I don't own RWBY or her characters. That goes to Rooster Teeth.

The Vytal Festival and Tournament were both absolutely chock-full of people, from all over Remnant. Atlesians, Vacuoans, Mystalians, even people from smaller kingdoms like Patch, they all gathered here to celebrate and watch a bunch of kids fight each other for the greater glory of their respective school and team. The Festival grounds, especially, were packed with people floating from booth to booth, a mixture of students, fighters, and citizens from all walks of life.

This congested environment was perfect for the pickpocket, and Emerald wasn't letting the opportunity pass her by. Counting the notes from her most recent victim, she couldn't help but smirk and shake her head, tossing the wallet itself to the ground and pocketing the notes.

"This is all too easy."

Mercury rolled his eyes, having simply followed Emerald around the grounds as were his orders. They were supposed to be getting information as to who was taking part in the doubles tournament, but Emerald was taking her sweet time as they looked for Team RWBY.

"You know that if you get caught, I'm not helping you, right?"

"Please, Merc, you act like I'd actually fail. I've been practicing this art for all my life, and among much more attentive people. Places like this are ripe for the picking…literally, in my case."

As they turned a corner, Mercury stopped and nudged Emerald, pointing towards Team RWBY as they passed by. Emerald eyed them, thinking about a way to gather reconnaissance on the team.

Hm…just asking would be too awkward, and I would rather not follow and eavesdrop on them. Perhaps…

Emerald motioned for Mercury to stay put as she walked towards the group, getting behind them and quickening her pace. Knowing that their leader Ruby was kind of clumsy from watching her at lunch and during class, she figured that she would be the easiest target to pickpocket. Then, they could follow them around until she realised that her wallet was missing, and Emerald could tell her that she dropped it.

Perfect plan, if I do say so myself. It'll drop their guard, and I'm sure that we could glean the information quite easily after that.

And so, Emerald made her move. She weaved between people, not letting the girl in red leave her eyesight, until finally she was in range. Figuring that she wouldn't need to waste her aura here, she decided against using her illusions. Behind Ruby, she began to reach out, right for her pocket…

It was then that disaster struck. Ruby was clumsier than Emerald had anticipated, and she ended up tripping on a rock, stumbling forward at the moment that Emerald went for the grab. Instead of getting in her pocket and grabbing Ruby's wallet, she found herself with a rather sizeable handful of Ruby's rear. The grip she was holding, as well, would not be easy to brush off as a friendly pat or an accident, and Emerald knew this.

Ruby yelped and stood stock-still, causing her entire team to look back to her…and see Emerald standing right behind her, right-hand placed conspicuously far inside of Ruby's skirt. She was caught, rather aptly, red-handed. Ruby, her face a bright red, slowly turned to face Emerald, who merely swallowed nervously and grinned. She could feel a blush upon her cheeks as well.

"Uh…h-hey there, Ruby!" Emerald chuckled nervously, rapidly trying to run an excuse through her head that could get her out of this situation, "I, ah, caught your team's fight! You guys were awesome!"

Blake was the first one to look down to Emerald's hand, smirking.

"A congratulatory grope there, Emerald?"

Weiss looked down as well, scowling at what she found.

"That's exceptionally perverted! I can't believe that you'd do something like this in such a public place, with all of these people around!"

Emerald opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted when Yang put a rather firm grip on her shoulder. Looking over, she saw that Yang's eyes had taken a shade of red, and she was not smiling. The force of her grip, as well, made Emerald wince in pain.

"Why…are you touching Ruby like that?"

"I-It was, ah, it was a congratulatory gro- pat!" Emerald decided to go with what Blake said, realising that she could play it off as a cultural difference, "See, where I come from, that's how we congratulate people on victories and celebrations!"

Smooth move, Emerald. You've still got it!

Yang narrowed her eyes at her, and Emerald could feel a bead of sweat roll off of her brow. After several agonising seconds of scrutinising, Yang's eyes returned to their lavender colour, and she nodded.

"That's fair then. Cultural differences and all, I can understand that."

