Big Issues
AN: Another filler chapter but one I'm sure will be amusing along with some action. Funny how things didn't add up and translate well from my mind to print... I had planned for only one more filler chapter but the sheer length from this one is making me think that I'll have two more before the Vytal Tournament begins.
Show and Tell
The dorm room of Team RWBY was quiet this morning. Blake sat on her bed reading a book that she propped up on her belly and thick thighs. Weiss was taking the peaceful time to apply a lotion to her hair and comb it out, leaving it tangle free and silky smooth. One thing that was odd besides the large lumps under the sheets on the top bunk, was that Blake had begun to sleep without her bow on, leaving her ears free in the fresh morning air.
"I'm glad that you feel that comfortable around me." Weiss comments as she watches the ears twitch and twist for sounds that the Heiress was lucky to catch, if at all.
"I probably would have let them out earlier but Ruby kept trying to rub them so she could compare them to her dogs." Blake scoffed at the last part as she had yet to relinquish her dislike of canines. She was glad that they took Zwei with them when they left this morning, she saw Ruby dropping him in her bag so he could keep sleeping.
"Wasn't Yang teasing you about your ears?"
"It wasn't so much teasing as it was annoying with her trying to test my limits with what I can hear." She huffs at the memories. "That trick with the laser pointer was bad enough."
"Laser pointer?"
Blake's eyes went wide, realizing that she may have said too much. While she and Yang had never brought it up again, she could see the sly smile on the Heiresses face as she put things together in her mind.
A knock on the door was a welcome distraction for the faunus girl, though she was quick to tie her bow on her head. Her ears were for her team only. Blake had to open the door since Weiss had her hands full of her own hair. On the other side stood Sun and Neptune, the former with his hand raised to knock again.
"Hey ladies." The blue-haired boy greets them as Weiss waves her fingers from the chair by the window. The girls had tried a slight rearrangement of their room, one that wasn't likely to last. Especially since Weiss was sitting at a table and matching chair likely taken from some restaurant with outdoor seating or even from someone's garage sale. It was then that Weiss noticed that Blake and herself were still in their sleepwear.
"Neptune!" The Heiress chirps happily as she continues her brushing.
"Nice to see you too, Ice Queen." Sun comments but was spared rebuke as the girl in question had found a knot.
"What are you two doing here?" The faunus resident was curious.
"Eh, we were bored and thought that you'd like to hang out or train a bit together." Sun shrugs.
"What happened to Sage and Scarlet?" Blake could hear Weiss growling at the stubborn knot. Inwardly, she was laughing at the mental image of seeing which was more stubborn.
"They went into Vale first thing this morning together and probably won't be back 'til dinner." Neptune responds.
"It's kinda quiet in here, where's Yang and Ruby?" Sun pokes his head into the room and sees the lumps under the covers. "Don't tell me they're still sleeping."
"Huh?" Blake looks behind her to the sisters' beds. "Oh, no. They left for home earlier this morning so they could catch the ferry. That- "She points a thumb at the beds, "-was their way of making us feel like they're still here."
"Neat idea. At least they show they care." Sun shrugs, though he finally notices the girls' state of dress.
"True." Weiss finally got the knot out and brushed the area extra thoroughly. "But if we're going to be training together, should I be expecting you to be studying how we fight should our teams ever have to face each other?"
Two sets of blue eyes and one set of amber stared at the girl for suggesting such an underhanded tactic. "Um…" Neptune raises a finger. " If that were the case, wouldn't that balance out because you'd see what we can do?"
The pale girl turned red at being called out on, pointedly ignoring the highly amused smirk from her teammate as she remembered the similar line of thinking when they first met Sun. A glance at the blonde revealed that he looked torn between amused and insulted. Neptune was more schooled in his expression, holding his usual confidence while questioning her motives.
"So… see you at breakfast before training?" Blake asks the boys and pulling attention back to the original topic.
"Sure! Should we get you anything while we're waiting?" Neptune offers with a smile.
"Some mixed fruit would be nice." Weiss didn't mind if he would get her breakfast. Almost reminded her of home with Klein.
"Fish and rice if they have it." Blake puts in her order, her fellow faunus giving her a thumbs up. "We'll get dressed and meet you in a few minutes." She pushes the door to close it and walks across the room.
