A/N: PLEASE READ THIS NOTE, WOULD YOU KINDLY?
Gah, trolls all over this story as usual. Made peace with one, but that only seems to have stirred up the rest. Still hoping we can all just get along...and whether I mention them or not, they still come. Hence the making peace with them part.
What do you think of this chapter? What would you like to see updated next? All Things Must Die? Or perhaps Embers of Hope?
By all means, let me know in your reviews. I can't write if I don't know what you want.
Well, I hope folks like this chapter, given the light it sheds on things. Reviews are my lifeblood, after all. This chapter is short, sweet, and...emotional. Vividly so. and I'm sure we all know Raven has a warped idea of what love is. Poor Yang. With that said, lets clarify things here for the final time, since I'm still getting the odd question about it.
Also, a LOT of people want that NarutxRaven prequel story but I'm holding off on it.
Naruto and Raven had/have a past together. That's obvious. I've all but said that Yang is their daughter in this story, though she believes otherwise. They're clearly keeping it from her to an extent and are content to let her continue on as she has always been. Case in point. Raven deliberately phrased her response as "Meet your new father" last chapter, rather than "Hey, this guy's your real dad. Tai isn't." Abandoning a child -nevermind unfaithfulness!- is a nasty bit of business and I'd rather not delve too deeply into that in a humorous story.
Also, we're going with Food/Drink themes for chapters, if that isn't obvious.
Of course Yang, being Yang, gets the wrong idea about aaaall of this, which means chaos ensues.
As ever, I'm open to title suggestions and the like. Feedback keeps my wheels rolling. Looking forward to your reviews~!
"You left me! You LIED to me! You had me...and...and then you decided you didn't want me. You threw me away. Why?!"
"Did I leave you alone? No. Yang, I left you with people who I knew would care for you. Tai and Qrow did a good job. Summer was a better mother than I could ever be."
~?
Bottoms Up
Was this death?
Yang almost wished it were; if only because death meant she would've have to open her eyes and face the day. Everything hurt. She was already fit to die from embarrassment before she remembered where she was and once she did? Well. She desperately didn't want to open them. Her mouth was bone dry, her ears ringing, her entire body entirely too stiff and her eyelids felt like someone had scrubbed them raw with sandpaper. From the inside.
So, yeah. Eyes? Not opening!
Today was meant to be a simple day out in Vale with her team; one free from any nasty surprises.
Surprise, Yang! Raven's back! Surprise! She was right under your nose this entire time! Surprise! She shacked up with someone else! Surprise! She doesn't care one bit about you! Surprise surprise SURPRISE! Raargh! No more surprises! By the Brothers if she heard that word one more time she was going to PUNCH-
"Surprise~!"
Icy water splashed across Yang's face, dousing her head and hair alike with brisk dispatch.
"Gah!" Her body betrayed her and she jerked upright, snarling like an angry Beowolf. "Coldcoldcold! What the hell?!"
"Sorry about that." a familiar bass voice rumbled in her ringing ears as she flailed about in search for the culprit. "You weren't moving. Ruby was starting to get worried."
Yang blinked the water away, scrubbing at her face with the back of a hand. "Dad?"
"Well." Someone made a choked sound as her vision swam back into focus. "That's not something I ever thought I'd hear."
A familiar pair of baleful blue eyes nearly the same shade as her own gazed back at her. Nope. Definitely not dad. Tai wasn't that tall and his hair wasn't quite that spiky. It was that baker from before, the one that Ruby seemed so keen on. What was his name again? Naruto? Ah, there's the one. A small, wistful smile greeted her gaze, one quickly wiped away by him as Yang tried to stand. An awkward, heavy weight settled against her back and all thoughts of familial ties were promptly forgotten.
"Did you get my hair wet?" she absolutely hissed.
...surprise?" her fellow blond gulped.
