Welcome to the ninth chapter of Troublesome Brats! Oh yeah!
Anyway, reviews!
EpicLinkSam: Indeed it is. You have no idea. Luckily Velvet survived to tell the tale.
SifTheGreat: No problem dude. It honestly feels good to see you enjoying the story so far. And just like your name, keep being great!
Gerard Sta Maria Terumi 310: Thank you for the welcome, Gerard. And yeah, there are some scary smiles out there, but Ragna's? Well, his smile is one of 'em apparently.
Now with reviews aside, let's begin!
I own nothing.
-IIXII-
"I'll get it!" Kval volunteered.
Terumi, who was busy pinching Ruby's cheeks since he had no other things to do, turned to his younger sibling and called out, "Remember to kick them in the balls if the person is a burglar!"
"M-Mister Terumi!" Ruby started waving her arms around in order to get the older man's attention. "Stop! M-My cheeks aren't toys!" A shame that she was ignored in the end. "Mister Terumi!"
Oh. Kval rolled his eyes with a smirk as he went to the front door. I'll be sure to do more than that if that's the case. The little snake reached for the knob once he was close and turned it in order for him to open the door. The sight of Yang grinning at him made him smile, but that same smile soon vanished when the sound of Raven Branwen clearing her throat reached his ears. He slowly faced up, and only then did he notice the glare Raven was shooting in his direction.
It was as if Death himself was considering the idea of taking his life away in that instant.
"U-Uh…"
"You tell that useless brother of yours to keep his eyes on my little daughter at all times, you hear?" Raven said. She squinted her eyes, sending chills down Kval's spine. "If anything happens, you are to blame. I am not one to show mercy, even to a child such as yourself." And with that, the frightening woman patted her daughter on the head, turned around, and walked away to wherever she was heading.
Kval found himself holding his breath the entire time she was in his sight. Only when she disappeared to who knows where did he finally start breathing normally again.
Yang took note of this, apparently.
"Yeah, sorry about my mom," Yang apologised. She offered Kval a sheepish grin and laughed. "She has always been overprotective of me. Always. It gets a bit annoying at times, sure, but I know she means well. She's my mom, after all."
An overprotective mother. How typical. Normally it would be the father's job to be frightening, but hey, the discovery of new things occur all the time, so who was he to judge?
"Yeah. She's also frightening, that's for sure." Kval released a small breath of air once he was done recovering from his little scare. He turned to Yang, and later pointed a finger to the direction of the living room. "Anyway, Ruby is with my brother, so feel free to head on inside. I'll be waiting out here to greet Weiss and Blake if you need me."
"You're so young, and yet you're already trying to be a gentleman. I'm honestly impressed." Yang smirked. She winked at Kval and went on inside, thus leaving him all alone to his job of greeting Weiss and Blake once they arrive. "Just try not to smile too hard when they get here!" she called out.
Kval chuckled. "What does that supposed to mean? And yet you say that despite knowing that I'm older than you." After making sure that Yang was already inside, he took a couple of steps forward and sat down on the porch, resting his chin on the palm of his left hand. "Well," he mumbled. "looks like I'll be sitting here for a while."
And boy how excited he was right now.
That's pure sarcasm right there.
"Y-Yang!" Ruby called out.
"H-Hey! What do you think you're doing to Ruby!?" Yang yelled from somewhere inside the house, unintentionally causing a smile to appear on Kval's face. "You let her go this instant!"
"I'm not allowed to play with her cheeks now? What are you, her grandma?" was Terumi's response, sounding annoyed for obvious reasons. "Go clean the toilet or something."
Kval found himself chuckling at his brother's rude response, only for him to laugh a little when he heard loud noises of Yang throwing around insults, in which all of them were directed to his older brother. "I know that annoying others is your specialty and all, but would it kill you to tone it down a bit?" he said, which immediately reminded him…of a certain someone he knew. Yeah, tone it down…like him.
The sound of glass shattering came from the kitchen, but Kval remained where he was on the porch. Not that he refused to care, but instead it was because he was too busy with his thoughts to do so.
