Nearing the end of the first arc.
One more chapter after this one.
Appreciate all the support everyone has given to this point.
Sorry if I haven't gotten back to everyone, been quite busy, and that isn't gonna change any time soon with this month.
Trying to update every story before my anniversary of returning to writing next month.
And for that, I am running a poll for what everyone wants me to focus on next month for writing.
So if you would, check it out and give your vote.
Now onto the story.
Thank you, blonde boy.
You came for me when everything was at its darkest…
"Nothing happened?"
"Just went to the Vanille Estate, and the two spoke through sign for some time," Qrow responded to Tai as he leaned back on the couch, stretching out his sore leg. "What I can tell you is the two came to some sort of arrangement or something like that."
"An arrangement?" Kali's ears raised in alarm as her eyes drifted to where the boy was currently outside, running through the practice regime he had set up.
There is much to do…
I cannot leave as they will not let me go.
Even if I were to escape, I fear they would come for me, so…
"Difficult to decipher a language you don't understand," Qrow muttered, shaking his head. "After I confronted him about it on his return, he was willing to talk a little bit about it."
"Mostly?" Kali scowled upon hearing that.
"Kept a few things private for her sake, I wager. Keeping her trust as I'm sure she will learn others are likely to know about the arrangement and not be so keen on it, so I'm not against it." Qrow shrugged uncaringly about the woman's disapproving tone. "Kid knows what information needs to be given and what to withhold, told everything necessary. Despite his attitude, the kid has repeatedly displayed traits similar to those of trained soldiers…"
"Which makes me wonder what his ancient civilization was like," Tai responded darkly as he glanced at the kitchen area momentarily. "I know we train our youth to fight Grimm so they are prepared for that reality, but the fact that it feels like he has seen actual combat at his age…"
Can I count on you for your assistance?
My friend?
"Whatever the case is, expect Naruto to leave here and head to the Vanille Estate after dinner every night."
"What?" Kali narrowed her eyes as Tai looked surprised but curiously at his teammate. "And you will let him do that?"
"Yeah. Yeah I am." Qrow stated simply as his crimson gaze reflected her golden eyes. "After seeing her pitiful state and what I learned, I feel what he's doing is appropriate. Besides, it's given me another lead to look into something about the Vanille woman I didn't quite like when I crossed her path."
"Just how the hell she knew about my and Raven's past still bugs me, so I'm willing to dig into anything about her past." Qrow bitterly spat with narrowed eyes as Tai frowned. "There aren't many ways to get that information. For her to have had it and be aware of Raven's circumstances, in particular, makes me curious. I have no problems digging into their history now that I have a reason."
As Tai winced at the mention of her name, nodding in understanding, Kali glanced at the two men. She didn't understand their silent communication but found it off. This was the first time they mentioned this person's name and for her past to be intertwined with Qrow's…
But it felt very personal. Almost as if…
"And besides…" Qrow glanced over at the kitchen like everyone before, his crimson eyes aglow.
Thank you, Naruto.
Let's get to work then, shall we?
"The kid is doing what he believes is the right thing. Whether it is or not, in the end… I'm gonna support that decision and help him see it through."
Taking a deep breath of cold air, Naruto focused on the red blade of the tachi in front of him. He barely remembered any of the academy katas. There were instructions for using katanas and similar swords, but they barely covered them since they were advanced weaponry.
It was passed over as it was meant to be a skill picked up once you were a shinobi or kunoichi. Not something an academy student needed to know.
They were still learning the basics of wielding of kunai and shuriken, so a basic tutorial was all that was necessary.
So this was going to be…
"That's not how you wield a sword, kid." Qrow's voice echoed behind him.
Naruto turned his head, noticing the drunkard watching him with crossed arms. He frowned when he saw the man with a weapon on his back for the first time. Not only that…
That was a massive oversized sword he had on his back.
"Footwork is all wrong." Qrow simply stated before pointing at Naruto's feet, shaking his head, and taking a deep breath. "Stance is mediocre. You won't get an effective swing if you do it like that."
Looking at his feet and stance, for it was all he remembered from his academy days, Naruto scowled. "Only know some basics. Never expected to have a sword. Too expensive to own."
"Interesting." Qrow nodded, understanding the reasoning, before shaking his head. "Well, the basics you know are terrible."
"So I guess it's up to me to teach you how to use it correctly."
