A/N: As ever, the Embers Rule persists. Sorry, but its the sad truth.
I don't have a team anymore, meaning I'm writing almost EVERYTHING by myself. As such, I haven't the time to write a story no one likes. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourselves heard! Furthermore, I was going to update something else today, but someone claimed this is a oneshot and that I wouldn't update this again. So, here we are! Updating this early to prove a point.
Now let's move onto your questions, comments and concerns.
Q: How do you keep updating daily there, bud? You sacrifice your soul or something?
A: In a word, its dedication. Also, pushups-situps, and plenty of juice.
Q: Update more non-RWBY stuff! Please? I'll give you a cookies!
A: Um...? I've been doing that? I'm updating just about everything genre-wise, so there you are. Hell, in the last few days I updated a Lord of the Rings crossover, Game of Thrones, (TWICE!) Fate, Resident Evil, and two Genshin stories.
If that's not proof that I'm willing to other things, I don't know what is.
Q: Where are we in the timeline here?
A: As stated, this is before the Vision Hunt decree. The timeline itself is deliberately murky, however. There's a reason for that.
But yes, we'll see the Traveler...and their harem.
None for Naruto this time! He's a one woman man in this story. Well, two if one counts the shogun...
Q: Sooo...just out of curiosity, who do you enjoy more? Ei? Or the Shogun?
A: Solid tie there. Further, its been stared that Ei/Raiden are two different beings. One is real and resides in her sword, while the other is a puppet she uses to interact with the world. But said puppet has quite a few voice lines and personality besides.
Does that not make the Shogun just as much a person as Ei?
Q: Give us a Naruto POV, damnit! This story better not all be from Ei's perspective!
A: Ask NICELY and you shall receive. As to why he's so relaxed, why wouldn't he be? This is a Naruto near the end of his arc, his power intact, Kaguya sealed, Sasuke saved, yet in the same vein, a good bit some time before the events of the "Last" as we know it. He's won his wars, knows nothing of love, and really just wants to get home.
Ei is the only way, so far as he's concerned. Now if only she'd listen.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes.
Really! That ought to be bloody obvious. Now then...
...are you ready? Set? Goooooooooooo~!
"How long can you keep doing this?!"
"Over and over again. And that makes you my prisoner."
"Enough! Make this end! Tell me what it is that you want, already!"
"I wanna be your friend, silly!"
~?
Second Audience
Naruto loved a challenge.
Wait, perhaps that wasn't quite right.
He didn't so much enjoy a challenge as he did proving people wrong.
After all, he'd been doing it from moment of his birth. That boy can't contain the Fox, they said. Did it anyway. He'll never be a shinobi, they said. Did that, too. You'll never earn the respect of the village. Well, would you look at that! He'd done all that and more. He'd fought against impossible foes, sealed Kaguya, bested Sasuke, and somehow kept the lion's share of the Sage's power.
You can't save the world, they said.
You cannot be a hero, they said.
He'd done all hat and more.
Really, the only thing he hadn't accomplished yet was become Hokage. And he would. Just as soon as he figured out how to get home. And he was going home. Really. He was! One way or another. He just...had a tiiiiny little detour to take first. He'd still find his way back. What was a brief hiatus compared to that?
You see, he had a Shogun to save.
"You're daft." Kurama muttered as he they ascended the steps anew. "She tried to kill you! And you're going back for more?!"
"To be fair," Naruto smiled and casually batted aside another attacking guard, "Most of my friends tried to kill me."
"Name one!"
"If you insist." He caught a spear, snapped it in half and brained its owner across the head with it. "Gaara, Neji, Sasuke...
"This Shogun still nearly got you." came the retort. "Or have you forgotten just how quick she is?"
An arrow bounced off their cloak and was summarily ignored. "She still failed."
"Only because you used shadow clones!"
Perhaps he had a point there. The Raiden Shogun was a great deal more agile than his average opponent and stubborn to boot. She'd be a tough nut to crack. But that was the challenge, wasn't it? She clung so tightly to her beliefs. He wanted to know why. Wanted to learn what had hurt her so badly that she'd all but locked herself away from the world.
