Hello everyone, Black Fuego here with a special one shot dedicated for Black Friday. This idea popped into my head as I was finishing chapter 4 of BLAD of RWBY and JNPR. This story is about the 3 teams' trip to a mall in Vale and the trouble they all went through to get the things they need for Christmas. I've already done most of my shopping so I didn't need to go to any stores, so I figured I'd be productive and write something for you guys. Anyways, happy shopping everyone and enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own the RWBY series or any other references that will be made in this story. I will also not own any new injuries that I would have most likely received if I went to Wal-Mart to shop…thank God.
Timeframe: None. Considered non-canon
Couples: JaunexPyrrha, RenxNora, WeissxBaltazar
Black Friday Madness
"Hey, Jaune?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, Ren?" Jaune answered.
"You ever wonder why we're here?" Ren questioned.
Jaune was silent for a moment before responding, "It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night."
"…" Ren stared at his leader in confusion before speaking, "What? No, I mean why are we here, camping out in front of Vale Mall with actual tents and campfires and everything?"
Jaune realized what he said and became embarrassed, "Oh. Uh…yeah."
Ren continued to stare at Jaune, "Want to talk about it?"
"…When we get back to Beacon." Jaune replied.
The pistol user nodded and began to look around. It was a late Thursday evening and he and Jaune, along with the rest of team JNPR were in line for the currently closed Vale Mall, waiting for it to open. They had a tent behind them, indicating that they were spending the night in the sidewalk, like most of the people in line. It was not only them either. Teams RWBY and BLAD were there as well on both sides of JNPR, also with tents and even a campfire provided by team RWBY.
"Seriously, though. Why are we here? It's a three day weekend and we're starting it with spending the night on the streets?" Ren asked again.
"Early start on the sale tomorrow," Ruby answered as she roasted some marshmallows.
Ren became confused, "Sale?"
"Black Friday Sale," Baltazar explained, looking up from the videogame he was playing, "It's one of, if not the most popular sales event in all of Vytal. Stores of all kinds have huge discounts and people everywhere want to get their hands on what they want or need for Christmas."
"It's also a fairly violent event, so we have to be careful," Weiss pointed out, sitting next to her boyfriend and watching him play.
Ren became even more confused, "Violent?"
"Yup," Ash confirmed, looking away from the chess game that Levy and Yang were in, "People get into huge fights if the thing they want is very popular, dude. Clothes, games, toys, you name it, and they'll brawl for it. Hell, the Vytal Festival's battle tournament has less bloodshed compared to Black Friday."
"I've heard that people even died in this sale in the past," Pyrrha said as she came out of her team's tent.
Ren stared at his teammate incredulously, "…Really?"
"She's actually right, Ren." Blake said as she put the book she was reading down. She reached into her bag, took out a newspaper article and handed it to Ren, "It happened a year or two ago in Forjador City. A young man attempting to get into the mall there was trampled to death by a stampede of customers trying to get in as well. It was truly a sad way to go."
Levy's eyes went wide and she turned around, "Oh my, I heard of that. My father told me that he and the other police officers couldn't make it to the man in time because the customers wouldn't stop running. I can't imagine what the man's family must have felt when they heard the news."
Ren read over the article with a shocked looked on his face. Nora, who was eating a roasted marshmallow, looked over his shoulder to read it as well and became shocked also.
"Oh my God, this Black Friday thing sounds really dangerous!" Nora exclaimed.
"Only if we're not careful," Weiss said, trying to reassure the grenadier, "As long as we're calm about this and stick with our teams, we'll be fine."
"I take it you and Nora didn't go to this sale before?" Pyrrha asked the magenta eyed teen.
"We haven't. My family along with Nora's did our Christmas shopping about 2 weeks before the holidays; we never had to deal something as intense or crazy like this before," Ren admitted before a thought came to his head, "By the way, is it ok for us to be camping out on the street like this? I would think the city wouldn't approve of this, even with everyone else doing it also…"
"We have permits," The three leaders said and pulled out some papers.
Ren stared at them in disbelief before noticing that there were officers walking around and people showing them permits like the leaders had.
"…Does this happen every year?"