"Trivia, dear…" Carmel's voice echoed as the door was unlatched and creaked open. "Honey, I know you are upset, but you must eat…"
Surprised, brown eyes gazed upon the room, noticing the food tray was seemingly empty. But more importantly, Trivia was sitting in her chair at her desk, scanning over a textbook she couldn't recognize…
Surrounded by several constructs and the abominable pink-haired version sitting on the desk, grinning maniacally at her arrival. Carmel cried out as a strange purple cat shot out from the door's opening.
"Trivia, what are you doing?"
Isn't it obvious? Trivia thought as she rolled her eyes as a hummingbird of her creation buzzed around her head. Don't think I need to explain what I'm doing.
Neo tilted her head back and forth as she giggled, holding her hand over her mouth as she stared intently into Carmel's eyes. Her eyes shone brilliantly as she flickered her hair and ignored Carmel's presence. She then jumped on the floor and spun and danced slowly without care.
Trivia only briefly turned to her mother to sign her intent before returning to her textbook, taking notes as she continued.
"Working?" Carmel scowled at the sight before her. "I don't know what it is you are expecting to do, but Aurelia will only continue to teach academics and basic fitness. This nonsense…"
"Don't you silence me, young lady!" Carmel's eyes narrowed, seeing the sign for quiet before noting the reaction of all the illusion constructs as they turned and focused on her, Neo's eyes focusing directly on her. "I am your mother, and you will…"
"Get your tricks away from me!" Carmel cried, startled as the hummingbird zoomed by her face as several others darted and swarmed in her direction as the abomination pointed straight at her.
As if it ordered an attack!
The nerve!
"Trivia Vanille!" Carmel shattered most of the illusions faster than Neo could comprehend, and Trivia cringed as the rebound of her aura caught up to her. "I don't think you quite understand what I've been trying to offer you, my child. But fine, live in your supposed despair for now."
"You'll understand when you are older." Carmel turned and softly sighed as the door closed. "You will flourish the moment you leave here. You'll quickly catch onto what the truth is, I'm sure."
"And when you do, you'll understand I never wanted this life for you." Carmel walked away from Trivia solemnly.
"I would have given the world for you if things weren't as they were."
"It so fluffy!" Ruby cried happily as she dashed around, eyes emblazoned with hearts at all the adorable pets on display as Tai tried to contain his energetic daughter.
Tai chuckled at the response at the energized, bubbly response as she bounded up and down while looking at the cats and dogs in particular, reaching out for them. Having pulled her back as she was alarming the animals, he shook his head. "Now, now. You are scaring them. What did I say on our trip here?"
"Calm and relax," Naruto stated as he stood over by Yang, who was brimming with enthusiasm as her gaze bounced between all the animals in the store.
"Close enough!" Tai smirked as he took Ruby's hand to lead her, trying not to laugh, for the one still learning the language paid the most attention to what he had said. "It's going to be a tough decision, honestly. It's got to have something with the right personality, though…"
"Ick! Gross!" Yang flinched as they passed an aquarium and held out her tongue. "Frogs are nasty."
Naruto stopped and frowned at the chibi with him. Did she insult his favorite animal? How dare she…
Taking a deep breath, he knew not to take it personally. He remembered quite a few growing up that disliked his precious Gama-chans. Especially girls, as it was almost as common a dislike as bugs and spiders…
He felt terrible for Shino.
Naruto missed hanging out with his old friend after the academy days when they collected bugs, toads, and frogs together.
"Not frog." Naruto shook his head, gazing at the aquarium, and smirked as he looked at the large lad in it. "Toad. Can tell by legs and eyes."
Tai's attention was drawn to the quick conversation, a smile parting his lips as he heard Naruto explaining the difference as Yang still looked quite mortified at the small animal. "Oh, you studied the difference?"
Naruto grinned and chuckled while nodding. "Favorite animal. Then became a Toad Summoner."
A solemn frown followed the moment his words left his lips. He had not thought about summoning for so long. So many thoughts flooded his mind, and many questions were left unanswered, but maybe against all odds…
"Ah!" Yang screamed and ran behind Naruto, freaking out as she used him as a shield. "It's trying to escape the aquarium!"
"What?" Naruto blinked before seeing the lid pop off, suddenly feeling something large plop into his arms.