He needed to know; if only so he could help her.
Three men and a woman rushed him, swords drawn. He floored them with a pulse of killing intent, stepped over their bodies, and continued upward.
Initially he'd simply intended to meet the Shogun and ask for a portal home. Nothing more, nothing less. He hadn't put much stock in what he'd been told of her until he'd actually met the poor girl. Not a woman. A girl. She might have the body of a young woman, but she was throwing the same sort of tantrum a small child might. One terse conversation made up his mind. He wasn't sure what made him pity this Raiden individual, only that he did. She was a lonely soul and gosh darn it, he was going to help her. Whether she liked it or not. He'd drag her kicking and screaming to happiness if he had to!
And really, when you visited someone, you ought to bring them a gift.
...you're truly set on this course, aren't you?"
"Yup." Naruto turned his gaze toward the door, and the last bastion of soldiers guarding hit. "C'mon, now." he muttered, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow, still cradling the box under his right arm. "Gotta be quick about this. Yae said this stuff won't keep for long...
And so he went back to to visit the Raiden Shogun. As he'd promised.
A ninja never went back on their word after all.
Certainly not him!
(.0.0.0.)
True to his word, the intruder returned the following day.
Ei knew it by the sudden hue and cry her guards gave when faced with his arrival; they would falter for no one else. She could hear the clamor from here; like the drums of some great hunt steadily drawing closer. Even so, she tried to ignore him. She had made preparations for this very moment; doubled her guards and summoned several members of the Kujou clan to ensure she would be left undisturbed. Surely the first time had been a fluke. Surely he wouldn't get past them twice.
Ignorance truly is bliss.
"Halt, outlander!" She heard Kujou Sara's voice from beyond the door, muffled just so by the barrier leading to her throne. "You're under arrest!"
"I am?" she could just imagine him squinting at her remark. "Funny. Nobody told me that."
"You will go no further!"
"Sorry," she heard him say, "I don't have time to play with you today. Food's gonna melt. Behold!"
He must've done something then, because Sara absolutely shrieked. "Lady Shogun?! What witchery is this?!"
Ei burst to her feet and slammed through the doors.
"Cease!" she flung them apart, intent on hacking the blond bufoon to pieces if he'd harmed so much as a hair on her retainer's head. "Leave this instant or I will...will...?"
Her voice trailed off as a plume of smoke faded from without. Her retinue lay insensate at her feet. Several bled from their noses, yet no blow had been thrown; for he stood a good distance away from the lot of them. He had a strange package tucked under his right arm, the fingers of which were just falling out of some strange symbol...
"What have you done to them?"
Naruto
"Slapped your face on a Good 'ol Sexy jutsu." came his cheeky response. "Worked like a charm." he stole a glance at Sara's prone form, and the deliriously giddy grin she wore. "Especially on her...
.
..
...
The Shogun did not understand. "Pray tell, what is this jutsu you speak of? And what does it have to do with my likeness?"
"...right." Oddly enough that caused the young man to flush. He coughed into a fist and looked away, strangely red in the cheeks. Was he ill? "Probably something I'm not gonna use in front of you. Ever. I like my bits where they are, thank you very much!"
"Why have you returned?" Truly, he baffled her. Did he expect a different result? "Do you seek to challenge me before the throne?"
"That's a thing?" he perked up like a kitsune she knew oh so well. "But no, I'm not here for that." his grin returned tenfold. "It was painful, wasn't it? Being alone. I thought you could use some comfort food." now that smile became a bit sheepish. "I wanted to give you Ramen, but "she" told me you liked sweet things, soooo...
She? Did he speak of Yae? No, irrelevant. That slight could not be ignored. "And what could you possibly know of loneliness?"
"Me?" Before her very eyes, the blond planted his feet. "More than you could possibly imagine." something ugly flashed through his whiskered visage, the burden of a pain and misery that dwarfed her own, gone when she lbinked. "That's why I want to help you, ya know. Tell ya what." even as he cradled the box with one arm, he offered her the other. "I'll make the same offer again. Let's be friends! I'll tell you my story, and you can tell me yours, whenever you like."
