-Last Time-
[Finally,] The pilot said with a sigh as she started up the vehicle. [Maintenance, this is four-seven-niner heading out for standard scheduled dropoff, estimated return time forty-five minutes. And would somebody get cleanup out here already! There's still puke all over the tarmac from that blonde idiot yesterday!]
While 479er proceeded to chew somebody out on the radio, Penny and Ruby were debating on who was paying for the ramen and the ice-cream. In the end, they had a game of rock, paper, scissors with Ruby bawling anime tears when she lost, meaning she'd pay for the latter…
…not yet knowing of the bullet she just narrowly dodged with that 'loss'.
-And Now-
At a humble little noodle shop called A Simple Wok, Ruby and Penny sat on their respective stool with dumbstruck looks as they stared at the boy sitting between them. Naruto had a look of pure joy on his face as he demolished a bowl of ramen twice as wide as he was in mere seconds before stacking the empty dish on top of one of the giant stacks beside him with one of his tails while asking for another.
"…How is that even physically possible?" Ruby asked, getting a shrug from her robotic companion as the owner, an elderly old man who was renowned for his ridiculous serving speed, wobbled out of the kitchen with the boy's order. Sweat poured from his brow and his arms shook tiredly, but a huge grin was on his face while Ruby could swear she saw lien signs in his eyes.
"Sorry to say young man, but this'll have to be the last one. You've eaten everything else in the kitchen." He said, making Naruto pout slightly until the bowl was set in front of him and he quickly scarfed its contents down. While the fox boy did so, the old man turned to Penny and handed her a credit card and really, really, REALLY long piece of paper. "Here's your card and receipt ma'am, thank you for your patronage."
Penny took one look at the final price and her skin paled and comical tears waterfalled from her eyes. 'Winter is going to have an aneurysm when she finds out about this!' She though as she looked at the massive some of lien she'd just spent using the credit card Winter had given her to use. 'Why? Why did I say he could have as much as he likes?'
Meanwhile Ruby, who was reading over the gynoid's shoulder, felt pity for the poor orangette as she dragged her and a once again pouting Naruto away from the food stand. She also made sure to remember to NOT make the same mistake when they got ice-cream next. She would have just cut and run at that point if it wasn't for two things. A. She wasn't a cheap skate liar and had already promised that she would, and B. Naruto gave her his signature adorable sad baby fox look.
Speaking of which, it only took them a few minutes to arrive at a quaint little ice-cream shop called A Little Scoop of Heaven. It was a plain building with a greenish blue paint job, simple glass doors, and a few windows with merchandizing pictures of delicious desserts and promises of decent prices.
Leading the way inside, Ruby set Naruto in one of the booths before going up to the clerk with a still depressed Penny to get their orders done. In her hurry to do so though, she missed as a short girl with half pink and half brown hair with a white jacket with pink inside sitting in a corner booth with a mischievous smirk as her eyes changed color every time she blinked.
"Hello and welcome to A Little Scoop of Heaven, how ma we be of service for you today?" The clerk, a faunus woman with brown hair, dark skin, and a pair of tanuki ears sticking out the top of her head.
"Hello, we'll take one large banana split, one triple scoop cookie dough, and a… a… hey Penny what do you want?" Ruby asked, getting a shrug in response that made her facepalm at forgetting that Penny never had ice-cream before.
An interesting fact about Penny, thanks to having a fully functional synthetic stomach she could actually eat and drink despite being a robot. It was even capable of processing and converting food to keep her powered… except spinach for some reason. While nowhere near as efficient as her regular way of refueling, she was designed that way to help her fit in better with regular people. "Oh, alright then… ummmm… a double rainbow sherbet." Ruby ordered unsurely.
"Alright then, that'll be twenty lien ma'am." The worker said, accepting the small plastic currency Ruby handed her before quickly preparing the order. "Here you go, have a wonderful day."
"Thanks, you as well," Ruby said with a smile as she passed Penny her cone before grabbing her cookie dough and Naruto's banana split. Turning towards the booth she'd left the boy, she and Penny froze up at the sight before them.