"As far as I know, it does, Ren." Dia said as she was polishing her kukri knives, remembering the Black Friday sales she went to while visiting Vale a couple years back.
"Ha ha! Check, Levy!" Yang cheered before turning to her younger sister. "So what's game plan for tomorrow, Ruby?"
"It's simple really?" The reaper explained, "All we have to do is stick with our teams and get the things we need as fast as we can without being distracted. All of us have a speed oriented member in our team or two, so it shouldn't be all that hard to grab what we need quickly."
"Sounds like a good plan, but I think the distraction bit is going to a bit difficult," Jaune admitted.
"I agree with Jaune on this. I already see one person on each team that will get distracted easily," Weiss said and pointed at Ruby, Nora and Baltazar.
Ruby pouted at the accusation while Nora became confused. Baltazar simply shrugged, not denying that he's easily distracted.
"I know it's weird for me to say this, but I think we should hit the sack right now dudes," Ash spoke up, "The mall's going to open early tomorrow and we need all the rest we can get in order to survive the day."
"That's a great idea, Ash. We should do that," Levy agreed with a smile before turning to her opponent, "And Yang… Checkmate."
"Oh come on, again?!" Yang whined as she looked at the chess board, "I thought I had you there."
"I warned you, Yang," Baltazar chuckled, "Levy's a champ when it comes to chess. Very few people outside of our dads and late Abuelito are able to beat her. In fact, the only ones here who managed to get a win on her are Blake and Nora."
Everyone's eyes widened in surprised and turned to the bubbly powerhouse, wondering how she managed to accomplish such a feat.
Nora stared at everyone curiously, "What? I was bored and it looked fun. Besides, it wasn't that hard."
"Speak for yourself," Blake grumbled behind her book, remembering how challenging it was to beat the medic.
"Ok, guys, stop gawking at Nora now," Jaune ordered. "I think we should follow Ash's idea and head to bed early. Ruby, Baltazar and I have to stay out a little longer to wait for the cops, so we'll join in later. Everyone else should get as much sleep as they can, we're gonna need it."
-The next morning-
"C'mon, Ren! Wake up!" Nora shouted, shaking her boyfriend awake.
"…What?" Ren groaned as he got up, "What time is it?"
"It's half past 4 right now," Jaune answered.
The pistol user groaned again, "Why are we up so early?"
"The mall is going to open soon and we need to be ready," Pyrrha explained.
Ren sighed and packed his sleeping bag away, "So much trouble over a few sales and deals…"
"Alright everyone, move it!" Yang shouted from outside of the tent, "The mall's going to open soon and people are already crowding the entrance! We better get going or else we'll lose our spot!"
A few minutes later, the three teams were standing by the entrance of Vale Mall with many other people beside them.
"I'm feeling very uncomfortable right now…" Ren said as he looked at the many other customers around him.
"So am I," Ruby admitted as she clung to her sister.
"Oh relax, little sister, you'll be fine," Yang reassured, "We've done this many times before, remember?"
"Doesn't make it any easier though," Ruby muttered.
"Tell me about it," Baltazar agreed as he held Weiss's hand tightly.
Dia laughed at her leader's nervousness, "Wow, Chief. You can handle a crowd of Grimms, but you can't handle a crowd of people?"
"He's always been like this," Weiss said as she squeezed her boyfriend's hand, "Large crowds always made him nervous because of his shyness, you guys know this. He's ok in tournaments and concerts, but with something like this, he'll feel uncomfortable for a while.
"He was quite shy when I first met him, and it took him a while to warm up to me and Yang," Ruby confirmed.
Yang was about to join in on the conversation when someone bumped into her.
"Hey! Watch it!" The man shouted rudely.
Yang grew angry at the rude tone, "You watch it! I was standing right here!"
"So what? Want me to apologize or something ya dumb blonde broad?"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" Yang's eyes turned red and flames started surrounding her.
"You heard me, Blondie!"
"Sis, calm down!" Ruby cried and attempted to calm her sister.
"Oh this isn't good…" Blake muttered, "We have to stop Yang before she goes too far."
"That's not the only thing we have to worry about, Kitten," Ash said nervously and pointed behind him to show Weiss, Pyrrha and Nora were being confronted by some flirtatious and possibly drunk men…with their boyfriends standing right next to them.