A croak followed, and he stared into the eyes of the toad previously in the aquarium. It almost felt like the creature smiled at him. He grinned back at it as he stroked the spin while a bewildered pet attendant never having witnessed such an event before. "Hello, Gama-chan!"
"Wanna pet too!" Ruby exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she held no fear for the creature like her sister. "Cool!"
"Wash hands after," Naruto explained as he grinned while Yang visibly turned green, almost retching at seeing her sister handling the vile creature. "Don't touch eyes before. Will hurt."
"Okay!" Ruby chirped as she looked fascinated by the toad that blinked back at her. "What do it eat?"
"Bugs, mostly." Naruto grinned and scratched the toad's head, seemingly enjoying the attention. "Spiders. Mice. Frogs and small toads. Anything smaller."
"Nature's pest control, when they aren't the pest…" Tai muttered as Ruby seemed utterly fascinated as Naruto talked about the toad to her and sighed. "Guess I'm getting a second pet…"
"Where's Yang?" Tai panicked, his head swiveling around as his other daughter disappeared, and his eyes widened in worry at what she could do here.
A bark caught his attention, and there stood his daughter. She stood in the adoption section, staring at a tiny yet stocky young corgi, which wagged its tail happily at her. Unafraid, it barked at her again and jumped up at the glass barrier separating him and Yang, trying to greet her.
She turned back to her dad and pointed at it, her eyes sparkling brightly. "Can we keep it?"
"His name is Zwei!"
"Blake!" Kali sighed in exasperation while palming her face, watching her daughter as excited barks filled the kitchen. "Get off the table, honey. It's only a dog. I told you they were going out to select a pet as a Solstice family gift."
"I thought it was going to be a cat!" Blake hissed while perched on the table, her golden eyes focused on the abomination happily trotting beneath, looking up at her as if they were playing some game. "Go away!"
"Come here, Zwei," Yang called for their newest family member, and the corgi responded, bounding toward her and leaping into her grasp. "Ah, who's a good boy? Yes, you are! Such a good boy! The best boy in the whole world!"
Blake's eyes narrowed as she stared venomously at the blonde girl in the household. Lilac eyes stared back into gold, and a grin met a vicious snarl.
The war was on!
Kali rolled her eyes at the interaction as Blake carefully slid off the table, side-eyeing the dog and the blonde. Yang patted Zwei's head and took their new dog to the living room. "I swear you two would get along so much better if you just..."
Her ears twitched and perked, a look of surprise as the front door opened, and a familiar voice was heard speaking.
He was here? Wait, this wasn't the plan they discussed...
"Oh, I am delighted to hear that! My daughter has trouble making friends. Even if she is younger, it is wonderful news."
"Yeah, if there wasn't friction between her and my oldest, I think they'd make wonderful friends too. But Yang is stubborn, and once she makes up her mind…"
"Ah, so is my little Blake." A booming chuckle followed that caused Blake to brush past Yang, uncaring about the dog in her arms.
"Watch it!"
"Dad!" Blake ran straight toward Ghira, smiling wide, and leapt toward him. "I missed you!"
"Oh!" Ghira caught and embraced her with a gentle ease, almost expecting the reaction. "It's good to see you too, dear. Happy Solstice."
"Happy Solstice!" Blake cheerfully nuzzled into her father's collarbone and laughed. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you when you landed!"
"That is quite alright," Ghira chuckled and patted his daughter's back as he slowly lowered her to the floor, feeling a gaze upon him and knowing who it belonged to. "I heard you were busy helping your mother and learning your grandpa's language. So I made extra time to see you."
While Blake preened, Ghira's attention switched to Kali, who slowly swept over to him, her golden eyes curiously glancing at him. She then embraced her husband with a smile. "Ghira, dear. As lovely as it is to see you, I thought we had made plans already. I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
Ghira laughed heartily again. "Well, everything went by relatively smoothly until Jim ended the talks as something arose on his end, and we'll have to pick it up later. With that free time, I felt I should come out and see how my wife and daughter were doing!"
Kali's ears drooped at hearing there were consequences of the actions of Naruto and Trivia's recent actions. Of course, they were unintentional, and what she now knew about the situation was a ridiculous reaction, but…
"That's wonderful!" Kali chirped, covering her thoughts with relief after seeing her husband and the elation of her daughter seeing him as well. "Was this place difficult to find? It is a bit out of the way from the town…"
"I gave him directions when he called earlier!" Tai grinned, and Kali's eyes widened before slitting in annoyance at what the men had done. "Thought it would be a nice surprise for you when he got here?"