Speaking of annoying others, it has been quite a while since I have last seen my other brother. Not that I miss him or anything. He is probably fooling around in his office like usual. Kval started tapping a finger against his cheek, his eyes focused on the clouds above as if they were alive and entertaining him. It would be nice if he were to drop by every once in a while, but I doubt that would happen. With how things are currently, he probably has a lot on his plate. And with that said, Terumi would surely be extremely unhappy if he were to drop by anyway. Kval later sighed at the unwanted memory which came flooding into his mind like a large tsunami. Deary me. Why can't those two just get along for once? It's been years since then…
In his opinion, the two were being nothing but a couple of childish adults. If he knew a way to settle their differences without much trouble, then he would do it in a heartbeat.
Kval found himself sighing again. "Why do I have two troublesome older brothers?" he asked to no one in particular.
"Even I have no answer to that question," a voice answered.
Kval's eyes widened. "Eh?" He quickly turned to where the voice originated from, and was somewhat relieved to see Weiss standing a few feet away from him with a smile on her usually scowling face. If it was anyone else, other than Blake of course, then he probably would have called out Ouroboros in order to take them out. Old habits die hard, as they say. "Oh, it's just you-"
But as it turned out, his brain failed to register the fact that Weiss was standing beside an older woman who seemed to be around Terumi's age.
Kval was surprised, to say the least.
Oh boy. He was never good when it came to dealing with people who he was unfamiliar with, so this might be a challenge.
Calm down, Kazuma. She is an adult, not a child like you are. Just do what you always do in the past, Kval reminded himself internally. Be polite. Politeness is the key. Smiling is also important.
"So," the woman started, her icy eyes examining Kval's body up and down as if he were some sort of new and disgusting product which just recently came up on sale. "this is him?"
Weiss nodded, smiling brightly. "Yes. That is him."
"I expected him to be somewhat…" The woman squinted her eyes. "…taller."
Taller? Me? Surely you jest. Kval, putting up his usual polite mask, offered the older woman a smile so polite that it would put a well-trained butler to shame. He went up to his feet and slightly lowered his head in her direction. "Pardon me for my rudeness, Miss. I should have introduced myself the moment I laid my eyes on you, but instead I found myself staring at you like a bumbling fool. Do forgive me." Kval lifted his head a bit, and directed his attention to Weiss this time. "That goes to you too, Weiss. That greeting I gave you earlier was…unacceptable, to say the least. Please accept my apology."
Weiss blinked five times in the span of one second, mouth agape.
The older woman stared at the polite child, wide-eyed and baffled.
Seeing that he received no response, Kval lowered his head once more. "I apologise. Was I being a bit too eager? If so, then-"
"No. Please, it is fine," the older woman said, who appeared to look a lot less intimidating and scary than she was before. In fact, she looked to be rather sheepish. "I was just…surprised. There is no need to apologise."
Weiss said nothing, but instead she found herself nodding.
"Well, in that case," Kval straightened himself up and held out a hand in the older woman's direction. "let me introduce myself properly this time." He smiled. "Kazuma Kval, at your humble service."
"Winter. Winter Schnee." The woman, who now went by the name of Winter Schnee, accepted the offered hand and gave it a small shake. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Weiss' older sister."
Kval chuckled. "Likewise, Miss Schnee."
"Um…" a voice sounded from the distance. "We aren't…interrupting anything, are we?"
"I think we are," another voice added.
Winter flinched. She quickly pulled her hand away and turned to meet the newcomers, and the sight of who they were made her look away, which was probably due to old habits or something, Kval noted. "M-Miss Belladonna!" she exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "N-No, you are not."
Belladonna? Kval cocked an eyebrow at the familiar name. He turned to where Winter was facing moments before she turned away, and Blake was the first person who caught his attention, before it was quickly directed towards the older woman who she was holding hands with. Oh. Well, that was quick. I thought I was going to be waiting out here for about an hour or two, but hey, apparently luck is on my side for today. He smiled. Now, I think it would be best for me to assume that she's Blake's sister, since she appears to be around Miss Schnee's age and all.
The older woman who was with Blake gave out a deep sigh. "Were you 'testing' others again? If so, then that's not nice." She shook her head, much to Winter's embarrassment. "At this rate, when will you ever be able to find yourself a boyfriend? In fact, you'll probably scare away men with good potential rather than attract them with that scowling face of yours! Oh dear, you need help…"
Winter, who was as red as a tomato by now, covered her face and turned away. "I don't want to hear that from you, Kali!" she exclaimed.
