Welcome to the sixth chapter of Troublesome Brats!
I truly apologise for the delay. My exams are right around the corner, so I won't be able to update much in the coming weeks like before. Again, I apologise.
Anyway, reviews!
EpicLinkSam: Yep! Adachi is going to get himself involved in all this. However, this story happens after the events of P4AU, so I guess you can say that he's a slightly changed man. Slightly. Still, it's good to see that you're excited about this. And I may add more characters from different games, but it'll take some time.
The Emblem of Ice: Of course! I needed a detective for the story, then bam! Here he is! Good to see that you're interested about this.
Frank Horrigan: Willie Pete!? You're willing to use Willie Pete on a harmless TV!? That's just extreme!
GameboyNinjaUltimate Icarus: It's cool. We all have busy lives here. It's the thought that counts, buddy. I'm just here waiting for the next update for your Grimmborn story.
Saru: Haha! I'm glad to see that you find it to be funny!
Now with those aside, let's read!
I do not own anything.
-IIXII-
"This is the fourth time this week."
Adachi nodded. He took out a small notepad and started writing down some notes regarding the corpse near his feet, not minding the smell. "You can say that again." He moved a bit in order to examine the corpse from a different angle, squinting his eyes as he cupped his chin. "Hmm..."
Jin sighed. "Anything?"
Adachi hummed. He kept away his notepad and eyed the male corpse, particularly around the neck area. "From what I can tell, the murderer made sure to silence our friend here by slicing his neck open, though I can't say much about the hole in his gut. The only thing I can figure out is that he was attacked from behind, just like the previous ones we've discovered."
"I was talking about clues regarding our little murderer," Jin clarified, annoyed.
"In that case, no," Adachi answered, eyes closing. "And you're not the only one who's stressed out because of this. Were it not for this, I'd be drinking with Dojima right about now..."
"I care not for what you have planned for today, Adachi." Jin turned and walked off, intent on searching for possible clues nearby that would lead them to their little annoying murderer. The sooner he can get this investigation over with, the better. "Just keep searching."
Adachi shrugged at that. "Whatever you say. At least I'm getting paid for doing all this."
Jin spared the man a brief glance, as a thought occurred to him. "I find it odd why they are willing to do that, despite all the crimes you have committed in the past." He narrowed his eyes. "That aside, I suggest you to stop fooling around and take this seriously. I am in no mood for pointless jokes."
"Hey hey," Adachi smiled, though he had his back turned to his superior. "do keep in mind that I'm a changed man. Making me remember all that was a bit uncalled for, don't you think?"
"Hmp." Jin rolled his eyes. "Like I give a damn about you and your shitty feelings."
Adachi chuckled. "Now that's just painful."
-IIXII-
"Sooo...what do you wanna do?"
Kval, who was in the middle of drying his hair with a towel, looked at Yang from the corner of his eyes, puzzled by the question itself. "What do you mean?" he asked back.
"I mean, we're both here..." Yang turned to him, and couldn't help but widen the size of her eyes when she got a good look at his own, which were usually hidden by his bangs. Shock. That's what she felt. "Uh..."
"Do I really look that weird to you?" Kval, figuring that his hair was dried enough, moved his towel away from his hair, allowing his long bangs to hide his serpentine eyes once more. "Well no matter. It's not like I mind or anything."
"N-No no, it's just..." Yang stared at him, still wide-eyed. "...I wasn't expecting to see your eyes today." Were it not for Kval's presence, then she would've probably punched herself as punishment for saying something so lame. "I-I mean..."
Kval laughed. "I understand. I can't really blame you for being so surprised, now can I? Anyway, thanks for preparing me that hot bath. After running around in the rain earlier today, I guess I can say that it's just what I needed."
"Yeah." Yang nodded, grinning. "And I guess we should thank the house for having two bathrooms instead of one."
Kval can honestly say that he wholeheartedly agreed with that statement of hers. With his polite nature, he probably would've allowed Yang to go first if the house had only one bathroom instead of two, and that would've taken forever for him to take his own turn. He was getting a bit lucky today, it seemed.