The room went ice cold. Golden eyes shimmered. A dog whimpered.
Blake took several stumbling steps back while Yang signaled and waved for her rival to retreat. Yang felt the impending doom, not wishing her to be caught in this crossfire. She would catch her with something else later.
This was not that moment. Too brutal…
"Oh?" Kali's sickening sweet voice calmly whispered, and Tai and Ghira saw their lives flash before their eyes. "Is that so? Was this planned without my knowledge?"
"Yo!" Naruto walked down the stairs with Ruby gleaming behind him, helping put up his aquarium in his room. "I haven't felt this deadly killing intent since Pervy Sage peeped on the women in the onsen and was destroyed by Baa-chan! What the heck is going on?"
Naruto blinked at the sight. Nothing was apparent as he saw the wicked glint in Meow-sensei's eyes, the look of fear on Pop's face, and the giant newcomer's. He was larger than any other man he had seen and was wearing what resembled a piece of Kali's clothing on his arm, and the same for her now that he looked at her…
Oh, this was a surprise.
That explained everything.
"Carry on." Naruto wisely turned around before his head swiveled, startled as if he had lost something. "Ruby! Where…"
"You big!" Ruby exclaimed as she stood before Ghira, silver eyes wide in amazement. "Bigger than Dad by whole lot! Wow! How get so big?"
The atmosphere shifted with those simple words as a simple laugh took hold and filled the cabin. As Kali could barely contain her fits, Tai shook his head while chuckling, patting his daughter on the head while trying to explain, and Ghira roared in laughter.
Ruby blinked. Adults were weird.
She was more tired than usual.
There could be many reasons, so Trivia couldn't pin it down to any one.
Instead, she focused on relaxing and stepped out of the bath. Finishing drying herself off, she let out a content smile as she bundled her hair into a towel while covering herself in a pink robe.
The paint still hadn't come out of her hair, but she didn't mind it. She didn't think her hair looked terrible with pink in it. In fact...
Looking at the mirror, Trivia pursed her lips before slowly exiting her bathroom and into her room proper.
Maybe one day she could…
Shaking her head, she exhaled. That was a dream, and she knew it. There was still work to be done. She needed to…
Naruto?
Wait, why are you in my room? Oh wait, yes, that's right. You're coming over now until I get my scroll…
Why are you looking at me like that?
Wait…
No! Bad!
"What was that for?" Naruto exclaimed as he held his stinging red right cheek while Trivia held her robe tightly over her chest with a furious blush, ordering her to turn around. "I swear I don't understand women! You call me in the shower all the time to stare!"
Trivia's eyes continued to shine indignantly, uncaring of whatever it was said in his tongue.
She would not stand for this!
How dare he try to…
No, Neo! Don't get involved in this! Stop it! Stop dancing! This is not how we feel about this! Stop nodding your head!
"Okay, I'm gonna go! This is getting weird!"
Trivia silently exclaimed in frustration, stomping as she pointed at Naruto to stay put before moving to get dressed in the bathroom.
Of all the lousy, horrible things that could happen tonight!
Blue-tinted eyes watched humorously as shrieks filled the kitchen, boiling water searing flesh.
Metal clattered on the linoleum floor as a man fell to his knees in agony. Water pooled as several others cried and fled in a panic.
It lazily stretched its lanky body as it stood on the oven, glass shards scattered around it.
A shark-like grin filled its maw as it looked down at the man as sat down, tilting its head curiously as it watched the scene below it.
If only there was more time to cause more havoc and chaos, but alas, time had run out.
The power his creator gave it ran out, but it was fun while it lasted!
Shards of glass filled the room as the purple cat faded from existence, leaving the cook screaming in pain from scalding wounds.
Oh, how its creator would be thrilled!
Chapter 23 Preview:
Things weren't perfect. And he still wanted to know what happened, but that answer wasn't coming soon with the fox being silent. So he figured he would do what he could in the meantime and learn—no point in fretting over what he had no control over.
Take charge of what he had and move forward! And that was why he was here!
To help a friend.
Feeling a poke to his chest, he grinned as he looked down to see Trivia's broad smile looking down at him. She was in her familiar outdoor gear, ready to begin.