???

Asuka's eyes were heavy, but she managed to get them open. She then looked around at her surroundings. She was in a bedroom, that much was made obvious by the home decor around her and the bed she was laying on.

Once she took in her surroundings, she then started looking around for her friends. However, when she looked around, they were nowhere to be seen. Asuka then sat up in the bed. She was about to get out of the bed when she got dizzy and placed a hand on her head.

Suddenly, the door across from her opened. No one came in, but Asuka could hear something clicking against the floor. She heard the noise get closer and came around from the foot of the bed to the side. Asuka didn't see anything, so she began to peer over the side of the bed.

Just as she did, though, a small black and white dog popped up and gave Asuka a small bark.

"Awww, you're so cute!" Asuka said, gushing at the dog's adorableness.

The dog then jumped onto the bed and immediately started licking Asuka's face, causing the young female shinobi to giggle.

"Zwei! Leave her alone." A girl's voice said to the dog.

Said dog, Zwei, then stopped licking Asuka's face and jumped off the bed. Asuka then saw a girl standing in the doorway.

"Sorry about that. Zwei likes meeting new people." The girl said.

"It's fine." Asuka replied with a smile.

"So, how are you feeling?" The girl asked.

"M-my head was a bit dizzy, but that seems to have gone away now." Asuka replied.

"Well, that's good. My name's Ruby, by the way. Ruby Rose." The girl said.

"I'm-" Asuka began.

"Asuka. Your friends told us." Ruby said with a smile.

"My friends?" Asuka asked, mostly to find out which friends in particular.

"White haired girl, kinda masculine and somewhat edgy? Grey haired girl who's soft spoken and nice? Tan girl who's tomboyish and the tiniest bit mean? Names are Miyabi, Yumi, and Homura?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Asuka said.

"Ah, no worries. From they way they described it, you've got a lot of friends, so it makes sense to be more specific." Ruby replied.

"Yeah... 'a lot of friends' is certainly one way to put it." Asuka replied.

Asuka then realized something that she mentally cursed herself for not noticing earlier.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are they?" Asuka asked.

"They're downstairs with my dad, Tai, and my sister, Yang." Ruby replied.

Asuka then sighed in relief. She was glad they were okay.

The two then heard some commotion downstairs, followed by a voice that was starting to cry. Asuka was about to ask what had just happened when she suddenly recognized the voice as Homura's.

"Homura?" Asuka asked.

"Please tell me she didn't just mess up the kitchen." Ruby groaned.

"The kitchen?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, she was gonna make herself some meat for lunch." Ruby explained.

Asuka then sighed in both relief and exasperation, as she suddenly had a good idea of what just happened.

Asuka then got up from the bed and stretched. She followed Ruby through a small hallway and down a flight of stairs. When they got to the bottom, Asuka couldn't help but go deadpan at what she saw.

"Mmhm." Asuka hummed with a nod, as this is what she expected.

She was staring Homura, who was on her knees in front of a pan and a piece of steak that were on the floor, a comically large amount of tears pouring out of her eyes.

"M-my meat..." Homura whimpered.

Asuka then heard a sigh beside her. She looked over and saw Yumi sitting on a couch reading a book. Across from her on the other couch was Miyabi, who was petting a napping Zwei that had snuggled up next to her.

"Here, I got it." Ruby said.

"Hey, Ruby?! Could you come out here and help us with something?!" A man's voice called from outside.

"... Or not." Ruby said.

Ruby then went outside to help the man who called her, leaving the four shinobi and a dog inside.

Yumi then looked up from her book and saw Asuka.

"Oh, Asuka! You're awake." Yumi said happily.

"Glad to see you decided to stop napping." Miyabi said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, welcome back to the land of the living and all that... my precious meat..." Homura grumbled as she sorrowfully picked up her meat and threw it in the trash.

Asuka couldn't help but sigh and smile at her best friend/arch rival's antics. She then looked over to the other two.

