This story is set in an AU. Faunus, Beastkin, Aura, Semblance, and all the powers which are wielded by each and every character still exists to some extent. Villains? A few. Maybe. I honestly haven't decided yet.

I've changed the ages of certain characters for the story. Down below is the list.

Yuuki Terumi - 33

Hazama - 27

Kazuma Kval - 13

Summer Rose - 32

Taiyang Xiao Long - 32

Raven Branwen - 32

Qrow Branwen - 32

Ruby Rose - 10

Weiss Schnee - 12

Blake Belladonna - 12

Yang Xiao Long - 12

I'll add in the other characters once they appear, so worry not!

Now, let us begin.

-IIXII-

"That impatient harlot!"

Kval flinched when the sound of the door being kicked open resonated throughout the entire apartment building, only for it to slam shut two seconds later. He immediately paused the game he had been playing on his scroll device, just in time to see his big brother stomping towards the couch.

"Why can't people be reasonable nowadays!?" Terumi complained. He plopped down on the couch before throwing his empty wallet at one of the paper cups on the table, knocking it over and spilling its contents. Can't say he did it on purpose. "Gah! I'll clean that mess when I feel like it!"

Kval sighed. He rose up to his feet and went to the kitchen, later returning with a white cloth in hand. "Let me guess…" He walked over to the spot where the mess was located, and said, "It's the rent again, isn't it?"

"What else!?" Terumi buried his face into his hands, stressed out beyond measure. It wasn't uncommon for him to enter fits of explosive rage. In fact, it was pretty much a part of his daily routine. It wasn't healthy to be clear, therefore it's a miracle all the stress hadn't killed him yet.

"Have you even put any effort into finding that second job?" Kval asked. He went down to his knees and started wiping the table with the cloth he carried.

Terumi leaned into his couch and glared at his younger sibling. "Of course I have, you twat! Why do you think I stay up late every night?"

Kval stopped what he was doing and stared blankly at Terumi. "I shouldn't answer that," he said, however the way he delivered those words implied that he knew something he shouldn't.

"What the hell do you-" It took a second for Terumi to fully connect the dots. His cheeks flared red, but luckily he was able to get his blush under control. "You little snake…"

Kval gulped. "I-I know nothing," he repeated, his voice wavering ever so slightly.

Terumi peered at his younger sibling from underneath his yellow hoodie, a menacing grin slowly creeping across his face. "You should know better than to spy on your older brother." He got up from the couch, menacingly inching his way towards Kval. "Now tell me. What exactly do you know?"

"S-Stop it!" Kval backed away and paled, frightened no doubt.

"Hehehe..." Terumi took a couple of small steps forward, his grin growing more and more wider by the passing second. "Just stay right there you little-" Just then his scroll device started vibrating inside his pocket. He pulled it out with an annoyed huff, not at all noticing the relieved sigh coming from Kval. "Hello?"

Kval tilted his head and watched as Terumi's annoyed expression turned into one of surprise, then shock, and finally rage. Curious, little Kval walked over to Terumi's side to know who it was, but he was unable to hear the person's voice on the other end thanks to his brother moving around a lot all pissed.

"So let me get this straight," Terumi started, his face darkening. "You called my number, just so you can rub your achievements in my face?"

Kval attempted to get Terumi's attention by tugging at his sleeve, but decided to back away immediately when he emitted a bone-chilling aura. Whoever Terumi was talking to, it was quite clear that the person was getting under his skin.

"Well screw you! I'm unemployed, you say? Well guess what, I ain't denying! At least I'm not an ungrateful dick! You were raised right, yet look at what you've become! I don't even know what went wrong!" Terumi shouted into his scroll before quickly ending the call. "Ungrateful son of a bitch," he growled.

Kval stared at his older brother with nothing but concern written across his face. Sure his brother was an ass, but even asses like him had a limit when it came down to how much shit they can take.

Figuring that the silence was dragging longer than he would've liked, Kval went to Terumi's side once more and tugged at his sleeve, this time successfully gaining his attention. "Um… Who was it?" he asked.

"A nobody," muttered Terumi.

Kval frowned. But instead of sounding out his thoughts on the matter further, he decided to play along. He had no intention of seeing Terumi throwing another tantrum. "I see," was all he said.

Terumi sighed. A headache was slowly coming along. He could feel it. The stress was getting to him, and all he could do now was refrain from murdering anyone to relieve himself.

He wouldn't mind killing the landlady, though. That bitch liked, no, loved to get under his skin. He'd like to repay the favour at some point. Hell, he'd probably end up doing more than just that.

"Brother," Kval called out, gaining Terumi's undivided attention. "why not we go for a walk outside? Getting some fresh air is definitely what you need to get your mind off things." He smiled. "How about it? We can even head to the grocery store for those eggs while we're at it!"

