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Nora's a Mommy

-Chapter 38-

-Last Time-

Ruby's head slowly turned back to her father, her jaw dropped and eyes bugged out in disbelief while the man himself tugged on his collar with a nervous smile. "Well I guess that answers who, right?"

"YOU'RE DATING THE SCHOOL PILOT!?"

-And Now-

"Soooo…" Yang dragged out that one word as she walked down the halls of Beacon with her mother turned cat held in her arms. The brawler's face was covered in several angry red claw marks, curtesy of the small yet deceptively powerful claws Raven now had. "You seeing anyone lately?"

"No."

"Kay… you seen the new Shape-Shifters movie?"

"I don't watch movies."

"Wanna go hit up a bar then?"

"Alcohol is lethal to cats."

"Oh… right…" A comical sweatdrop ran down the back of Yang's head as she wracked her brain for any other topics to strike up a conversation. However, she was coming up with one very large load of nothing as the awkward silence stretched out between them. 'Oum, this is so much harder than I thought it'd be.'

Normally it was a snap for the blonde to get things going in just about any situation, whether it was 'helping' her little sister socialize or cracking her partner's ever stoic attitude. No matter how awkward or embarrassing or even aggravating things got she'd always managed to go with the flow.

Yet here she was, floundering harder than Ruby did on her first day at Beacon… and she literally blew herself up at the time.

Part of it was naturally her still trying to wrap around the fact her mother was right there with her, literally laying in her arms. Previous anxieties she'd forgotten about in the rush of recent events were slowly curdling back up again. Such as the realization that she'd never really considered what she would do AFTER finding her mother.

She'd already gotten all the answers she'd wanted from the woman, some of which still left a bitter uncertain taste in her mouth. Aside from that Yang really hadn't considered what else she and Raven would do once they were reunited.

Sure she'd had a few silly daydreams of them hitting it off and being best buds, who wouldn't after all? But considering Raven was literally only hanging out with her at the moment because she was turned into a cat…

Yeah, the blonde didn't see that happening anytime soon.

Though to be fair Yang didn't really have that strong of a desire to hang out with the ravenette either, whether as a cat or not. The woman was a bandit queen, someone who thrived off destroying other people's lives for her own gain for years. If it wasn't for Raven's tribe being destroyed she'd still be out there looting defenseless settlements and leaving them at the mercy of the Grimm afterwards.

Considering this went against everything Yang believed in, you could see why she wasn't exactly keen on bonding time either. Hell, given any other circumstances she'd have probably tossed her mother to the authorities already, blood relations be damned.

Of course as it were she doubted the police would take her seriously if she tried to have them arrest a cat.

More still, she could tell that her mother was plotting something for her from the moment they'd met at Junior's bar. Yang could be a meat head at times, but she was far from stupid, and her mother wasn't exactly as subtle as she believed about trying to manipulate her. What she was up to exactly the brawler wasn't sure yet, only that it involved herself and Naruto somehow.

So for now she'd just have to suck it up and have some… 'mother-daughter' time, assuming they could actually figure out something to do together.

[~My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard~ And they're like, it's better than yours~ Damn right it's better than-]

"Hey Rubes," Yang said as she opened her ringing scroll in phone mode and held it up to her ear. "You nee-"

[Yang! Get to our room now! You have to see this!] The blonde yanked the device away from her head when her little sister's voice boomed excitedly through at deafening volume.

"Whoa! Tone it down Rubes, you almost blew my eardrum out!" The blonde complained as she shook her head in a vain attempt to stop the ringing that now persisted in her ears. For a split second she was worried that something was wrong, but the excited giggling still coming in through the scroll quickly assured her that whatever Ruby was freaking out over wasn't bad. "Now calm down and tell me what's got you all riled up? I haven't heard you sound this excited since you finished Crescent Rose."

[Dad's going on a date! Like a Date-Date! With Four-Seven-Niner!]

A wide grin split Yang's lips as she spun around and headed for the dorms. "Tell me everything."