The door swung open again to show Sun holding the panel of wood, looking slightly stressed and embarrassed… the latter emotion took over quickly though. "Hey Blake!" He calls out, stopping the girl halfway across the room.
"Sun?" She twisted a bit to look at the boy who was suddenly very nervous and his eyes locked on hers.
"Um…" His mouth went dry as a breeze came through the window and blew her hair and her ribbon came loose enough to fall away. "Uh, after training, think you could come to Vale with me? There's something I found I think you'd like."
"Really?" As skeptical as she was, the blonde has always treated her well, annoying at times but well meaning. Somehow, with as reckless as he was, he could offer good advice- some of which she had taken to heart.
"Yeah! We can get lunch while we're there, your choice." He offers, keeping his eyes on hers.
"She gives him a soft smile. "Okay then. I know a good place for lunch."
He closes his eyes as he smiles, glad that she accepted and out of relief, especially with his eyes being shut. "See you then!" He closes the door swiftly but quietly.
Blake could feel eyes on her, finding that it was Weiss sitting there with an out of place- on her- wide, teasing grin. "What?"
The Heiress turns away laughing. "Oh nothing. But if it makes you feel better, my opinion of him has risen a lot lately."
"It took you this long?" Blake scoffs as she sets out her combat gear to change into, her ribbon picked up off the floor and tossed on her bed with the clothes.
"If you must know, while I've seen that he lacks decorum and tact… but his hearts in the right place and he tries." She admits with a smile.
But there was something else going on with that smile that Blake couldn't quite place. Her friend was sincere with what she said. She returned to the task at hand of changing from sleepwear to combat gear. Her yukata opened as she untied the obi around her waist, noting that there wasn't much left of the tie to make a knot with; she'd have to upsize sooner than later. The yukata didn't reach as far either as there was a lot more of her to cover than there used to be. 'Getting a little tight in the arms too.' She noted as she pulled the cloth off herself, glad that today was fairly warm for an early fall day as another gust came through the window.
Then she reached to take off the short shorts that she wore for modesty… only to find nothing but her purple panties. Her hands patted her rump and legs blindly, her chest and stomach blocked any view straight down and she didn't want to look to confirm the fear and panic creeping over her.
"I was wondering when you were going to notice." Weiss sounded too smug compared to how Blake was feeling right now.
"H-how long?" She was scared to turn to her roommate.
"Last night when you found a hole in the stitching- probably from when we were playing that game- and you took them off complaining they were getting too small anyway."
"And you didn't say anything!?" Her face was as red as Ruby's cloak now.
"Your front was covered enough and it's not like we planned for that to happen." She explains in a dismissive tone as she began to undress herself.
It was noteworthy that the faunus hadn't lost any of her stealth skills now that she weighed in at over two hundred and seventy pounds. Weiss never knew she was about to become a victim of her friends' embarrassment just as her nightgown was being pulled over her head.
"Should we ask what's going on over there?" Nora openly asks her team as they relaxed in their room. The commotion of the two girls across the hall were easy to hear, even with the doors closed. The numerous thumps and shrieks raised concerns but the laughter from both settled any fears. Then again, memories of the food fight came to mind as that was highly destructive yet was all in good fun.
"Nope!" Jaune was quick to say. Having seven sisters had not only instilled a healthy respect for women but also taught him that it was best to leave the situation alone. It also helped that many of his closest friends here at Beacon were women who could kick his ass to Vale and back. He was just glad that thanks to his training from Pyrrha that he'd make them work to do so.
Ren and Pyrrha shared a glance before shrugging and going back to their books. The team was going to have a light workout later today so they wouldn't strain themselves right before the tournament.
"Think something happened to them? It doesn't take this long to get dressed." Sun comments as he eats a banana.
"Dude! Come on, you don't even button your shirt. You have no place to complain about people getting dressed." Neptune chides his friend.
"I'm just sayin', if they don't get here soon, Blake's food will get cold."
"Well, isn't that sweet?" The boys turn to see the girls they were waiting for approaching them, though Blake had her eyes locked on the bowl with another on top acting as a lid, a slight trickle of steam wafting out through the crack.
