Beta - Crescent Sunrise

Recommended story: "In Flight" by Gabriel Blessing - A Sekirei & fate/stay night crossover

~RR~

"Oh my Oum, this... Is... AWESOME!"

"Dear sweet merciful... Ruby why are you yelling you dolt?!" A certain white haired heiress shouts in reply, her foot tapping in a display of her irritability as a hand rubs her ringing ear. While her partner zips around with her Semblance holding a flier in front of her clearly excited by whatever it's announcing. Her sister looking on amused, apparently living fifteen years with the small ball of seemingly boundless energy has not in the least bit worn down her sense of humor in regards to the smaller girl. The final member of the team standing next to the blonde with her usual stoic look, though the glint of amusement in her eyes and the twitching of her bow gives away her true feelings on the events in front of her.

"Yea lil' sis, what's got you so excited?" Yang asks cutting off the inevitable Weiss explosion with a grin while getting Ruby too pause her darting around in order to zip in front of her team in a flash of bright red petals showing off the flier.

"A sharpshooter competition! During the festival there's a competition to show off the top shot! There will be people from all over Remnant competing! It will start before the tournament and continue during. Full-fledged hunters aren't allowed but trainees like us and normal citizens are competing, and the prize? It's a new rifle part I can fit into Crescent Rose that isn't even on the market yet!" She exclaims shaking with energy fit to burst.

"Ruby what... Did you forget who your partner is? If there's a part you can use to upgrade your weapon you know I can get it for you." Weiss interjects her brow twitching only to blink in surprise at the indignant look she receives from the younger girl.

"Weiss, you're missing the point! I can show off Crescent Rose, my skills, and win a competition all at once! It's about the bragging rights as much as it's about the prize!" She replies a frown working its way onto her face.

"You have to admit Weiss, winning this would look really good for Ruby, not to mention that our team will be able to say we have the best young shooter in Remnant as our leader. It makes us all look good." Blake replies causing the heiress to pause as a contemplative look crosses her features before nodding. Her chin lifting in aristocratic grace before she grabs Ruby by the wrist and starts to drag her towards the fairgrounds.

"Let's get you signed up then. No time to waste."

"H-hey! I can walk on my own you know!"

"Then walk faster."

~MZ~

"I'm calling it now. One day she's going to go crazy and the first we'll hear of it will be on the news. Headlines saying 'Rise in shootings near forested areas.'" The R in team BRNZ states in a bland tone that would likely shock any one passing by had they heard. But for those who know Roy Stallion, it's nothing new.

"Keep saying that and you might not live to see the headline, she'll take a shot at you first." Nolan jokes back, twirling his stun baton idly with his eyes closed, posture matching his other two male teammates as they lean against a tree. One of many surrounding the fair grounds.

"You're both painting targets on your backs, please do stand at least ten feet away from me for a while in case she decides to make good on your jokes. She might you know, and I would only blame her a little." Brawnz adds at the end, a small smirk crossing his face as he waits for the inevitable. The solid 'thump' against a branch above them, giving him all the warning he needs to let him now their joking reached her ears.

The only female on the team dressed in thick clothing with a beanie topping her head and covering her left eye swings down to land in front of her team. Visible eye narrowed, one fist on her hip while the other angles her rifle up and away from her body keeping it balanced against her shoulder. May Zedong does not look amused.

"Ha, ha, ha. You guys are hilarious, are you done talking about my non-existent mental instability and likelihood of a shooting rampage or should I start actually considering sewing targets on the backs of your clothing... Again." Honestly, she did it one time as a joke, and they just could NOT let it go! What's a few paint rounds in the back in retaliation for losing her favorite beanie? So they got a few welts, they also learned not to touch her things.

Maybe they would forget about it if she stopped reminding them? Nah, then they might also forget the life lesson she so graciously bestowed on them. The downside being the unending jokes about her mental health and habit of climbing into high perches to take naps and/or people watch through her rifle scope.

"I dunno..." Brawnz replies in a slow drawl before turning his head left. "Roy you got anymore at the moment?" He asks receiving a shake of the head before the team leader looks to his right. "Nolan?"

"Nope, I'm out for now. It's not as fun when she's glaring at us directly." He replies the baton twirling coming to an end before he collapses it and puts it on his belt. Leaving Brawnz to face the glowering sniper.

"Okay, looks like we're done." He replies still smirking at his teammate. Immune to her irritation as she continues to glare.

Eventually however she gives up. Done watching for now she shifts and stretches slowly moving her muscles to get them ready to work again. And watching as her team pries themselves from the tree. Bunch of jerks they may be but they show they care in the little things they do. Like sitting around her chosen perch cracking jokes at her expense. In hopes to make her come down when they feel she's been up and alone for too long.

"Time?" She asks looking at Nolan who checks his scroll for a moment before nodding at her. She responds by grabbing a pill bottle from her jacket with a half empty water bottle. She swallows one before pocketing both again and sliding her rifle horizontally along her shoulders. Her arms wrapping around stock and barrel as she mixes in amongst her team heading into the fair again.

"Not much of the fair left we can do today. Damn, it sucks. I was looking forward to seeing everything. Well at least it's near the school so it's not like we can't come back tomorrow." Roy comments before shrugging the unfortunate turn of events off and missing May's frown.

Brawnz however doesn't. Rolling his eyes he claps his hand on her back under her rifle and gives her a little shove. "Lighten up May. You know we don't blame you. When you get tired, you get tired and take a break. If it actually bothered us we would have just gone on to do our own thing. We know you wouldn't hold it against us."

"Yes I would." She replies with a sulk. Always disliking the encouragement from her team leader. Appreciated? Yes. Necessary? Occasionally, but rarely enjoyed. Mostly because it never fails to make her feel guilty.