Naruto was still at the booth thankfully… but he wasn't by himself anymore. The girl with dual-colored hair from before was now sitting across from him with an expression of innocent puzzlement that was identical to the one Naruto currently had. In fact, she was imitating everything he did perfectly.
When he tilted his head to the side, so did she, he reached out with one hand with his finger extended, the girl met him halfway with hers. Naturally, the only thing she couldn't mimic were his tails which were currently swishing back and forth behind him in a slow happy manner.
"…How does he do that so fast?" Ruby asked with a slightly jealous edge. Almost any time Naruto was left alone for even the smallest amount of time, he would somehow end up making a new friend. Like just last week when Blake had to leave him by himself cause her time of the month started all of the sudden. When she got back from the bathroom, he was chatting away with a fourth-year team like he'd known them for years.
"Perhaps it is the tails, according to this magazine that your sister left out girls love tails for some reason." Penny suggested, making Ruby blink in surprise.
"Really? What was the name of the magazine?"
"Hot and Fuzzy XII: Autumn Edition."
"… … … … …Penny, I recommend you forget everything you learned from that magazine as soon as possible." Ruby said with a faint blush, having also stumbled upon Yang's 'private' reading material before and realizing exactly what the innocent gynoid had stumbled on. 'Note to self, strangle Yang for tainting mine and Penny's virgin eyes with her filth.'
-At Beacon, Team RWBY dorm-
"Achoo!" Yang sneezed as she sat on her bed with her newest magazine 'Hot and Fuzzy XII: Winter Edition'. "Ah damn it, now there's snot all over Ms. November!" The blonde swore as she fruitlessly tried to clean the page with the picture of an attractive young woman with white bunny ears wearing a very revealing playboy bunny costume, missing the annoyed sigh from her partner as she climbed up onto her bed.
'And people say what I read is smutty, at least mine has plot with the porn.' Blake thought, getting into a comfortable position with 'Ninja's of Love' now resting open on her lap while she undid her bow, revealing the previously hidden cat ears atop her head. She'd stopped wearing the ribbon all the time inside the dorm after Naruto had accidentally revealed her little secret when it was her turn to give him a bath. She was just thankful that her team had taken it very well, even Weiss surprisingly.
"Phooey… well at least there's Mr. November still." Yang said, giving up on cleaning the page and just flipping to the next one where a tall sexy man with partial hooves on his hands and feet. "Now that's a stallion right there."
-And back-
"Hey Naruto, I got you this," Ruby said while placing the dessert in front of the faunus boy, getting a happy cheer from him as he started digging in. "Who's your new friend?"
Oh! Thiff ish Neo, shff reahhie funny!" Naruto said with his mouth full, earning a soft smack to the back of the head and stern look from the cloak wearing girl that made him chuckle sheepishly. Ruby kept him pinned with her gaze for several more seconds, making him fidget uncomfortably, before switching back to a happy smile as she looked towards the girl.
"Well it's nice to meet you Neo, I'm Ruby and this is Penny." Ruby introduced, getting a nod from the dual-haired girl as she pulled out her scroll and typed on it real quick. The raven-redhead was confused at what she was doing until Neo suddenly flipped the device over for her to see.
[Hello Ruby and Penny, it is nice to meet you as well 😊, I hope you don't mind my playing around with Foxy here at all.] was written across the screen in large bold letters.
"Uuuh… no problem," Ruby said after a slight pause, a little unsure how to respond to the apparently mute girl.
[😊, glad to hear. I just couldn't help but come over, he's just so adorable. Especially with these tails of his.] Neo 'said' while latching onto one of the fluffy appendages, the orange tipped one, and began running her fingers through it's fur, making Naruto freeze up before slumping back in his seat as a soft rumbling purr started echoing from his chest.
"I told you it was the tails." Penny said, making Ruby nod slowly in agreement. "Should we warn her of what happens when you pet near the end?" Ruby once again started to nod until…
"EEP!" *Fwoosh* *Boom!*
The duo were completely silent as they stared at the new smoking hole currently situated in the ceiling then down at the embarrassed boy below it. Before they could do much more than note on Neo's sudden absence to the scene, both of them stiffened up as a pair of slender hands grabbed them by the shoulders.