The older woman, who now Kval noted as Kali, shook her head once more and made her way over towards the blushing Schnee. "Now now, there is no reason to be embarrassed about this." She smiled. "I'm sure that there's someone out there somewhere. But back to the main topic at hand, stop intimidating people who you are unfamiliar with. It's bad for you," she scolded.
"I know, so stop nagging at me," Winter mumbled.
"Um…I have no idea what's going on, but I'm Kazuma Kval," Kval said, locking eyes with Kali. "It's nice to meet you-"
Kali reached out and ruffled Kval's hair in a gentle manner, taking the child completely by surprise. "Drop the formalities, my dear. My name's Kali Belladonna, but you can just call me Kali. I honestly don't mind." She gave Kval a soft and gentle smile. "I'm Blake's mother."
"I-I see. Then-" Kval suddenly gasped out loud and sucked in too much air which ended up with him coughing, wide-eyed. It was as if the entire world was crashing all around him. "M-Mother!?" he exclaimed.
Blake narrowed her eyes at Kval's sudden behavior. "Hey, do you have a problem with my mom?"
Kali tilted her head to one side, equally as confused as Winter upon witnessing the child's weird reaction to her announcing that she was Blake's mother. "Is something the matter, sweetie?" she questioned.
"W-Well…I…" Kval stuttered and stammered, losing his cool as a small blush found its way up to his pale cheeks. He scratched the back of his head, eyes glued onto the ground, then shyly admitted, "I actually assumed that you were Blake's older sister. My mistake."
Blake furrowed her brows. "Did you now?"
Kali, on the other hand, brought up a hand to her lips and giggled. "Oh, you're flattering me, aren't you? I don't look that young, now do I?" she said.
"N-No no! You do look young!" Kval admitted, laughing sheepishly at that. "The fact that you're already a mother threw me off the rails for a second there! H-Haha…"
-IIXII-
"So now you're going to torment my cheek!?" Yang shouted. Seeing that there was no other way out of the situation that she had found herself in, Yang decided to come up with a simple idea which involved her pulling Terumi's hand away from her poor cheek, but it was clearly a vain attempt at best. "Let go, you turd!"
"Oh? I never did say that I was going to torment your cheek, now did I?" Terumi chuckled darkly, his sadistic grin widening ever so slightly as he kept pulling at the girl's cheek more and more without a damn care in the world. "Hehehe…"
Yang whined. "Then why-"
Without even feeling the urge to wait and listen to what she was about to say to him, Terumi quickly reached out with his other hand and took Yang's other cheek hostage, causing her to yell out in pain. "I said I was going to torment both your cheeks!" he exclaimed, literally acting like a child. "Hahahahahaha! Take that!"
"Gweh! S-Stop it!" Yang shouted out, her eyes now crimson due to the rage building up inside of her. "Ow! I said stop it!"
Terumi smirked. "And why should I listen to you again? Hah! I'm going to pinch your cheeks so hard that-"
Boom!
A few seconds later, Terumi found himself slamming into the hard wall of the living room, which utterly confused him in every possible way imaginable. He tried moving around his arms in order to push himself off the wall, but that ended up giving him more pain rather than what he actually wanted. But in all seriousness, how in the hell did he even ended up there in the first place?
"H-How…?" Terumi stuttered, which was a pretty damn good question.
Ruby, who had been watching the two interact with one another from the couch the whole time, gasped out loud before a wide grin came creeping across her face. "Yang did the fire thing again! Yay!" She started clapping repeatedly while laughing in a cute manner, acting as if nothing dangerous had just occurred right in front of her very eyes.
Yang panted and panted, and when her eyes finally reverted back to their original color, she ran up to Terumi and gave him a sweet punch to the gut. "That's what you get, you turd!" she shouted.
"Guha!" Terumi coughed out. "T-This…was unexpected…" Those words were his last before his whole body went limp. He would have passed out right then, but when his body suddenly came crashing hard onto the floor, the pain it caused prevented him from falling unconscious. "Gah!"
Yang held her head up high and gave her caretaker a disgusted stare, arms folded as her eyes briefly flashed red. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she muttered.