A spark flashed through her eyes. "I have no wish to do so."
"Yer heart says otherwise" Symapthy flitted across his face. "You really are a bad liar, miss Shogun."
Impudent...arrogant...churl...! The spark became a storm, darkening the room itself. "You would defy me again?"
"Lady," the boy who may-or-may-not be a kitsune tittered, "I've been defying gods and monsters since I was born. What's one more?"
He wasn't making a lick of sense. Enough! She'd slay him for sure this time. There would be no escape.
Ei readied her polearm. "You will not escape me...!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Naruto flung up a hand before she could advance. "I didn't come here to fight! I brought you a gift!"
Before her very eyes he unfurled the package in his hands and thrust it into her palms. She flailed at it, struggling to catch the item in question.
Revealed to Ei's eye,s a strange scarlet ceramic ...bowl of some sort awaited, filled to the brim with an odd substance of brown-white-and-pink. A single solitary spoon lay within, ready to be plucked at her leisure. What was that? Cream of some sort? It felt oddly chilled. She thrust out a finger to touch it again. Cryo, perhaps? Violet eyes narrowed upon it. No, there was no elemental work at play here. This was something else entirely. By the principles, what was this?
She said as much. "...what is this foolishness?"
"Its not foolishness." Naruto dipped the spoon in and held it out to her. "Its called desert. Also known as ice cream. Wanna try?"
Ei perked up deep within her, even as the Shogun pursed her lips.
Naruto remained implacable. "You do, don't you?"
"Nonsense! As if I would ever...!"
"Say aaaah~!"
Before his eyes Raiden looked left. She looked right. She made whole certainly no one was watching. None were. Her guards were quite insensate, and Sara with them. Her gaze flitted back to the bowl, to that tempting treat within. And then?
Her mouth closed around the spoon.
"So? Will you help me now?"
The silence was telling.
...more."
He laughed. "I didn't realize the Raiden Shogun could be so greedy."
Something shifted in her chest. The Shogun shifted as her true consciousness pushed itself to the fore.
...my name isn't Raiden." the words escaped her in rush. "Its Ei."
"Huh?" Before her eyes he squinted. She found it oddly adorable. "Then who have I been talkin' to this whole time...?"
"Well," she touched a hand to her chest. "Strictly speaking, the Shogun is also a person, in a sense...
It was just an Audience. She wouldn't let him sway her. She refused to be swayed!
How little the Shogun knew. She'd already lost.
Now? It was only a matter of time.
A/N: Had to cut a few things including the "Papa" bit until later. Its a bit too early for that...even if some folks have figured out who it is.
As ever, the Embers Rule persists. So? Should this be a story?
By all means, speak up! Make yourselves heard!
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the Previews!
As ever:
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Read at your own risk!
As ever, these are from the far flung future...or are they~?!
(Previews!)
She tried to kill him again, of course. It was only perfunctory.
"You're running a fever."
He batted her hand away. "S'nothing. I feel fine...
...so technically you're two people, right?"
Color flooded her cheeks. "That is a most improper way to put it!"
"Ya ever thought about separating yourself from the Shogun? I mean, it sounds like she deserves a life, too...
"And this is to go...!"
"No! Cease! DON'T YOU DARE!"
"Fine, fine," he subsided with a sulk. "Can't have any fun...
"No."
She didn't expect him to put his foot down. "I beg your pardon?"
"I said no." she couldn't see him, now while he brushed her hair, but his voice was pure steel. "Leave their Visions alone. Let the people be."
Visions induce change. Change not eternal.
"On that we disagree, change IS eternal, because it'll always happen, one way or another...
Signora gasped as firm finger tightened around her throat.
"You know, you interrupted a very touching moment just now. I'm rather cross with you.
"You would't dare...I'ma fatui ambassador...!
He scoffed. "Fatui-ptooey! I don't even know what those are!
Behind him, he heard the rasp of steel.
"Ei, no. We've been over this. No killing." he paused. "Or is it Raiden I'm speaking to?"
...she is an enemy."
He chorted but a little.
"Hello again, your Shogunness!"
Signora whimpered in his grasp. "Mercy?"
R&R~!