"It may be a little hard to tell which is sweeter; your voice or your breakfast. Shall we find out?" Neptune smoothly says, his attitude doing a full one-eighty compared to what he gave his buddy.
"Why thank you." Weiss gives the Mistralian boy a small curtsey before sitting across from him.
"Mmm!" Blake didn't waste any time digging into her food, savoring the flavors.
The boys' bowls of oatmeal didn't last long and it wasn't much of a surprise that Weiss finished her meal last. Blake contently patting her belly as she waited for her teammate, the flavor of her meal still on her lips that she was determined to lick away.
"You know…" Sun drawled as they walked the halls to one of the small sparing arenas. "I'd have gotten you more if they'd let us."
"Really?" Blake really wanted more fish. To her stomach and tastebuds, that bowl she had for breakfast was nothing but a tease, leaving her craving for more. She was aware of how it looked from the outside, she'd seen Yang holding packs of cookies away from Ruby, the younger girl almost desperate for the treat. Of course, the blonde would usually eat one or two to frustrate her sister, even before the Issue began. Though now she'd have an accomplice to keep the calorie bombs away, Denko and Itazura were more than willing to 'help' keep the cookies away and the sisters on their team wouldn't say no to a free snack and a show.
Her thoughts had distracted her from noticing that Sun had made sure that he was in front of her, normally he was content to walk alongside or slightly behind to follow her lead. She had noticed though, that he seemed to be fighting his own eyes to keep them locked on her own whenever he looked at her. What happened this morning was incredibly embarrassing, but he neither called attention to it when it happened, brought it up later, or used any time to stare at her body. Being surrounded by other teenagers and early twenties and having lived in camps when she was in the White Fang, she had heard plenty of what others would've done in that situation… sometimes in graphic details. Staring would have among the least offensive. Her choice of reading material certainly didn't help ease her imagination.
The rest of the walk was spent in silence, simply enjoying the company and nice weather, there weren't going to be many more warm days like this until next year. Once in the arena, they let themselves stretch their muscles and do a quick warmup in their own ways.
"How do you want to do this? Singles? Pairs? Mix partners?" Neptune asks as he straitens his jacket after stretching his back, the slight pops of his spine feeling good.
"Why don't we just go in that order?" Sun suggests with a shrug, looking somewhat awkward given he was hanging upside-down by his tail at the moment.
"Works for me." Weiss pulls out a lien card to flip to decide who's going first before they set the ground rules. It was decided that the matches would be ended after either fighter lost thirty percent of their aura so they could all continue for the three rounds.
"I hope you're ready, I'm not gonna go easy on ya!" Sun taunts as he readies his staff with a quick twirl.
"Hmph! Let's see if you can back up that confidence." Weiss levels her rapier at the monkey faunus.
Strikes came fast and from all angles possible as they dueled. This was due to how they fought with how Sun was highly acrobatic and was constantly on the move, flipping and running and jumping, his choice of weapon gave him reach over his opponent in its standard form as a staff. Weiss was more graceful as she moved, looking more like a dancer and sometimes practically skating on her glyphs or jumping between them to attack from angles few others ever could, her weapon creating a varied onslaught of elemental attacks.
"Come on Ice Queen, are you even aiming with that toothpick?" Sun taunts as he tilts his head enough to avoid a thrust. His counterattack was repelled by a glyph before she jumped away.
"Maybe you should try taking the match more seriously!" She retorts as she releases a wave of fire that forced Sun to jump to avoid the searing heat only to be blasted backwards by a gust of wind.
The monkey landed on his feet with a grin inside the ring before charging back at the girl. Weiss met him in the middle, their weapons clashing and Weiss found herself losing the contest of strength as Sun continued to push her back. Her feet slid across the floor as her lower center of gravity kept her from being bowled over as would have happened if she was lighter. Both hands were occupied keeping her sword braced against the pressure.
She was pushed near the edge of the arena and her aura was nearly down far enough to lose the round, Sun was tougher than she expected and had more aura than she did. Suddenly the pressure was relieved and she stumbled forward as he spun to the side. She barely was able to look back and raise her blade to take the brunt of the force as Sun swung his staff at her back. Myrtenaster was ripped from her grip and her back was struck, taking her aura down enough to lose the round. She dropped to her knees as she stumbled from shock to her spine and her pride.