Yang's eyes blazed red and she threw a wild haymaker at his head. It landed neatly in an open palm as warm fingers closed around it. In a single seamless movement this supposed "baker" wrenched her arm down to the side and yanked her forward. She tried to headbutt him for it and immediately paid the price; burning stars burst behind her eyes as she bounded back. Gah?! What was his skull made of, pure metal or something?! She had Aura for crying out loud and that hurt her! Bloody monster!
"Now, now." her host sighed as she toppled back to the floor. "Lets not do anything you'd regret."
Had it all been a dream?
No, when she raised her head she glimpsed Raven -she refused to call her Mother- seated by the bar, bottle in hand. One she was even now knocking back. As she looked on her mother -damnit!- drained the bottle dry and tossed haphazardly it over her shoulder. One of Naruto's attending clones caught and disposed of it, while a second handed her another, one she went to work polishing off. With a vengeance. It certainly helped that the customers had left long ago. Perhaps that was Naruto's doing. Perhaps not. Who could say?
The lack of an audience for this was...nice, she supposed. And why was everything still blurry?
"Easy there," Naruto hummed suddenly, capturing her attention once more. "You took quite the tumble when you fell. Cracked your head against a table and everything. Headbutting me just now made it worse."
She tried to speak, but only gibberish emerged.
"See? Definitely a concussion." Naruto sighed. "Hold still, you silly girl."
Before Yang could think to protest, a tan hand pressed itself against the side of her head. Not a heartbeat later, it pulsed with a shroud of soothing green light; what was this, his Semblance or something? No, no, that didn't make sense. Those clones were his Semblance. She was sure of that much. Which meant this was something else. You couldn't have a second Semblance. It just wasn't possible whatinthebluehellwashedoing?!
Yang sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth as a strange, heady sensation subsumed the back of her scalp.
"Heeeeey that feels pretty good." She slurred, looking up at him blearily. "Whatcha doing?"
"Fixing your cracked skull." came the sigh. "Stop squirming."
"Lightweight." Raven croaked from her seat.
"You wanna go?!"
Yang swung herself upright with a roar, only to find herself hauled back down once more. Lilac eyes blazed red, but the grip on her shoulder was ironclad; in no time at all she found herself wrestled to floor and forced to be still yet again. This time, the hand didn't leave her shoulder, even as that glowing green palm alighted on her battered head once more.
Naruto snorted. "Ignore her. She's drunk. And about to be cut off."
"What?! No! Never!" Raven hissed and clutched the bottle to her bosom; it did interesting things to her chest. "Mine!"
"The second you let go of me," Yang began to twitch, "I'm gonna talk to her. Hard. Repeatedly. With my fists."
"You could do that," that same hand combed through her hair, drying the soaked mane with some strange technique she didn't understand. Whatever it was felt even better than what he'd done to her head. "Or you could sit her like a good girl and let me fix your hair. Its the least I can do." there was something about the way he'd said those words that made her want to question him, but she held her tongue. She could count the number of people she trusted with her golden locks on one hand. This man wasn't among them. Yet this felt comforting. Familiar, as he hummed at her. Almost as if...
"And now we have company."
"Yang!" Ruby flitted to her side in a rush of petals, and the moment was lost to her.
"Don't worry about her, little red." the baker soothed. "She'll be fine in a minute.
The scythe master frowned. "Don't call me that. You sound like Torchwick."
"Torchwick?" A blond brow rose. "I knew a woman in Mistral by that name, once. Haven't heard it in ages. She a friend of yours?"
Raven went terribly still at the bar, fingers going white-knuckled around her bottle. With her back firmly planted to her, Yang had no way of noticing. Perhaps, had she bothered to look over her shoulder, she might've seen something interesting. Alas, she missed it and the moment was lost when she looked.
"Ugh, no!" meanwhile. Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Roman's a thug! And a creep! And a boy! Definiteeeeely a boy!"
"Roman?" Naruto's expression turned contemplative. "How old would you say he was? Humor me."