"What's with all the mess?"
"Yeah! Yang, what did you do this time?"
"Huh?" Yang quickly turned herself around, and was unable to hold back the urge to smile widely when her eyes caught the sight of Weiss and Blake entering the living room. Momentarily forgetting about the damage she had done, Yang started waving at the two in an excited manner. "Hey! You're both here already!" she exclaimed.
Weiss crossed her arms. "Well of course! Father and Mother were busy again, like usual, so where else was I supposed to go? And I can't possibly bother my older sister, so that's out of the question."
Blake nodded. "I'm in the same situation as well. My parents are going to attend some sort of meeting later today."
Yang chuckled. "So it's the usual then," she concluded.
"You have no idea, but enough of that. Back to the main topic at hand, what did you do this time?" Weiss questioned. "The wall is practically cracked because of you!"
Yang started sweating bullets. "Oh, that? Well…uh…" She turned to Terumi, slowly taking in the sight of him still lying across the floor and not showing any signs of getting up, before giving off a sheepish laugh. "He made me angry. H-Hahaha…"
"This is no laughing matter, you damn brat!" Terumi roared. He quickly pushed himself off the floor and towered over the little girl who caused him so much pain just moments before, his entire body emitting some sort of dark aura as the anger inside of him began to grow bigger and bigger. "You little…demon," he growled. "Speaking of which, I never did get the chance to pay you back after that little tissue incident…"
"Hey, you started it!" Yang retorted, not at all frightened by the sudden change in her caretaker's behavior. "You're just being a turd because you were punched by a little girl!" She smirked. "Suck it."
Yeah. That got him good.
"Why you little-"
"Wait," Blake sounded, freezing everyone in place unintentionally. "where's Kazuma? Shouldn't he be with us by now?"
"Well now that you mention it," Weiss looked to Blake, confused and somewhat curious. "what's taking him so long?"
Terumi found himself blinking a couple of times upon realising that his younger sibling was nowhere to be seen inside the living room. He tilted his head to one side, his body no longer emitting the same dark and dangerous aura from before, and later squinted his eyes due to confusion. "Good question. Just where the hell is he?"
-IIXII-
"I know she looks scary at first glance, but believe me when I say…" Kali knelt down and leaned in towards Kval's ear, invading his personal space for a brief moment. "…that Winter is actually a softy on the inside. I went to her apartment once, and I have to say that her room is always flooded with-"
"Kali!" Winter shouted with reddened cheeks. "I don't know what you're whispering to that boy, and I don't care! You better knock it off!"
Kali giggled and went back to her full height. From what Kval could guess, she probably whispered all those things to him just to get a reaction out of Winter, which was definitely working judging by how red Winter's face was from what he was able to see. Her head might as well blow up at this rate.
Kval let out a nervous chuckle. "You sure love to tease others…"
Kali winked at Kval and turned away. "It's a habit of mine, apparently." She giggled. "Now, I have to go and attend a meeting, so please look after my daughter for me if that's okay with you. I know she can be quite blunt at times, but…deep down, she means well." Kali curled her lips into a motherly smile as she gave Kval one last glance. "I will be seeing you later then, Kazuma. I might give the house a call if anything comes up on my end, so stay alert."
"A-Ah…" Kval nodded. "Got it, Miss Belladonna."
Kali chuckled. "Just Kali is fine." And with that said, she walked off.
Kval watched as Kali went on ahead, being somewhat silent as he did so. She's…nice, he admitted. It'd be great if I could get to know her better. I really need more nice adults like her in my life to guide me around when I actually need guidance…
Winter cleared her throat, catching Kval's undivided attention. "I shall take my leave as well. Do take care of my little sister for me," she said.
"Will do, Miss Schnee." Kval smiled. "Your little sister is in good hands, so worry not." Though on the inside, Kval was actually praying that his words wouldn't turn against him someday. In the hands of my older brother. Now that's a worrying thought right there, but she doesn't need to know that. Not yet, at least. For now, I'll just ease her worries.
"Also," Winter brought a fist to her mouth and faked a cough, eyes half-lidded. "what did you hear from Kali?" she asked in a quiet voice, sounding as if she was worried of what she might hear from his response.