"Hey there cutie, want to come with me after the sale's over?" One guy asked Pyrrha.
"Uh…" Pyrrha stood there not knowing how to respond.
"Back off, man. She's with me!" Jaune glared and shoved the guy away from him, a white glow surrounding the blonde swordsman.
"Well now, aren't you a pretty thing?" Another guy commented as he walked over to Nora. Before he got too close, he was stopped by Ren.
"Take one more step and I won't hesitate to either shoot or stab you mercilessly." Ren stated calmly, bring out one of the Storm Flower pistols out of his sleeve for emphasis.
"So what do you say, princess? Want to ditch your friends and hang out with a real man like me?" The last guy asked.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline," Weiss said calmly before she began to smirk, "Besides, why would I need a man when I already have a tiger?"
The flirt became confused, "What are you talking about?"
"She's talking about me…"
The guy turned around to see Baltazar glaring at him with fierce, glowing blue eyes.
"And if you make one more move on my girlfriend, I'll make you look like you were struck by lightning…if you're lucky," To prove his point, sparks began to fly out of his active Gentle Storms gauntlets and he began to slowly draw out his now glowing Azure Bolt.
Blake paled as she saw that most of the boys in her circle of friends were about to fight. She looked around and noticed that there were other people that looked like they were about to fight or were already fighting.
"This is getting fierce…" Levy commented.
"And the mall's not even open yet," Dia pointed out.
"Oh boy, I hope things calm down soon dudes," Ash pleaded.
"ATTENTION, PLEASE!"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the mall entrance to see the owner coming out of the building.
"Vale Mall is about to open! When the doors open, please enter in an orderly fashion. Also, all hunters and combat school students must leave their weapons at the entrance where they will be guarded by law enforcement. Failure to comply will result in being unable to enter the mall. I hope you all will be able to find what you are looking for and that you will all enjoy your time here at the mall."
The announcement calmed everyone down and caused them to wait patiently for the doors to open.
"…Well that worked." Ash stated, dumfounded by how fast everyone calmed down.
"Humans are weird creatures." Blake muttered.
"No argument there," Levy giggled as the doors opened.
"Doors are opened everyone!" Dia called out to her friends, "C'mon, let's go!"
A few minutes later, everyone found themselves in the mall's food court discussing the plan for the morning.
"Ok, we agreed that for the morning shopping, we'll be with our teams. During this time we'll be doing the majority of the shopping for our family and friends. At noon we'll meet up here again for lunch and relaxation. After that we will group together to buy some last minute gifts. Once we're done, we head back to Beacon and proceed to wrap as much presents as we can before getting dinner. Any questions?"
Everyone stood in silence, quite surprised and impressed by Ruby's commanding attitude.
"…Wow Ruby, way to take charge," Jaune said with a grin.
"You should see her during weapon conventions," Yang laughed.
"Alright everyone, it's time we head out. We wait any longer we won't be able to get everything we need," Baltazar spoke up.
With a nod to everyone and wishing each other luck, the three teams left to do their shopping.
Team RWBY, 7:30am, Game Haven
"Hey Weiss, does Sparky have this game yet?" Yang asked as she showed the heiress a copy of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.
"He doesn't. Go ahead and get it if you want. I know he'll be happy with it." Weiss answered with a smile.
Team RWBY found themselves in the mall's videogame store Game Haven and decided to buy some gifts for the resident gamers of the group, namely Baltazar, Ash, Jaune and Nora.
"Hmm…I wonder if Nora will like this game." Blake wondered as she picked up a copy of Kirby's Return to Dreamland.
"A cute little pink ball capable of causing mass destruction? I'm sure Nora would love it," Ruby giggled before she noticed something.
"*Gasp* Oh my God! Is that the new Call of Duty: Ghost game? Cody's been wanting that since it came out! I have to get it for him!"
Ruby sprinted toward the game but as soon as she grabbed it, someone else also grabbed the game at the same time, a little kid about half her age.
"Hey, let go of that!" Ruby shouted.
"Dream on, girly. I saw it first!" The kid glared.
"You're not even old enough to play it!"
"Neither are you!"
"It's not for me, it's for my best friend, now let go!"
"No! It's mine! You let go!"
