.

"Do you have everything you need? Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything? Your gourd? Your doll? Your bandages? Did you remember to take the bandages? I know the school probably has some, but you never know! Oh! And your cap! The sun is strong in the middle of the day! And also-…!"

Yang blinked in confusion. She was really trying to listen to what her daddy was saying to her, but he spoke a way, way too fast, she couldn't understand anything at all… And the noise didn't help, around them were lots of children of her age with their parents, and for some reason she didn't understand, a lot of kids were crying, like Ruby when she hurts herself, except Ruby stopped crying when mommy or daddy came over to look after her. her, but there the children continued to cry even with their parents. It was weird …

"And don't forget, listen to what the adults say okay? And don't do anything stupid, I'll know if you do something stupid! And-… "

"Tai, leave her alone, she's going to kindergarten, not the military." A female voice cut him off.

"But my love, I'm just trying-…" he tried to defend himself.

Yang couldn't help laughing as she saw her mommy give her famous "shut up" look to her daddy, who lowered his head sadly, but Yang knew he wasn't really sad so she wasn't worried. Mom always had the last word when they disagreed, she was the boss of the house!

Suddenly, the doors of the large building, the kindergarten, opened, and the children began to enter. Some had stopped crying when they joined their friends and entered as groups, some were forcibly pushed inside by their parents, others ran straight in. At the entrance, several people greeted the children, a woman and a man both with the same light blue apron with cloud patterns, and an old lady with a strict and unhappy air.

A feeling of cold appeared in Yang's stomach. Did she have to go too? She wasn't quite sure… As every time she had a doubt, she turned to her mom with a confused look, waiting for confirmation.

"What are you waiting for ? Go ahead." She told her with a smirk.

Yang turned to the large, unknown building. Daddy had explained to her that she was going to come here every day to learn a lot of things and make new friends, but she was still afraid.

A soft, warm hand rested on her shoulder, "Listen Yang, I know this is new, but you don't have to be scared okay?" It's just an obstacle and you will overcome it, like all the others. And even if you fail, okay, it happens," said her mom, bending down to her height, before taking her by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eye, "But there's no way my daughter will give up on a challenge before she even tries, am I making myself clear?" She finished with a cold voice. A normal child would have recoiled at the strict and scary tone of the last sentence, some around them had actually stepped back upon hearing it, but for Yang it wasn't scary, it just proved that her mommy was the coolest in the whole world! Even Ruby was clapping in their daddy's arms!

"Yes ma'am!" She replied enthusiastically, coming to attention.

"So why are you still standing here? Go." her mom said smiling and ruffling her hair.

Without further ado, Yang threw herself running towards her first day of kindergarten. She would do just like her mommy said! She would overcome all obstacles without complaining! Because she was super strong and she wasn't afraid of anything, just like her mommy!

Taiyang watched with tears in his eyes as his little princess ran determinedly to join the rest of the children. In his arms, Ruby was busy playing with his shirt collar, while next to him the love of his life stood with a proud look on her face, dressed in her full red and black Huntress outfit, she even had her sword, and her long silky black hair cascaded down her back.

It had been years now since Raven had retired from her being a Huntress, she had done a few missions after their wedding, mostly with him, but after Yang was born she had limited herself to the Grimm that lurked on Patch, as a way to keep in shape and "defend her territory". Old habits die hard. Now she only wore her full outfit on special occasions, like today, and every time she wore it, their little girls had stars in their eyes, admiring their "super cool Huntress mommy", never acknowledging that their father was also a Huntsman and that he was still going on missions… He had to admit that Raven had a lot more presence than him in the room, and since she no longer left for missions, she could spend most if not all her time with the girls.

To be honest, Taiyang was a little jealous, his princesses always preferred to play with their mom rather than with him, it was favoritism! He too wanted to be able to spend whole days with them doing activities together, Yang was already three years old!

"Why are they growing up so fast…?" he lamented.

"Dada ?" A shrill little voice asked. In his arms, his youngest daughter was looking at him with her large silver eyes full of concern as she clung to his shirt. He must have looked a little depressed, and with the tears he'd shed upon seeing Yang leave for her first day of school… "Mama! Dada shad!" She yelled at her mother as if it was an emergency.