Kval, being himself, decided to play it safe. "She didn't say anything, Miss Schnee. In fact, you interrupted her right before she was even able to finish her sentence. So with that said, the Nice Timing Award goes to you. Congratulations." He chuckled at his own poor joke in order to lighten up the mood a bit, and actually succeeded if only for a little bit.
"T-That so? Well then." Winter faked another cough, this time facing her head to the side as if to avoid the child's gaze. She then cleared her throat and fully turned herself around, taking small steps to wherever she was heading, most likely to work. Again, wherever that was. "Thank you for your honest answer. I shall take my leave now."
"Have a safe trip, Miss Schnee," Kval called out, waving at her.
Winter spared the child a brief glance, and later found herself smiling, albeit a tiny bit. Weiss was right. For a boy his age, he is far more polite than I would have ever anticipated. How interesting…
-IIXII-
"What took you so long? I was actually starting to worry this time!" Terumi ran up to his younger sibling and started pinching his cheek like how he did with Yang and Ruby just moments ago. He then squinted his eyes, staring into Kval's yellow orbs with his own. "You were slacking off, weren't you? Admit it!" he accused.
"W-What? I would never do that!" Kval easily freed his cheek from his brother's fingers and sighed. He took his time and dusted off his clothes, rolling his eyes later on. "Leaving you alone in a house filled with children will just end up giving me nightmares at night…" he mumbled.
"I bet he was flirting with my mom," Blake sounded, earning a loud gasp from Weiss as well as a loud laugh from Yang.
"Huh!?" Kval turned to Blake, wide-eyed and offended. "I would never do-"
Blake immediately gave Kval a sharp stare, silencing him in just mere moments. "Are you trying to tell me that my mom is not good enough?" she questioned.
"W-Wha…? I-I never said that, I just…" Kval, realising his mistake, narrowed his eyes. He was now fully aware that Blake was toying around with him. "Hey! Why are we even talking about this in the first place!?"
Blake rolled her eyes. "Because your reaction was amusing to watch," she simply replied, smirking.
"I agree with Blake!" Yang laughed, and ended up laughing louder when Kval shot a betrayed look in her direction. Heck, she almost found it to be adorable, or maybe she even did! She stopped laughing, however, when Ruby came walking up behind her and started tugging her shirt. "Huh? Hey Ruby, what's up?"
"Yang," Ruby blinked. "what does flirting mean?"
For some reason, that question alone succeeded in putting a stop to Yang's brain. She wasn't even able to come up with an appropriate answer, but don't get her wrong or anything. Yang knew what the darn word meant, but she just…has problems when it comes down to the describing part.
"Uh…well…" Yang started scratching the back of her head, while her eyes turned to a certain faunus for immediate assistance. "About that…"
Blake, immediately noticing this, sighed. "You handle this yourself, Yang," she said. "I am in no position to explain that to her."
"B-But-"
"Anyway!" Terumi interrupted, gaining the attention of everyone inside the living room. "Explanation of that word aside, what do you kids prefer to do? I honestly don't know much about being a caretaker, so I have to admit that I might need a little bit of help on that." Terumi made his way over to the couch and sat down, eyeing each and every one of the kids besides Kval. "Summer's paying me to take care of you, so the least I could do is do what I'm supposed to do in a proper manner."
Kval smirked. "For once, you're actually serious about this…"
Terumi glared at Kval, but rest assured that he wasn't really offended by the words of his little brother. "Of course I am!" he replied. "What do you take me for?"
For some reason, Yang started snickering. "A turd…" the blonde whispered to herself.
Terumi growled, but ultimately decided to let that one slide.
"Brother, I almost forgot!" Kval suddenly said, slamming a fist into his own palm. "If I remember correctly, you were supposed to meet with someone today. Why not bring all of us along?"
Terumi snapped his fingers, facing Kval. "Thanks for reminding me. After all the shit I went through, I kinda forgot about that myself."
Blake raised an eyebrow, not liking where this was going. "So what you're trying to say is that we're going to spend the day walking around outside?" she said.
Terumi nodded. "That pretty much explains it, yeah. So with that being said, we'll be leaving in a few minutes from now," he announced. "Bring what's necessary."
