The (new) newest addition to the Arc household

Neo had endured many perilous experiences, she prided herself in her adaptability and her ability to endure any amount of hostile stares. And that was when she was all alone and helpless, now that she has someone that is willing support her unconditionally it should be much easier.

That was probably what she was thinking about before meeting my family.

But, the reality is that there was nothing she could have possibly done or experience that could prepare for what's about to happen.

And now she's about to understand why.

As the stampede finally reached us and the front door was fully opened, I was able to see after being away for 6 months the family that I've come to love and care for during my time in this world, but unfortunately, what awaited us wasn't a normal warm welcome.

Members of this family tend to show their love in very unique ways. Afterall It isn't the Arc family if there's no chaos, disorder and excessive showing of love involved.

"Saphron! Jaune!" The first ones to reach us were our siblings, with Rosemary being the first one since she's the one to answer the doors and she responded by showing a cheery smile and shouting in an excited tone but the other 5 were soon to follow.

"Big sis you're back! why did you take so long?" Came a voice from Opal.

"Jauney! Jauney! Did you miss me? I bet you did, come here and give a hug to your older sis." Said Lazuli not long after.

"I'm so jealous, I wish I could get permission to travel to the other kingdoms and take in the new sights." Came an annoyed grumble from Rouge.

"Jaune, let's later talk about all the new books that you got to read from outside, I don't want to miss a single detail." Aquamarine only becomes excited when books are involved as usual.

"...Welcome back" Came from Violet in her usual shy demeanor.

But as the two siblings outside were being swarmed by the girls and bombarded with a lot of questions, something effortlessly broke the encirclement and shot up to high speeds towards him but thanks to being surrounded I couldn't dodge it so I just prepared myself to receive it.

The object than crashed into him at full speed and wrapped him into a bone crushing hug that left him completely powerless to resist.

"My little prince! Oh, how mom has missed you. I was so worried that something might happen to you while you were away, that I could barely sleep at night." Mom proceeds then to to start calling me embarrassing nicknames and showering me with kisses to the point that my whole face is filled with lipstick marks.

I may be immune to my sisters teasing by now but my mother continues to be the one person that is capable of making me embarrassed, and that held true even when I was a baby. I guess this is a perk unique to mothers.

And a second figure also aproached me at the time, but in much less aggressive manner and revealed himself to be his father.

"Jaune my boy, welcome home! I'm proud that you have shown yourself to be so independent but I must admit that I wouldn't mind if you visited more often in the future, your mother would've gone there herself in order to 'take back her baby' if I hadn't stopped her and-" "-Hmn?" My father was the first to notice the third person standing there since he wasn't so focused in my sister and I like the others.

"And who is the one you've just brought with you?" At my father's question, the other 7 women who were previously occupied with us suddenly realized that they've been ignoring someone this whole time and turned towards her.

The scene they witnessed was that of a girl with a very exotic color scheme and heterochromatic eyes holding hands with their youngest son/brother and as a result of having so much attention on her at the same time the girl visibly shrinks and starts trying to hide from their view.

Some after witnessing this adopt a curious expression, others present a shit-eating grin that holds a lot of mischief and some adopt a frown and stare at her with analysing eyes as they appraise her from head to toe.

"Uhmm... Sweety, can you please introduce me to this girl you just brought? After it, you can also explain why I wasn't informed of this development beforehand." Mom questions me with a weird expression that seems a mixture of weariness and Elation.

"Sure, everyone this is Neo, Neo this is the rest of my family." I introduce the relevant parties while making gestures towards the both of them before continuing "Now, I will explain everything to you all in just a moment so why don't we show her inside and make ourselves conformable before it." I say it in order to momentarily change the subject and move the discussion that is about to happen to a more appropriate place.

"No problem, a friend of yours will always be a guest in our house, I'm sure that the three of you are exhausted after the travel here so let's leave the discussion for later." Father says while showing your expected courtesy as a host.

As we make our way inside I can feel that I've managed to delay the talk for now but it will come soon considering that this is the first time I've brought anyone home, much less a girl. And this is more then enough to rouse everyone's curiosity.

I can now only take a deep breath and prepare mentally for what's to come while praying to Oum that everything works out.

...

A few hours later, I find myself in the living room with the whole family present and wanting any explanation of how their usually anti-social son/brother made a friend. Neo was sitting on my side and handling the pressure much better since she could distract herself with snacks while Saphron was sitting along with my sisters.

One thing to note is that unlike before, their gazes held no amusement or mischievousness instead being filled with only suspicion and weariness but that is something that I already expected.

The women on this house have a very confusing and contradictory tendency to constantly nag me for not having any friends my age and not playing with other kids unless I'm coerced into it but in the other hand they are also extremely overprotective of me and don't allow any girls to aproach me.

Even among my sister's friends, asking to visit our home while I'm in it is a big taboo and if any of them happen to see a photo and call me 'cute' then they are immediately blacklisted by my sisters. The only exception to this being Terra and Saphron's friends due to the huge age difference between them and me.

So they've gone from thinking when they first saw us: 'This scene is kinda cute I'm going to tease them a lot later!' To now it being something like: 'Who is this girl and what intentions does she have towards my son/brother?'

