Blake

I roll onto my right shoulder and look over at Yang who stands by our window, motionless and staring out over Beacon as the sounds of the night envelop us. The light from the fragmented moon shines bright, illuminating my bed and reflecting off of my eyes giving me a perfect view of Yang's silhouetted figure as well as Weiss and Ruby's bunks. The girls lay peacefully, completely enveloped in the comfortable embrace of sleep, but not Yang. Something is troubling her and I can't figure out what it is. All that I know is that I can't sleep, not while she broods.

I can't say when it started, but for some reason finding sleep comes with much more difficulty while Yang is awake. Maybe I just feel safer with her sleeping above me. I don't know. Looking at the clock, I sigh seeing that it's just after three A.M. I have an exam tomorrow morning at eight with Professor Port and I know that I ought to try to sleep. Sighing, I roll over and lay on my back. The action must have been louder than I intended because Yang looks towards me and shrugs apologetically.

"Sorry Blake," she whispers, carefully climbing into her bunk as not to disturb the books that made our two beds a bunk bed.

Why did we even do that? We had more than enough rope to suspend Yang's bed as Ruby had hers. I look up at the younger girl's bunk and see that it is dangerously suspended with a haphazard collection of knots being the only thing keeping her bed above Weiss.

On second thought, I like our method better. My only qualm is that I won't be able to read any of these. Oh well, Beacon has that huge library for a reason.

Hearing Yang snore softly, I exhale contently and close my eyes, letting sleep take me.

The alarm goes off shaking me out of slumber. I ignore it for as long as I can before punching the infernal device to silence it. It reads five after seven. In seconds, I'm up and in the bathroom. Steam fills the room and I disrobe as I step into the shower stall. The warm water trickles down my body and I smile, running my hands through my hair.

Like the animal whose ears I share, I don't like water all that much but showers are a welcome exception. In all my years, I haven't met a Faunus who didn't like showers and I doubt that I ever will. I shut off the water, feeling a rush of cold air hit me.

I hate the winter. I hate the cold.

I scramble for a towel and begin to dry off. Quickly dressing myself in Beacon's uniform, I tie a bow over my ears. My scroll reads Seven fifteen. Fantastic, I'm just on time. I push through the door to the room and am confronted with Yang, heavily inebriated by sleep. She bumps into me and mumbles an apology before closing the bathroom door. Hearing the shower, I walk to my bed and sit down brushing the water out of my hair.

Oh my partner. I think fondly. My mind wanders back to previous evening as I run the brush through the shower spawned tangles in my hair. Shortly afterwards Yang emerges from the bathroom, her golden hair completely dry and her hands on her hips, smiling happily as though she had no other cares in the world. She prances over to my bed and throws herself down, launching me forward across the room. Tucking and rolling, I get to my feet shakily, sleep still affecting me. I turn to Yang and take a step forward, looking at her accusingly.

"It must be nice to have a flame based aura, Yang." I say, my own hair still slightly damp from the shower. No matter though, It has a nice waviness to it when it air dries.

"You bet it is! In fact you could say that I'm always warmed up," She replies and makes guns with her hands, pointing them at me with a wink.

I roll my eyes and walk over to Weiss. It's too early for Yang's puns. Not that I'm complaining of course. It's one of the reasons that I like her. There's never a dull moment within team RWBY. Placing my hand on Weiss' shoulder, I gently shake her awake.

"Morning Weiss," I greet her. The heiress grumbles a response and covers her eyes with her arm. I smile at her and chuckle. She'll get up; she knows the routine by now. "It's about seven thirty so Yang and I are going to head down to the caf. Wake up Ruby when you're done in the bathroom," Weiss responds with more grumbles but swings her legs over the bed and stretches, covering her mouth to hide a yawn.

I walk to the door and hold it open looking over to Yang. She hops to her feet and cheerfully struts out of the room. Turning back to me she bows playfully and I grin shutting the door quietly behind myself.

The hallways are markedly quiet for seven thirty on a school day morning but I'm not one to complain about silence. I match my pace to Yang's and look up at her despite only being a few inches shorter. She looks down at me quizzically and flashes that confident, self-assured smile that she so constantly wears. It seems like she's always smiling.

"So, Yang. . . "I trail off, trying to find a delicate way of bringing up last night without hitting any nerves that may be exposed.

"You want to know why I was up last night, right Blake?" She responds, that smile solid and unmoving from her face.

Shocked I try opening my mouth to protest but she presses her fingers to my lips, effectively silencing me. How could she know what I was going to say?

"You tend to telegraph your thoughts Blake. After I heard you sigh last night, I knew you would bring this up at some point during the day."

Confound my hesitance.