"What!?" Yang, Blake, and Weiss, exclaimed in unison. Out of all of them, Ruby was the only one who seemed to be excited about their little trip.
"Hehe…" Terumi smirked, as the face of a certain jackass neighbour he knew came popping up in his mind. "I hope you won't mind having visitors, Raggy Boy. And also you better pray that you won't get fired because of me…"
-IIXII-
"So, have you gotten used to it yet?"
Ragna turned to his senior, Velvet, and shrugged his shoulders in response. "I guess. But I still don't understand why I'm not fired yet, despite the fact that I have a shitty smile and currently operating the register, a position where I will always have to deal with customers. Funny, isn't it?" he said, being all sarcastic on that last part.
Velvet gave out a sheepish laugh. "W-Well…I wouldn't exactly call your smile that, but rather, it's…" She paused, choosing her words carefully. "…somewhat unfriendly with children."
"How does that make it any better!?" Ragna found himself shouting, earning a small giggle from Velvet as well as a death glare from his other senior, Coco.
"We are still working, and there are still customers inside the café. Quiet down, or else I will order you to start packing," Coco warned, and Ragna knew that it would be best to not take that threat lightly, lest he wanted to end up finding another job again.
And so, Ragna sighed. "Right. Heard you loud and clear…"
"Yeah you better," Coco muttered. "I'm surprised a man as intimidating as you are chose to work instead of robbing stores in order to gain money."
"Coco!" Velvet scolded.
"What? I'm just saying!" Coco shrugged. "It's actually an interesting thing to think about, y'know. I mean, just look at him! That uniform doesn't match with his face at all! And in my opinion, his face practically screams villain and murder!"
Ragna can honestly say that he immediately felt slightly offended upon listening to Coco's little rant about himself. Hell, if he had been given a choice on the matter, then he probably would have never chosen to wear the white shirt and green apron that the café had prepared for him in the first place.
"Hey. If you have a problem with how I look in this uniform, then tell that straight to my face," Ragna growled, right before a dark grin came breaking out on his features. "Wait. You're not scared, are you? Though, I can completely understand if that's the case…"
"Hold on a second there. Would you run that by me again, please?" Coco turned to face Ragna, her sunglasses thankfully hiding the intense glare which she was shooting in the white-haired man's direction. Without her shades, she probably would have scared away all the customers and gotten herself fired. "Listen pal. I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like you're trying to start something here. With me, to be more precise."
"U-Uh…" Velvet sounded, but was ultimately ignored by the two, much to her chagrin.
"You're probably just being paranoid," Ragna assured in a low voice, and yet the dark grin from before still remained in place. "Swallow some pills. I'm sure it would help. Or perhaps, you want me to do it for you."
Coco gritted her teeth. "I'll-"
"What?" Ragna challenged, his face darkening ever so slightly. "Punch my teeth out? I dare you. Go ahead. I double dare you!" By now, his anger was probably getting the better of him.
Well, it was safe to say that the two were successful in terms of catching the full attention of their customers. In a bad way, that is.
Velvet, feeling that she should stop the situation before it could get any worse than it already has, decided to speak up in order to prevent her two friends from getting fired. "U-Um, I think we-"
But all of a sudden, the entrance leading to their café was kicked open from the outside, much to everyone's surprise.
Velvet quickly faced the entrance with her rabbit ears shot straight up on the top of her head, alarmed. "What the-"
"Hands in the air!" a voice demanded in a cocky manner.
Instincts kicking in, Velvet, Coco, as well as Ragna, grabbed the nearest object each of them could find and prepared themselves for the worst. Literally a second later, Velvet had countless of forks in her arsenal, while Coco was lucky enough to get her hands on a pair of kitchen knives, and as for Ragna…
All he had was a spoon.
Like always, his damn luck decided to toy around with him rather than take his current situation seriously.
"Damn it!" Ragna, narrowing his eyes at the entrance, quickly threw his small weapon at the attacker with so much force that he somehow managed to knock a couple of chairs to the floor. Thankfully they were not occupied. "Eat a spoon whoever you are!" he roared.
-IIXII-
I bet my balls that some of you are excited for the next chapter.
Anyway, look! New characters!
Winter Schnee - 25
Kali Belladonna - 32
Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you liked!
This is CPL, over and out.