Raven turned to her raising an eyebrow, then looked at him and sighed, "No Ruby, daddy isn't sad, he's just being dramatic." She said, waving her hand like she didn't care.

"Damatite? Ruby repeated.

Taiyang rolled his eyes and put Ruby in his wife's arms. They both had dark and messy hair, pale skin, and a red and black color scheme, the only big difference between them was the color of their eyes. Anyone who saw them in passing would have a hard time guessing that they had no blood connection, and still … Despite everything that had happened, Raven treated Ruby with the same care and the same weird tenderness she had for Yang. Like now, for example, Ruby was sitting on her hip and playing at running her chubby little fingers through Raven's hair, who let her do it, looking at her with a tender gaze.

With a smirk, Taiyang pulled out his Scroll and hurriedly took a picture of two of the three women in his life. He already had a billion photos from today to remember the event, so one more …

The click and flash of the device made them both jump, and Taiyang couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Raven's face, both annoyed and embarrassed. She wasn't very comfortable with photos, and it had taken him a lot of time, patience, and surprise shots for her to stop getting mad at him every time he took out his Scroll. But his efforts had paid off, because he now had an entire book full of photos of Raven's pregnancy! Very little of him because he was most often the one taking the picture, but that was just a detail.

Raven growled and started to seat Ruby in the stroller. At first, when she did it for Yang, she wouldn't stop complaining, "Why is the belt so complicated?! ", "Who is the moron who put the basket so low?! ", "Fucking brakes! "… Now she was doing it like a pro, and in a few tens of seconds, they were ready to go. There were a lot of 'normal' things that she had trouble doing or understanding, and no one could really blame her, she didn't exactly have the easiest life, but she was aware of her shortcomings and trusted Taiyang to correct her when she was wrong. That didn't mean she listened to him every time though…

"Come on, let's go." She said leaving without waiting for him. It was nothing new, everyone around them knew that she was the boss of the family. She was proud, brave, bossy, scary at times, and one of the best Huntresses of her generation… As Qrow liked to call her, the most badass housewife in the world.

As they walked towards their house, Taiyang grabbed Raven by the waist and kissed her on the cheek. It had been a long road strewn with pitfalls to her heart, and a while ago things almost got out of hand, but in the end everything was fine, and he wouldn't change his life for the world.

Raven put the little Ruby down on the floor, and watched her conscientiously untie her shoes to remove them herself. She was more hesitant than Yang to try new things, but she learned quickly once she did.

"Shoe!" Ruby said happily as she handed her left shoe to her mom.

With a little smile, Raven took the shoe and waited patiently for her to remove the next one while Taiyang put the stroller away. She sometimes found it hard to believe that it was real, that she had a normal life, a husband, children, a nice house with a solid roof over her head to sleep in, a hot dish at every meal. … Even Qrow was a little jealous, although he hadn't really made an effort to imitate her, just not being rejected for his Semblance was enough for him, and if he was happy, so was she.

"Othe' shoe!" Said the little girl, pointing to her other shoe.

Raven took it and ruffled Ruby's hair, making her laugh. The one-year-old girl stood up and ran straight to the toy basket next to the television. Raven put the small shoes away, went to drop onto the couch, and let out a deep, relaxed sigh as she closed her eyes. She heard a laugh, and didn't have to look to know Taiyang was standing right behind her.

"Already tired? It's still early you know." He said, resting his forearms on the back of the couch. She didn't answer and let him do when he removed the locks of hair from her face and placed a kiss on her forehead. She heard him walk around the couch and sit down next to her. "You're okay my love?" He asked.

"Yes. Everything is okay." Raven replied with a sigh, and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling with a silly smile on her lips, "I'll change cloths and start making lunch, what do you guys want to eat?" She asked, getting up and heading for the stairs.

"Your choi-…" Taiyang tried to say.

"Pizzaaaaaa!" Ruby cut him off, raising her arms in excitement.

The young couple burst out laughing. Ruby still had a hard time pronouncing most of the words correctly, but strangely enough, she always had them right when it came to food. Raven left the idea of the pizza in a corner of her mind to go up to their room. There she took off most of her outfit, keeping only her kimono top, her skirt, and her obi, her boots were already waiting downstairs by the door and her belt and gloves returned to the closet. As for her sword, its place was in its transport case, at the back of the wardrobe.