"No, you!"
As Ruby continued to argue with the kid, her teamed watch the scene in amusement.
"I can't tell if what she's doing is either very childish or very cute…" Weiss muttered.
"I'm leaning towards cute, myself. She is trying to get that game for best friend after all," Blake smiled.
"Yeah…a rated M game for someone who's a few months younger than her," Yang laughed as she handed Blake a copy of Dead Island Riptide for Ash with some money and began to walk to the pair. "I'm going to go break it up. Don't wait up for me."
Weiss and Blake nodded and proceeded to go to the register to pay for their items.
"I wonder how the others are doing in their shopping." Weiss thought to herself as she placed a copy of Just Dance for Jaune on the counter.
Blake shrugged, "Who knows?"
Team JNPR, 9:43 am, Jade's Jewelry
"Tell me again why we're here Ren?" Jaune asked.
"Because Pyrrha thought it would be a good idea to get everyone special rings to show how much she cares for them." Ren answered.
Team JNPR was in the jewelry store, Jade's Jewelry at Pyrrha's request. The boys already finished with most of their shopping and were just following their girlfriends around and let them finish with their shopping before they had to meet up later.
"Maybe this one will work for Ruby? But it also works for Blake. And that one is perfect for either Levy or Baltazar. Oh what should I do?" Pyrrha mumbled to herself as she looked at the different rings on display.
"Looks like we're gonna be here a while," Ren stated.
Jaune nodded in agreement before noticing something, "Say Ren, where's-"
"Ren! Ren, look at this!" Nora ran up to her boyfriend and showed him a silver necklace with a hammer symbol on it, "It looks just like my emblem doesn't it!"
Ren laughed lightly and patted Nora's head, "It does, Nora. Are you going to get it?"
Nora actually looked sad for a moment, "I can't. I have to buy gifts for everyone else first before I get something for myself. I didn't even get anything for you yet." She began to smile brightly again, "Oh well, maybe next time. I'm going to wander around some more, ok?" Before she received an answer, Nora sped off to explore the jewelry store some more.
Jaune noticed the look on Ren's face and began to laugh a little, "You're planning to get that necklace for Nora, aren't you?"
"Yup," Ren answered simply, not even trying to deny the accusation.
"I thought so," The leader smiled before walking off as well, "I'm going to look at the watches. I might be able to find a good one for Dad if I'm lucky."
Ren smiled at his leader's happy attitude. He decided to follow him when a thought occurred to him.
"I wonder how the others are doing."
Team BLAD, 11:55 am, Junes Clothing Market
"When is this going to end? I'm getting hungry…" Baltazar grumbled as he rubbed his stomach.
"I know, dude. Me too," Ash mumbled in agreement.
Team BLAD was in the clothing store Junes buying the last of the gifts the need before having to meet up with the other teams for lunch. Baltazar, Ash and Levy were finished with their shopping for the moment and were currently waiting for Dia to get what she needed. Unfortunately, she got into a fight with some other girls over some clothing she was planning to get for Pyrrha and the argument was still going on.
"I'm telling you I saw it first!" Dia shouted.
"Oh please, like this dress will fit you." A snooty brunette said.
"Besides, red's so not your color!" A haughty red head argued.
"I told you, it's not for me, it's for my friend! I hate wearing this stuff!" Dia yelled.
"Oh yeah, nice excuse, forest girl," The brunette said
"It's not an excuse!" Dia glared
"Shut up and hand over the dress!" The redhead ordered
"I Said No!"
Ash and Baltazar sweat dropped as they watched Dia continue to argue with the girls.
"Hey boys, I'm back," Levy said as she walked to her teammates. She saw Dia further ahead and sweat dropped as well, "Is she still arguing with those girls?"
"Yup," Baltazar sighed exasperatedly.
"She's been at this for over a half hour now…" Ash said in a bored tone.
"Well I'm going to end this now. It's almost time to meet up with the others and we're all hungry," Levy said and walked over to end the fight.
"Good luck with that!" Ash called out before turning to his leader, "Think she can get them to stop fighting?"
"I hope so," Baltazar muttered, "She has the patience of a saint, but I'm sure those girls are going annoy her greatly."
