One thing Yang had come to understand over the years was how to easily identify when Ruby was not being, well, Ruby. When something bad happened, she wanted to be alone, wouldn't eat dinner, and then she goes to bed much earlier than usual, even if some of her favorite shows were on TV. In her bed, she didn't sleep, she just stayed there, thinking, and when she finally succumbed to sleep, she would wake up late the next day to be able to eat alone and then go out to visit mom's grave, where she would finally open up to question someone who couldn't answer.
This was a depressed Ruby.
Yang hated to see her like that, especially when she couldn't do anything to help. Jokes, walks, cookies... it seemed that nothing but time could get Ruby back on her feet when she fell.
Yang hated Sasuke for being the reason for all this, this time.
After that womanizing bastard left with two sluts in his arms for his "unfinished business", which she could imagine what it was with those two moaning all night long, she was left behind next to a Ruby that you could see the breaking of something inside her.
Reluctantly, Yang could understand why.
Ruby was a girl like no other, pure and innocent; one who had been protected all her life from the adult world and opposite gender by both her father and Yang by scaring off anyone who thought to try their luck. That way, it wasn't strange her insecurity and difficulty interacting with other people, when Ruby certainly wasn't blind and could see the other girls gaining and giving more and more attention to boys while she remained alone, excluded even. On that side, Yang regretted being all overprotective, never imagining it would end up like this and no one could blame her for it.
Her own experience was bad, seeing from afar the sole intent behind the eyes of the men who looked at her... something that damn Sasuke knew too and took much more advantage of than she ever did if his escapade with two of the prettiest girls she'd ever seen was proof of that.
Yang had never slept with anyone and Sasuke was out there doing a threesome...maybe even worse and it only served to make what she already felt for him worse, as Ruby was depressed about not being taken along.
What the hell was she supposed to do about it?!
Her little sister finally gained attention from a boy that Yang couldn't scare of and became a hero in her eyes and in the eyes of the world. Hell, to some, as that Weiss girl had said, Sasuke was a fucking god!
Ruby clearly fell in love with that bastard and it was all because of her. If she had done things differently while growing up, and stopped being so obsessed with protecting her little sister to make up for her mistake as a child that almost resulted in both of their deaths, it wouldn't have ended up like this.
Maybe.
Sasuke was a piece of sin that messed with even her and Yang was sure that would hardly change about him, but at least Ruby would have a... better resistance to his charm and a less childish mind to have a greater scope of the danger of getting involved with him.
That way Ruby wouldn't be going through any of this.
Yang could imagine what Ruby had in her mind, at least part of it, seeing the boy who had brazenly flirted with her and gotten into her heart, in more ways than one, leaving her behind while he was out with other incredibly beautiful girls.
Ruby must be considering herself inferior and undeserving on unhealthy levels.
With that, the list of hatred against that guy only grew.
Yang had to watch Ruby go through all this shit again almost with her arms folded, as there were only two things that could cheer her little sister up. Time to forget and get over it; mature or see that Uchiha again, which she hoped to avoid.
It also didn't help that Daddy hadn't come home yet, busy helping to deal with everything that happened the night before.
Now, after waking up alone in her room, Yang left the house and was approaching Mom's grave where Ruby was standing along with Zwei, the little dog who was doing his best to help cheer her up and kept failing.
This isn't going to be easy, Yang sighed, ready to continue being the big sister she always was. And always will be.
For hours, Ruby sat with Zwei and talked with her mother, telling her the news and everything that had happened recently, especially about last night.
"So he destroyed all the Grimm and saved Vale!" Ruby finished narrating the fastest, coolest, and most one-sided fight in history! "I wish you were here to see it too, another hero, like you... have always been... to me," without realizing it, her smile died along with her words to give way to the tears in her eyes, dripping onto the reddish-black cloth in her lap; the cloak used by Sasuke whose clouds are said to represent the endless conflict that she claimed was one of hope. Now Ruby was no longer so sure. "I wish you could help me understand all of this; what I'm feeling inside," she had her hand on her chest where her heart seemed to ache with every beat. "I just wanted to...see you again, Mom."
There was no answer, there never was, but she kept waiting there for one that would ease this conflict inside her.
Why did all this happen?