Only a few years ago, Raven absolutely never parted with her sword, not because she was crazy about it like some people she wouldn't name, but because being unarmed was simply unimaginable to her, even in a 'safe' place like Beacon, she had always had a knife under her pillow … She never thought she would see the day when she would no longer need to be armed at all times.

It had taken a while for Taiyang to convince her to give up this habit, mainly with arguments like "You can defend yourself very well without a weapon" or "If anyone in this room wanted to harm you, they would have already tried and failed". But it was when they started sleeping together and Taiyang got cut when putting his arm under the pillow that she had stopped. She didn't want to risk hurting the one she loved because of her paranoia.

Raven came back down the stairs, and was greeted by the adorable sight of her husband sitting cross-legged on the floor with their little Ruby tucked between his legs, a kid book in his hands.

"Oh Grandma, what big teeth you have!" He said, imitating Little Red Riding Hood's voice.

"Teeth?" Ruby asked, pointing her mouth.

"Yes, that's right, teeth. Someone is learning fast!" He replied, ruffling her hair.

The little girl smiled proudly at the compliment and turned around for the rest of the story, when she finally noticed her mother halfway up the stairs.

"Moma! Teeth !" She exclaimed, pointing her mouth again.

"Yes, teeth." Raven nodded smiling.

She got down the stairs and came over to kiss Ruby's head before heading to the kitchen. She didn't particularly like to cook, but she had married a man who was completely unable to cook an egg. Or anything else. So until her daughters were old enough to learn to cook, the task fell to her by default, as it was out of the question to have microwave dishes at all meals. In addition, she was in fact a fairly good cook, after spending her life improvising nourishing meals made from foods stolen at random or found in the forest with hardly any equipment, she had become quite good at making taste good dishes that normal children would apparently find disgusting (from Taiyang's opinion). On the other hand she was a terrible baker… Maybe she should practice? She didn't like not being able to do something.

"Moma." Ruby said pulling on her skirt, "He'p!"

"You want to help me cook?"

Ruby nodded vigorously with a big smile. So young and she already liked to help everyone, she brought her shoes to Yang when they went out, when she saw someone looking for something she started to search with them, without even knowing what, and she even had her own little kid-sized broom that she was happy to use whenever she saw someone cleaning. Qrow called it slavery, but since he was the one who gave her the broom for her birthday…

"I don't need any help right now, but I'll call you if I do, okay?" Raven told her gently.

The little girl nodded again, and returned to play in the living room. Raven took out a saucepan, filled it with water, and set it on the heat. She opened a cupboard to take out some rice, when she felt two arms wrap around her waist.

"I caught the meal!" said a teasing voice behind her.

Raven groaned and kicked him in the shin, forcing him to back away. As much as she loved his displays of affection, she just as much hated when he made fun of her. Even more when she was busy!

As she continued to prepare the meal, she heard him pull a chair from the table and sit down, and for a few moments a somewhat uncomfortable silence settled in the kitchen.

"Raven, can we talk for a minute?" Taiyang finally asked in a more serious tone.

Raven froze. Since they were married, Taiyang almost only called her by cute nicknames, he only called her by her name when there was a problem, and the last time they had a problem …

"About what?" She asked, trying to hide the trembling in her voice.

"Well, you know, with Yang starting school today…" he said hesitantly, "I just realized how fast the time has passed the past few years. "

"And ?"

"And… especially with everything that happened last year… I-…" he started before being cut off when Raven slapped her hand on the counter and turned to face him with a black gaze.

"I'll stop you right now. I don't want to hear anything about this. Never." She said very slowly in a voice that was both scary and scared at the same time.

" I know I know !" He immediately defended himself by raising his hands, "It's not about that!"

Raven continued to glare at him, her hands shaking. The events of the previous year had been a nightmare she didn't want to remember. She finally had everything she had always dreamed of and she almost lost it all. For weeks she had hardly slept or eaten, her mind too busy wondering if everything she had fought for all her life was going to be taken away from her. And most importantly, wondering if it was really her fault …

A hand rested on her shoulder, pulling her out of her dark thoughts. Taiyang stood up from his chair and was looking at her with concern. Slowly, he moved his hand from her shoulder to her cheek, and wiped away a tear that she didn't even notice she had shed.