"So, where are we, by the way?" Asuka asked.

The other three then tensed up upon hearing that question, which Asuka found bizarre.

"Uhhh... are you guys okay?" Asuka asked.

The other three then looked at each other, then back to Asuka.

"Uhhh... you may wanna sit down for this." Homura said, which made Asuka raise an eyebrow.

A few moments later...

Asuka sat in the chair in disbelief. Normally she wouldn't believe it, but the others had given her irrefutable evidence. History books unlike any Asuka had ever seen, maps that showed continents that didn't exist anywhere on Earth, News Broadcasters discussing events that never could happen back home, Academies that Asuka was unfamiliar with. They even told her about how Ruby and her sister showed them abilities that definitely weren't Ninja Arts.

"Another world..." Asuka said incredulously.

"I understand that it's a lot to take in, Asuka-chan." Yumi consoled.

"Is there any way for us to get back?" Asuka asked, worried they might be stuck here.

"Ruby and Yang's dad mentioned something about a headmaster at one of these big Academies. Ozpin, I think his name was? They said something about him being privy to information that isn't exactly normal, even by this world's standards." Homura explained.

Asuka then sighed in semi-relief. At least they had a lead on how they might be able to get home.

But now that Homura had brought up Ruby and her family, another thought crossed Asuka's mind.

"Do Ruby and her family know?" Asuka asked.

"That we're from another world? Fortunately, yes, they do. They were kind of inclined to believe us when they saw us fall out of a ball of light in the sky and after we showed them some of our Ninja Arts, which went against what they know about Semblances." Miyabi explained.

"Semblances?" Asuka asked.

"It's what they call their abilities. From what I understand, not everyone has one, but those that do go to one of the Academies we mentioned to become something called a Huntsman or Huntress." Yumi explained.

"So... these Huntsmen and Huntresses are like shinobi?" Asuka asked.

"Sort of, only they're public knowledge and focus more on fighting monsters than criminals." Miyabi replied.

"Monsters?" Asuka asked curiously.

"Yeah, apparently there are monsters called Grimm running around this world. Like if Tōma were comman and a constant issue that everyone knew about. So these Huntsmen and Huntresses go around and take care of them. A pretty lucrative career, from what Ruby and Yang told us." Homura explained.

Asuka sighed in exasperation. There was a lot she  was going to have to learn about this world. But at least she wouldn't have to juggle that with keeping her and her friends' origins a secret.

"Alright, then... when do we meet this headmaster?" Asuka asked.

"Yang-sama is attending his school this year, so we'll go with her in few days to meet him." Yumi explained.

Asuka was about to say something, but was interrupted when Ruby walked in with a blond girl, who Asuka assumed was her sister, Yang.

"Oh, hey! Good to see your awake!" Yang said with a wave.

"Nice to meet you. You must be Yang." Asuka greeted.

"Sup." Yang responded casually.

She then turned to the others.

"By the way, our dad was wondering if one of you would be willing to help us out outside? Turns out we need an extra pair of hands." Yang asked.

Miyabi simply got up and rolled her arm to prepare, which made Zwei perk up and wonder where his new snuggle buddy went.

Ruby then turned to Yang.

"Actually, I was going to explain more about the world to Asuka. Y'know, cause they're from another world and all?" Ruby said.

"That's fine. I'm sure dad'll understand. It does mean we'll need someone to fill in for you, though." Yang replied.

"I'll fill in. Better than sitting here and doing nothing for who knows how long." Homura said as she got up.

The two Hebijo affiliated shinobi then followed the blond brawler outside. When they did, Yumi suddenly got up.

"I suppose I should start up the kitchen. You know how serious Homura-chan gets about her meat." Yumi said as she walked to the kitchen.

Ruby and Asuka then looked to each other.

"So... uhhh..." Ruby trailed off as she just now realized that she had no idea what to teach Asuka about.

She then looked over to the coffee table and saw map laid out on it.