Slowly turning their heads, they were greeted with the sight of the serving lady from before standing behind them with a furious look. "You two better have a very good explanation on what just happened here." She said in a sickly-sweet tone that made them shiver.
At that moment, only one thought was running through their minds. 'Ooooooh crap-baskets.'
-Alleyway-
Neo skipped down the dirty pathway with a large smirk on her face as she twirled a folded-up umbrella. It wasn't until she was a decent distance from her favorite ice-cream parlor that she stopped and pulled out her scroll again.
Clicking on her contacts, she quickly scrolled down the short list and selected the one that simple said Queen and began typing away. [First contact successful, target now considers me friendly, tracker now active]
Not even half a minute after sending the message, her scroll pinged and a response popped up on-screen. [Good, continue to get closer to him and learn all you can about his strengths and weaknesses.] As she read, the grin on Neo's face widened as she blinked several times as her eyes went through a whole rainbows worth of colors.
[Understood 😉]
-Several Hours Later, Nora, Penny, and Naruto's dorm-
Nora was pacing back and forth her room with a worried expression as she kept glancing up at the clock. Behind her, Winter was sitting at the same desk as before doing a final inspection of her weapon but if you looked closely you could just see the slight hints of worry inside her eyes.
"Where are they? They should have been back hours ago." Nora said as she gripped her hair in worry. "Oh, what if they got lost. Or maybe their bullhead crashed. Or Ruby decided to run away and keep Naruto all to herself!"
"That is highly unlikely," Winter cut in, making Nora pause, "Besides, even if something like that were to happen, Penny would be able to keep him safe. It is her job after all."
Unfortunately, instead of calming her down, what the Schnee said only seemed to wind her up even more. "Unless she finally confessed her undying love! And now she wants to keep him away from me long enough to get eloped! MY NARU IS TO YOUNG TO GET MARRIED!" Winter couldn't help but facepalm as Nora went into a long crazy rant involving Ruby and Penny kidnapping Naruto to become his mommy and wife respectively.
She'd just gotten to a part where they would somehow tame a pack of Beowolves to act as sled dogs when the door slid open and the aforementioned people stumbled in. While Naruto looked just fine, albeit a little bored, Ruby and Penny were covered in splotches of paint, wood shavings, and plaster while anime tears poured down their faces.
Before any of them even had a chance to say anything though, Nora suddenly vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Naruto. "What took you guys so long!? I was worried sick! Did you try to steal my kid!?" The hyperactive orangette demanded while hugging the life out of the poor blonde-redhead.
All she got in response however were two completely blank looks before Ruby swiveled around on her ankle and marched right back out from whence she came while Penny meandered over to her bed, yes she had her own bed, and flopped down on it with a groan.
She wasn't left alone long though as soon the two eldest in the room towered over her with varying degrees of curiosity. "What happened this time?" Winter asked with a bottle of aspirin, having a really strong she'd be needing it. That feeling proved correct when instead of responding, Penny simple fished around inside her dress's pockets and pulled out the receipt for A Simple Wok and a bill for the damages to A Little Scoop of Heaven.
Grabbing the little slips of paper from the gynoid, Winter quickly read over their contents. By the time she reached the bottom, her eyebrow was twitching as fast as a fully-automatic rifle and the bottle in her other hand had exploded from the pressure. Her head turned in a slow mechanical manner, even making a soft ominous creaking, towards Naruto, who was now curled up on his bed napping. 'That little bastard is so lucky that he is so damn adorable and that I have access to the family accounts again.'
When she'd decided to join the Atlassian Military, her father had been completely against it and tried to force her to give it up by making her choose between it and her position as the heiress. When she obviously chose the former, he'd completely cut her off, no money, no inheritance, hell she hadn't even been allowed near her own home except for official business.