Weiss took a few deep breaths to calm herself only to find a pair of black and yellow sneakers in front of her. Looking up, she found him offering her a hand up with a smile, her sword held by his tail. "Not bad Weiss. Might want to work on your strength a bit."
"Um, thanks." She says as she was helped to her feet and her blade 'handed' back to her.
"Go rest up, I'll see what Neptune can do." Blake pats Weiss on the shoulder as she moves to take a seat to watch, Sun dropping down on the bench next to her.
Neptune stood across the arena from Blake with Tri-Hard in hand in its rifle form. Blake merely had a hand on the hilt of Gambol Shroud but kept it on her back. "Ready for this?" The boy asks with a confident smile. Blake simply smirks and nods.
The buzzer sounded and they both drew and fired, their bullets colliding in the middle in a flash of electricity, courtesy of Neptune's choice of ammunition. Blake rushed through the blast with her blades ready only to find that her opponent had leapt backwards and fired several rounds at her. She dodged thanks to her clones taking the hits, gaining ground on the boy with every usage of her semblance.
In seconds, she was close enough to slash at him and he realized that, transforming his weapon into its guandao form and used the shaft to block her scissor attack. He pushed back the faunus with a grunt before jumping after her with his weapons swinging. The electrified blade carved ionized arcs through the air and clones as her dual mismatched blades struck when she could reach.
Blake reappeared behind Neptune after he struck at her Shadow and gave him a kick to the back that took him to the floor where she dropped her knee onto his spine- her weight blasting the air out of his lungs- and the blade at his neck and the other at the wrist still holding his weapon meant that the match was over. A glance at the monitor showed that they were both low on aura but she'd won without draining his defensive barrier.
"Not bad Neptune. Better than what I saw on the highway." Blake compliments as she helps him up.
"Thanks, but I thought I'd be used to someone using clones by now." Neptune grumbles the latter part as he glances at his friend who was giving them two thumbs up and holding a bottle of water in his tail.
"Different kinds of clones." She reminds him before making her way to the bench and taking the offered bottle from Sun before sitting between him and Weiss.
"Don't worry about it, man." Sun tosses another bottle to his buddy, making sure the cap was on tight so he wouldn't risk triggering his phobia… that would just make him look bad.
"Are we ready for the next round?" Weiss asks as she closes her own bottle. Blake leveled a slight glare at her teammate. "Or… maybe give it a few minutes so you can rest." She corrects herself and Blake relaxed.
Hestia's turned out to be a large brick and mortar building with large windows in the front for natural lighting and numerous pots of flowers and other plants placed and hanging around the entrance. Inside, there were several tables and booths along the outer walls, spaced enough to give the patrons some privacy and space. But it was the center floor that commanded attention, counters were filled with steaming pans full of food, ready for the taking under heating lamps.
Hestia's is a buffet restaurant. Full salad bar, various meats prepared in at least a dozen different ways, seafood, fruits and vegetables, an entire bar dedicated to desserts with an ice cream dispenser.
"Talon would love to come here." Itazura mutters, Denko nodding as he looks around. They knew very well of their chubby teammate's love of food in both the preparation and consumption. The place wasn't as large as Juniors club floor, likely due to the population difference between mainland and island. But it was cozy, clean, and had some good music playing through the dining area.
"That looks kinda expensive." Denko comments to Tai when he saw the receipt before they followed the hostess.
"Maybe, but here it's worth it 'cause you're not getting any premeasured portions like you'd get anywhere else. I know how much you kids can eat and this way I don't have to hear about you being hungry before we get home." The older man explains. As a semi-active Huntsman, he still had quite the appetite. Heck, he knew of eating contests that had separate competitions for Huntsmen and civilians because the warriors almost always ate more than any civilian in a single sitting.
"Makes sense. I guess we're not use to seeing so much food just sitting out like this." Denko shrugs as he walks with the group to their table.
"Ah, right. They don't have anything like this in Vacuo and you came from there only to find Beacon rationing their food. Hard to see why." Tai nods his head towards his daughters. That earned him a light jab in the arm from Yang. It was also unspoken about how little food that Denko and Itazura had available to them until Signal took them in.