"I doubt she'll get angry, though," Ash pointed out, "It takes a lot to piss her off. I bet all she's going to do is-"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
The boys paled after hearing that voice.
"…Dude?"
"Yeah?
"Was that…?"
"Uh huh."
"Is she…?"
"Yup."
"Can we…?"
"Of course."
Without looking back, the two slowly walked out of the clothing store and waited at the entrance. A few moments later a happy Levy walked out of the store with a very frightened Dia behind her holding the dress she wanted to get for Pyrrha.
"C'mon guys! It's time to meet up with everyone!" Levy said cheerfully before walking ahead of her team.
Dia stared at the happy huntress in front of her before shivering, "Chief, you cousin's scary when she's mad."
"Tell me about it…"
All Teams, Food Court, 1:10 pm
"No way, Levy actually got angry at someone!" Yang laughed as she heard about what happened earlier at the clothing store. The three teams were sitting in a large table talking about what happened to each other throughout the day, their lunch already eaten. "Oh man I wish I could've seen it."
Weiss shivered a little as she remembered a time when Levy was angry a long time ago, "Trust me Yang, no you don't."
Baltazar began to laugh nervously and tried to change the subject, "So, are there any stores that we're going to check out before we leave?"
"There are a couple that we could go to," Ruby said, "There's Nobleman's Bookstore and Kinzoku's Electronics, but I'm not sure there will be much left to buy over at Kinzoku's though."
"Bookstore?" Blake spoke up, her cat ears twitching underneath her bow, "Let's go there first!" Without waiting for an answer, she got up and practically sprinted to the store.
Everyone stared at the departing Cat Faunus in surprise before Jaune commented, "Wow…she really loves books, doesn't she?"
"What was your first clue, Jaunester?" Ash asked sarcastically before everyone got up to catch up with Blake.
Within a few moments they reached the bookstore with Blake already being inside. The group walked in and began to look around.
"Wow, there's more books in here than I thought!" Levy exclaimed in excitement.
"Glad to see that Blake and I aren't the only ones with a love for books," Ruby smiled as she began to show Levy more of the store.
Ash wandered around the book store some more when he noticed something, "Holy crap there's a manga section here?"
"What? Where is it?" Baltazar asked excitedly.
Jaune pointed to the direction of the books with a big grin on his face, "Right over there!"
Ren also began to smile brightly as he saw the manga, "Well then, let's check them out."
The four of them ran towards the manga section, which made the remaining girls shake their head in amusement, even Nora.
"Well now, isn't this a surprise?"
The girls jumped a little and turned around to see Professor Ozpin standing behind them with his trademark cane on hand and even his famous coffee cup with him.
"Professor Ozpin? What are you doing here?" Dia asked the headmaster.
"Just doing a little shopping. It is Black Friday after all." Ozpin explained with a laugh.
"Oh…" Dia looked down towards the floor in embarrassment while Yang placed a hand on her fellow blonde's shoulder in reassurance.
Ozpin smiled at the sight and turned to see the rest of the large group enjoying themselves with various kinds of books, "It is quite nice to see my students getting along so well and spending time with one another. It is truly quite a sight."
"What do you mean, sir?" Pyrrha asked.
Ozpin took a small sip from his cup before responding, "Most students in Beacon don't try and befriend other students, preferring to stay close to their team alone, yet you twelve go out of your way to spend time with each other and strengthen the bonds you all have with one another." He focused his attention to Weiss and smiled once more, "In fact, two of you share a very strong bond that's quite rare to see even among students in the same team, let alone in different teams."
Weiss blushed as she understood what the headmaster was talking about. She looked over to her boyfriend who was talking cheerfully with the other guys and began to smile fondly.
"Anyone else hearing wedding bells right now?" Yang teased the heiress, which caused the other girls to laugh and Weiss to blush further.
Ozpin laughed as well and looked over to Pyrrha and Nora, "There are also others in your group that are heading into the same direction as well."
Pyrrha blushed lightly and smiled sheepishly at the headmaster while Nora beamed brightly at the thought of her and Ren getting married.
Ozpin gave the girls one last smile before he turned to leave, "I must be going. I still need to find a good present for Ms. Goodwitch before the day is done. I hope you all have a wonderful day and have a safe trip back to Beacon."