When she left home yesterday, Ruby could never imagine going through any of this. It was all supposed to be just like another day between sisters, where it would end with her alone because Yang had a second schedule and her father busy with work.
Then Sasuke showed up to change everything.
The coolest boy she had ever seen hinted that he liked her, and Ruby was almost living a dream, for the first time being the one getting the attention, the looks and smiles, and not the sister next to her.
Usually, it was always the other way around, always Yang this, Yang that, even when Ruby was alone. With Sasuke, however, Yang was irrelevant and only Ruby mattered. She knew it was wrong to think that way about her own sister; to envy her in that almost selfish way... but, she did it anyway.
The idea of having someone who would be willing to stand by her side at all times and do everything to see her smile, share, and support her in her goals was like a dream; it was how her mother had described love to her as a little girl.
However, it seemed that it was all an illusion; a childish dream to stir her naive heart.
In the end, nothing changed and she was left on the sidelines, feeling the same bad taste in her mouth, except it was much worse this time.
Sasuke proved himself to be a hero, smiled at her, touched her face...her soul with his, almost kissed her twice, and even presented her with the cloak she said she wanted...only to do what he did after promising to make her strong enough to save or destroy the world.
While Ruby was ecstatic at the idea of having that kind of power to be a hero and save people like Sasuke, even being able to use the cloak earned, at that moment, she would give it all up just so that things would have ended in a different way. Ruby had no problem with him leaving her behind, that was something customary and that everyone did with her. What hurt was seeing him leave her behind with someone else; two girls who were much prettier than she was and clearly shared her feelings.
That Blake hugged him in a way you only see in romance movies and Weiss, whose jealousy in her eyes proved frightening, was no different as she held his hand.
Ruby could only stare, being the one to wish she had held his hand and hugged him like that.
She wished she could have gone with him, to talk and learn more!
Yet, she stayed behind with nothing but a cloak and promises...
It hurt.
It hurt to think that she would never be more and would always continue to be left aside...
This leads her to question why this happened, why she was always left out and one thing came to her mind, with what Sasuke had said about her being pure and his surprise at her description of where the babies came from, and Yang's confirmation of it all.
So she decided to do some research on the subject, and Ruby almost regretted having done so as her world crumbled.
Babies were not delivered by storks when two people got married.
Women with a very large belly had not eaten seeds without chewing and had to go to the hospital to remove the fruit generated in their stomachs...
All lies.
Apparently, this was supposed to have been taught in school, but there was the detail that her father and uncle were the teachers...
Now it made sense why she was shifted to different classes from the others and never saw or learned any of it. Why did the other girls laugh at her and called her a child, or told her to grow up... or why didn't one boy really look at her, probably scared by the teachers when Yang wasn't there to do it herself.
Even movies and TV shows with stuff like that were restricted, adding reasons for her ignorance revered as purity.
Yang, her father, and Uncle Qrow had been controlling her with lies for most of her life!
Ruby felt so stupid!
Now she wanted to know so much more, but just as she was about to research how babies were made, someone whose face she didn't want to see interrupted her.
"Ruby..." a hand rested on her shoulder and her name sounded in the voice filled with concern as if she was talking to a child to aggravate her anger, reminding her of the reality that still surrounded her and seeing the sister she envied and was beginning to resent expressing concern to make her feel even worse. "Is everything okay?"
"Yang..." Ruby couldn't maintain eye contact. What she was feeling only got worse as she did so and she couldn't help but pull that hand, whose intention was to be comforting but couldn't be more hateful, off her to Yang's shock. This is so unfair. It didn't matter if her sister only wanted her best, she had no right to try to control her! "No, I'm not okay."
Yang hadn't expected an almost violent reaction like that, but did nothing but give her some space.
Something is really wrong here. She had to restrain herself to keep calm and not start cursing the one responsible for making her little sister like this! "How about you talk to me?" she forced herself to ask even though she knew the possible answer. "Mom...she can't answer you, but I can."
But can you tell the truth? Ruby was no longer so naïve as to believe everything Yang said and wasn't sure if she should express her mind. Not when I consider you part of the problem. She didn't know if she could ever trust her again and besides, "I believe Mom can hear me," she smiled weakly and turned to her sister, "and that's enough for me."