"Sorry, I know it's a sensitive subject…" he said in a reassuring voice.

Raven didn't answer and took a deep breath. Even after a year, the fear and rage she had felt back then was still very much present in her mind, ready to resurface at any moment. But she wasn't going to be overwhelmed. Even through difficult times, she had never stopped fighting to protect the few she had, and in the end she won. She was still standing here. With Taiyang. The nightmare was over and she didn't have to be afraid anymore.

"It's okay, I'm not made of glass you know…" she finally said, wiping her eyes.

"Are you sure? I wonder sometimes." Her husband retorted in a somewhat mocking tone. Raven groaned and pushed him back without really using any force, which made him laugh, "Seriously though, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I know you would tell me if something was wrong but… it's just…" he searched for his words for a moment, then sighed and took her hands in his, "It just feels wrong to see you acting like a housewife. You know, do all the housework, the laundry, the dishes, take care of the girls all day… I know I'm on mission a lot and someone has to do it, but I can help at least when I'm here if you want to go on a mission too or take some rest. "

"Rest?" She asked with an eyebrow raised, "Tai, I've spent my entire life literally fighting to survive. Stealing on the stalls to have something in our stomach and taking watch at night so as not to be attacked in our sleep, that was the easy part. Ruby crying just before going to bed is already resting for me." Raven quickly kissed her husband with a little jump, he was more than a head taller than her, and turned to finish making lunch, "Besides, even Ruby is better than you at sweeping." She added.

She heard him laugh behind her, which drew a smirk from her. She didn't regret marrying Taiyang, but sometimes she wondered how long it would take for the house to become a pigsty if he had to take care of it alone. This idiot didn't even know how to wash the dishes! And he was forbidden to approach the washing machine, even with supervision. By order of his own mother, just that.

"Okay. If you're fine with it I won't push. I just don't want you to feel pressured into doing all of this." He said.

"Oh please, like you could force me to do anything."

"Well, you don't have your sword in your hand, so if we were to fight right here and now I would have the advantage."

Raven gave him an amused look, and without taking her eyes off Taiyang grabbed a large kitchen knife that she had sharpened herself the day before.

"You were saying?" She said slowly, holding the knife close to her own face, smiling like a psychopath.

"Yeah uh, so about my surrender…!" He hurried to answer with a scared look.

Raven couldn't help but laugh as she put the knife away, she didn't need it now.

Finally, Taiyang returned to the living room to watch Ruby, and Raven could finish cooking in peace, although she still had the discussion they had just had in mind. She had nothing against taking care of the housework, especially if leaving it to someone else meant having twice as much to clean up behind, and she knew she could return on a mission whenever she wanted. Even though she had officially stopped, she continued to kill the Grimms that got too close to her territory, and Taiyang couldn't stop her, he didn't have that kind of authority over her.

On the other hand, she wasn't too keen on people taking her for a nice, obedient and helpless wife because of it. And again, if that was the only thing she wouldn't even think about it, she had stopped caring about the image she gave to people a long time ago, she knew who she was, those who mattered for her too, and that was enough. But she didn't want her daughters to think the same thing, she wanted them to have someone to admire, to know that she could protect them. That was why she would sometimes take out her Huntress outfit even if it was useless, to remind Yang and Ruby that no, their mother was not someone who let herself be walked on, she was someone who could draw her sword any second and was ready to fight like a beast to protect what was important to her.

"Hmm, honey?" She heard behind her. Raven turned with the plates in her hands to see Taiyang in the doorway with his Scroll in hand and a look of desperation on his face. "It was Yang's school… She got in a fight."

"Already?"

"That's not the reaction you're supposed to have!" He cried.

"Okay, okay … What happened?"

"Well, you see when I make a joke or pun that you think is lame and you hit me lightly as a punishment? Apparently Yang missed the "lightly" part…" he explained dejectedly.

Raven couldn't help but burst out laughing, much to Taiyang's dismay. No, she didn't have to worry about her little girls.