Homeless Bunny (RWBY/Campione)

Homeless BUnny 17

Tianyu Yue (Schnee?)

"So this is it? We just pick up a chess piece and go back?" I asked. It felt too easy, like there should be more to this.

Melanie shrugged. "What'd you expect?"

"I don't know, maybe one of the staff here to show us what it's like to face a superior opponent? Some kind of chained grimm they could unleash at us? Or maybe a logics puzzle about small group tactics? He did go with chess pieces after all."

"Or maybe, sometimes the test is what it seems on the surface and we should be happy it's just a quick walk through the forest."

"Mel's right, fluffy," Miltia chimed in, "I like easy."

"Fine, let's just go. But you two will be doing the fighting on our way back," I said. "You're too used to fighting humans with minimal training. I want you both to get used to fighting grimm."

"Ugh, fine…"

"This sucks…"

The twins continued to bitch and moan as we began to head back. Despite their sass, they did fan out to either side of me and Amber, covering us as if we were helpless civilians. It was cute in that tsundere way that was popular in Japan. They were brats, but they did take things seriously.

Just as we reached the tree line, Yang and the black-haired faunus I saw at the docks reached the temple. I saw that the blonde had managed to replace the shotgun-gauntlet I broke. It was yellow, but a slightly different color than the original.

"Yo, blondie," I waved. "Who's your friend?"

"Blake," she said, bow slightly twitching. I vaguely remembered hearing her name somewhere. "Tianyu, right?"

"Yup."

"Are you really a Scnhee?"

"My last name is Yue."

"That's not what I'm asking."

"I know," I smiled beatifically. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an ursa lumber towards us. I waved Yang and Blake back before they could go kill it. "Leave it, please. The twins need practice with nonhuman opponents."

"They need more than that," Yang muttered under her breath.

"They do. They're rough around the edges but they have potential," I agreed and pulled out an onigiri from my pocket. I handed it to Amber. "Here, lunch. Ginger salmon with a bit of minced umeboshi for contrast."

I saw the way Blake's ears perked up at the mention of salmon. Cute, like a cat. I'd yet to determine if faunus really followed their animal stereotypes. Lots of articles online gave conflicting answers. On one hand, faunus did have animal traits that weren't vestigial. Night vision, enhanced sense of smell, and so on were fairly common.

On the other hand, plenty of faunus rights activists decried the notion that they had some innate "animal instinct" that drove them. They thought that such things made them less of a person somehow. It all seemed silly to me.

That raised the question: Was Blake interested in salmon because she was a cat faunus? Or did she just happen to like seafood?

I wanted to scritch her ears to find out but I figured that'd be rude. Instead, I pulled two more onigiri from my pocket and tossed them their way before plopping down on a log to watch the twins sweat. "Here, for you two."

"It's not poisoned, is it?" Yang asked suspiciously.

"It's not. And if you insinuate I'd ever mishandle food, I'm going to rip off your arm and club you to death with it," I growled. There were things you didn't say about a chef; this topped that list.

"Okay, geez."

"And remember, you're going down to the club every weekend with the twins until you pay off damages."

"I know, I know… You can't give a gal a break?"

"You trashed the club and injured multiple people I had to fix up, all because you're impulsive and short-sighted. So no. Own your mistakes, blondie."

"Ugh, you sound like dad."

"Good."

Amber sat down next to me and began to nibble at her onigiri. "Mmm! It's so tasty!"

"Glad you like it." By the time I turned back to Blake, the rice ball had already vanished. She was seated on the grass, face caressed in her hands as she tried to come to grips with the best fish she'd ever had.

Blake looked between me and Amber. "Trade. You can have Yang. I want the chef."

Amber giggled and shook her head. "Sorry, Miltia's his partner."

"Oi!" Yang whined. "I see how it is."

"Trade chess pieces then," Blake said, eerily serious.

"Sorry, I need to be on his team for my own reasons," Amber said. Seeing how me and the twins were the only ones who knew about her Maidenhood, she wasn't wrong. Ozpin wouldn't let her be on any other team. "The cooking's a big plus though."

Then, we heard an ear-piercing squeal and the sound of someone swinging through the air. A brown-haired girl used a whip of some sort to launch herself from a tree at the not-so-hidden cat faunus. "BLAKE!"