Yang was silent, not knowing what to say about that as she focused on her adoptive mother's grave and understood a little more about the way her little sister thought and saw the world.
Having disappeared in a way that not even her body was found, Summer Rose definitely did not inhabit that grave and Ruby knew it. The girl wasn't talking to the wind or this tombstone made in honor of a loved one, but to the living image of her mother in her heart.
Truly, Ruby was a pure soul who didn't deserve to be tainted by Uchiha Sasuke's darkness.
"I understand," Yang didn't, not completely, but at least she had a better idea of the world Ruby lived in, "It's okay, Ruby. You need to tell me nothing if you don't want to," another lie she needed to tell to focus on the request to be made, "Just... please forget about that guy."
Ruby didn't say anything right away, looking at the cloak on her lap and all that it represented after last night.
"Can you?" was the answer in the form of a question she had for this impossible-to-fulfill request. "Forget about him?"
No, Yang couldn't, not even the world could, but that wasn't what she meant.
"He's dangerous," she rephrased her point, to which Ruby didn't seem to agree at all. "Even you must have figured that much out."
"He's a hero." Ruby might be in a bad place because of him, but at the same time, she was opening her eyes to the lies told exactly because of how Sasuke came into her life and she wouldn't change that bit of opinion about him or what he did for the world. So much so, she almost smiled as she replied with a touch of unfamiliar sarcasm in her voice, "And even someone like you must have realized that much."
A hint for a hint, Yang noted, but her mood wasn't good at all to be in these little games.
"You're blinded by your feelings, Ruby!" she practically shouted, hating having to show this side of her to someone she loved and getting an emotional response from her little sister; that anger never seen before, much less being directed at her of all people and it served to redden her irises at the thought of the reason that answered by the name of Sasuke. "Heroes don't unleash hordes of Grimm upon a kingdom!"
"Like you're one to talk about being influenced by feelings!" Ruby couldn't take it quietly, even standing with the anger to let more of those built-up emotions out of her. "Not when all you know how to control is my life!"
Yang lost the red gleam in her eyes, almost taking a step back.
"R-Ruby..." she couldn't have been listening properly, this could only be a mistake.
The stern, almost resentful expression on an always smiling face said otherwise, and Yang felt fear.
"You always had what you wanted, when you wanted it, and with whom you wanted it!" Ruby continued speaking, being the one to shout this time, not caring about anything else! "I, on the other hand, can't have a friend without you meddling! Nobody even talks to me because of you, and if they do, it's about you! Yang, Yang this and Yang that! Everything is always about you!" she was trembling, almost biting herself with the tears coming down her face. "Even now, you try to meddle and take this away from me!" Ruby showed the cloak to her sister in shock before putting it on, not giving a damn about the size that exceeded her own. "But not this time!" That wasn't quite what she meant and yes, "Never again!"
Yang just stood there, not knowing what to do for what seemed like an eternity. She knew Ruby had something on her chest after all this time walking in her protective shadow, but this much, to the point of resentment? This was beyond her most pessimistic expectations.
"I-I..." Yang was the one trembling now, absorbing everything that was said as she tried not to burst with guilt over something she knew to be true. "I just wanted to protect you!"
"From what?!" Ruby demanded, wanting to know what the hell started all this!
"Everything!" Yang shouted from the depths of her soul, letting it all out in more ways than one with the angry glint in her watery eyes. "I wanted to protect you from everything!"
More than a moment in the past was there for Ruby to try to find a justification for such an absurd claim, but she could only see Yang prying whenever she could, time after time!
"Everything, you say..." she repeated, not being able to understand, just wanting to know, "Why?"
Breathing, Yang did her best to calm down, noticing that she and Ruby were on opposite sides of a normal situation.
"I..." she hesitated, for various reasons to simply answer and feeling as if lightning struck her with what was said next.
" Was it because your mom abandoned you?" Ruby said suddenly without measuring her words. "You meddle in my life, limit me and try to control me in an attempt to prove yourself better than her?"
"Ruby, what are you..." Yang trembled for a different reason, even closing her fists instinctively.
"You're not," Ruby couldn't stop herself, everything was just coming out as her eyes burned and her head seemed to get lost in these emotions.