"I dunno...twenty-something?" Ruby shrugged helplessly. "Why? Do you know him?"
"Hmm." his frown deepened. "Not, not him, but that name...
Yang was almost certain she'd missed something; or was missing something at the very least. Raven uttered the blackest of oaths and Naruto's expression had turned positively radiant, as though he'd discovered a great and mighty secret, one he wasn't keen on sharing. Worse, her mother was chugging another bottle as if it were her last.
"As fascinating as this is," Yang growled. "Can I have my hair back?"
Naruto reluctantly complied, and she wriggled free.
"How long was I out?" she asked.
"Eh, about an hour." her fellow blond waved a hand dismissively. "Long enough for birdie here to start drinking. Guess some things run in the family."
Yang didn't know the truth -that this man was her blood- and so both failed to understand and meet the challenge. Run in the family? The hell did he mean by that? Oddly enough, her confusion seemed to bring a strange measure of relief to him as much as her silence. Before she could think to try and press the matter further, their host changed subjects.
"By the way, Ruby drew on your face."
The little huntress recoiled as though she'd been struck. "Lies!" she cried! "It was Blake!"
"Nice try." their sullen teammate appeared at her elbow. "I was out in the yard."
"He has a yard?!"
"In the back, yes." Naruto sniffed. "I can vouch for her. She was with one of my boys. Her semblance...well, its fascinating."
"I could say the same for yours." to her surprise, the girl granted him a small smile. "You've given me a few ideas."
Was it Yang's imagination, or did Blake's bow wiggle when she spoke? Did she still have a concussion.
Ruby flailed, searching for someone to blame. Weiss glared her into silence before she could dare to speak. Raven laughed and flipped her off the moment she opened her mouth. And so it was that small silver eyes swung on the sole person remaining. Naruto's grin reminded Yang of a shark; because it sealed her fate. "My handwriting ain't that sloppy, kid."
"You promised you wouldn't tell!" she pouted.
"Ruby?!"
"Gack!" she ducked Yang's arm. "I've been had!"
"See?" Naruto was merciless in his calm. "She admits it."
Ruby howled condemnations and tried to tackle him, only to find herself held back by a single finger. Now that Yang thought to look as she scrubbed down her face, she was somewhat chuffed to find that the rest of her team -even Weiss!- had gathered around to check on her. Even Blake...who she realized was now sporting a black eye. Wait. When had she gotten that?
"Alright, kiddos." Naruto clapped his hands, "Now that we're all conscious, break's over. Back to work with you."
Ruby deflated. "Awww, just when it was getting good."
"Considering you weren't getting anywhere with me? Wouldn't call that good."
"LIES!"
Naruto flung a pair of warm cookies at her like twin frisbee and Ruby caught each with her teeth.
"What was that, trooper?" he laughed at her. "I was under the impression you enjoyed being paid to taste-test my stock. Was I mistaken?"
"No sir!" the little huntress somehow managed to both swallow and salute all at once. "Not all sir!"
"Then be off with you!"
Sure enough, Ruby vanished behind the counter in a flurry of red petals.
Apparently "work" consisted of just that; Ruby tasting sugary treats and rank them accordingly, Blake being bustled outside by a clone, where she was promptly set upon by said doppelganger and forced to liberally apply her semblance in what could only loosely be called training, while Weiss...well. She didn't really have words for what Weiss was doing. Because she wasn't doing anything. Just standing there, idly scuffing her foot against the floor.
"What about me?" she asked softly.
"What about you, Schnee?" Naruto tilted his head and Weiss turned red.
"Here." He lobbed a clean rag at her. "Those tables aren't going to clean themselves."
"Hey!"
Alright, maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all. With a long suffering sigh, Yang allowed herself to hoisted upright to her feet. It still felt surreal, like a dream. Come to think of it, why had she passed out in the first place? She remembered walking in, seeing Raven and then she'd said...said...oh. Oh, dear. Oh gods. "Meet your new father."