Blake, still on the ground contemplating the mystery of seafood, was in no position to dodge. She didn't even hear her before the brunette slammed into her in a tackle-hug that would have made Ruby proud.

"Blake! You're here!" whip-girl said with a pleased grin.

"Ilia? What are you doing here? How are you here?" kitty cried. "What about the F-Adam?"

Behind them, the ursa finally went down. The twins' death by a thousand cuts strategy worked, but only so long as they could double team a target. Melanie pointed towards Blake, then at her ears. She was trying to tell me something.

Miltia rolled her eyes and pulled out her scroll before showing me a picture of the White Fang logo, a stylized wolf's head with three claw marks through it, in ink as red as blood. How they thought that could be seen as a sign of peaceful protest was beyond me.

I nodded in approval even as Amber's eyes widened in surprise and suspicion. She started to reach for her staff but I put a hand over hers. I wanted to see where this was going.

"I left," Ilia said, meaning they were both Fang, or former members at any rate. "I followed you, Blake."

"I… Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?' You're my best friend!" Her body flushed pink, literally. It started from the roots of her hair all the way down to her hands. "How could you leave me?"

"Ilia… I… How did you find me?" Blake tried to change the subject.

"How did I…" The chameleon(?) faunus lost it. She grabbed the bow and yanked it off her head with a furious scowl. "What the fuck do you mean 'How did you find me?' How can I not? You have cat ears, fine! You know what you also have? Belladonna! The brothers-damned last name of the high chief of Menagerie! You're our fucking princess! You have Gambol Shroud!"

Blake let out a pathetic whine as she scrambled for her bow. Ilia yanked her back by her hair with a furious growl.

"It was supposed to be a disguise," Blake mumbled.

"How? What part of a bow is a disguise? The part where you didn't change your outfit at all? Or your weapon? Hair? Did you expect me to suddenly hit my head or something?"

"No, I-"

"Do I look stupid to you? What the fuck were you thinking?"

"That wasn't wh-"

"No! Of course you weren't thinking! GAAHHH!" Ilia screamed as she pulled at her hair.

The twins had circled around to the log where Amber and I were seated. Miltia stood behind me and leaned forward, resting her chin between my ears. Melanie scootched next to me. I could practically feel a palpable wave of amusement from them at the free drama. Rolling my eyes, I handed them an onigiri of their own that they took wordlessly.

Yang and pumpkin-girl were also here, but they looked like they had no idea what to do about the situation. The two of them clearly didn't know anything about their partners' checkered pasts so they were only getting half the story. Not knowing any better, they looked resigned to waiting it out.

"Who's Adam?" I heard Yang whisper, only to get a confused shrug from Pyrrha.

"Perhaps a boyfriend? I must admit I have no experience with relationships," the champion whispered back. "Is this… normal…?"

"Sometimes, most people do this behind closed doors though."

They weren't very quiet, even by normal faunus standards. Ilia shot them both murderous glares that shut them up for a bit. She took a deep breath and forcibly calmed herself, though not well if her trembling hands were any indication. "You're my friend, Blake. And the reason I came to Vale… remember? I didn't have to be assigned here. I came for you, then and now."

"I do… I'm sorry, Ilia…"

"What? What happened on that train, Blake?"

"You wouldn't understand," Blake said, looking torn.

"Then help me understand!" Ilia cried. She grabbed Blake by the shoulders and began to shake her. "You left! Why? Why did you leave us? Why did you leave me?"

"I didn't want to," Blake whispered. "We… We weren't what we thought we were when I joined. I couldn't support Adam anymore. The man he became… He's not the man I fell in love with."

"I believed in you," Ilia said, voice thick with emotion. Her whole body was trembling now, her weapon forgotten at her feet. "I still believe in you. Not the F-organization, you. Please, Blake, please help me to understand…"

Blake took a shuddering breath. Then, with a defeated sigh, she collapsed in on herself. "I will, Ilia. You deserve that much. Can we… Can we do this later?"

"You're not going to bolt?"

"I'm not!"

"Promise."

"Ilia-"

"Promise," she stressed.

"I-Yeah, that's fair… I promise."

"No more running?"

"No more running."

"Good." Ilia whirled our way with a heated glare. "What're you looking at?"

"Live action soap opera," Melanie said with a mocking smirk. I reached over and flicked her nose with my spoon. "Ow! What the hell, fluffy?"