The only exceptions to this being Saphron which already knows the full story and has promised to support Neo's stay after being won over by me and growing an attachment towards our new resident. And dad which just kept looking between the two of us with a smile beaming with pride and thinking something along the lines of: 'My son, you are truly honoring your bloodline, barely six and already brought home your first little girlfriend. When you grow up you'll surely be as charming as I was!'

But the tense atmosphere didn't last long as my mother broke the silence and started off the discussion.

"So, would you mind starting off telling us a bit about how you met each other?" She has gone straight to the topic since all other events while I was away were told in our daily video calls so aside from that there was not much else to discuss.

"No problem, it all started a month ago when I was leaving the dojo a bit later then usual and as I passed through an alley I heard..." From then on I started recounting the same modified story that I told Saphron and presenting some of the same arguments that I used on her, only this time I had worked better on the story after having more time to develop it and it became much more convincing in order to avoid any trouble or excessive worry from them.

As I narrated, I was many times interrupted by my family looking for clarification in which I would some times be very descriptive and in others purposefully vague. The aid from Saphron and confirmation by Neo also helped to sell the story.

"...And then we decided to let her live for the last month at our apartment before bringing her to meet you." I finished the story and prepared myself for the many reactions that I was about to receive.

But my retelling of the story had some effect as the gazes from my family that were directed towards Neo had now become much softer and I could see that in Mom and the oldest sister it managed to create a desire to protect. This also extended to me as looks of approval were given after hearing of my actions.

But I held no illusion that this was enough to convince them, getting them to accept a complete stranger into the family will require a lot more effort.

"Jaune..." My mother starts with a tone that is trying to say something as gently as possible. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole situation since this was so sudden, but I still need to know one more thing before making my decision: Why, answer me honestly why did you make such a decision."

That question was one that I couldn't answer honestly, since the honest answer would be that I took her in to prevent her from in the future becoming an accomplice to Vale's most wanted thief and later a power hungry woman seeking to cause great harm to get what she wants.

While I could come clean with my Reincarnation and knowledge of future events in front of them, I still chose to keep it all hidden not for fear of their reactions but for their own happiness. The burden of the knowledge I have is one that I intend to carry alone, because I want all of my sisters to be able to live safe and without constantly worrying about the future and for my parents to have their much deserved rest.

It is for this reason that I must desperately grow stronger until I have enough strength to keep them safe in the upcoming war, so that they can live a carefree life until then. I never asked for any of the things that happened to me, but I will not allow them to suffer as well because of it.

So the answer that I decided to give was a very direct and innocent one "I saved her because that's what my heart told me was right, so I did." I knew that getting all scientific and philosophical to give a convoluted reason wouldn't be enough so I chose the opposite path.

My family became momentarily shocked as although this answer was very suitable for someone my age, they've all grown acostumed to me acting as everything but my age and that caught them by surprise.

"So, what are your plans from now on exactly." Rouge was the first one to snap out of it and ask the next question.

"Well, I was thinking of letting her live here since: there's plenty of room on this house, back in the apartment Saphron and I were away for a good part of the day leaving her all on her own and I think it would be better for her to become acquainted with more people." I quickly make my proposition and give a few arguments to support it.

"Son, I believe that your intentions are good but this is not something that can be done on a whim, there is a lot of responsibility involved not to mention the financial strain that it might give, or family is currently-" My father starts lecturing.

After that he gives a whole speech of how or family can't afford it and they must reluctantly part with her. But I know that it's all nonsense since I have gained access to our family's bank account long ago and I can say that we are very well off.

Huntsman is a very well paid profession due to the risks it involves and despite our numbers, the home expenses have been on the lower side lately since Saphron's tuition is paid by her scholarship, Rouge has left college and decided to start a band and Aquamarine is writing her first book and getting a little income from that so one more mouth to feed is no problem for our current finances.

But I didn't need to call him out on that since I already had another card up my sleeve.

"I can cover all of her expenses for the foreseeable future." I announce.

My family predictably rolled their eyes hearing this thinking that I would say that I would somehow try to work or do shores in exchange for her stay. Except for Saphron which is awaiting eagerly to see the rest of the family react just as she once did.

"And how exactly do you plan to earn the money to do so?" Asked Opal with a voice dripping with disbelief while Lazuli nodded along.

"I won't" I responded making my family even more confused "Because I already have it right here." I responded showing my Scroll just like I did once before.

For a moment, the living room became completely silent, to the point that you could even hear the wind outside as 8 people started to wonder if what their eyes were seeing was real.

"H-How? How did you get all of this when I never saw you doing anything other than training, reading and fiddling with your Scroll? When did you have time the time to earn all of this?" Father tried to regain his composure but was unsuccessful and was reduced to a stuttering mess and the rest weren't much better while Saphron was just at the side grinning and watching it all play out.

With this, I repeat the same tactic that I used against Saphron the time she asked a similar question and immediately gain the upper hand in the discussion.

'Oh my, how the tables have turned.' I smirk before I start to triumphantly explain from where all this lien came from.