Unfortunately, her brain chose that moment to recall that rather unpleasant remark.
The implications made her face twitch.
"Earlier, you said...
"He's your new father, yes." Raven called out from the bar yet again, her smile just a shade of short of smug. Yang nearly conked out all over again. This. This was the woman she'd been trying to find for as long as she could remember, a woman only ever glimpsed in photographs. They really did look alike. Almost eerily so. Had she really been so easy to find? She stole a glance at the woman who had given birth to her, for she could never call her mother, not after what she'd done, and Raven looked right back.
"Drink?" she hefted the bottle.
Huh. Maybe they were more alike than she thought. "Gods, yes."
Ordinarily she wouldn't drink like this. But here? Now? She drank the whole bloody bottle.
She'd dreamed of this moment for so long; of what she would say, what she would do. Raven had always been a goal, someone to pursue, someone to chase...someone to demand answers from. Now that she was here in the flesh, Yang felt her resolve waver. Right. She could do this. She needed to stay calm. Breathe. If she exploded into a fury, Raven would just run off again. Be calm, she willed herself as a clone set another bottle down between the two of them. Be still as a lake-
Anger stole the choice from her.
"Why?" she demanded, claiming the seat opposite her. She drank deeply. It burned as it went down.
Raven frowned into her own bottle and mirrored her a moment later. "Why...what? You'll have to be more specific than that."
"You left me!" Those words ignited everything like dry kindling, waking the dragon within in a howling fury. "You LIED to me! You had me...and...and then you decided you didn't want me!" it all tumbled out; the dam was breached and there cold be no holding back the floodwaters. "You threw me away! Why?! Was I a mistake? Did you even-
"Of course you weren't a mistake!"
Yang nearly toppled backwards at the vehemence lurking behind hose words.
"And did I leave you alone? No." Raven shook her head and somehow the dismissive gesture made her anger boil all the mroe. "Yang, I left you with people who I knew would care for you. Folk who raised you far better than I ever could. And you have the nerve to say I didn't want you? Impudent pup. You never would have been born if I didn't want a child." she leaned forward, perhaps emboldened by her drink, or simply too angry to care what she thought. Or worse, I could've left with you. You would've been raised among the tribe. Would you like that, Yang? I think not."
Yang recoiled at the thought.
"That's what I thought." her mother scowled. "What I did was a mercy. Think on that before you throw your misguided blame at me again." she leaned back, no doubt thinking herself victorious now that her point had been made. "Tai and Qrow did a good job of raising you. Summer was a better mother than I could ever be."
Her words tore open and old wound. "Summer died."
Raven's face fell. "Yes. She did. I'd heard about that." she paused, eyes alight as they fell upon Naruto. "Hmm. Dear, are you able to-
"Lalalala! Ignore her!" the blond squawked, shouting over her surly scowl. "Like I said, she's drunk." he added with a pointed look. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."
"Tch." just like that Yang's rage came boiling back, now at him. "So you think you can just waltz back into my life, shack up with some random guy, and expect me to accept it?! What about dad?!"
"What about him?" Raven tilted her head. Yang didn't fail to notice where her eyes went, but she did fail to understand the implications. Naruto pointedly turned his back and returned his attention the ovens. Yang missed the byplay and mistook it for something else. When the next bottle came, Raven beat her to it and she swore.
"You absolute bi-
"Don't be crass." Raven flicked her forehead, drawing a hiss from the younger girl. "I did not simply "shack up" with someone. I simply chose to rekindle the embers of an old flame." her gaze regained some of its vitality for a fleeting moment, sharper than any blade. "Recently, at that. If there's anyone to blame for that, it would be him."
Naruto swore softly but otherwise remained silent as Yang's hands crashed down on the table.
"How recently?!" she hissed.
