Suntouched Gray

I, Silva, have been having a wonderful couple of hours hanging out with a 7-year-old Yang and 5-year-old Ruby, even though I caught some glimpses of a raven glaring at me menacingly. I am not looking to what sort of punishment Raven Branwen is going to dish out when I finally leave the Xiao Long-Rose residence. The future problems are for future me to deal with even if I hate past me for dumping them on present me. Procrastination aside, it was time for lunch, and Yang asked.

" Would you like to stay for lunch, Silva?"

" I wouldn't want to impose on you, Yang..."

" It's fine, really, stay a while!"

Yang quickly gave me the okay, but I saw a brief flash of emotion pass through her face, but she promptly morphed it into a friendly smile. Ruby then told her sister from playing with my paw and even buried her face in it.

" Yang! His paw is soo soft!"

" Really? Let me see. If you don't mind Silva, that is?"

I sighed and handed her my other paw, and she started to poke and prod at my pads, then switched to feeling my fur-covered arm. Yang quickly took to hugging my arm and rubbed her face against my fur. Ruby seeing her sister, followed suit and imitated her. After getting cuddled, Ruby then said while rubbing her stomach.

" Yang, I'm hungry..."

Hearing her sister, the blonde let go of me and asked.

" Okay, any requests?"

" COOKIES!"

" I mean, aside from that, Ruby..."

Yang had a wry smile on her face, and I came to a realization from seeing it, she is being forced to mature early for Ruby's sake with her Father being neck-deep in depression. I heard the door open, and a man's voice called out.

" I bought pizza squirts!"

Ruby and Yang then excitedly called out then ran to the source of the voice.

" UNCLE QROW!"

Well, just great, I have to deal with another bird brain and a likely drunken one at that, really just great... I soon heard pecking at the window to see a raven trying to get my attention; I sighed and made some gestures to communicate my intent silently.

" I can't leave yet. It will draw suspicions, but I will leave by sundown, okay?"

The magical raven gestured in reply, ha, Magical Girl Raven Branwen, now I would pay to see that!

" Fine, but nothing about me, got it?"

I nodded in reply and went to the door to see Qrow Branwen with his two nieces hanging on his legs with a couple of boxes of pizza in hand. He had spiky black hair with a stubble around his chin that contrasted against his pale skin and dull red eyes. He was wearing a tattered dark red cloak and a gray dress shirt with a long tail that comes near his knees and black dress pants with matching dress shoes. He saw me and asked, looking wary for some reason, I might be an adult on the inside, but I am still a kid outwardly, so why?

" And who in the heck are you, brat?"

Ruby was the one to answer first.

" That's Silva, and his paws are really, really, soft, uncle Qrow!"

" Okay, Rosebud, but why is he here then?"

Yang answered the question next.

" I found him outside injured and applied some first aid."

" Right, Sunlight. Now Silva, why are you here?"

I tried to make a somewhat believable excuse while trying to flatter Raven since she is likely listening in on the conversation to ease my punishment for following her through her portal.

" I got into an argument with my big sister and ran out of the hotel angry she is probably waiting for me to cool off before coming back."

Qrow hummed in reply and scrutinized me. Yang then said to me.

" You didn't say you had a big sister, Silva!"

" You didn't ask..."

Ruby let go of her uncle's leg and held my paw, and declared.

" Hooray, for the little brother and sister alliance!"

Qrow chuckled at her younger niece's antics then asked Yang a heavy question.

" Sunlight, did you tell your dad about your guest?"

Yang looked downcast at her uncle's question and told him.

" Yes, but he didn't say anything..."

Qrow muttered under his breath, then told the three of us.

" Why don't you kids head to the kitchen with the pizza while I talk to your old man, Ruby, Yang, and you as well, Silva."

" Okay, uncle Qrow!"

Ruby grabbed the pizza and ran to the kitchen, and Yang and I followed her.

***

As Qrow watched his nieces and Silva run off into the kitchen, he headed upstairs to talk to Taiyang. After the stairs and the hallway leading to the master bedroom, Qrow stood in front of the door and banged on it to get his old teammate's attention.