"Don't mock their sincerity. Sure, they could have done this somewhere more private, but it is what it is," I chided. "Now let's go."

"Wait, I want to wait for Ru-" Yang said, only to be cut off by the cawing of a nevermore.

At the same time, Nora and Ren burst through the trees on the back of an ursa. The ursa collapsed and the petite ginger jumped, landing in a forward roll. "Whoo! That was awesome!"

"Nora," Ren groaned, "let's never do that again."

"Yang! Catch me!" Ruby cried.

We looked up to find that she and my "little sister" had somehow hitched a ride on a nevermore, The bird was big, about the size of a school bus, with an extra pair of clawed fingers over the wings as if it was a weird cross between crow and pterosaur.

"Did… Did your sister take a nevermore for a joyride?" Blake asked, stupefied.

"Brothers, humans are so fucking stupid," Ilia grumbled. "And that's a Schnee with her."

"Ilia…"

"I know, no murdering the Schnee… in school…"

Amber leaned over to whisper, "Hey, aren't you also a Schnee? Shouldn't you be worried?"

She wasn't quiet enough. Ilia turned and looked me over before fixating on my footlong bunny ears. "Yeah, what's with you?"

I shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? There's a reason 'fuck like a bunny' is common parlance."

"Ugh, pig."

"Bunny."

"Yang!" Ruby yelled, falling. Yang took a quick, gauntlet-boosted jump into the air to catch her sister.

"How could you leave me up here?" Weiss yelled.

"I said Jump!"

"Wait, how'd she land from the cliffs then?" Melanie asked. That was a reasonable question. This didn't seem like a fall worth worrying about.

Amber mounted her staff and rose into the air. "I don't know, but she needs help now. I'm going to go get her."

"Should you? Tianyu's a fan of tough love, you know."

"That's his sister!"

"Exactly. Tough love."

Amber looked at me in askance. I had no idea why; it wasn't like this was all that dangerous for her. She seemed the helpful sort anyway so I waved her on. "Do what you want."

X

With nine huntsmen-in-training ganging up on the poor nevermore, I didn't participate and the twins had no ranged weapons to contribute, initiation ended shortly after. We were all gathered to the side, waiting for our names to be called.

Ozpin looked to be making four-letter abbreviations based on the first letters of each member's names. CRDL became Cardinal, RWBY became Ruby, and VALN became Valentine. It was a weird tradition, but one I could jive with. It apparently came about during the colors revolution, as did the tendency for huntsmen to dress flamboyantly.

Then it was our turn. What was TAMM? Tammy? Tambourine? Tamer? This would be how we'd be known by the world at large. I needed a good name. Quickly, I pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled the first name that came to mind.

"Tianyu Yue, Amber Gale, Melanie Malachite, Miltia Malachite, you retrieved the black king and queen pieces," Ozpin said, sounding very austere and whatnot. As I walked up on stage, I blurred for a moment and slipped the note into his hand. To his credit, the man didn't even blink at the sudden addition. "Together, you will be Team Tamale, led by Tianyu Yue."

I stepped forward at normal speed to shake the headmaster's hand, a big, cheery grin on my face. I could feel three pairs of eyes glaring holes into the back of my head. The auditorium broke down into barely subdued chuckles and whispers of "Schnee bastard."

Then, someone in the front of the crowd asked a question. It didn't carry over the general bustle of the auditorium, but I had no trouble hearing it. I wished I hadn't. Three words made me freeze in horror and pity, my smile now like brittle glass.

"What's a tamale?"

I missed my world…

Author's Note

Yes, officers in a gang of information brokers recognize the princess of Menagerie, especially when the "disguise" is just a bow. Ilia, not so much, but she kinda outed herself.

No Jaune, no deathstalker, because he doesn't ignore the obvious cave painting of a scorpion at the entrance, insist that he leads because he "made the torch," drops the torch, and then immediately grabs the first glowing, hanging thing he sees, which happened to be the deathstalker's stinger.

Amber has no last name so I made one.

Thank you for reading. Believe it or not, this is the seventh website I've crossposted to. I want to make sure this site catches up with the others, but it's slow, tedious work. Until then, other sites will have a much more updated library of my works. If you want to read ahead, or check out other stories I've written, you can find them all on my Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/fabled.webs.