"Now," Kval cupped his chin. "what should we do?" He briefly glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, noting that it was 7:33 PM. "We still have a lot of time, and..." He quickly snapped his fingers, eyes widening. "Oh yeah. Shouldn't Weiss and Blake be here? With that said, where are they even? It's getting quite late."
Yang shrugged. "I don't know. Those two usually arrive early, but seeing that they're late, I'm guessing that they're busy with chores or something."
"Chores?" Kval questioned. "What kind of chores are you-" He was suddenly interrupted when someone came knocking on the door. Kval turned to said door, spared a brief glance to a grinning Yang, and decided to walk his way over.
Opening the door, Kval was then greeted with the sight of Weiss and Blake staring back at him with their indifferent expressions. Despite hiding it fairly well, he managed to witness the slight surprise in their eyes, which was probably due to him answering the door rather than Ruby.
"Kazuma...Kval, was it?" Blake started, blinking a few times. "What are you doing here?"
Smiling nervously, Kval opened his mouth to speak.
"Haven't you guys heard?"
Only for him to end up getting interrupted by a certain blonde.
"Starting from today, we'll be having a caretaker!"
"What!?" Weiss exclaimed, eyes narrowing.
"That's...unexpected," Blake muttered, wide-eyed.
"Hahaha..." Kval scratched his head. "Y-You heard her..."
Weiss crossed her arms, not feeling quite happy after receiving the sudden news. She glared at Kval, and inquired, "What makes you qualified enough to be our caretaker? I mean, you are basically the same age as us for heaven's sake!"
"Eh?" Kval tilted his head to one side, lifting his eyebrows ever so slightly soon after. "Pardon for the correction, but I never did say anything about myself working as your caretaker."
Weiss' anger turned to confusion. "What do you mean?"
"It means that he's not the caretaker. Duh!" Yang said, rolling her eyes while she was at it. "Seriously Weiss, quit blowing yourself up in front of others for no reason."
In response, Weiss closed her eyes and turned away with a huff. "Whatever..." she grumbled.
"Then..." Blake raised an eyebrow, eyeing Kval. "...who is our caretaker?"
"Why," Kval smiled. "that would be my older brother."
His smile quickly vanished, however, when a white glyph of sorts appeared near Weiss' hand.
-IIXII-
Terumi laughed as he stomped his foot onto Cinder's head, eyeing the downed woman with satisfaction, and the pained look displayed across her face nearly gave him a boner for heaven's sake! This was what he'd always wanted. Oh how long it has been ever since he'd started wishing for this...
For Cinder to finally know her place.
"You should know better than to remind me about the fucking rent, you little bitch," he said, sounding all high and mighty. Why? Because he can.
"M-My apologies. I-It won't happen again, I swear," she whimpered like an abused animal, her eyes not meeting her tormentor's for multiple reasons. Cinder attempted to move one of her hands near Terumi's foot with the intention of freeing herself, but was frightened immensely when he slapped it away.
"Move that filthy hand near my foot one more time and I'll end you, got that?" Terumi started adding pressure to the woman's head with his foot, grinning from ear to ear like a true sadist. He tilted his head when silence greeted him. "I don't hear an answer."
Cinder mumbled something.
"What was that? I can't hear you, dammit!" Terumi growled.
Cinder slowly met his eyes with her own, and opened her mouth...
"Wake up you dunce!"
Something hard and cold slammed into his gut, knocking the air from his lungs.
"Guha! What the fuck just hit me!?"
Terumi held his gut in a pained manner, wincing every now and again, before quickly focusing his attention on his attacker. He gritted his teeth and emitted a low growl, not because of the sight of a certain white-haired brat glaring at him which greeted his eyes. Oh no. Instead, it was because of that baseball bat made out of pure ice in the brat's hands.
Oh how he wanted to bash her head in with that fucking bat. Too bad his job didn't allow it.
"You midget! What was that for!?" he snarled.
"For slacking off!" Weiss answered, the ice bat in her hands vanishing without a trace moments later. She then scoffed. "I'm still unable to believe that you are our caretaker. A pretty lousy one at that."
"Lousy?" His left eye started twitching, no doubt due to the brat's insult.