'She forgot I'm here, didn't she?' Raven thought to herself with a deadpan as she found herself squished against Yang's chest when the girl held the scroll in both hands to use video chat. She was tempted to slip away, not keen to see or be seen by her ex, but those plans were swiftly foiled when a jostle caused her to actually slip between her daughter's breasts, effectively pinning her in place. 'I am really starting to hate today…'

-Meanwhile-

"They really need to get a better system for filing these reports," Winter muttered under her breath as she typed away on her personal computer, carefully documenting the events that'd gone down at Crystal Glenn. Currently sorting out pictures she'd subtly taken along the way, she attached those that were most relevant and detailed to the file, before going back to typing up the report itself. Upon reaching the part of the ruined city's crystallization though, the eldest child of the Schnee family sighed tiredly and laid back in her seat, allowing herself a break.

Specifically, she had to let her scarred arm rest as it started to spasm and twitch far more noticeably than it usually did. Just one of the many 'fun' side effects of having permanent nerve damage in said limb.

However, as she relaxed, her gaze drifted to a small picture that sat on her desk. It was a cute homemade frame shaped like a snowflake with a picture of herself, Weiss, and Whitley when they were all younger. Staring at the image of her younger brother, moisture started to build up in Winter's eyes before her gaze hardened and she flipped the picture down.

'Stop it, you don't miss him, he was the stupid one who got himself blown up,' She told herself adamantly as she sat back up and started typing again, oblivious to or ignoring the single tear that ran down her cheek. 'So what if it was to lead the white Fang away from mom, she was in a bloody state of the art safe room. She was protected. He should have just found somewhere safe to hide too and stayed safe too. Then they both would've been okay. Stupid reckless idiot-'

"Winter-nee!" The whitette was snapped out of her thoughts by a little blonde and red fluffy missile, otherwise known as Naruto, ramming into her side. On reflex her arms wrapped around said boy as he nuzzled against her, his tails coiling around her in turn for one big fluffy hug. "Ohayōgozaimasu!"

"Good morning to you too Naruto, it's good to see you're doing well," She said with a soft giggle while gently rubbing the boy's head, causing him to snuggle even more into her grasp. Her smile only grew upon seeing an exasperated yet amused Weiss stroll in at a much more sedate pace while holding a tray covered in muffins. "And Weiss, how are you doing today?"

"Quite well thankfully," The younger whitette said with a soft sigh, setting the tray down on the desk within her sister's reach and dusting her hands off. "Aside from dealing with Nora's usual antics and a surprise visit from Blake's mother it's been a rather uneventful day. Something that's been… an unfortunate rarity… as of… late…"

Weiss slowly trailed off once she got a closer look at Winter, her good mood fading with her words as she stared right at the gently glistening trail on the older Schnee's cheek. Concerned, she opened her mouth to say something, only to quickly snap it right back shut when she noticed the flipped picture frame on Winter's desk.

Instead she just sighed as she grabbed a handkerchief from one of her pockets and gently wiped the tear stain away before Naruto noticed, earning herself a raised brow from her older sibling.

Rather than calling attention to it further though, Weiss just tucked her handkerchief back away before grabbing a remote that was laying nearby and using it to turn on a TV. "Hey Naruto, isn't that your favorite cartoon?"

"Cartoon!" Just like any other child his age, Naruto was all too eager to rush over to the television upon seeing those colorful cheery animations, dragging Winter out of her chair with him in his excitement. Plopping onto a large plush bean bag chair with his tails wagging behind him slowly, he was immediately enraptured with the show playing on the screen while Winter sighed in amusement.

Wriggling free of the boy's grasp, she set him down on her lap and gently rubbed his head with her good hand as he giggled and laughed at the characters, a bunny and a duck, doing their usual silly antics. However, her attention was drawn back to her little sister when Weiss cleared her throat as she pulled up a seat beside the pair and sat down with her arms crossed impatiently.

"You promised me answers."

"Did I?"

"Don't play dumb Winter, you know what I'm talking about," The younger Schnee stated dryly, staring straight at the long branching scar that stretched across her sister's arm as she spoke. "How were you able to conjure Ice without dust? What really happened to you?"

"…Fine, if you must know, it is quite simple," Pulling out her scroll, Winter fiddled with it for a moment before handing it over to Weiss, who accepted it with a raised brow as she saw a file marked [WS-Infuse: Classified]. Clicking on it, she was met with several long complicated research documents filled with notes that made even her head swirl a bit along with three dimensional scans and old fashioned X-rays of Winter's arm. Meanwhile, Winter subtly slipped a pair of headphones over Naruto's ears, ensuring he only heard what was playing on the television so they could speak freely. "As you already know, when my arm was injured Naruto used his Ice Tail to temporarily numb the pain so I could fight without being hindered. However, not long after we were separated, I discovered that his actions also had the unintended side effect of allowing me to similarly control Ice with this arm."