"Here's your table folks. Enjoy your meals." The hostess politely says, though her eyes drifted to the plump sisters at the last part before she walked off. Yang gave her an annoyed scowl as Ruby either missed or ignored the slight against them.
"They got mac'n'cheese!" Ruby squeals as she rushes off, leaving the rest of them to follow at a more sedate pace.
"You've got to try their BBQ chicken." Yang advises Denko as she drops a large scoop of the chicken chunks on her plate. He didn't waste time following her example along with a helping of pulled pork, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and some slices of roast beef. The pair moved on to the salad bar where they filled their second plates with loaded salads. Dropping the food on the table, they found that Ruby had already returned with her first plate full of the cheesy noodles, chicken fingers, and some sliced fruits.
"You were right, this stuff is great!" Itazura compliments with her mouth full of noodles.
"I'm glad you think so." Someone says from behind the fox, making her jump as she had been too focused on her meal. "Yang? Is that you?"
The blonde swallows the mouthful of greens she had, probably a bit sooner than she should have. "Iris?" She got up and wrapped the taller girl in a hug. "What are you doing here?"
Iris is a tall girl, easily taller than Denko and just shorter than Taiyang with deep purple hair and eyes and a very slim build, as though she recently had a growth spurt and hadn't filled out yet. "Nice to see you too! She returns the hug, smoothing out her work skirt and apron once they separated. She looked her friend up and down quickly, finally getting a proper look at her. "I… I guess the rumors about what's happening at Beacon were true." She approached the subject tactfully.
Immediately, Yang's mood soured. "Yeah." She crosses her arms with a huff. "Worst part is that we can't stop it."
"They are working on a cure; heard they were close to a breakthrough." Itazura jumps into the conversation.
"Well, that's good. It would be a shame if you couldn't be a Huntress because of something like this." The Hostess admits.
"Didn't you apply to Beacon, Iris?" Ruby asks as she wipes her mouth.
"Hi Ruby. But yeah, I did. I just missed out on the entry exam." Iris didn't sound too upset. "But I'm keeping up my training while working, right Professor Xiao Long?"
Tai didn't expect to be called out on; he was enjoying the girls catching up. So, when he was pulled into the conversation, he choked a bit on the soda he was drinking. "Ah, yea. Iris has been working here part time while providing some assistance at Signal and working with the Watch."
"You're with the Watch?!" Ruby nearly shouts.
"A trainee of the Watch, but yes." Iris happily corrects the younger girl before she notices a co-worker staring at her and tapping her wrist. "I gotta go, I', on the clock for a few more hours yet. Talk later!" The girls at the table waved goodbye.
Everyone made at least two trips to the buffet line before going for desserts. Tai settling for a slice of apple pie with a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side. Itazura found a large piece of pumpkin pie to go with her vanilla scoop. Ruby has a strawberry shortcake with plenty of whipped cream and strawberry ice cream on the side. Yang had managed to construct herself a large waffle cone with scoops of chocolate, mint and fudge ripple in a chocolate shell embedded with crushed peanuts. Denko had a bowl of chocolate ice cream with peanut butter candies, crushed peanuts, hot fudge, chocolate chips, and crumbled cookies.
"Hehe, ain't that sweet? Didn't take you for a chocoholic Big Guy." Yang bumps his arm with her elbow as she teases him, Itazura giving him a knowing smirk.
"Not really, but it's a rare treat. Besides, after this I'll be done with chocolate for the rest of the day." Denko shrugs off the ribbing and digs into his dessert. "Are you sure I'm not gonna have to roll you back to my car?" He lightly slaps her stomach, noting how it was tighter and didn't jiggle as much as normal.
"Real funny." She brushes his hand away. "I always eat this much when we come here."
"No light eaters in this family." Tai laughs. He knew that for Huntsmen and Huntresses, nearly half of what money they made went into filling their guts. Not too many kept a residence until they were ready to settle down so the rest of their expenses went to weapon maintenance, ammunition, travel supplies, and travel costs. If they were lucky and frugal, they could save a fair bit for retirement. Having a team also helped with the costs and prolonged your career by keeping you alive.
"Obviously." Itazura mutters as she and everyone else settled back to let their stomachs settle a bit before they got moving again.