" Tai, you in there?"

No response came, making Qrow frown and decided to try and get a reaction from Taiyang with something he dreaded before Summer went... missing.

" Tai, your daughters, are hanging out with a boy and are holding his hands, or I guess in his case, paws."

No reaction came, and a tiny bit of dread entered Qrow, so he forced the door open to see his teammate's condition. After crushing the doorknob and forcing it to turn open, he saw Taiyang's room covered in beer cans and bottles of alcohol. Taiyang's room looked worse than Qrow's after a rough day. Qrow saw his teammate lying on his bed, and the unlucky charm checked his pulse. Qrow sighed in relief that Taiyang was still alive then promptly decided to punch him awake.

Taiyang got up from his drunken sleep in a startle fashion and fell out of his bed into a pile of beer cans. Taiyang winced at his hangover, and freshly punched face, then saw Qrow and asked, annoyed.

" What in the heck was that for Qrow?!"

Qrow shrugged, checking the bottles to see if there was anything left but no luck, so he answered his teammate.

" You did not respond when I used other methods, and I wanted to get back at you for making me think you might have ended it all."

" I..."

No excuse came out of Taiyang's mouth at Qrow's concern and kept silent. Qrow then informed his teammate.

" Your daughters picked up a stray and brought him home."

" Hah, what did they bring this time? I hope it's not another raccoon; ever since Ruby heard they also called trash pandas, she thought they would make good pets."

Qrow smirked and told him vaguely, feeding Taiyang's misconception while giving him hints.

" It walks on two legs and is taller than Yang and has big claws."

" Please don't tell me Ruby brought home a bear cub!"

" Nah, not that big, Tai."

"Is it dangerous at all?"

A small fire lit up in Taiyang's eyes which brought enormous relief to Qrow that his old teammate had not gone off the deep end yet. Qrow then told him while planning some mischief for his teammate's inattention towards his daughters.

" Not really, no, I can keep an eye on it while you clean yourself up."

" I guess I will go take a shower then..."

Qrow went downstairs to check on his nieces and their guest.

***

I, Silva, went to grab me a few slices of pizza, but while I saw Ruby, I did not Yang in the kitchen, so I asked the future Red Reaper.

" Ruby, where's Yang?"

Ruby stuffed her face with pizza and pointed outside the kitchen. I went to look for my current favorite blonde and saw her pouring over a pair of maps, so I asked.

" What are you up to, Yang?"

Yang got startled and jumped a bit and hid the maps behind her while replying.

" Nothing, nothing at all!"

I just stared at her, and she started to look more and more uncomfortable, then finally gave in.

" Okay, fine, just don't tell anyone!"

I shrugged, not agreeing to anything because if there is one thing I have learned from seeing the bandit kids at camp, children are always looking for trouble in some capacity. Yang showed me the maps; one was detailed and showed various roads and streets. The other had the bare minimum of the shape of Patch and little else except a mark on it. I cross-examined the two and found that the map with the mark led to the outskirts of town, and if there is one thing out in the wilderness near civilization, it's the creatures of Grimm.

I looked at Yang and asked her.

" Yang, are you trying to reach the place marked on the map?"

Yang looked surprised at my deduction and looked away as she answered.

" Maybe~..."

I sighed and told her bluntly what would likely happen if she tried to go to the mark on the map on her own.

" Yang, if you go out the far from town, you will likely run into Grimm and get yourself killed."

Yang protested and let the reason slip why she wanted to go there.

" But, my mom could be there..."

Hearing this, I figured she would go out there regardless of reason, so I advised her to take every precaution.

" Yang, I am not telling you not to do it but to be careful while doing it. Talk to your uncle. He might take you out there if you pestered him enough if your dad won't."

" I guess..."

I hope I prevented the matter from taking her life if she does manage to go out there. I grabbed Yang by the hand and told her.

" Let's get some pizza before Ruby eats it all!"

Yang smiled as she replied.

" Okay!"