"Quiet..." in response to the provocation and silver glint in the eyes of this little ingrate, Yang had fire in her hair and red in her eyes.
"You're just like her!" Ruby finished exposing her emotional heart only to receive a fist over her face in response.
"I told you to shut the fuck up!" Yang sent Ruby flying across the clearing until she hit a tree dozens of feet away and only then came to her senses to understand what she had done. "Oh my god, Ruby!"
She felt fear return with everything as she ran to her little sister, worried that she had hurt her, only to be met halfway with red petals and the sole of a more than familiar boot, so fast she didn't even have time to react!
"Gah!" Yang was the one to be sent flying this time by the impact resulting from Ruby's absurd speed and have her body roll on the ground all the way until she almost fell off the cliff on the opposite side of the clearing. "What the hell?!"
The vision she had as she recovered no longer reminded her of the little girl she spent her life protecting, but of someone completely different.
Ruby spat up blood and walked silently back to where she had been before she was hit. She didn't say anything for the moment or cared about the way her traitorous sister was looking at her, too busy adjusting the cloak larger than her by folding the sleeves and using her ammunition belt to keep the fabric from touching the ground and hindering her movements.
"I'm not a child anymore, Yang." Extending her hand, she had Crescent Rose take shape before burying the blade before her. "So stop treating me like one!"
Seeing that cursed cloak perfectly covering her little sister's form, the distant and almost cold expression on her normally happy and smiling face, the rigid gaze focusing on her as if daring her to say otherwise... this was not the same Ruby.
This was not her little sister!
Ember Celica was loaded and ready as soon as Yang stood up with blood in her eyes.
"Not a kid anymore, huh..." she walked over as she snapped her neck, whispering, "So what are you now?" she had her fists clenched to the point of stopping the blood circulation. "An idiotic, lovesick teenager, willing to throw away all the innocence that makes you be you and chase some trash who must be having fun with other girls at this very moment?" showing her teeth, she stepped forward with everything she had! "Answer me, you stupid brat!"
The fist connected with Crescent Rose's grip and Ruby reacted accordingly, controlling her weapon with mastery and without the hesitation normally expected as she redirected Yang's weight and used the blade to attack.
"After what I did to protect you from this rotten world, you're going to throw it all away?!" Yang was not shaken by Ruby's sudden confidence, more than used to the pattern used in her training duels and she could also respond accordingly, kicking Ruby's feet and punching her soon after. "I told you to answer me!"
Ruby used her hand to regain her lost balance and Crescent Rose found Ember Celica just in time to block a sharp blow, be pushed back, and the blade found the ground to prevent her from crashing into another tree.
"I never asked for any of this!" a shot echoed along with her voice, generating recoil to add speed along with her Semblance and Ruby nearly flew through the air to force Yang to narrowly defend herself! "I just wanted to be a normal girl!" Spinning her scythe, she unleashed a sequence of attacks to keep Yang defending and sparks flew from the meeting of weapons and anger. "But you and Daddy, even Uncle Qrow, selfishly decided no! That I should always be a little girl!"
One more blow from the bottom up and her sister's guard was open where another swivel positioned her weapon directly in her almost frightened face.
Yang's eyes widened and Ruby didn't hesitate as she pulled the trigger at point-blank range!
With nothing but her Aura to defend herself, Yang felt her head spin as it ricocheted against the ground from the force of the impact and remained there with the shock of seeing the crushed bullet fall from her forehead between her hands.
Without her Aura to protect herself, Yang would have her brains splattered around to paint her mother's grave!
This brat was out of her mind!
The reason for all this, in the form of a monster with black hair and strange eyes, only served to inflame her hatred and set her body on fire!
"Because of you I stayed like this, without changing, and even Sasuke saw that by leaving me behind!" Ruby made an empty capsule fly with smoke from her weapon as she reloaded, not having even an iota of regret for what she just did, more than aware that Yang's Aura could protect her from something far worse. "And I'll never forgive you for that!"
Yang was biting with rage, slowly standing upright as the flames in her hair grew in intensity along with her out-of-control emotions.