"Yeah, yeah, different cultures!" Emerald said, silently saying thanks to whatever being would hear her.

"Though…ah, do you usually keep a 'pat' going on for so long?" Blake said, nodding towards Emerald's still-groping hand.

Emerald looked down, and for some reason that she could not comprehend, she was compelled to give Ruby a very soft squeeze before releasing. She noticed that Ruby jumped ever so slightly. Thankfully for her, Weiss had already turned away in disgust, and Yang was snickering at Blake's comment. Blake, however, looked up to Emerald with surprise on her face, before smirking and turning away.

Well, only two people know then, though why didn't Blake say anything?

As if on cue, Mercury arrived from the crowd, waving to everyone as he approached. He put a hand on Emerald's shoulder, smirking.

"C'mon, Cinder wanted to see us really quick, something about going over group composition for the next battle."

Emerald nodded to him before turning back to the team, rubbing the back of her hand nervously.

"Well, that's my cue then! I'll be seeing you guys later…good luck in your next battle, eh?"

She quickly left with Mercury after Blake and Yang bid her farewell. Mercury, all the while, was barely suppressing his laughter, while Emerald felt her ears burn with embarrassment, hoping that she didn't sever any hope she had of being able to properly recon their team.

She didn't notice how Ruby watched as she walked away, nor did she realise the consequences of her mistake…

"You did…what?"

Back at their dorm, Emerald was currently sitting in 'The Chair of Re-education' while Cinder walked back and forth in front of her. Mercury was standing against one of the walls, shaking visibly with silent laughter. He hadn't stopped laughing since they left Ruby and her team, much to Emerald's ire.

"I…accidentally grabbed her ass. Their leader's."

Emerald hunched down slightly as Cinder sighed, her head in her hands. Emerald was expecting Cinder to hit her, or do something to punish her for her screw-up, but suddenly her scroll began vibrating on the table nearby. Emerald looked over to it, and moved to grab it, but Cinder snatched it up first and flipped it on. Looking at something Emerald couldn't see, Cinder's scowl slowly turned into a smile, much to Emerald's worry.

Cinder tossed the scroll onto Emerald's lap, smirking ever so slightly.

"Looks like we just gained a second chance. Go ahead and take a read of that, Emerald."

Emerald, confused, grabbed her scroll and began to read the message on the screen. To her surprise, it was sent from Ruby through the school's student network.

'Please come to my dorm'? Why would she want me to come to her dorm…?

Of course, Cinder wasn't going to give her a choice on the matter, as when Emerald opened her mouth to protest, Cinder simply picked her up and pushed her out of the door that Mercury had opened, shutting and locking it behind her. She knew that she could open the door with her scroll, but at the same time, she knew that she'd simply get kicked out unless she did this.

So Emerald walked down the halls, taking her sweet time getting to Ruby's room. She had to get there, sure, but Cinder didn't say that she couldn't take her sweet time doing it…actually, Cinder hadn't said anything directly, but she knew that Cinder was expecting her to not come back until that job was done. Of course, taking this slow walk gave her time to think about why Ruby could have called her there for.

Let's see…she didn't actually talk to me at all after I accidentally groped her, so she definitely wasn't seething with anger. This could be a ploy by Yang to murder me, which would suck immensely, but I would be deserving of it I suppose, especially if Ruby told her about the fact that I squeezed her before letting go.

Emerald groaned and smacked her forehead in frustration.

What the hell made me do that! I mean, dust, I know that I'm not a stranger to feeling girls, sure, but why did I *squeeze*! Sure, she was soft…quite a bit too…I mean, for a girl who runs all the time and trains with such a massive weapon, I would have expected her to be a bit firmer, but wo-

Emerald, stop it, these thoughts are not helping you right now.

Eventually, she found herself standing before the door to Team RWBY's room, much to her disappointment. She looked around quickly to make sure no one was watching before knocking on the door.

"The door is open." A voice that was no doubt Ruby's came from behind the door, and Emerald sighed before taking the handle and opening the door, stepping inside. She shut it behind her.

Emerald saw that Ruby was sitting at a chair before she entered, and seeing that it was her, quickly stood up.

