Typically, Azure liked to spend his afternoons under the tree in the Schnee manor's garden, just staring up at the sky. Depending on the day, he would either find himself lost in the bleak grayness of Atlas' clouds that threatened to release snow at any moment, or he would take in every little detail of a much more colorful scene as summer's blue abyss rolled on for miles above him, gradually turning to a violently beautiful gradient of violet and orange as the day drew to a close.
"BIG BROTHER!"
Today, though, he was content with breaking his routine.
As he got up to investigate the call, he was tackled and taken down by a little, energetic white ball. It took him a second to look up again, and saw two huge blue eyes and possibly the largest smile he'd ever seen staring back at him.
"Winter, could you, maybe, NOT kill me whenever you want me to play?"
Winter seemed to take some sort of offense to this comment, as her face quickly turned into a pout as she stood up.
"Shut up Azure! I'm ten years old now! I don't come to play, I come to do big kid stuff!"
Azure could only chuckle at his sister's offense. This wasn't the first time they'd had this argument, and Azure knew this wouldn't be the last time. Luckily, he'd figured out how to cut it short a few minutes. Before she could get any more arguments in, he lightly tapped Winter on her forehead before breaking into a run.
"You're it!"
"No fair! I wasn't ready!"
"I thought you didn't wanna play?"
"SHUT UP AND STAY STILL!"
The two siblings ran throughout the garden for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. They ran until, finally, Winter tripped and sent Azure and herself down a hill in the center of the garden, a tangle of white and blond hair until they finally hit the foot of the hill, still trying to recover from their fits of giggles.
They finally looked up to see two pleasant faces.
"What, exactly, do you two think you're doing?"
Well, one pleasant face.
"If you must ask, Weiss, we were having fun. Not like you'd know what that is, cooped up in your room or the study all day."
Azure knew it was easy to get on Weiss' nerves. It didn't help that he loved doing it whenever he got the chance.
"Ugh! Of course I know what fun is, you idiot! I just have actual responsibilities, you know! Not like you'd know what those are, anyway!"
"I'm responsible for Neko!"
"Having a pet is different from running a company!"
Further argument was cut off by a gentle touch to both their shoulders.
"Children, children, please! There's no use fighting over something so trivial. You're both very responsible in your own ways, isn't that something for both of you to be proud of?"
Weiss and Azure both huffed in unison before saying. "Okay, mother."
With the conflict finally settled, Winter once again jumped at Azure, who was prepared for her attack and merely caught her.
"Come on big brother! Let's play some more!"
"I thought you wanted to do big kid stuff?"
"This IS big kid stuff! Big kid games for big kids!"
"Okay, okay."
As the two climbed back up the hill, Azure stopped about half way and called back to Weiss at the bottom.
"HEY WEISS! Quit being a prude and come play!"
With that he continued his ascent, not waiting to see if she was coming along at all.
Weiss, still at the bottom, looked very eager to go and play with her siblings but hesitated. She only looked away from the hill when her mother knelt down beside her.
"Go on, Weiss. You only get to be a kid once, and can't you see that they really want you to play?"
Weiss glanced back at the hill, now with both Azure and Winter standing on top waving down at her. She looked back to her mother, still unconvinced.
"But, mother-"
"Sshhh. Father won't know, it'll be our little secret." her mother said with a wink.
Weiss, who was now uncontrollably happy, hugged her mother before making a quick climb to the top of the hill.
As her daughter went to join her siblings, the mother only looked at the top to once more see the cheery grin of her adoptive son. She took in the sight of his white skin, only slightly darker than the pure-blood Schnee's, his wavy blond hair that reached about down to his chin and left only a small portion hanging between his eyes. And finally, his eyes; the right one green like the purest of emeralds, and the left a burning amber.
The Schnee mistress held her gaze on the boy for a moment before turning back into the manor, with a sad smile on her lips.
She barely remembered the way his eyes used to be.
"Hey, Weiss?"
"What is it?"
"...how did Father get this tree here anyway?"
An afternoon of games in the Schnee garden had left the three siblings completely exhausted, Winter so much that she'd taken to sleeping with her head on Azure's lap while he and Weiss sat beneath the cherry blossom tree where Azure had been hours ago.
"Well, these trees are native to Atlas, dummy."
"I know, but, all the other Sakura trees grow in the more southern areas of Atlas. The SDC and our manor are very much in the middle of Atlas."
"So, one cherry blossom makes more sense than a whole garden of them, right?"
"No, the fact that this is the only one for miles makes less sense than if there were a whole bunch!"
Weiss, quickly getting annoyed with the debate, turned over to her brother.
"Well, of course Father planted it in our garden, and of course our best gardeners have been taking care of it, idiot."
Azure seemed to accept that explanation. "Why didn't you just say that when I asked the first time?"
Weiss huffed, "Shut up."
Azure giggled a bit, and returned his gaze to the sky, now fading from an orange to a dark blue as night set in. The three of them stayed silent for a while, gazing at the sky as stars seemed to pop out of nowhere, the only thing breaking the silence was Winter's soft breathing as she slept.
"...you know, I kinda feel like the Sakura tree sometimes."
Weiss shot her brother a questioning glance. Azure met her gaze with a look unlike his usual, cheerful demeanor.
"I mean in our family. It's like I'm out of place or something, you know?"
Weiss' face only grew more confused, but the confusion couldn't mask the hurt that she felt. She only shook her head at Azure, not finding the words to ask what he meant.
"...just look at a family picture...blond amongst a bunch of white...green and amber mixed in with blue…"
He turned away, not being able to look at her anymore.
"I'm like a misplaced puzzle piece."
For a long time, there was more silence. For a long time, he expected her to say at any moment 'duh, of course.' or something like that.
It surprised him when she scooted over beside him, and tried not to wake Winter as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.
For a while longer, they stayed just like that.
"...hey, Weiss?"
"Hm?"
"Do you really wanna be the next president of the company?"
Only more silence for a while.
Eventually, Weiss released him and just sat beside him as they turned to look back at the sky.
"Not really. Not the company Father's turned it into, anyways."
"Yeah, I hear that."
…
"I wanna be a huntress."
…
"I was thinking the same thing."
…
"Let's go to Beacon together, okay?"
"It's a deal."
The two siblings knew that their parents were gonna have a fit when they were told.
"Let's go to bed."
"Okay. I'll carry Winter."
A/N: Heeeeey! Just leaving a quick note here since I forgot one in the prologue. First off, while this isn't my first time writing, this IS my first fanfic. That being said, problems will be present, so please don't hesitate to bring them to my attention. Second, while the tag "slight AU" should cover this, be prepared for some slight OOC and deviation from canon (I mean, I've written a character into the RWBYverse dammit.). Lastly, don't ask about pairings. There will be some. I don't know what they are exactly. As far as Azure goes, I have two that I'm beating around, you guys probably can already tell which one I'm teasing. Be prepared, Imma tease the hell out of it. Just to be ahead of the game, no harem and no yaoi, not just for Azure but for all characters. Harem because I'm not sure how I would go about it without making it a sex party, yaoi because, while I'm not a homophobe, my straight male mind can't grasp how to write gay male interactions. Just that.
Anyways, like the story? Hate it? Like to make a suggestion? Drop a review, and follow if you want more! Trust me, as far as reviews go, "10/10 pretty gr8 m8" is valued just as much as "flameflameflame". So, that's all I got.
LATER BABES