RWBYond Sisters

AN: So, it's been a while since I've done something for this story. But this was always the plan. Today and tomorrow you'll get more Arc sister shenanigans. This one was an idea I had while making the Indigo chapter (chapter 5).

Chapter 8: Growing Up

Ten-year-old Jaune had accepted his lot in life. He was outside on a rainbow covered blanket. Verta was digging in the picnic basket. Ali was braiding Rouge's hair. Violeta chased Bleu and Indigo around the yard in a game of tag. Amery was at Jaune's side chewing at a napkin. It was a beautiful spring day. And Verta wanted to have a picnic.

So, it was just another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Mom was inside cleaning. Dad was at work in town. If Jaune bothered to tell anyone about this day it would seem incredibly ordinary. But it wasn't. And that's what got Jaune so flustered. You see, Rouge wasn't the first one to get her hair braided…and Amery wasn't the only one wearing a dress.

"Would you like some tea, Princess Buttercup." Verta said as she offered him a glass. Ali snickered to herself. Rouge did a lot better job of holding in her laughter.

"Yes." Jaune said through his teeth. He was too nice. Really, he was. How the girls constantly put him in these kinds of situations was beyond him. Well, at least Ali had been satisfied with the pony-tail. If only Rouge had been so restrained. Perhaps then, Jaune wouldn't be sitting out here in a pink dress, fuming at his sisters but trying so hard to not get angry.

"Here you go ma'am." Verta handed him the tea with a snicker. She handed him a cup. Well at least the tea tasted good. And at least Amery wasn't laughing at him. But too be fair neither was Violeta. This was just a normal occurrence for them…not the dress so much as everything else. But the dress did happen more than it probably should have.

"Thank you." Jaune said. After a minute, he heard the click of a camera. Ali had taken a picture on her scroll.

"Jaune-y you look so cute." She said.

"Delete it!" Jaune shot up. Amery was flung off his leg and fell into the basket.

"But it's so cute!"

"Ali…"

"Don't be such a bully." Rouge said. She snatched the scroll out from Ali's hand.

"Buzzkill." Ali crossed her arms.

"You're ruining my tea time!" Verta said.

"Yeah, I don't get to come here often anymore." Rouge said. "I promised Verta we'd do whatever she wants and when you embarrass Jaune like this it makes him not want to do it anymore."

"You're the one…stupid dress." Ali mumbled as she kicked the dirt.

"Verta can I please just take the dress off?" Jaune asked. When he saw the look of utter defeat and despair cross her features he recanted. "Never mind…if it makes you happy I'll do it."

"You can take it off if you want." Verta said. "What matters is that we're all together…I just have so much fun when you play dress up." Jaune looked at Rouge, who had a neutral expression. This really was her fault. She was the one who was in the habit of treating him like a doll.

"I'll be right back." Jaune said. He had an idea. After several minutes of digging for clothes he found what he was looking for. When he walked out, all his sisters, save for Amery, who was trying to fit her head in a cup, laughed at him.

"Are those my clothes?" Verta asked. Jaune was wearing a pink shirt with a cartoon rabbit riding a unicorn on it. He wore short shorts that were a little too small for him. He had slipped on some flipflops and put a ribbon in his hair.

"Oh please let me take a picture of this." Ali said.

"Fine." Rouge said with her hand covering her mouth.

"You look beautiful Jaune." Verta said. She wiped a tear from her eyes.

"It's way too warm for a dress." He said. At that moment, Amery successfully suck her head in the basket and started walking around. Jaune's eyes watched the toddler as she stumbled around blindly. A minute later she ran right into his leg and fell. She lifted the basket from her head and gave Jaune a look over. When all the pieces came into view she started giggling and holding her hands up, flexing her fingers.

"Thank you." Verta said.

"You want up?" Jaune asked. He picked his baby sister up and cradled her. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. She nuzzled her face into his chest. He carried her back over to the blanket and sat down.

As soon as tea time was over he changed back into his shirt and jeans. It was still cute though, pumpkin pete was his favorite cartoon character and cereal mascot after all. He said his goodbyes as Rouge once again left for school. Which caused Indigo to start crying. One of these days Indigo was going to actually breakdown before Rouge left.

"It's alright Indy." Mom picked her up and held her close. "She'll be back."

"But why does she have to be gone?" Indy cried.

"That's a question for another day." Mom said.

"Hey Indy, want to play basketball." Violeta asked.

"Sure." Indigo said as she wiped her face.

"Ali…" Bleu said from the older girl's shoulders. "You're not going to leave like that, are you?"

"I may have to one day." Ali said. "But I'll visit as often as I can…Which I'm sure Rouge does too but she's more business-y."

"Business-y?" Bleu said.

"She means that Rouge works a lot to provide for herself." Mom said. "Have you noticed we've gone out a lot more since she moved out?"

"Now that you say something…" Jaune trailed off. Mom and Dad had also been out a lot more, just the two of them.

"It'll happen to all of you someday." Mother said. "It's a part of growing up. But we're all still family, no matter what."

AN: I'm not used to writing small chapters anymore. RWBYond War broke me with its awesomeness. Seriously, I just…really proud at what I've done. Next time will be a little headcanon based in something that was mentioned in volume 4.