"Today." Raven crossed her legs and twisted the knife, heedless of her daughter's agonized expression. "If I knew you would be emotional about this, I wouldn't bother." For a moment she almost looked ready to bolt, only to sink back down into her seat as Naruto glowered at her. "
There are things you don't understand, Yang." she mistook her silence for acceptance and leaned forward again. "I left that day because I needed to; just as there are things you need to know. Ozpin is-
SLAP.
To her credit, Raven didn't dodge; though with her skill, it would have been well within her power to do so. Instead she took the right hook dead on the jaw like a champion. Her head snapped backward but somehow, she remained sitting, even as her head jerked violently to the side. That same punch had blown an Ursa's head off only a few days before. Raven Branwen barely batted an eyelash. She raised a hand, pried her daughter's fist away and sighed.
"Did you even come back for me at all?"
In the corner of her eye, Naruto flinched. Raven? Raven barely blinked.
...that was a good punch." she granted, wiping a thin line of blood from her mouth. "You've gotten strong, Yang."
"Don't." Yang jabbed at her nose with a finger. "Don't you DARE say my name like you're proud of me."
"Is it wrong for a mother to take pride in her child?" she sounded almost sad. It hurt.
"YOU'RE NOT MY MOTHER!"
Naruto watched mother and daughter rage back and forth like that for what felt like an eternity; well, Yang did the raging. Raven just listened. In reality only a few minutes passed in Yang's tirade. Emboldened by booze, Raven Branwen weathered the storm that was her -their!- daughter in surly silence, only offering the odd jab. All the while, Yang wound herself up more and more. Raven didn't get angry. She seethed, and he could see that even she was growing tired of this diatribe.
Urk, this was awkward.
Finally, he could bear it no more.
"Hey. Firecracker." he barked, startling them. "Wanna spar outside?"
Yang shot right out of her seat with a snarl. "Yes. Please. I need to punch something. NOW. Preferably you."
Nevermind. He took back any and all thoughts on this girl who may-or-may not be his daughter. He was going to kick her ass.
Wait. A sudden, awful thought occurred to him.
In all this time, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Ruby since she'd come out of the back room. Weiss hadn't budged an inch, she was pretending to clean a table nearby while she pointedly listened to them. Blake was outside and Ruby...was nowhere to be seen. Ordinarily that wouldn't have much bothered him; Yang's sister could very much look after herself and on the odd chance that she'd gone out surly patron tried something, she was more than capable of bolting away from them.
"Hey, kiddo?" he called into the diner, "Where'd you go?"
"Here!" came the cry as she stumbled into sight. "Don' worry...'M over here...
Stumbled.
When he turned, so did Raven, and by definition, Yang. In hindsight it couldn't be said who noticed first, only that someone did. It wasn't hard to miss the way the normally spry huntress tottered about, the glazed look in her eyes, or the bottle clutched in her right hand. A white bottle that had been on the counter only a few moments before, all but forgotten in the argument that followed.
"Y'know," She hiccuped, "This is really good milk."
Keen blue eyes narrowed on her intently. "Ruby...where did you get that bottle?"
"Eh?" she blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. "Somebody gave it to me." She kept right on blinking.
"Ruby!" Yang all but howled, her emotions already at a fever pitch. "Don't tell me you drank the entire thing?!"
"Hic!" the young huntress swayed in her seat. "I thought it was milk! I'mma...not drunk...why are there three Yangs?"
Yang sucked in a short, strangled breath through her teeth. "Alright, who gave Ruby that drink?"
Three heads shook rapidly. Raven pointedly snatched the bottle behind her back.
Naruto saw it of course; just as he saw the subtle shake of her head. Indeed, how could he not? By now he knew enough of Raven's tells to know when she as guilty, accidentally or not. One didn't get to where he was by being slow about this sort of thing. Of course he wasn't about to go accusing her; not when Yang already looked fit to snap at her dear mother for their earlier argument...and besides, where was the fun in that? Oh dear, Yang looked fit to spit right about now...