The paired fight between teams WB and SN was tense as the mobile girls were able to overwhelm Neptune enough to force him out of the ring before ganging up on Sun. The blonde put up a good fight against the black and white partners before he was worn down.
"That's how its done!" Weiss proclaims with pride as she and Blake give a high five to each other.
"You good? That was a hard hit you took." Neptune asks as the monkey rises to his feet.
"It's gonna take more than that to keep me down." Sun brushes his hands on his pants, using his tail to pick up his staff.
"Glad to hear it, we're fighting together again." Blake laughs as she crouches at the edge of the arena to be a little closer to eye level with him.
"I dunno about you, but I think we'll do better this time." He was certainly confident. Then again, they did decently against Torchwick and that was the first time they had worked together. They may have lost to the criminal but that could be accounted to the man having decades of experience over them and a willingness to fight dirty. The dozens of White Fang grunts had been a good distraction.
Blake gave him a smile, amused at his optimism while remembering that night far too well. But he was right. Then again… there was the old spark from her White Fang days within her that wanted to beat the humans in a fight, one that never quite left her. Now was the perfect opportunity to indulge it a bit.
Ten minutes later, the fight began. The boys and girls went after each other, pitting teammate against teammate. Weiss was forced to use her glyphs to counter against Blake's dual wielding and her clones. Neptune was being pushed to his limit as Sun came at him with his staff twirling quickly, having something of an advantage as his weapon lacked a 'business end' as Tri-Hard does and Neptune rarely used the hilt of his weapon for anything but his hands.
The clashes continued at a rapid-fire pace up until the fighting pairs drew close and Blake used her Shadow Semblance to get away from Weiss and blindside Neptune with a kick to the side. Sun saw this and decided to follow her lead, using the break to clasp his hands to focus his aura. All of his blonde hair from his head to the tip of his tail glowed a bright gold before a pair of translucent gold copies of himself appeared on either side of him thanks to Via Sun. The clones rushed at Weiss, who had barely collected herself from Blake's sudden exit from their duel and surprise attack on her partner, the flash drew her attention in time to raise her blade to stop the golden staff from striking her head.
She was shocked at how much strength the clone had, as if she were fighting the real thing again. She had to jump backwards as the second clone came from the side trying to sucker punch her. The first came at her again as the second quickly recovered and she found herself engaged in a two on one fight.
Neptune had seen the telltale sign of his leader and friend using his semblance but could do little to stop it as Blake came at him again with a smirk. A dodge from her black blade gave him the angle to see that Weiss was barely holding her own against the golden clones. He knew that Sun had something of an advantage with his semblance as it gave the faunus the ability to control his clones from a safe distance while observing the fight from a position that makes small tricks hard to pull off that could be missed for the actual fighter being close up. Given that Sun could see everything through his clones and control them separately, Weiss couldn't hide anything.
He made a couple of broad sweeps at Blake, forcing her back and as she was busy flipping back from him. He took the reprieve to transform Tri-Hard back to rifle mode and fired at Sun. Blake was able to jump in the path of the electrified bullets and used her Semblance combined with some Earth Dust from Gambol Shroud's clip to create a statue of herself that took the shots.
Neptune frowned as the statue took some damage from the pair of shots he'd fired, taking off its head and right arm. Then found himself reeling as a golden fist met his face. Just as he was recovering, a black ribbon weighted with a familiar black-bladed pistol wrapping around his rifle pulled his weapon from his hands to the grinning cat and monkey who had just let his semblance fade and left Weiss confused without her additional opponents.
Blake casually tossed the rifle out of the ring as her partner readied his gun-chucks as she kept her gun in its kusarigama form. Weiss moved next to Neptune who looked ready to continue without his weapon, though comparing him to Yang or even Sun, she could see that he wasn't used to fighting unarmed. Not that she had much experience being unarmed either, not enough to compete with Blake, let alone Sun. She could keep up with Ruby without weapons in combat, but while the girl had strength, she lacked experience and desire to fight in that manner, despite Yang trying to get her to cover that flaw in her training.