That all changed though after the faunus child labor debacle, specifically when her little brother, Whitley Schnee, was killed during one of the bombing of Schnee Manor. Jacques decided that after that, he needed the Schnee family to look as strong as ever and as such had reluctantly 'forgiven' Winter and allowed her to be an 'official' member of the family again.
The only thing Winter felt upon her brother's death however, was shame from being related to the little prick. Why? Cause the arrogant brat had so truly believed nothing could harm him because of his family name and as such marched right up to the suicide bomber to yell at him.
The biggest pieces of him they could find were half an arm and one of his feet.
Anyway, she'd only accepted the offer from that man because of Ironwood's insistence as the resources were an essential boon towards both locating Naruto while he was on the move, and designing the tech they needed for their information gathering and traveling around the Elemental Nation. And now it would be used to pay for the largest damn food bill she'd ever seen and fixing up an ice-cream parlor.
While she despised her father, Winter did care about her family's once great company and held on to the hope that once Jacques was forced to finally pass it down to one of his remaining children that it could be restored to its former glory. Something that wouldn't happen if she was allowing large amounts of lien to be spent on ramen.
*Low whistle* "Naruto ate all of that? And I thought his taste of dust was insatiable." Nora stated jokingly, having snagged the receipt and bill from Winter while she was lost in thought. "And you guys destroyed stuff? Man, why does all the fun stuff happen when I'm not there?" She asked with a fake pout, or at least Winter hoped it was a fake.
Before she could ponder on that possibly dark train of thought for long, a soft ringing noise started coming from the Schnee's jacket. Reaching inside, Winter pulled her scroll out and glanced at the caller ID, her eyes narrowing slightly when she saw who it was.
*Click* "How the hell did you get this number and why shouldn't I stab you for having it?" The white-haired officer demanded with a scowl as she held the device up to her ear.
[Ah don't be like that baby, you know you love me.] Qrow's familiar drunken drawl said on the other side of the line.
"I swear to Oum if you do not either give a valid reason for this call or hang up right now I will personally freeze then cut off what makes you a man." Winter growled out, ignoring the shocked looks she was getting from Nora and Penny.
[…Well you certainly sound extra bitchy today, Ice Queen. Is it that time of the month already?] Winter's teeth audibly creaked from her jaws clenching together as she tried, and failed, to keep her calm. [Anyway, I was just calling you to say you need to get your tight little ass up to Ozzy's office right away, now. See you there, Ice Queen.] *Click*
'I hate that man so Oum damned much,' Winter thought, her eyebrow twitching even more and several veins bulging out on her forehead as she collapsed the scroll. "I must go, something has come up." She said in a cold tone before marching right out of the room, leaving a very confused and concerned pair of orangettes to their thoughts.
"You didn't try anything sneaky with Naruto while you were at Vale, did you?"
"W-w-w-w-what!?" Or not.
-Ozpin's Office, Ten Minutes Later-
Winter still had her scowl across her face as she stepped out of the elevator, her eyes flickering between the three occupants of the room. Glynda was standing in her usual spot with her trademark teacher face, Qrow was leaning back in one of the chair flipping her off while drinking from his flask, and Ozpin was behind his desk going over holographic reports while occasionally sipping at his hot coc- coffee, I mean coffee.
Upon noticing the newcomer, the bespectacled headmaster gave her a light smile while beckoning her closer. "I am glad you were able to arrive so quickly Ms. Schnee, there is some big news that you need to hear." He said, instantly peaking the irritated woman's interest.
"It had better be important." If it wasn't, she'd find some way to make Ozpin pay for giving that profane man her scroll number.
"Achoo!" Winter's gaze flickered to Glynda in mild curiosity when the woman sneezed out of the blue.
"Bless you… and yes, it is indeed very important." As he spoke, Ozpin sifted through the various holo-files before him until he found the one he was looking for and enlarged it for everyone to see. The file in question was a 3D image of a paper scroll with several paragraphs of english and Japanese text side by side.
Speed reading through it, Winter's eyes visibly widened, "This is…"
"A signed and approved treaty between the Village hidden in the Leaves and the four kingdoms? That it is." Ozpin said with a poker face as he sipped from his cup. "Negotiations finally went through a few days ago and this here is the result."