"Precisely!" Weiss exclaimed. She gestured towards him with her hands, as well as gazing at him with a judgemental look in her icy orbs. "I mean, just look at yourself! Ugh. Do not even get me started. I'd be wasting my breath!"
Were kids always like this?
Were they always seeking different ways to end their lives before reaching adulthood?
To him, it sure seemed like it.
"Just what the hell is your problem!?" Terumi made a move to raise himself up from the couch in order to tower over Weiss, but a certain girl wearing a red cloak didn't allow it. Despite all the commotion, Terumi was surprised to find little Ruby still asleep on his lap...and maybe a bit annoyed at the fact that she was drooling all over his trousers.
That's when it finally occurred to him.
Wait a second, when did she even fall asleep in the first place? Last thing I remember, she was drawing...
Terumi furrowed his brows as he eyed Ruby, completely ignoring a fuming Weiss who was standing directly in front of him. It was clear that he was doing it on purpose.
"Don't ignore me!" the little bratty brat yelled. "I swear-"
If Weiss wasn't so close to him, then Terumi probably would've never been able to reach out and grab her by the head in the first place, cutting her off and, despite not wanting to admit it, frightening her. He gave the little brat an intense stare so intense that her face ended up turning whiter than it had ever been. Then, he slowly brought a finger to his lips as a sign for her to shut the hell up before he'd start doing something she might regret.
Weiss, wide-eyed and scared, nodded once and found her eyes moving down to the floor, avoiding his stare.
And with that, Terumi released Weiss' head and pulled his hand back to his side, his eyes moving over to Ruby, who was still sleeping.
Yang and Blake eyed the scene displayed before them with widened eyes, shocked and amazed at the same time. They wanted to say something, truly they both did, but unfortunately the scene was just so shocking that it made their brains stop functioning. Weiss was normally hard to deal with, and no one other than her sister could handle her, so seeing Terumi silencing her by just staring was a sight they had never expected to see.
Somewhere inside the living room, Kval found himself chuckling at their priceless reactions.
"Well," Yang started, blinking. "that was one way when it comes to handling her."
"I agree." Blake nodded.
Weiss, with her head hanging, slowly backed away from Terumi and hid herself behind Yang, much to the blonde's surprise. "S-Say anything..." she stuttered, "...and I'll kill you."
Yang laughed nervously.
"Kazuma," Terumi called out, his eyes still trained onto Ruby. "go get a pillow and a blanket. I'm going to assume that you've explored the house while I was asleep and know where to get them, so hop to it."
"Understood." Kval nodded and walked off, smiling to himself. "I'll return in a minute or two," he said.
Now with his little brother no longer inside the room, silence started making itself known.
Yang, Weiss, and Blake remained where they were, awkwardly staring at Terumi with little to no idea of what they should be doing.
Terumi sighed. He carefully moved himself and scooped little Ruby up in his arms, his expression revealing a bit of annoyance, notably his eyes. Terumi went up to his feet and set her down on the couch in a much more comfortable position, before placing his hands on his hips as he grumbled something under his breath.
"Um..." Yang sounded.
Terumi turned his head around and focused his eyes onto the three girls behind him, peering at each of them from underneath his hood. Figuring that he didn't know any of their names, Terumi held his head up high and emitted a dark aura in order to make himself look intimidating, just so he could capture their attention. "Names," he demanded.
"I'm Yang Xiao Long," Yang answered. Instead of feeling intimidated, she was honestly confused as to why he was looking at them like that, though it probably had something to do with having a mother like Raven Branwen. The look wasn't going to work on her, it seemed.
"Blake Belladonna," Blake continued, her eyes half-lidded. Yup. Not working.
Weiss peeked her head out from behind Yang's shoulder. "Weiss Schnee," she mumbled. And judging by her eyes, it seemed that the look was working on her, and only her, albeit slightly.
Terumi nodded. "Yellow, Black, and White. Got it. Alright then, White! Got get me a tissue so I can clean myself." He stared at his trousers with a disgusted face, particularly the spot where Ruby had done her business. "Ugh." It was all sticky and all over the place, which added more to its disgusting feature. That said, he failed to notice the glares given to him by the three girls, not that he would've cared even if he did.