"Oh! What do you know about maps so far?" Ruby asked as she picked the map.

"Not much right now. All I know is that we're on an island... um... Patch, just off the coast of... uh..." Asuka trailed off as she struggled to remember the name of country.

"Vale." Ruby helped.

"Yes! Thank you. But other than that, I don't really know the locations on this world." Asuka admitted.

"Great! I have something I can teach you, then! Follow me!" Ruby exclaimed as she grabbed Asuka's wrist and dragged her out the door, much to Asuka's surprise.

A few moments later...

"So, up here in the north is the Kingdom of Atlas. Lots of cool technology and a bunch of fancy pants rich people." Ruby explained.

'And suddenly I'm hoping that Yomi didn't get sucked into that portal with us and land there.' Asuka thought to herself.

"Their Academy is Atlas Academy. A lot of military stuff goes on there, but I don't really know much about that." Ruby continued.

"Huntsman are part of the military?" Asuka asked.

"No, there just happens to be a lot of military stuff that goes on at that Academy." Ruby replied.

"Oh." Asuka said.

"Then you have Shade in Vaccuo. Weirdly enough, they're kinda the closest thing to leadership that Vaccuo has." Ruby explained.

"Do they not have a formal government?" Asuka asked.

"Not really. Not sure why, either." Ruby admitted.

"What about this kingdom to the west?" Asuka asked, pointing at a continent on the map.

"That's Mistral. Their Academy is Haven, which is the first Academy to have a Faunus headmaster... I think." Ruby explained.

"Faunus?" Asuka asked.

"Oh, yeah. Faunus are... how do I describe them? People with animal traits. Y'know, like ears, tails, horns, antlers, and such?" Ruby explained.

Upon hearing this, Asuka immediately thought of Kumi and Misato from the Tohno Tengu team.

"You have people like that in your world?" Ruby asked out of curiosity.

"Sort of. But I'm pretty sure they're not nearly as common as these Faunus people are." Asuka explained.

"How uncommon are we talking here?" Ruby asked.

"Uncommon enough that they have to keep their existence a secret from the vast majority of the world. In fact, I only really know two people like that." Asuka explained.

"Oh, wow... that's pretty uncommon." Ruby said.

She was about say something else, but she suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked up at the sky, which Asuka noticed.

"Is something wrong?" Asuka asked.

"Hm? Oh, no. It's just that we should head back since it's getting late." Ruby said.

Asuka looked up at the sky herself and noticed that it had taken on a golden tint.

"That, and there's been some Beowulf sightings around here, so we should probably get back before it gets dark." Ruby said.

"'Beowulf'?" Asuka asked.

"They're the most common type of Grimm, those monsters your friends probably told you about." Ruby explained.

"Oh. Yes, we should probably go back now." Asuka agreed.

A few hours later...

The four shinobi all prepared for bed. Yumi was dressed in a spare nightgown that Ruby and her family had, Yang gave Asuka some of her pajamas, Miyabi just wore a shirt that barely covered her panties, and Homura was just in her underwear.

As Asuka laid down, she kind of stared off into space. After all... she and her friends have gotten into some unbelievable situations before... but this... on another world entirely?

"Let me guess, you can't believe we're on another world?" Homura asked.

"Can you? I mean, this is crazier than anything we've ever been through before." Asuka replied.

"And that's a hell of a statement." Homura agreed.

"Honestly, I have a hard time believing it myself." Miyabi added.

"I'm half expecting us to wake up in one of our Academies and our friends to tell us that this was all some sort of shinobi art that thrust us into a dream." Yumi said.

Asuka then looked to the sky through the window, where she then saw something that shocked her to her very core.

"Well... if I had any doubts that we were in another world, they just disappeared." Asuka said as she sat up and looked out the window.

"Eh? Why's that?" Homura asked.

The other three then walked to the window to see what she was looking at. And when they saw it, they were filled with the same shock that Asuka felt in that moment.