Terumi rolled his eyes. "Yeah it sounds nice and all, but I'm broke. No cash equals zero eggs. Same goes for those cheap noodles we usually go for."

Kval smirked. "You are, but I'm not."

Terumi locked eyes with Kval, grinning soon afterwards. "Well looky here, we got ourselves a little rich child…"

Kval shrugged, the smirk from before still in place. "I wouldn't call myself that… Heh."

-IIXII-

As planned, the two brothers had gone out.

The siblings can be seen exiting their go-to grocery store, hand in hand while chatting.

"So these assholes were trying to bully you at school after finding out that you were my younger brother?" Terumi narrowed his eyes. He felt his blood boiling, gripping the paper bag in his hand tightly. "I don't know if these people were stupid, or just straight up suicidal. Either way it makes me angry. What did you do, beat their asses?"

"Well..." Kval laughed, albeit sheepishly. "You know I don't like hitting others, Brother. I simply ran and avoided them. The bullies were struggling to keep up with my speed, so it didn't take long for them to give in and lose interest. I was actually disappointed with how little endurance they had."

"What a slippery snake," Terumi commented, hiding his smile. "Keep it up. Show those assholes in school who's boss."

"Not what I intend to do, but I'll try," Kval said, grinning from ear to ear.

Terumi nodded proudly. He then turned to focus on the path ahead and chuckled, before softly hitting Kval on the head with his hand, the one which held their hands together. "Thanks, by the way. I needed this," he said. "I suppose the fresh air ain't all that bad."

Kval shook his head, smiling. "I just did what any other little brother would do. It's no big deal. Speaking of which," He skipped a small pebble which was in his path. "how was your new job? You came home earlier than I thought you would."

"Oh. That." Terumi felt his mood worsening at the mention of the job he had recently gotten. "Putting it bluntly, I got fired."

"Ehh!?" Kval did a double take, shocked and wide-eyed. "How in the world did you manage to get yourself fired from Tukson's Book Trade?"

"I slacked off, and may have accidentally torn a few pages from some of the novels to fold them into cool origamis," Terumi explained, his eyes never leaving the path ahead.

Kval sighed. "Figures. So what now?"

"Find another job, the usual," was Terumi's reply, but his voice clearly lacked the motivation. "I'll always end up getting fired. When will the cycle end, I wonder?"

"Have you tried contacting-" Kval stopped himself upon noticing the sudden changing of Terumi's expression. A mixture of anger and bitterness, if one may call it that. He frowned. "No?"

"No," Terumi muttered. "Never in a million years am I going to beg for help from that ungrateful-"

"Watch out!" a high-pitched voice called out to them all of a sudden.

Kval and Terumi looked behind them, and the first thing that caught their eyes was the sight of a young girl in a red cloak riding a skateboard heading their way. With no helmet on at that. If anything it appeared she was having trouble controlling the damn thing, so it was very unlikely for her to stop any time soon. To make matters worst, by the time the two had fully turned themselves around the girl was already dangerously close.

Aw crud, was the first thing that went through Terumi's mind. Acting quickly, he moved over to shield Kval, but forgot to keep away the paper bag in the process. The unnamed girl collided against him, and he was unable to resist the urge to wince when the familiar sound of eggs cracking filled the air.

What a waste.

Well, at least the cheap noodles were safe.

"Ruby!" another voice called out from the distance.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" And then another.

"Hold on! We're coming!" Then another.

Ignoring the new voices for the time being, Terumi gazed down at the little girl to find her rubbing her sore behind on the ground. He watched Kval as he went to the girl and helped her up, while also checking for possible injuries she may had sustained.

"Are you okay?" Kval asked the girl, concerned. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

"U-Um..." The girl seemed to shrink under Terumi's gaze, if the look she was making with her face and body language was anything to go by. "M-Mom said I shouldn't talk to strangers..." she stuttered.

"Ehh?" was Kval's reply. He honestly didn't expect that of all things. "W-Well," He put up a smile and held up his hands, wanting to look as friendly and harmless as possible. "what she say is true, but rest assured that I'm here to help. So-"

"Mom said that people who often give others help are the ones who I should watch out for," she interrupted, suspicion filling her innocent eyes soon after.

"Wha…?" Kval stared at the girl, dumbstruck.

The hell is up with this kid? Terumi internally questioned himself, his right eye twitching ever so slightly. The least she could do was show them a bit of gratitude for preventing her from possibly breaking a bone or two. Just be grateful and piss off already.

"Ruuuuubyyy! I'm here to save you!" one of the voices from before, which belonged to a cheerful blonde girl who appeared to be somewhat older, called out with a wide grin.

The girl with the cloak, whose name Terumi assumed was Ruby, turned to the older blonde and smiled. "I-I'm fine, Yang… I think."