"So that's the shit you believe?" she opened her almost bloodshot eyes, staring at this inconsequential girl in a way she had never done before. "That just proves that you're still a brat who doesn't know a fucking thing!" Her foot slid to scrape up grass and leave a trail as she got into position, soon snapping her fingers into a fist of fury! "Wanting to be just another toy in the hands of that manipulative bastard!"
"No," Ruby wielded Crescent Rose and responded accordingly as red petals circled her body, positioning herself to attack with full force! "I am no longer a toy for anyone to control, including you!"
"That's enough!" Yang had enough of this nonsense, firing Ember Celica as she broke the ground beneath her feet and moved forward with everything she had! "You ungrateful brat!"
"I don't want to hear that from you!" Ruby fired and moved along with her Semblance before spinning around as many times as possible like a whirlwind to crash head-on with her sister! "You selfish manipulator!"
Yang was on fire, using her Semblance to the limit and punching hard enough to send an Ursa straight to hell, against the scythe she hoped to break into pieces to knock some sense into this brat!
However, before that could happen, a heel found the underside of the scythe to redirect it upward and knock the weapon out of Ruby's hands. Yang had no time to process any of this before her wrist was grabbed and then thrown against her little sister.
The two sisters could only watch as they crashed into each other at full speed and landed face down on the ground.
"What the hell do you two think you're doing?!" before them, Taiyang's familiar, fury-filled voice made them wince, especially at what he said next, "Fighting in front of Summer's grave?! Have you lost your minds!?"
The two felt their hearts sink as they turned away from each other and saw the tombstone only a few feet away from them.
What they had done, regardless of the reason, could not have been more disrespectful to their mother's memory.
"Would either of you mind explaining to me what is going on here?!" Taiyang was sweating, almost hysterical after watching that scene unfold where these two looked like they were about to kill each other!
Yang punched the ground and stood up immediately as she pointed at Ruby.
"I was just trying to knock some sense into this brat's hard head!" she let her anger speak, still burning under her skin. "Or else she'll end up doing something with no turning back!"
If she had to, she would break her own sister before allowing something like that to happen!
"What are you talking about?" Taiyang wanted a good reason for all this nonsense, but that almost ceased to matter when he saw what his youngest daughter was wearing. "Ruby, that robe..." he would recognize it anywhere. In fact, half the world would recognize this piece of clothing! "Don't tell me it's..."
"Yes, that's the cloak that Uchiha Sasuke wore last night," Yang answered for Ruby who was still on the ground and didn't even deign to look at them. "That perverted monster gave that to her after killing the Grimm he himself lured in."
Ruby had grass being torn away as she closed her hands.
"So you really did meet with him..." Taiyang didn't know what to make of this information. Not only did his daughters have contact with the so-called hero of Vale, they even knew his name and probably saw his face! "But how did you guys meet him? Does it have something to do with all this?"
Before Yang could say anything with her hateful mouth, Ruby stood, ignored the questions being asked, even the disrespectful act to her mother's memory, to be the one to speak!
"You lied to me!" she accused to which Yang looked at her and her father only raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You all lied to me!"
"Ruby, this is no time to..." Yang began, trying to stop more from being said, but was silenced by the silvery glow that reflected tears in Ruby's eyes.
"Quiet!" Ruby didn't ask, daring Yang to refute. "I'm not talking to you!"
"Ruby, what's gotten into you?" Taiyang was starting to get worried about his daughter.
"I know where babies come from now!" Ruby said with all the conviction in the world, only then realizing how odd and childish this sounded with the way they were looking at her, but it didn't matter, because she wasn't finished! "I know you've kept boys away from me, banned me from participating in certain classes, and from having contact with anything else related to adult content!"
Taiyang remained silent, soon turning to Yang and watching his eldest daughter look away, beginning to understand what was happening here.
"Oh..." he muttered, scratching his head. "That's it?" he sighed, less concerned. "I thought it was something serious." Smiling, he almost let out a giggle as he stroked the hair of his little rose whose expression just became unreadable. "You had me worried for a second!"
Both Yang and Ruby were taken aback by this.
Even though Yang didn't regret what she had done, because she was a woman and had experienced a lot of bad things growing up and had done what she did to prevent her little sister from having to go through the same, she recognized her mistake and the impact of her actions. Their father, on the other hand, was taking everything so lightly that it seemed like a mere bad joke...
