weakness.
The man tending to her was anything but; and her curiosity would no longer be denied.
"Who are you, really?"
Naruto twitched. Just a touch.
"As I've said, I'm just a humble doctor, no one important-
Cinder latched onto him like a starving woman would their meal.
"NO!" she swept her Grimm arm at him in a fit of pique. "No excuses! Tell me!"
"An eye is a small matter." her doctor deflected. "Its something I've done before. You should rest."
"And you should tell me the truth. Now." she clawed at his face, though the words tasted ashen in her mouth. "Look at you!" she jabbed a bandaged finger against his chest. "You have all this power, yet you refuse to use it. You can heal wounds, recover from any injury. Bring back the dead. You could rule this world! Yet here you hide in a hut. Helping people. Helping me. Why?"
"Sometimes the best action is inaction." came the reply. he wouldn't look at her. "I chose the latter."
Lies. He was taking action by helping her and the people of this village. That wasn't inaction in the least.
"Then you're a fool, Naruto Uzumaki." Cinder growled back aside. "Power is meant to be used, not hoarded away."
"So you've told me." He rebuffed her with a gentle sigh. "We've been over this. You do not want the gifts I have to offer."
"Of course I do! You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever." her restored sight regarded him venomously as he continued to change her bandages with his quiet, limpid sincerity. "But it just makes the rest of us hungrier. And I refuse to starve."
A muscle jumped in his jaw. "Stop being melodramatic and let me do my job."
"Why you...?! Do you have any idea what its like?! To never be good enough?" He didn't answer her, so she pressed on, words scorching her throat. "To be used and abused every moment of your life?" every second of his silence stabbed her like a blade, bringing her further and further to the edge. "To be thrown out into the street and told that you're no one! Nothing! I fought my way out of that hell. I EARNED that power! I did things you couldn't possibly imagine to obtain it! I made a deal with the devil herself!"
Sill, he refused to look at her.
Damn him! Damn him to hell for all of this!
"And when I finally gained that power? When I finally claimed that which was so rightfully mine? It was taken from me!" enraged, she reached out and grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to look at her. "I sacrificed! I bled! I cried! I did everything I could not to lay down and die! But I still did! And now its gone! Who are you to ridicule me?! You know nothing about me! I fought! You? You just hide! Like the coward you are!"
"You just described a quarter of my life." his stoic gaze regarded her silently. "To a "T". By all means, continue."
...your life couldn't have been that bad."
"My dear, you have no idea."
Cinder spat at his feet in mild derision, but didn't refuse him when he began to wrap a fresh poultice around her waist. Her lone eye never left him, watching every moment until he finally completed his task. The moment he did she tried to jerk away from him, only for him to seize her human hand in his. For a moment, just a moment, the tan flesh of his palm gleamed a ghastly white.
She didn't have time to regret her decision.
"You think you know power? You think you could bear my burden and survive. You know nothing." the words escaped him in a low snarl as his fingers tightened around her heel. "Salem? Grimm? Don't make me laugh. Look at me." White eyes regarded her with the weight of a thousand worlds, and still, he didn't relent when she tried to squirm away. "LOOK AT ME!" His voice rose, crashed like thunder, rattling heaven and earth alike. "Are you afraid? You should be. I could crush your Master and lock her away in an instant; seal her in a place so cold and dark that she'd never see the light of day. Imagine what I could do to you!
Her expression must've been telling; because he released her.
"Do you understand now? I could use this power. But I'd unleash something far worse on this world."
Just like that, Naruto stepped back fro her, the ghastly pallor fading from his visage like a bad dream, a faint memory.
"We all have our demons, Cinder. We all have our secrets. Mine are simply...more tangible than most." when she opened her mouth reply, he staved her off with a raised hand. "And you don't give yourself enough credit these days. You do have people who care about you. For instance-
"Cinder?!"
As if waiting for that very moment, the door leading to the hut crashed open, spilling daylight into the darkened room. Cinder raised her arm to ward off the sudden surge of light, to no avail. Not a heartbeat later, a teary green-and-tan blur shot across the room to cannon into her chest. She recognized her supposed attack almost immediately, even as her body struggled between fight or flight. Emerald? But this...what?! When?! Where?! Why?! When the Sage favored her with a dry look that spoke volumes, she wanted to burn him alive. But where had the girl come from? This didn't make a lick of sense. In the end, his smile answered her.
"I never said you were my only patient." the sage hummed. "I'll leave the two of you alone, for now."