"Get our names right," Yang said, her eyes narrowing. She folded her arms and hardened her glare when Terumi set his eyes on her, standing her ground.
He scoffed. "I see no reason to do that. Especially when it's you. Your name's a mouthful." Which was true. Even if he tried practicing saying her full name every single day, then he was sure to get his tongue all tangled up as results. And he sure as hell had no intention of seeing that happening. "Just go get me a tissue so I can start cleaning my trousers for hell's sake."
"I see no reason to do that," Blake said, literally copying his words.
Terumi clicked his tongue. "Now you listen here, Black!"
"Blake," the young faunus corrected.
"Blake, Black, whatever! Just go get me a tissue!" Terumi closed his eyes and massaged his forehead, restraining himself from doing anything that would get him arrested. He succeeded. Barely. "You kids know this house better than I do, and the one getting me that tissue is either you two, or White. Now go."
"Not until you get our names right," Yang decided, her eyes revealing how stubborn she was being. She inherited that trait from her mother, after all.
"I agree!" Weiss exclaimed, only to cower away behind Yang once more when Terumi started giving her another one of his intense stares. "I-I won't move from this spot until you've learn how to say our names right," she stuttered.
"White..." he warned.
"I'm not moving," Weiss decided, despite sounding scared. "And nothing you say will change my mind."
"A stubborn bunch, you girls are," muttered Terumi. He could feel the desire to lash out at them surfacing itself from deep within himself, but he managed to keep it at bay. Again, barely.
"And we will keep being stubborn until you get our names right!" Yang declared.
Terumi gritted his teeth. "Why you little..."
"Oh?" Kval made his appearance known to everyone by entering the living room with a pillow and a blanket in his arms. He smiled in a polite manner, and politely inquired, "What is this I hear about names and being stubborn?"
"Your big brother is being a big brown turd by not getting our names right!" Yang explained, turning to Kval with an angry face which he found slightly frightening.
"Who the hell are you calling a turd!?" Terumi shouted with a twitching eye, angry beyond measure.
"Who else?" Yang challenged, her lilac eyes flickering to red for just one moment before reverting back to their original color.
Kval had a feeling that this was going to happen quite often from now on, judging by how things were going. Still, he just hoped that things won't escalate in the coming future.
"Is your brother always like this?" Blake asked, feeling calm despite the situation. She spared Yang and Terumi a brief glance when the two started raising their voices, but said nothing about it.
"Well," Kval scratched his cheek, frowning. "sort of, I guess." He went over to the couch, ignoring a certain pair of people arguing loudly inside the very same room he was in, and placed the small pillow he was carrying under Ruby's head, smiling slightly at the sight of her sleeping face. I have to say that she looks quite adorable when she's asleep, he admitted.
"Myuh..." Ruby turned away from Kval, still asleep despite all the commotion.
"Huh. It doesn't seem like she needs a blanket," Kval noted, tilting his head to one side. He looked over at the blanket he was carrying, before shrugging. "Oh well. I'll just carry it then."
"Y'know what? Fine!" Yang shouted. "I'll get you your tissue! Just you wait!" She turned and ran to the stairs and climbed up, much to everyone's chagrin.
Well...everyone but a certain asshole.
"I knew she'd give in eventually," Terumi said with a confident smirk. But even then, something just...didn't feel right, but he merely brushed off the feeling upon convincing himself that he was worrying over nothing. Like, what was there to fear in the first place?
"Brother, do keep in mind that you're currently working," Kval reminded, slightly irritated. "Stop fooling around, and I suggest you apologise to Yang when she gets here."
"Sounds troublesome," Terumi grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah whatever. I'll apologise when I feel like it." Although it would take forever for that to happen.
"With this sort of behavior, I'm starting to wonder who raised you when you were a child."
Terumi turned to the one who said that, and discovered that it was Blake. The look in his eyes revealed that he didn't take the comment too well, and his restraints were nearly torn apart thanks to that single sentence alone. Nearly. He quickly closed his eyes and started counting inside his head in order to calm himself. It was slowly working, but Blake had other ideas it seemed.
"I may not know much about you, but it is highly likely that you were raised inside a jungle. If not, then have anyone ever taught you proper manners before in your life? To me, it doesn't seem so."