The girls stared at the departing professor with smiles on their faces, happy and grateful to have someone like him to be their headmaster…even if he did catapult them all to their deaths as a test on their second day of Beacon.
"Was that Ozpin?"
The girls jumped again and turned to see the rest of their friends behind them with various books in bags.
Weiss glared lightly at her boyfriend, knowing that he was the one who convinced the others to sneak up on her and her friends.
Baltazar smiled sheepishly and began to apologize to Weiss, "Sorry Weiss. Couldn't resist. Forgive me?"
Weiss continued to glare until her eyes soften and let out a sigh. She walked up to him and gave him a light peck on the lips.
"Of course I do, you dunce," Weiss smiled softly and grabbed the katana user's hand, "Come on, let's get going."
The pair walked out the bookstore hand in hand, not aware of the amused expressions on their friends faces.
"I hear wedding bells!~" Nora sang out.
"Dibs on the maid of honor!" Ruby called out with a hand raised.
"I wonder who's going to be Chief's best man…" Dia thought out loud.
"I think I know who it will be," Yang grinned, giving her sister a knowing glance.
Ruby looked at Yang curiously before she realized what she was implying and began to blush furiously.
"Yang!" The reaper whined as everyone laughed at her embarrassment.
"Relax, Ruby. You know little Cody looks great in a tuxedo. You've seen the pictures," Levy smiled and patted Ruby's shoulder, making the younger girl blush more.
Yang laughed some more and gave Levy a one armed hug, "Ah, you'll make a great cousin-in-law Levy."
Not wanting to be embarrassed anymore, Ruby ran out of the bookstore to catch up with her partner and brother figure, the others following closely behind after calming down. After a few minutes everyone reached Kinzoku's Electronics and explored the store a little. After a short while the group noticed a familiar person looking at the different large, wireless headphones, with a couple of them actually floating beside him in a blue aura. The boy looked around Ruby's age and height with short black hair similar to Baltazar's and was wearing a cobalt blue hoodie and black pants. What caught everyone's attention however were his eyes, which were for some reason shifting from brown to blue.
"Hmm…this one might be good for Rubes, but it can't hold as many songs. This one on the other hand can hold more songs, but the design doesn't fit her. Man I wish Brother was here. I bet he and I could make one better than these that looked even more awesome."
"Cody!"
The black haired boy turned around in time to see a red and black blur crash into him in a tight hug, rose petals surrounding him. The sudden contact caused him to lose his concentration and made him drop the headphones he held with his Polarity Semblance.
"…Rubes?"
Ruby looked up to her best friend and gave him a wide grin. "Yup!"
Cody smiled broadly at the slightly older girl, "Wow Rubes, it's been a while hasn't it?"
"I know. I've been busy lately, what with all that happened recently," Ruby explained, "So you're back home for the week?"
The polarity manipulator nodded, "Yup. It's fall break back at Signal again and all of us went home for the week. Mom and Papi already finished with their shopping and went home, but I decided to stay here for a little while longer to find more gifts. They said that I can stay longer so long as I watch over a certain someone."
Ruby's smiled grew as she heard that, "Are you saying that-"
"Brother! Sissy!"
"Princess!"
"Cereza!"
Hearing a very familiar and welcomed voice, Ruby turned around to see Cody's and Baltazar's own little sister Sarah, who was wearing a light blue coat with blue pants and her long black hair was in a ponytail, being hug tightly by her oldest brother while Weiss watched the pair with a very happy look on her face. Seeing the little kitty toothed Tiger Faunus, Ruby ran over to her, dragging Cody in the process.
"Cereza!"
Sarah let go of her oldest brother and turned to see Ruby running up to her with a big smile on her face and her other brother following closely behind.
"Ruby!"
The two ran and hugged each other tightly while Cody walked passed them and went straight to his brother and eventual sister. "Hey Baltazar. Hey Weiss."
"Nice to see you hermanito," Baltazar smiled and hugged his little brother.
"It's been a while you little troublemaker. Pranked anymore teachers lately?" Weiss teased as she hugged Cody as well.
"Not since last week," Cody smiled before taking a teasing tone himself, "So when's the wedding? I want to be an uncle before I graduate Beacon myself."