The blonde, who was now known to Terumi and Kval as Yang, jumped forward and caught Ruby in a tight hug, much to the younger girl's displeasure. "Ooh! I was so worried!"

"You didn't look like you were..." Ruby grumbled.

"I was! I swear!" Yang exclaimed.

"Fine. I believe you," Ruby muttered with a roll of her eyes.

While the two pair of girls were busy hugging and chatting, two more other girls showed up.

"I'm glad to see that you're not hurt, Ruby," the one with the black bow and amber eyes said, sounding relieved.

"We should blame Yang for almost getting her killed in the first place!" the one dressed up in white clothing yelled out, flailing her arms about as she did so.

"It's not like I did it on purpose, Weiss!" Yang yelled.

Terumi stared at the group of kids as they talked and played around with one another right in front of him. He looked to the side not long after, clicking his tongue as the expression on his face quickly turned sour. "Brats. Just what I needed," he muttered.

Too bad the girl in white clothing, who went by the name of Weiss, heard him loud and clear.

The child turned to Terumi, ignoring Kval for the time being, and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. "Who is this peasant?" she boldly inquired, unflinching as well as unblinking.

Terumi quickly shifted his gaze to Weiss, holding in the urge to kick her away like a soccer ball.

"Hey Blake," Ruby turned her head towards the one with the black bow, successfully gaining her undivided attention. "what does the word 'peasant' mean?" She tilted her head to one side. "Does it have something to do with peanuts?"

"Not quite, Ruby. The word 'peasant' means a poor farmer of low social status," Blake swiftly replied.

Ruby blinked a couple of times. "Oh."

Yang giggled, finding the meaning to be somewhat funny. "It sounds silly, to be honest," she said.

"Hey!" Terumi yelled. "Who the hell are you calling a poor farmer of low social status!? And you." He turned to the one called Weiss with a glare so sharp that it could cut the air surrounding them. He lowered himself down to the girl's level, and if he was surprised to find her standing her ground while returning his glare with her own, then he did a very brilliant job at hiding it. She had guts, he'll give her that. "Despite having a pea-sized body, you sure have a big mouth. My advice? Learn to properly use it in the future, plebeian," he warned.

Weiss gasped. Her face then started reddening due to sheer anger. "How… dare you," she muttered. She balled up her hands into extremely tight fists. However, before she had a chance to throw insults at the very cause of her current mood, Terumi reached out and flicked her on the forehead. "Ow!"

"What, are you going to throw a tantrum? If so, then by all means!" Terumi allowed a taunting grin to crawl itself up to his face, which seemed to infuriate Weiss even further. He was enjoying that little expression of hers, but what truly satisfied him was the emotion that was dancing around in her eyes. So much hatred coming from a little brat was always welcoming. "I'm waiting," he reminded, his grin growing a tad wider.

Unfortunately, Kval decided to step in, thus ruining his fun.

"I am very sorry for my brother's behaviour," Kval apologised. He stepped forward and bowed in a polite manner, later lifting his head up in order to meet the girl's icy gaze with his own. "Do ignore him. He has a bad habit of purposely getting under people's skin, so giving him your attention is probably what he wants from you," he said.

Tch. Terumi cursed internally. Just leave it to him to ruin all my fun.

"I see." Weiss folded her arms and eyed the younger sibling up and down. "And you are?" she questioned.

Kval smiled and opened his mouth to answer.

Too bad a certain someone with a red cloak came in and interfered by exclaiming, "Don't trust him, Weiss, especially his brother! Mom said we shouldn't talk to strangers because they're dangerous!"

"What?" Kval quickly turned to Ruby, confused. "You're still going on about that?"

"That's because you're a stranger!" Ruby exclaimed and pointed a finger at Kval, looking all cute while doing so.

"Now that you have brought it up..." Weiss said, cupping her chin. She was starting to agree with Ruby from the looks of things, which was, in a way, bad.

Before the conversation could get any further however, a new voice belonging to a woman joined in.

And she did not sound happy.

"Girls! What did I say about wandering off? And don't even think for a second that I didn't see what happened to Ruby!"

Yang flinched, along with Weiss and Blake. "Yikes..."

Ruby on the other hand quickly turned around, wide-eyed and elated. "Mom!" she exclaimed with a wide grin. She held out her hands and ran up to the woman who appeared to be her mother, and was unprepared when the woman gave her a chop on the head. "Owie!" she yelped.

-IIXII-

A bit rushed, but not too bad. It'll have to do.

To those who can correctly guess who the landlady is will get a free cookie!

Anyway, if you readers have anything to say, any questions to ask, or any ideas to suggest, then by all means leave them in the review section! If you can't review as a registered user, try reviewing as a Guest instead.

This is CPL, over and out.