"I said who did it?!" the counter splintered under the brawler's grasp. "Last chance before I start punching!"
Blake padded back inside, looking terribly cross. "What's going on? I heard you shouting...
"Ruby! Drunk! Alcohol!"
No, if he told the truth now one of them would storm off and their already strained relationship would be broken beyond repair. He could've blamed the Schnee, but Yang would've butchered her for it. Really, there was only one answer for it. Even if it was stupid of him. Why did he have to be so bloody noble?
With a long suffering sigh, he laid his glass down and steeled himself. "Alright, you got me. I did it. Guilty as charged."
Weiss whipped around, her pale eyes widening as she realized what was about to transpire. "You?"
Raven looked absolutely stunned at his declaration. "You didn't...
Blake slapped a palm against her face. "Here we go...
Yang barreled into Naruto with a bloody roar.
A tipsy Ruby only giggled at his plight.
"Whee~! Fight~! Fiiight~!"
A/N: Naruto vs Yang next chapter.
Drunk Ruby is a funny Ruby, but she'll regret that later.
Felt nice to write something more family oriented this time around.
We'll get the Cinder and the Deery bits next chapter.
Alas, this was a Yang centric chapter. What can I say? She stole the show. She's like her mother there in that she's got so much personality that I can't help but write her and when I do write her I always try to write her well. Well, that's going to be a long discussion.
As ever, reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
And enjoy the previews.
As ever:
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Get ready to smile~!
(Previews!)
"Sloppy."
"HOLD STILL! STUPID OLD MAN! GAH!"
"You won't tell Yang?"
"I'm not a father anyone would want, Tai." much to his disbelief, the ancient shinobi shrugged. "No one sane, at least. I've got too many enemies. And I don't want to upset things. I didn't even consider the possibility that Yang might be mine until a few days ago. Part of me still doesn't want to believe it. I've been alive too long. Done too much. As long as she's happy, so am I. And you're a better father than me."
"And what about Raven?" he asked. "I can't claim to understand her anymore than you do...but she loves you, you know. In her own warped way, I think she's happy here."
Naruto didn't respond to that, he merely slid the tray in, stepped back from the oven, and removed his apron. "Do you still want to punch me?"
"That depends." the brawler frowned. "Can you do it?"
"Tai, no." He saw the moment Naruto realized what he was asking. "Bad idea. Horrible idea. Don't ask me to bring back Summer. I'm not even sure I can."
Nora grinned. "All the pancakes?"
Naruto absolutely cackled. "ALL THE PANCAKES!"
"Salutations!"
Naruto's brow shot up.
"Hello yourself. What'll it be?"
"I was told that friend-Ruby works here. Is she in?"
Ruby's hidden head shook rapidly behind the counter. Naruto's grin grew. "She certainly is~!"
"Roman's your son?!"
"Maybe?" The blond shrugged, heedless of Raven's baffled look. "I mean, now that I look at him I can kinda see the resemblance there. Besides, its not like I was celibate after you ran away all those years ago." although her blazing red eyes continued to bore into him, he remained unfazed. "I wandered the world before I came back and settled down. Had a few one night stands here and there, nothing serious. Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are. Its not like there's a horde of mini-me's running about Remnant or anything. I'd know if there where."
She squirmed angrily. "I still don't like it."
He prodded her beneath the sheets with his good hand.
"What, that I might have other kids or that I got some tail while you were away?" As he looked on, her pale cheeks slowly suffused themselves with but the faintest shade of pink. "No." A lone blond brow quirked as a slow smile spread across his face. "Don't tell me you're jealous." When she didn't answer his grin grew. "Aha! You are! I didn't think you had it in you!"
...I'm the only one you need to look at."
He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into her neck. "Awww~!"
"Let go of me you big oaf! No cuddling! Off! I said off!"
"Nope! Never letting go!"
R&R~!