"Ah! Emerald…ah, hey!"

Emerald swallowed nervously and waved, "Hey there Ruby."

After that, a bit of an awkward silence settled between them, and Emerald noticed that Ruby was having a slight struggle with whatever it was she wanted to say. After a bit, Emerald stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly.

Let's get this apology over with then.

However, before Emerald could even open her mouth, Ruby threw her arms around her waist and pulled her close, taking Emerald completely by surprise.

"I-I was wondering if you were single at all!" Ruby stammered out, her face in Emerald's chest.

Emerald couldn't help but blink slowly, trying to comprehend what exactly was happening. Here she was, expecting reprimands or even beatings for what happened earlier, and instead her accidental victim was now hugging her and asking if she was single.

"I…Ruby, what?"

"I, well, I was thinking," Ruby said, looking up at Emerald, "Ever since you…you know, grabbed my butt, I couldn't help but think that you, ah, might be interested? In me, that is."

"You gathered all of that from just me grabbing you? What if that was an accident?"

Ruby gave Emerald a wry look, "Well, I was thinking it was an accident to begin with, but then you actually squeezed me."

Emerald opened her mouth to make a counter-point, and then realised that…perhaps this is what Cinder was hoping would happen. After all, if she was going out *with* their leader, it would be a lot easier for them to keep tabs on the team as a whole.

Not only that…but Emerald had to be honest, Ruby was a sweet girl. When Cinder had given her the task of keeping regular tabs on their team (while Mercury watched SSSN and Neo watched JNPR), she had taken to her duty diligently. As such, she learned quite a bit about Ruby through her time at Beacon. She was naïve, a bit of a klutz, and very childish at times, but she had those moments where she pulled through as a leader, and she was amazingly skilled with her weapon. Not only that, but Ruby was just outright sweet, something that Emerald found herself writing down quite a bit in her reports to Cinder.

But, this is for the mission, of course. That is all.

"Well," Emerald said, lowering her arms to wrap around Ruby, "It looks like you caught me red-handed."

She saw Ruby's eyes sparkle, and a grin spread on her face, "Really? So…is that…"

Emerald smirked and leaned forward, quickly kissing Ruby on the lips before leaning back, "Is that a good enough answer?"

Emerald's smug look was quickly ruined as her face took a full-on blush once she realised that Ruby's hands had moved much lower, and were now resting on her rear. A quick squeeze brought a high-pitched yelp from her, and she looked back down to see that Ruby had her own smug grin.

"I…think I'll need a more definite answer there, Emmy~"

Ruby's trap sprung, Emerald found herself being pushed onto her back into one of the beds, and before she could react, Ruby had climbed on top of her, pinning her down. Emerald could only watch as Ruby began placing a trail of kisses down her neck and body, her fingers finding their place under Emerald's top.

As Ruby had her way, Emerald could only think that, perhaps, she picked the right pocket today.

"So…why did you send her there again?"

Mercury was tossing a hackysack in the dorm room, Emerald having been sent out quite a while ago. He was expecting her to have returned already, but Cinder showed absolutely no sense of worry or urgency. She simply looked up from her reports, smirking.

"You told me that Ruby didn't actually trip, right?"

Mercury nodded as he knocked the sack against the wall.

"Yeah, though maybe Emerald saw something I didn't, but I swear it just looked like Emerald moved up and grabbed."

"Well, I figured that maybe Emerald needed a bit more intensive training, for making such a…mistake."

Mercury looked over to Cinder, a puzzled look on his face, but Cinder simply smirked and shook her head as she put aside Ruby's folder, setting it along with her own personal report on Emerald.

Emerald had been eying that mark for way too long, someone had to give her a push.

A/N: Privyet! General Katyusha here! I hope you guys liked this little story here! Still don't know what made me think of this as the way for the story to go, but…I just started to think "Hey, what if she did make a mistake."

And, of course, what happens when that mistake isn't such a mistake at all~

At any rate, reviews are appreciated! I might see a bit rusty here since I haven't been writing lately, but…I just could not let this potential story die!