Kval winced at that.
You're not going to pull your punches, are you? Terumi gritted his teeth as memories of his past resurfaced in his mind. Not that he wanted them to in the first place. And what do you know? Raised inside a jungle? Proper manners? Hah! It's not like you've seen what I've been through...
Kval scratched his cheek, his eyes darting from Blake to his older sibling as sweat rolled down his forehead. Blake may not know it, but she was currently playing around in dangerous waters. If she kept this up, then all he could do was pray that she would find it in herself to stop.
It was for her own safety, after all.
"Did I struck a nerve?" Blake folded her arms, her face revealing nothing but a blank expression. However, her eyes showed more than just that. "I apologise. I honestly did not know that you were actually capable enough of having one."
And with that said, the air grew tense.
"Blake, I think you should stop," Kval suggested. Even though he was speaking to Blake, his eyes were trained onto his older sibling as if he was preparing for something. "You managed to get your point across, so I see no reason for you to press on like this."
"I did? It doesn't seem like it," Blake said, just moments before noticing the dark glare given to her by Terumi. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't feeling scared, despite her calm face. That look was not meant to be shown to a child such as herself. In fact, with that expression on his face, he resembled a lot like...him.
Blake shuddered.
Terumi remained glaring at Blake for a few more seconds, which felt like ages thanks to the silence, but later found his head turning away, followed by his eyes closing automatically soon after.
It's not worth it, he thought. I mean, getting mad at a little girl for running her mouth? What am I, some overly sensitive wimp? I should know better than to react like this. Hell, I'm better off-
"Here's your tissue!"
Thanks to his quick reflexes, Terumi brought up a hand and caught the incoming white projectile before it even had a chance of colliding with his face. His eyes went over to scan the item in his grasp, taking note that it was indeed a tissue. With a growl, Terumi glared at a certain blonde who was standing in the middle of the doorway and started wiping the dirty spot on his trousers with the tissue. "Took you long enough!" he yelled.
"I have my reasons..." Yang muttered in a suspicious manner. And wait. Why was she grinning at him like that?
Before Terumi even had a chance to think about it, someone came knocking on the front door, which was then followed by the sound of said door being thrown open with more force than necessary.
A second later, a cheery and familiar voice was heard.
"I'm home!"
Ruby slowly opened her eyes while she was on the couch when the voice reached her ears, though no one noticed.
Terumi, keeping away his knife when realising that the person wasn't a burglar, walked his way over to the front door in order to see who it was.
And that person was none other than Summer Rose. His employer as well as the house's owner.
Even after recognising her voice, Terumi was still surprised, albeit slightly.
"Hey, weren't you supposed to be back by around 12 AM?" Terumi pointed out, confused. "What the hell changed?"
Summer grinned a sheepish grin, pulling down her hood as she did so in order to fully reveal her face. She shook her head from side to side so that her hair wouldn't get in the way of her eyes, before fully focusing her attention on Terumi. "Well I started feeling worried while at work, so I-" She then paused, oddly enough, as her eyes started to widen.
Terumi raised an eyebrow. "What?" He took note of the bright blush appearing on Summer's face as she continued to stare at him, and that left him further confused than he was before. Terumi narrowed his eyes when silence greeted him. "What?" he asked once more, this time sounding annoyed.
Summer opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. If possible, her cheeks had probably grown redder than they originally were.
Just then, a small yawn was heard from right behind Terumi.
"Mom...is back." The voice obviously belonged to a tired Ruby, but Summer was just too shocked at whatever she was witnessing to actually notice it. Terumi did, however. "Hmm? Suspicious Person, why are you..." She released a small yawn. "...holding Mom's favorite underwear?"
Terumi froze. He moved his eyes over to the 'tissue' in his hand, but upon closer inspection it revealed that the item he was holding was actually...a white underwear. Which most definitely belonged to Summer.
And to make matters worst, it was all sticky and dirtied with drool.
Terumi had never paled so much in his entire life.
Then, realisation dawned on him.
Why that dirty little-
"Kyaaaaaah!" Summer screamed.
-IIXII-
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review!
This is CPL, over and out.