The boys ran at each other, closing the distance quickly. Neptune reared an arm back, hoping to use his height advantage to reduce his friends' advantage of still being armed. A shot was barely dodged before he punched, his fist deftly knocked aside by the short-barreled shotgun before another swung up into his chin, stunning him enough that he couldn't do anything about the black ribbon wrapping around his ankles and yanking his feet out from under him.
Meanwhile, Weiss had to deal with Sun leaping at her with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang spinning in his hands. A hard light shield bought her some time as his weapons clashed on the barrier in a series of rapid strikes before it faded and she slashed at him. His guns redirected her light blade with ease several times before he spun and dropped to kick her legs out from under her. He rose quickly and pointed both guns in his hands at her… on either side of the rapier she had pointed at him and close to stabbing him in the chest.
At the same time, Blake had used her ribbon to tie up Neptune's wrists and a loop around his neck to ensure he couldn't move, complete with a foot on his stomach, her heeled boots sinking a bit into his coat and gut.
The silence that permeated the arena was only broken by the heavy breathing of the four combatants, breathing that slowly turned into laughter.
"Haha! We won!" Sun was proud as he stowed his weapon under his shirt again as Weiss flopped back to lay on the ground.
"Not bad." Weiss was disappointed that she'd lost this round, twice to the same guy today. She did accept the hand to pull her to her feet. They watched as Blake untangled Neptune from her weapon.
"Well, that was embarrassing." Neptune straitens and brushes off his jacket.
"C'mon buddy. Just because you lost every fight today doesn't mean you're a bad fighter." Sun tries to cheer him up with a pat on the back.
"Umm…" Weiss couldn't find the words without trying to sound like she was denying reality. Neptune gave his friend a flat look showing that he didn't buy the 'encouragement'.
Blake grabs Sun by the arm and pulls him away from their friends. "That's enough. You promised to buy me lunch and I'm hungry for fish."
Sun was confused about how she was taking charge of things right now but he had no problems with following, he did make a promise after all. He was just glad that he'd noticed that Vale's fish prices were cheaper than any other Kingdom, given that Vacuo resided in a desert, Mistral regulated the fishing in the lake heavily, and Atlas was far inland compared to Vale having its own coastline. Given how Blake was reacting to the prospect of seafood, he just hoped that his wallet held enough lien, he didn't want to ask Blake to help pay the bill.
"She… really loves her fish, doesn't she?" Neptune asks Weiss as they watched the blonde getting dragged out of the arena.
"You have no idea."
"Welcome home girls!" Tai announces as he opens the front door for his daughters and guests. The cabin in the woods hadn't changed much over the years. Same open field until the tree line so the family had room to move around when playing games or training while providing a distinct lack of cover for any Grimm hoping to attack the home. The same flower boxes outside under the windows, the bare training area just seen through the trees behind the house... it was good to be home.
"What about our house?" Itazura asks once inside.
Tai immediately looked uncomfortable, raising concerned looks from the younger generation. "Well… after you moved out and went to Shade Academy, the Headmaster decided to continue the ward program and now the house you had is occupied by new students. We even built three more to handle the other students in that program." He explains, not looking particularly proud that the home he had helped to secure for them was no longer theirs.
"But they can stay with us, right?" Ruby asks, nearly begging.
"That was the plan." The father admits. "You two can have the guest room since the girls already share a room unless Itazura wants to sleep with them to keep the girls together."
"Yeah! It's like a sleepover!" Ruby grabs onto the faunus and uses her semblance to take them up the stairs.
"I guess will be a fun weekend." Denko comments as he drops onto the couch.
"No kidding." Yang follows suit next to him before grabbing her stomach. "Urp! Maybe I should let it settle a bit more."
"Bit off more than you can chew?" Denko smirks at her.
"You know I cleaned my plates."
"I noticed, but I thought seven was lucky?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You want me to sit on you? I'm not gonna move for a while if I do." She warns him.
"Meh, you didn't grow much back there to worry about." Denko dismisses as he relaxes into the soft cushions. A quick punch to the kidney made him flinch and fall to the side holding the abused area. Then a shadow loomed over him as Yang lay down on top of him, her food baby bulge rising high into the air as his hands were pinned under her back and her hair covering his face.
"Hmm… not bad." Yang wriggles a bit on top of Denko. "I could get used to this."
"At least you're not waking me up like this again." Denko huffs as he blows some hair away from his mouth.