Guilt, now there's an emotion she's become more familiar with since joining a team. Not because she's done something horrible or because she doesn't treat her team well. For all the pranks and jokes they perform at each other's expense she would not trade her boys for anything. Her guilt is due to how much they do for her, and how much she relies on them despite her efforts not to.

"Pfft, liar. Suck it up princess we do nice things for you." Roy replies to her sulk grinning cheekily at her from safety on the other side of Brawnz.

"What's that? I thought I just heard one of my team mates offering to help me out with the moving target portion of my next practice session. We will always remember your sacrifice Roy." She snarks back getting a roll of the eyes in return.

"Well hello, what's this?" Nolan calls out bringing the group to a stop as they look over at him, he tilts his sunglasses down too look at a flier stapled to an event board. "May, this looks like it's just your thing. A top shot competition."

"Speed or accuracy?"

"Accuracy, at range. It's a sniping competition." Nolan replies and May looks to be giving it serious thought before shrugging.

"I will think about it." May replies getting a bored shrug in return. "Maybe if someone catches my eye." She comments before watching a girl in a red cloak getting half pulled half dragged to a counter by another with long white hair. The scene already serving to amuse her a great deal.

As they draw closer they miss the conversation but she watches as the small girl pulls out and extends a massive rifle the barrel held inside a blocky shape. The girl has dark black hair tipped in red. 'Huh, silver eyes. Wait why are they suddenly so close?' May flinches back as she realizes that the girl went from conversing with the girl in white to being uncomfortably close rattling off observations and questions faster than a normal person could hear.

Looking at her team for help she receives none, they look as lost as she does. So she begins looking around for something to distract the girl with. Her eyes fall on the counter she had been standing at before. The sniping competition. She glances back down at the shorter girl with a little smile. 'Looks like I'll be joining after all.' She thinks to herself before holding up a hand in order to bring Ruby's verbal onslaught to a halt.

"Well aren't you cute Little Red. Weapon big as that, you trying to compensate for your height or something? You know you can have all the power you want in that gun but it doesn't count for anything if you can't hit your mark." May teases the cute bundle of energy. Unsure why she even feels the need to, but still amused with the results as Ruby's cheeks swell with indignation.

"Oh don't look at me like that. You're so cute normally, indignation doesn't really suit a beauty like you." May gets out bringing Ruby to a halt of confusion. Compliment, insult, implied insult, followed by bigger compliment. The look is just as amusing as May had hoped for and she leans down kissing the shorter girls cheek. When she blushes May lifts her beanie too expose her left eye so she can give Ruby a salacious wink and walks off swinging her hips, a wide grin on her lips as she turns her head to call back.

"See you at the competition!"

Once out of ear shot her team turns to her but it's Nolan who actually says something while she stops at the counter to put her name down. "Were you just hitting on that girl? May I haven't heard you flirt with anyone since Ne-urgk." Nolan breaks off coughing and sputtering before glaring up the other two men on her team both taking a step away from him for mentioning the forbidden subject.

"Guy's calm down. I just thought it would be fun to fluster her a bit and I'm curious if she's really any good with that toy of hers. If she is then I can get some fun competition while also being amused. I mean did you see how red she got? Adorable. And don't stress out over 'her' either. I'm over it, really." She says to their disbelieving gazes. "Shut up all of you. Get walking. I'm hungry and cold."

"You're always cold May." Brawnz replies but chuckles as the three of them go along with her demands.

"But we can fix my hunger so let's go."

~RR~

Ruby stands stock still for a long moment as her team comes up. Her face still beet red drawing curious looks after having finally spotted her in the crowd. "Wow Rubes, did you get flashed or something?" Yang asks and the voice of her sister seems to snap the red-accented girl out of her daze. Her eyes focusing and narrowing into the most adorable look of anger ever seen by mortal man.

"I, that—and she—oh I'm gunna—" She splutters out as she starts stomping away. Leaving her shocked team to dart after her.

"Ruby, stop what happened. What are you going to do?" Weiss asks somewhat concerned and wondering what happened to Ruby during the short amount of time she vanished. The silver eyes of her leader look back brimming with determination.

"I'm gonna kill someone." She replies frankly.

"Whoa Ruby, who? And why? Isn't that a little extreme?" Blake asks a bit concerned about the ominous declaration backed by the familiar determination they all recognize in those silver eyes.

"Extreme?! No! Not after she..." Ruby shakes her head, "Never mind. It's not a question of if I can. It's a question of what I must do!" Ruby replies, posing dramatically before continuing. "I must kill May Zedong!"

The exclamation punctuated by narrowed eyes and clenched fist. She holds it for a moment as her team looks to each other in mild fear and a little anger wondering what could have pushed her too such a violent point. "... In the sharpshooter competition." She finishes before nodding firmly to herself and completely missing the relief washing over her team. As she turns to continue her angry stomping. 'Stupid May, I'll show you cute. I'm not compensating for anything!'

AN:

So I promised, and I try very hard to keep the promises I make when I make them. It's why you don't see me use the word promise very often. instead you'll see "Expect to see" or "I will probably" because I just don't know what might or might not happen in a day or to a story. I could look at it think, "this is great" and proof read it just before sending it and think "This is utter trash and I'm trash for writing this." Still I like this story.

The original plan was for this story to be more serious than In My sights. Hitting notes and issues I wouldn't let anywhere near that wonderful little ball of fluff. and it is still my intention to do so. Just not in the same way I had intended. I noticed an inconsistency in my plan for this story that would have broken it completely for myself then I would have looked back over my work, sighed and you would have been forced to watch for awhile as I struggled to fix it. Instead I delayed putting this out for a day and did minor adjustments.

Thank you Crescent Sunrise for agreeing to Beta this story. And my readers for having a look. I love you all, and I'll see you next time.