As she spoke Winter held up her scarred arm, said scar glowing a light blue before a large snowflake the size of her fist appeared floating above the palm of her hand.

"Whilst the exact reason this happened is still uncertain, Dr. Polendina has theorized that when Naruto used the Dust energy on my arm he unintentionally infused that energy into both the cells in my arm and my aura itself," Catching the giant snowflake between her thumb and pointer finger, the specialist soldier idly looked the elaborate ice crystal over before tossing it into the trash. "As you have no doubt already figured out, this was why I was assigned to find Naruto again. General Ironwood hopes we could study this phenomenon more closely."

"You mean experiment on him so they could figure out how to mass produce it for Atlas." Weiss stated accusingly to which Winter said nothing, just continuing to pet Naruto's head as he watched cartoons obliviously. "Is that still the plan?"

"Answer me Winter."

"…Pietro is to give him a thorough examination once he's done fixing Penny." Winter admitted, making Weiss frown as her brow furrowed in anger.

"You cannot be serious."

"I have my orders Weiss."

"To Hell with orders," Weiss hissed out, arms shaking from the barely restrained urge to rip Naruto out of her sister's grasp as she resisted the urge to scream in her face so as not to scare him. "He was just kidnapped, people were trying to kill him, he's been through enough already. The last thing he needs is some stranger poking and prodding him like some lab experiment."

"You think I don't know that?" Winter snapped back, making Weiss flinch when her head jerked to the side to glare back at her little sister angrily. However, beneath that anger Weiss could see the shame and guilt roiling away under the surface, just waiting to spill out at any second. "I don't like this anymore than you do Weiss, in fact I absolutely despise it with every fiber of my being. Why do you think I insisted that you make sure he stayed here in the first place?"

"I… what?" The younger whitette paused with her head tilting to the side in confusion. "You said keep him with me so you could collect him, didn't you?"

"No, I told you keep him here, at Beacon," Winter stated, her gaze softening as she looked down at Naruto and saw him smiling in awe at the cartoons still. "Because as long as he's here he's under Ozpin's jurisdiction…"

"And outside yours," Weiss finished with her eyes widened in understanding. "That's how you got here so fast, isn't it? You knew he was coming here and were waiting for him."

"It wasn't hard to guess, that drunk bastard is one of Ozpin's most loyal lackeys so of course he'd inevitably find a way to bring Naruto to him," The specialist stated calmly, though if ne looked VERY closely they'd see a tiny smug smirk briefly appear on her lips. "I couldn't disobey my orders, so I made it so I couldn't obey them either. He'll still get… poked and prodded as you so elegantly put it, but he at least has a chance to be happy too, unlike the alternative."

"…Fair enough," Weiss conceded with a sigh, slumping in her chair as grabbed a muffin and nibbled on it half-heartedly. "Can we at least hold it off for a bit then? Naruto deserves some time to be a kid."

"As I said, Dr. Polendina will give the examination after he's done repairing Penny's body which according to his last update he believes will take at least a week."

"Oh… well then shall we make the most of that time?"

"I think I have just the thing to do that, over in the closet." Winter said with a knowing smirk as she tilted her head towards said closet much to Weiss's curiosity.

Getting up to check it out, the younger whitette quickly pulled the door open… before giggling when she saw the brand-new just released gaming console inside alongside a large stack of games. "You of all people bought video games?"

"What can I say, I've started to see their appeal," The soldier said with a shrug before pulling the headphones off Naruto's head, causing him to look up at her in confusion. "They were going to be a surprise for someone's birthday, but I think you've earned an early present."

"Oh! Present? What present?" The whiskered teen asked excitedly, standing up on the soldier's lap with his tails wagging superfast much to both whitette's amusement.

So focused on that though, none of them noticed a certain blue feline watching from the doorway with a pleased purring before wandering off to somewhere else.

-Elsewhere-

Ozpin was calmly sorting through a thick stack of papers in his clock themed office, signing some, stamping others, and tossing the rest into a shredder/incinerator that reduced the paper to fine ash. Once he was done he placed the signed documents into individual folders in a filing cabinet while the stamped ones were collected by a stoic faced Glynda.