Weiss blushed furiously again while Baltazar began to chuckle, "We'll get started on the wedding after Yang and I finish planning your first date with Ruby."
It was Cody's turn to blush as he looked away from his ninja brother, "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not going to ask Ruby on a date yet? She's my best friend for crying out loud. It'll be weird."
"Your brother's my best friend since we were three and we're happily dating," Weiss pointed out before she smirked, "Besides, it seems like you're going to ask her out eventually. After all, the key word you said was 'yet'."
Cody groaned at his sister figure's logic, "Oh come on Big Sis, not you too. I thought you were cooler than that…no pun intended," He added quickly as he saw the look on Weiss's face.
The heiress nodded in approval, "Good. Now-"
"Come here ya little munchkin!"
"ACK!"
Weiss, Baltazar and Cody turned to see Yang practically crushing a flailing Sarah in a bear hug with Ruby looking at the two worriedly.
"Sis, take it easy! You're squeezing her to death!"
"Yang!" Baltazar cried as he, Weiss and Cody ran to the trio, "Loosen your grip on her, will you? Don't you remember the first time you hugged her that tightly?"
The fire brawler blinked at the lightning ninja for a few moments before looking down to her chest to see the little girl has stopped struggling and was now only twitching slightly. With a sheepish look on her face, Yang removed Cera from her chest, placed her on the floor, and apologized to the little cub. "Woops, sorry about that munchkin."
"Is she ok?" Weiss asked, concerned for her future little sister's wellbeing.
"I thought I saw a light in the end of a tunnel…" Cera spoke in a dazed tone.
"She's fine," Cody said dismissively, which gave him a slap to the head courtesy of Weiss.
As the six of them continued with their antics, the others looked at the scene with varying amounts of amusement and fondness.
"Well this is a nice surprise," Levy smiled as she watched her cousins happily chatting with the sisters and heiress.
"It always amazes me how Chief knows most of the members of Team RWBY personally and will eventually be related to them," Dia thought out loud.
"Fifty lien says that Balto and the Ice Princess are going to make Kitten here the godmother of their first child," Ash snickered and pointed to Blake, who began to blush after hearing the comment.
"S-Shut up you fiend!" Blake shouted at the flirty powerhouse.
"I didn't hear her say no, though. Did you guys?" Jaune laughed and asked his team, embarrassing the Cat Faunus further.
"Not at all," Pyrrha smiled.
"I didn't hear anything either," Ren responded with a smirk.
"Blakey's gonna be a godmother!" Nora cheered.
Blake blush intensified and looked away from her laughing friends, muttering to herself.
"Fiends…fiends, all of you."
All Teams, Beacon Cafeteria, 6:30 pm
The 3 teams were relaxing in their school's cafeteria after a long day in the mall. After saying goodbye to Cody and Sarah, everyone decided it would be best to head back to Beacon and have a head start with wrapping their gifts. They went to their respective rooms and wrapped the gifts for a short time before leaving to the cafeteria to grab dinner.
"So guys, how do think today went?" Yang asked as she ate her hamburger.
"Other than a few skirmishes here and there, not bad," Jaune said honestly as he finished his chicken wings, with his teammates nodding in agreement.
"Things were going well until the end of the morning shopping…" Baltazar trailed off as he set his pizza down, remembering Dia's fight and Levy's outburst.
"I thought today was an awesome day myself," Ruby beamed while holding a large, half eaten cookie, "I may have gotten into a fight with someone over Cody's gift, but I had a lot of fun. Especially since I got to see Cody again."
"It was nice to see the little troublemaker and Cera again. It has been a while," Weiss mused with a happy look on her face while munching on her salad.
"While today was both fun and productive, I have to admit that I am more excited for what is about to come in a few weeks," Pyrrha confessed while playing with her spaghetti a little.
"Oh yeah! Three week long Christmas Break!" Ash cheered, raising one of his tacos up like a trophy. "I can't wait!"
"Neither can the rest of us, I'm sure," Ren smiled at the hammer/axe user's enthusiasm as he finished his rice balls.
"I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they open the gifts I got them!" Nora beamed with a bit of ramen hanging on her lip.