It wasn't for nothing that Ruby was almost in shock, her mouth hanging open, unable to say a single word, and her eyes watering as she fought to keep from crying.
The pain present was real and Yang was starting to feel bad about it.
"That's it, you say..." Ruby managed to say as she forcefully pulled that hand away from her; one whose touch she never thought she would ever repudiate. "You consider lying and controlling; limiting me as 'that's it?!" She was almost freaking out, suddenly thinking that she didn't know her own family! "What else did you lie to me about?!"
"Ruby, you need to calm down," Taiyang asked, again trying to reach out to his daughter to find only rejection where there was normally love.
"Don't touch me!" Ruby pulled away, not caring about excuses anymore! She wanted answers! "Why don't you just tell me the truth?!"
Taiyang was trying to absorb where all this was coming from and look to his eldest daughter for an answer but felt his stomach turn as he realized that Ruby was not done, being lost in her emotions.
"What happened to Mom?!" Ruby was crying now, and even Yang felt like she should just listen as she focused on her father to know what he would say. "Was it because of this that she died?" Touching her face, just below her eye, she knew there was something special about these silver irises. Still, there were no answers and her emotions only built up. "What else am I supposed to think if you don't answer me! Maybe you're not even my real father!"
Her words had barely finished coming out when pain made itself present on her face for the second time that day and Taiyang had enough of all this mindless tantrum.
"I don't know what got into you, but measure your words," he still had the hand used to hit his little girl outstretched and hurting in a way that had nothing to do with physical pain, almost like shame and regret. "When you say something like that, it's your mother you're offending!"
To some extent, Yang understood where this was coming from. She didn't like seeing Ruby get slapped like that one bit, but she understood her father's anger.
Questioning whether he was her father was the same as questioning Summer's fidelity to her husband and that was where the disrespect lay.
At the same time, Ruby, because of all they had done trying to protect her from the world, hardly understood the meaning behind those words.
I think I should do something about this. Yang still hated Sasuke for being the cause of all this mess, but she also hated herself for being, even more, to blame for it all. Yes, try to make up for it.
Only, she didn't know how exactly and she needed to think about it fast or she would end up losing her little sister forever.
As for Ruby, she was distracted by something other than what was said by her father.
"That was the first time..." she muttered as she stroked her face which hurt much more than it should have when compared to the punch Yang had hit her earlier, "that you hit me." Not knowing why, regardless of the feeling of guilt dominating her father's expression, she smiled a little, "The first time you didn't treat me like a little girl made of glass."
Now Taiyang knew how serious this was, and perhaps with good reason.
Something needed to be said.
"You need to understand, Ruby, that I only wanted to protect you," he focused on the headstone beyond his daughter, a painful reminder in physical form of his failure as a husband...for the second time. "I...I didn't want to lose you too."
When everything that happened, happened, Yang was already big enough and almost untamable with her disobedience, so besides teaching her to fight and defend herself on her own, there wasn't much to be done.
With Ruby, it was different and should be different.
Training her was not only a way to protect her but to distract her from what could put her in danger...and he wasn't the only one to think so, not when Qrow also felt the weight of loss and Yang had the misfortune of knowing the rotten side of the world in the search for her birth mother.
Above all, her eyes were special and certainly hated by that thing that lurked in the shadows of this world.
Protecting her was necessary, even if it included the resulting changes of growing up.
"I understand," Ruby could see now what this was really about, "What you were really protecting wasn't me," she ignored her father's almost incredulous look and clear desire to rebut, but she wouldn't give him the chance to speak, turning to her mother's tombstone, "You are afraid of the pain of loss."
Taiyang wasn't the only one. In fact, no one in their right mind would want to go through that, not when you knew that pain and the wound that hardly closed completely even with the passage of time.
"It's okay, Dad," Ruby smiled as she finally understood the reason and in a way accepted what was done up to this point. However, only up to this point and no more than that. "You don't have to worry anymore!"
The only one who could understand where this was going was Yang, and she was at her limit to keep herself in control and not say anything.
"What do you mean?" Taiyang wasn't sure he was following his daughter's logic, although he was somewhat relieved to be comprehended for the mistake he had insisted on maintaining over the years.