Without so much as another word, he sketched a bow and departed the way she'd come.
Cinder took back everything she'd thought of him. All of it. Every bit.
This man was...impossible. She couldn't understand him. While that brief display of power had certainly rattled her, it was his words that clung on, muddying the mire of her thoughts. He claimed to know the pain she felt, to know what she'd been through. It could be a trick. A ploy used to gain power over her. He held incredible power, but rather than use it -as was his right-he kept himself sheltered away, eking out a living through these small, tiny acts of kindness. And he claimed to be content? No, she couldn't comprehend his motives. And yet now she almost wanted to, not for pride or power...
...but as a kindred spirit. More than that.
She frowned, heart twisting quietly.
No. Surely not. It couldn't be...
The very notion was absurd.
And yet it still lingered.
A/N: And there we go.
Right then, explanations:
Cinder wasn't the only one who had the tar beaten out of her back in Haven. Mercury, Emerald, Hazel; we all know they lost. Its HEAVILY implied that Naruto's taking caring of the lot of them as they convalesce from their injuries. And if he helps them become better people for it, isn't that a good thing? On another note, our boy's quite capable of bringing back the dead via a certain jutsu that I'm sure we're all aware. Why, he could even bring a certain redhead back if he had the time, the means, and the inclination. Hell, if he ever met Jaune and was asked, he'd probably do it.
*grins*
Has Cinder come around?
Only time will tell. The fans seem divided.
Surprised about Cinder's eye? Bah, we've seen stranger feats.
Going to say it right now; in a straight up fight? THIS incarnation of Naruto would butcher Salem. Unfortunately, any sort of engagement with her would all but guarantee Kaguya's release. And given what we've that one capable of...yeah. Salem is by far the lesser evil. Meanwhile, our boy's something of a village sage/doctor, offering his services to those in need of -bandit, huntsman and civilian alike- while doing his best to stay off the grid and prevent himself from Had a blast writing this chapter.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
Review...Would You Kindly?
Here's a preview~!
Hope they warm your hearts!
(Preview)
"Trying to rob me? How novel. I offered you a place at my table. The cloak off my back. And you spat in my face."
His eyes turned white.
"Right then, you're going to die now."
Cinder witnessed something horrific in that instant.
The poor, unwitting stranger who'd tried to take something from Naruto...did not die well.
"Yang! Look, look! Up here! I'm flyiiiiiiiing!"
"Ruby get down from there!"
"Wheee~!"
Mercury bared his teeth in a silent snarl. "Are you going to try and "fix" me too, old man?"
A blond brow arched upward. "I don't fix people, son...
It set him off. "I'M NOT YOUR SON!"
Naruto barely blinked.
...I help them."
"Make yourself useful and fetch me some firewood, Hazel." a tan hand shooed him away. "I'm trying to teach Emerald."
"How much?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "As much as those beefy arms can carry. Off with you now, shoo!"
Hazel grunted, but noticed what the girl failed to. For all her earlier objections, she was certainly listening now. The girl was even taking notes as Naruto explained new uses for her Semblance. Hazel listened as well. Some of those uses were rather...creative in scope. Not particularly destructive or violent mind you, but creative. Hmm. This might be good for her. Emerald was many things, but her world and views revolved around Cinder and by definition, shaped her as a person. Even he knew this was unhealthy. Girl needed some support in her life. So he lingered. And he listened.
"Now then, have you ever considered playing a prank on your metal-legged friend?"
"I've never thought about using it that way. Its hard to keep up in combat."
Naruto snorted. "Why my girl, you could be a prank queen."
Hazel heard her giggle as he left the hut behind.
Good, indeed.
"I had the pleasure of meeting the Spring Maiden, once."
Cinder snorted. "Of course you'd know that woman. Why am I not surprised.
"No, not Raven, though she is a bit of a regular." the blond waved her words away and the alarm that came with them. "I'm talking about the last incarnation. Poor girl. She stumbled upon my clinic in the dead of night. I told her not to go looking for those bandits. She didn't listen...and we both know how that wound up, don't we?"
Cinder silently seethed at the reminder, but she made no effort to release the purring kitten nestled in her lap.
Naruto arched an eyebrow. "Would you look at that? Seems that Ser Pounce has taken a liking to you."
...you are not calling our cat that."
"Our, you say? I wasn't aware you liked cats."
Her cheeks turned red. "Of course I don't! Idiot! Shut up!"
R&R~!