"You seem quite tense Glynda, are you alright?" The grey haired headmaster asked while reclining in his seat, idly sipping from a cup of coffee he definitely didn't have thirty seconds ago.

"…Are you seriously asking me that, sir?" The witch-themed professor asked back with a look so dry it'd make a desert jealous as she sorted through the documents in her grasp, quickly reading them over to make sure everything was in order. Once she was done Glynda carefully slipped them all into a large envelope, sealing it, stamping it, and writing out a delivery address before slipping it under her armpit. "Where do I even begin…"

"I understand that with everything that has happened recently you've been under a great deal of stress," Ozpin said with a small nod. "Perhaps you should consider taking a few days off, give yourself some time to unwind and relax."

"That is admittedly very tempting," Glynda said as a deep sigh escaped her lips… before she deadpanned harder than Ozpin had ever seen her deadpan before as she called the elevator. "But considering the track record of the students so far this year, I doubt the school would still be standing by the time I got back."

"…Fair point." Was all the grey-haired man could say with a slow nod before taking a long slow sip from his coffee.

"In any case, I need to get these construction permits sent out so we can get this school fixed… again." Sighing once more, the professor made her departure, stepping into the elevator when the doors opened and hitting the button for the ground floor. Ozpin said not a word while he watched his associate descend, leaving him alone with the constant ticking of the clock.

Tick tock…

Tick tock…

"Are you going to come out and say hello?" He asked seemingly no one once he finished the last of his beverage, calmly setting the empty cup down onto his desk and steepling his fingers together.

"Aww, and here I wanted to make a dramatic entrance," Stepping out from her hiding spot on the upper floor, Matatabi strolled along the railing in her tabby form, her tail lighting up and leaving a thin trail of blue fire as it dragged behind her. "Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you were always an observant one… Ozma."

"And you are still quite the mischief maker you've always been Matatabi." Ozpin stated calmly, albeit a tad stiffer than he usually spoke, while resting his chin on his knuckles. Despite his relaxed posture though, his gaze stayed firmly on the fiery feline as she stopped on the far side of his office, directly across from him.

"What can I say," Gracefully jumping down to the floor, Matatabi flicked her tail as it and the flames above all flickered out at once. "I like to have fun."

"So you said the last time we saw each-other, if I recall just before you set my pants on fire."

"Only because you called me a 'mangy cat'," The fire cat retorted as she casually strolled back across the room and hopped into the empty seat in front of the headmaster. "Although considering that was two… maybe three thousand years ago, I must say I am a little surprised to actually see you again. Last I checked you humans don't usually live that long."

"Yes well…" A deep and very tired sigh escaped Ozpin's lips as he let his usual unwaveringly calm composure fall apart, his shoulders sagging and his face drooping from exhaustion. "As you may have already noticed, a lot has changed since then."

"Oh yes, like how humanity has lost magic, how the moon is broken, or that Yami-kun's little 'pets' are running wild all over the place," Matatabi stated in a dry tone, her usual playful attitude abruptly vanishing as she stretched her back before taking a seat. "Or most importantly that he and Raito-kun have been neglecting their promise to my father in keeping Kaguya's rift contained so that our two worlds would remain separated. So why don't you be a good boy Ozma and start explaining what the fuck has been going on over in this dump?"

"I figured that was why you were here; would you prefer the long or short version?" The grey-haired headmaster asked as he sat back up, pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee.

Rather than answering verbally, Matatabi was suddenly enveloped in a swirl of cerulean flames that reached nearly six feet high before just as quickly dispersing. When the smoke cleared, Ozpin found himself facing a beautiful woman with long purple hair that transitioned into blue at its ends, half of it loose down to her thighs and the other half in Chinese-styled buns that were ablaze in blue flame.

She was very tall and had a curvaceous figure accented by her dress; a deep purple floor-length gown fronted by a transparent chemise. Her arms and legs were adorn in blue crystal-like gloves and stockings all the way up to her shoulders and upper thighs which resembled the shape and color of her flames.

Her eyes briefly opened to reveal her heterochromatic gaze which seemed to bore into Ozpin before closing again as she swiped his cup and took a sip for herself.

"Right… long version it is."

-Chapter End-

AN: Matatabi human form based on Brighid from Xenoblade Chronicles 2