"Professor Ozpin invited me to join Beacon this year and I accepted!" Ruby gave the more than exciting news to her and not so much to her father if his almost startled expression was any response. "And that's not all!" The best of it, which could even get into her sister's skin, was yet to come as she held up the black cloth and showed the red cloud of conflict and hope, "I will accept Sasuke's promise and become the strongest in the world!"
Taiyang's concern gave way to anger as he realized what was happening. First Ozpin had recruited his daughter right under his nose, two years earlier than the expected and remotely acceptable time, and now this dangerous entity, who was being revered as a hero around the world, was trying to put his hands on his little rose!
"And you know what the best part of all this is?" Ruby smiled even more at how serious these two were being about the good news, for herself. "If you try to stop me, or tell me to give up, I'm going to run away and never come back!"
"You can't be serious!" Yang could no longer remain silent, not at such absurdity!
"I'm still not talking to you, Yang." Although she understood, Ruby still hadn't forgiven her sister or either of them.
"And I don't give a fuck!" Yang wasn't going to accept any of this! "You think you understand something, but you have no idea how much danger you're putting yourself in by accepting that guy's proposal!"
"And you do?" Ruby knew as much as Yang did about Sasuke, so how could she claim anything?
"Yes, you stupid girl!" Yang felt like she was talking to a damn door! "Why do you think I want to keep you away from him?" she knew what Ruby would say and took the lead on this, "To control you?" her silly little sister's expression said she hit it right on the head. "It's not like that!" She hesitated with what she would say next, wishing it was a different situation that she didn't have to say anything like that in front of almost her entire family, "I know because he's just like me!"
What came to Taiyang's mind was an extremely emotional person with little control over his anger, as had proven to be the case with what happened last night, but it didn't seem to be that temperamental aspect that his eldest daughter was talking about.
"Just like you?" Ruby didn't understand at first what her sister and Sasuke had in common until she remembered the conversation outside the police station. "You know how it feels to be desired..."
"Exactly, that means he's someone who makes use of his good looks to get what he wants, only worse because he's a man!" Yang finished explaining the reason for her concern, more than justified in her father's eyes, "You have no idea what things boys his age do and what he wants, but I do!"
Hardly a hormonal teenager wanted anything more than to have his way with pretty girls, Taiyang understood that very well, since he himself and Qrow were like that. So Yang's opinion made sense, and his concern increased about Sasuke's intention with his daughter.
"I should know too," Ruby wanted to know more and would! "But I don't, and you know why don't you?" a rhetorical question and she wouldn't give anyone time to interrupt her. "That's why I can see things that you can't either!"
"It's different!" Yang retorted.
"How exactly?" Ruby still disagreed.
"Your opinion is biased because you like him!"
"Then so is yours, because you hate him!"
"Girls!" Taiyang put himself between them to avoid another fight, especially in this place. "That's enough!"
Yang and Ruby continued to stare at each other, neither of them willing to back down based on what they believed.
"Ruby, my daughter, you need to think this through," Taiyang tried, calmly addressing his concern to avoid an emotional response that would result in a possible runaway.
This is not going anywhere, Ruby realized. They won't just change from one minute to another.
In that case, she had to convince them!
"You think he's dangerous, right?" Ruby did her best in using arguments that could not be refuted. "Dad, tell me, what would happen if Yang or I had an Aura as powerful as Sasuke's?"
The calm shown by her was as unexpected as the question asked and Taiyang, and even Yang, put some thought into it.
Aura was a manifestation of the soul, reflecting the heart in more ways than one and... easily influenced by emotions.
"Do you understand now?" Ruby was glad that they could finally see as much as she did, at least about that. "With an Aura as strong as that, just now, Yang and I would have unleashed a horde of Grimm!"
Well, not the size of the one yesterday, but it would definitely result in a tragedy.
"Not so much," Taiyang sighed, remembering the good news that he had almost forgotten because of all this discussion. "The Moonlight Shadow, whom you know by the name of Uchiha Sasuke, has eliminated all the Grimm located in the vicinity of Vale."
"What?!" Ruby and Yang almost screamed in disbelief.
Sure, they and almost everyone else saw the video and the Grimm being exterminated, but the scope related to the amount was unknown where not even the number of Shurikens that still remain in place as tombstones, each responsible for killing many Grimm, was yet to be revealed.