"I can't wait to go back home to my village. It's been over 2 years since I saw my folks and I miss them a lot," Dia admitted after swallowing her hot dog.
"I'm excited to go home too. I want to see Abuelita and Papi and my siblings again..." Levy sighed happily, her lasagna forgotten.
Everyone began to talk about their plans for Christmas break except for Blake, who just looked at her friends with slight sadness with a cup of tea and a half eaten tuna fish sandwich to the side.
"Blake?" Weiss asked her teammate, "Are you ok?"
The Cat Faunus widened her eyes in shock before shaking her head, "I'm ok, Weiss. It's fine."
Weiss, however, saw right through her, "You don't have plans for Christmas, don't you?"
Blake flinched and dropped her head in shame. "…I don't. I didn't want to say anything so no one would feel sorry for me. I'm ok with staying here though, so-"
"Want to spend Christmas with me?"
Blake looked at her white haired friend in surprise, "What?"
Weiss repeated with a smile on her face, "Do you want to spend Christmas with me?"
Blake stood in silence for a few moments before responding, "A-Are you sure? W-Will your family be ok with having a Faunus in their house?"
Weiss's smile never left her face, "You don't have to worry about my family, Blake. I'm not having Christmas with them. Besides, even if I was, my parents would be ok with you coming over since they're ok with me dating Baltazar."
Blake became confused, "You're not spending Christmas with your family?"
Weiss shook her head, "I'm spending it with Baltazar and his family this year. It's been a long time since I was with them for Christmas and this year's going to be special since it's the first time I visited them for the holidays for a while."
"…Will Baltazar be ok with it?" Blake asked worriedly.
"I'm ok with it, and so is my family."
Blake turned to see Baltazar behind her with a small smile.
Baltazar pointed to his Scroll and began to explain to his fellow Faunus Ninja, "I just talked to my family about you joining us for Christmas and they said it was ok. We were already expecting Yang and Ruby to visit during vacation so it wouldn't be a problem with you joining us. Besides, my family wants to know you a little more since you're also a Faunus like us."
Blake began to tear up a little, feeling very happy that her friends were doing so much for her.
"I…Thank you guys. If you're ok with it, I'll join you two for Christmas. I really appreciate everything you guys are doing for me."
"Blake's spending Christmas with Sparky and Weiss?"
The three of them jumped and turned to Yang, who was staring at them with a large smile on her face along with everyone else.
"That is so awesome! Ruby! Blake's spending Christmas here in Vale with Sparky and Weiss." Yang grinned to her sister.
"All right! Team RWBY's spending Christmas together! This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" Ruby cheered.
"We're happy for you, Ruby," Jaune smiled along with his team.
"Looks like Chief's house is going to be very full for Christmas," Dia said happily with her teammates nodding in agreement.
"You can say that again," Baltazar laughed.
With that, everyone began to laugh and talk animatedly about their plans once more and even talked about past Christmases they had, whether they were good or bad. Throughout it all, Blake smiled brightly as she listened to her friends.
"I've never had a decent Christmas growing up with the White Fang, and now I'm spending it with my teammate and a family of friendly Tiger Faunus and able to spend time with the rest of my team much easier than if I stayed here in Beacon. Ruby is right. This is going to be the best Christmas ever."
Author's Note: A little late, but I'm happy with this. I will admit that this story was going to turn out differently, but I'm ok with how this turned out. I would like to think of this as a bit of a prequel to the Christmas special that I'm going to write titled 'A Cat's Christmas with Tigers'. The title's still a work in progress but I like it so far. I also hope that you enjoyed the brief appearance of Cody and Cera in the story. They will be more detail about them in the Christmas story and Cody's fighting style will be shown in the 6th chapter of BLAD of RWBY and JNPR. As shown earlier, Cody does have the Polarity Semblance like Pyrrha but it's quite different. It will be explained in full in the 6th chapter. Also, the city that was mentioned in this story, Forjador City, is indeed the birthplace and original home of both Levy and Baltazar, and is also the location of Azure Armory Inc.'s main weapons factory. Expect to learn more about the city later in BLAD of RWBY and JNPR. I hope you all enjoyed this and had a safe Black Friday. See you all later for chapter 5 of BLAD of RWBY and JNPR.