Tai shook his head at the antics of the blondes. They had done things like that since they were kids so it was nothing new to him. He simply sat on his chair and turned on the tv. They may have done things like this for years, but they were young adults. Having him close by would dissuade the more forward of the two, his daughter, from pushing limits. Still, it was good to see that they were as close as ever.
Upstairs, Itazura looked around the room that the sisters shared. It was rather easy to tell which side belonged to which sister, tan sheets covered both beds that softened the darker wood of the walls and the comforters and pillows matched on each bed, dark orange on the bed to the left and dark red on the right side. Between the beds sat a nightstand with a lamp that held an orange lampshade. Next to the red bed hung a pair of pictures, one of auroras of Atlas and the other of mountains of Mistral. In the corner of Ruby's side, a few corner shelves held small figures of Grimm and a string of lights hung around the shelves. A mirror hung on the wall that allowed Ruby to see herself from her bed. On the other side of the room near the door, sat a desk with two shelves of books over it with a rolling chair in front. Next to the bookshelves hung a pair of pictures of landscapes; waterfalls from Mistral, forests of Vale, the desert twilight of Vacuo just after sunset. The green curtains by the windows with the stripes of orange, tan, and red brought some extra color to the room. The sloping ceiling was still painted beige as always.
"I guess we'll set you up between our beds unless you want to share my bed?" Ruby says, remembering the times when they were younger when the faunus would stay with the Xiao Long-Rose family.
"I think I'll make my bed on the floor this time. We're getting a bit big for the bed and last time you crushed my tail." Itazura recalled the night before she and her brother left for Vacuo staying over with the family that helped them so much and how she and Ruby slept together… until she woke up to Ruby having her tail in a death grip and yanking on it in her sleep. It didn't help that her tail was bent in half when she was doing it either. Thus, she had to make the trip to the desert with her tail in a splint to make that great first impression. "Just don't step on me or I'll make sure your hair is blue when we go back to Beacon." The fox threatens.
Ruby didn't know which would be worse, being on the receiving end of Itazura's pranks or Weiss' attempts to prank her back. Last time Ruby had pranked the heiress with a bucket of water over the door, the high-class girl had frozen the bucket of water before dropping it on Ruby's head. The unexpected impact had knocked the girl out for a while and spent the night with the nurse. Apparently, Yang and Blake got revenge for her, something that the three girls refused to expand upon beyond that it happened.
Dropping her bag, the fox wandered to look at the guest room, finding that it was fairly bare, with only a single bed and nightstand, deep purple drapes hung by the window. No pictures, no decorations. Supposedly, Qrow would use this room if and when he'd stay with his family. Tai having his own room at the end of the hall. She wondered if the man allowed the pictures of Summer to stand correctly to be seen. From what she remembered; it would be hard for the man to ignore those pictures with how closely his daughter resembles her mother. She'd seen the picture of Yang's mother and could see the resemblance between the women, though Yang had her father's blonde hair and her eye color had blended from her parents. Add in the girl taking after her fathers fighting style with more than a bit of her mother's stubbornness (from the stories that Qrow had told her). There was no denying that they were family.
It was a shame that Yang had been thrust into playing mother and sister after Summer had died, but maybe that was part of the reason the girl was so caring to those close to her. Her team was practically family to her and there was no way she would abandon them as her mother had done to her.
"It's kind of quiet down there. Think they fell asleep watching tv already?" Ruby asks as she gestures to the stairs. Itazura shrugs before following the younger girl back down to see Tai watching a documentary about Lake Matsu and its floating islands. It was the sight on the couch that made the girls laugh though, with Yang nearly smothering Denko under her with her hair.
An: Got a new art piece to go with this chapter that was finished yesterday to give some life to the scene of Sun asking Blake out to Vale. It can be found on my DA page. Also, kinda funny to think that if anyone reads fics where weight gain is the focus, they are normally a single chapter and will have a lot of food available in some way. It took twenty six chapters to even bring up a buffet.
Still, the girls aren't happy about their weight gain, even if they've accepted that they are stuck with growing bigger for now. Doesn't mean that some of them won't use their size to their advantage in some way. That and Yang might be a few words away from decking anyone who calls her fat.