"Wait, if there are no more Grimm in Vale," Yang began, still finding this hard to believe. "What's the initiation going to be like?"
"Oh, right," Ruby hadn't even thought of that! "Uncle Qrow said that the initiation always involves actual combat with Grimm."
"And without Grimm... there won't be an initiation?" Yang didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
"It will, but not in this kingdom." Conflicted didn't even serve to describe how Taiyang felt, even more about this Sasuke, not to mention what would probably happen later. "Ruby..." he decided it was time to bring this up and gained the attention of more than one daughter. "I...admit that I have meddled in your life more than I should have, and your anger is more than justified." That was hard to admit, especially in front of Summer's grave, making the guilt feel worse. "So, seeing how serious you are about all this, I'm not going to try to stop you."
"But Dad!" Yang wouldn't agree, not when she knew this wouldn't end well!
"Let me finish," Taiyang asked, more than aware of what his eldest daughter thought, for he was no different. Only... he needed to let his little rose bloom or he would end up losing her forever. "However, only under some conditions."
Considering that Ruby didn't expect any kind of support and was seriously planning to run away from home later that night, this really caught her off guard.
"And what would those conditions be?" she asked cautiously, also trying to be reasonable.
"For starters, you won't push your sister away, and the two of you will continue to take care of each other as you always have... but less so, I guess." One of Taiyang's worries, after what happened here, was that his daughters would not speak to each other anymore after this day, and that couldn't happen, even more so in front of Summer's grave.
Ruby and Yang exchanged glances, both of them conflicted, mainly because they didn't want to fight anymore.
"As long as she, as well as you, stops trying to control me and keep people away from me, I have nothing to say about it." Deep down, Ruby was relieved that such a solution existed. As much as she could no longer see her sister in the same way, Yang was still family and someone she loved.
"I never intended to let you out of my sight anyway," Yang could agree that she was wrong and all, but that didn't change how she really felt. "If I see you in danger, I won't hesitate to protect you, no matter what."
The memories of Yang snapping at Sasuke with nothing but hatred were there to remind Ruby of her sister's almost twisted love.
"Well, that being solved, my other condition is more complicated yet necessary." Taiyang was uncertain as to what he would ask, but needed to do so regardless, "I want to meet and talk with this Uchiha Sasuke personally."
Again, the sisters were not expecting such a request.
"Why on earth would you want to get close to that guy?" Yang just wanted distance from Sasuke and especially to keep her family safe from him! "Knowing him won't help at all!"
"Not again, Yang!" Ruby could already see that this wasn't going to work! "You barely know him, so stop being so pessimistic!"
"You too, Ruby, so stop being so optimistic!" Yang had even more reason to remain skeptical about any good intentions on his part!
"This is exactly why I need to talk with him," Taiyang interrupted before another fight broke out, being sure that the reason for his request was more than obvious at this point. "As you said yourselves before, the opinion you each have about this Uchiha Sasuke is biased, so I need to form my own opinion about him and for that to happen, having a conversation in person is necessary."
That... made a lot of sense, they needed to admit it.
"Only then, I will feel at peace about it." Taiyang held out a hand, waiting for confirmation. "Do we have a deal?"
Ruby could accept that, being much more than she expected.
"Okay!" She held her father's hand, no longer like a little girl, and smiled as she added a condition of her own just to test if this was all serious, "I accept, but now I want to know how babies are made!"
Taiyang paled, not even remotely close to being ready to have that conversation. Hell, he didn't even do that with Yang, so how could he with his little rose?
"Hmm, Yang?" he asked, almost begging.
"You really want to know, big girl?" Yang twisted a smile that made even her father swallow dryly. "All right! I'll show you everything!"
Later, Ruby would regret asking, and with reason.
The largest chapter so far, literally twice the size, which is kind of complicated to do with the little free time I have. Only, this chapter was focused on Ruby and Yang, considering the negative feedback with excessive focus on these characters, I needed to finish in one chapter.
As for the note with answers that I promised, that will be left for when I have enough free time because that is not the case now.
That's all I guess, so review, and if you want to support me and read ahead take a look at my P t r & on (slash) Bertoti
Until the next chapter on the 15th.