Winter nodded in understanding while finishing reading, finding nothing wrong with what was written. "This is excellent news… however I do not see why it was necessary to inform me of this in person. A simple message would have been just as informative."
"Because Ice Queen…" Winter's eyebrow started twitching again as Qrow spoke. "…like any other government that's recently agreed to something important, they want a sign of trust to go with it."
"…They're sending an ambassador." The Schnee stated, getting an affirmative from the man in front of her. "Who?"
"A woman called Tsunade Senju and her two apprentices."
-End Chapter-
-Omake-
-The Misadventures of Chibi-Naruto, Wabbit Season-
Chibi Velvet walked through the halls of beacon at a casual pace with a couple books held in her arms. Classes for the day had just ended and she was currently headed for her team's room to drop off her stuff. Normally C. Coco would have been with her, but she'd said she needed to go do something and ran off.
~Duh-dun~ (Insert Jaws theme)
C. Velvet stopped mid-step as she looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the ominous music that just started playing. Not seeing anything after several moments, she shrugged it off and continued on her way. Because of this, she missed as a pair of mischievous red eyes peaked out from around a corner.
~Duh-Dun~
Despite walking far away from where it started, the music never got any quieter, in fact it seemed to be getting louder. The bunny-eared girl started to grow nervous as the tune echoed around her, each note fraying her nerves a little bit at a time and making her feel like she was being stalked. Unnoticed by her, when C. Velvet passed a small potted plant, those same eyes and tails popped out covered in dirt.
~Duh-Dun! Duh-Dun!~
The music started speeding up suddenly right behind her, making C. Velvet jump in fright as she spun around. "H-h-hello? W-who's there?" She called meekly, her eyes flicking around the area in terror as she wished she had her weapon. Instead of a response though, all of the lights suddenly turned off and metal covers slammed shut on the windows bathing the room in complete darkness. "EEEP!"
~Duh-Dun! Duh-Dun!~
C. Velvet's book fell to the ground with a clatter as she ran as fast as she could towards her dorm, unaffected by the lack of light thanks to her faunus heritage. Her terror and speed shot up even higher as she heard rapid footsteps and looked back to see a pair of glowing red eyes following right behind her.
~Duh-Dun! Duh-Dun! Duh-Dun!~
Seeing a turn coming up, the rabbit girl waited till the last second before pivoting on the ball of her foot and shooting off in the new direction. C. Velvet didn't even pause for a moment as the sound of her pursuer crashing into the wall reached her ears.
~Duh-Dun! Duh-Dun! Duh-Dun!~
After taking several more turns and corners to throw off who or what was chasing her, Velvet's breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of her dorm finally and made a beeline right for it. Fumbling with her scroll slightly, she used it to quickly unlock her door before rushing inside and slamming it shut behind her.
(End Music)
"Ha… I should be… *huff* safe… *wheeze* in here," She panted out, leaning against the door with her hands rested against her knees, not even noticing that the music had suddenly stopped. "I… ha… need to… *wheeze* call for help." Taking a deep breath, C. Velvet pushed herself off the door and looked up…
…only to find herself face to face with those glowing red eyes. "… … …AAAAA-MMPH!"
"HAHAHAHAH!" A few seconds later the lights turned back on, revealing a freaking out C. Velvet completely tied up by long fluffy red tails as Chibi Naruto happily nommed away at her ear. Meanwhile, the source of the laughter was shown to be none other than Chibi Coco by the light-switch with a large boombox sitting on her shoulder.
"April Fools." C. Coco said with a good-hearted grin as she set the music player down and left.
Finally realizing what was going on, C. Velvet slowly calmed down in her 'bindings'. 'Ugh, how could I forget what day it was, Coco loves this holiday.' She thought with a mental groan before blinking when she felt the chewing on her ear stop.
"Don't be sad Velvet-neechan, I made sure to set something up for Coco-neechan as well to be fair." C. Naruto told her with a smile before going back to his nomming.
'Huh, well at least I won't have to suffer by myself. I wonder what he did to her.'
-End Omake-