"Well what was it?" I ask bluntly seeing that there are no nerves to strike with her.

Yang is silent for a short while as we walk down the stairs outside the caf. "It's just that. . . I'm, well I don't know. I'm worried I guess." she says uncertainly as her smile slowly begins to fade. A pity, I truly enjoy seeing her smile. We arrive in the caf and walk towards the buffet.

"Oh?" I ask nonchalantly as we grab trays from the dispensers conveniently located all over the place. She doesn't acknowledge my question so I grab an apple off of a spinning platter and place it onto my plate. We shuffle along quietly. Yang spoons a helping of scrambled eggs onto my plate as well as her own and we both find a place to sit down. We eat in silence and I'm about halfway through my apple when I look up at her again. She's still not smiling. Her brow furrows and she looks down, keeping her eyes averted from mine. I sense that there's something that she hasn't said yet. I look down at my scroll and see that the time is seven fifty.

"Yang if you have something to say, you should say it. Ruby and Weiss will be down here at any second,"

In response to my words, Yang gets up and grabs my arm, pulling me out of the cafeteria. She drags me towards professor Port's classroom and sits in one of the pews towards the end of the classroom.

"It's no secret that I'm not doing well in my classes, Blake." Yang begins seriously, looking into my amber eyes with her own violet ones. "Goodwitch, she said that if I don't get my act together, she'll fail me out of Beacon. That would break Ruby's heart and I can't let that happen. Speaking of Ruby, please don't tell her any of this." she says taking my hands in her own.

"Yang!" I scold jerking my hands away. I immediately realize that if Yang failed out, I would be left without a partner. I just couldn't have that. "When did you find this out?"

"Last week," she responds, shrugging apologetically.

Unbelievable.

"Yang, how irresponsible could you be? You know you're putting the entire team in jeopardy right? I can't believe you!" I shout angrily, disrupting the quiet atmosphere of the classroom.

Yang puts her arms up defensively as though to shield herself from my onslaught of words and smiles crookedly. I scoff and shake my head, my eyes narrowing threateningly at her. Doesn't she know that we . . . that I need her? I definitely wouldn't have gotten through all the craziness with Torchwick and the White Fang last year and I don't see myself being able to go forward without her either.

"What are you smiling at?" I growl aggressively towards her, anger building up within me. Why isn't she taking this more seriously?

"I spoke to Professor Port when I found out. I know he has a thing for me so I turned on the charm and told him about my problem. With a few bats of my eyelashes, he gave me some leeway. All I need to do is pass this test and he'll give me a C on the exam." She said, the triumphant smile returning to her face.

I take a few breaths to calm myself down and look at Yang directly. "Why are you worried then?" I ask her calmly. As upset as I am, I can't afford to lose my composure right before the exam everything that I know would fly out the window as my teammates take precedent in my mind.

"This is why, silly," Yang responds. Smiling, she boops me on my nose. I recoil involuntarily at the action, my eyes blurring out of focus for a second. "I didn't want you to worry about me but I felt that you had a right to know as my partner."

I frown at her mellowness causing her smile to widen. "I'm not worried about school because I know that my partner will do anything to make sure that I won't fail out." She said matter of factly engulfing me in a massive bear hug, the heat of her aura providing me with some warmth. She wasn't kidding about always being warmed up.

I realize that she had just asked me to help her out in a sideways manner giving me no way to refuse. Not that I would of course. She's right. I would do anything to make sure that she stays with us. "You better believe it," I growl as the bell rings, signaling the beginning of class.

Yang releases me and smiles, rolling her head in anticipation for the exam. Just in the nick of time, Weiss appears beside me with a resisting Ruby in tow, a mostly eaten bowl of strawberries in her hand. "No Weiss. Please! One more strawberry!" The younger girl exclaims as Weiss rips the bowl out of her hands and tosses it into the trash.

I roll my eyes at them and focus at the board in the front of the room. As Professor Port writes the time, he hollers his pre-exam disclaimers denying us usage of our scrolls during the exam.

Thirty minutes later, I'm stuck on the final question of the exam. A nevermore engages you in a mountainous pass, what fighting style and strategy would be most effective in dispatching it? Hm. This is straight from one of Professor Port's lectures, I'm sure of it. Hearing a sigh of exasperation, I look over at Yang and watch as she idly pulls her free hand through her blonde mane while clicking her pen distractedly. Then, suddenly she begins to write with the fury of one thousand storms. Moments afterwards she jumps up to her feet, her skirt fluttering with the sudden movement.

"Professor Port I'm finished with the exam!" Yang declares with pride as she jogs up towards the Professor's desk. I can't help but smile at the show of confidence, it's one of the reasons that team RWBY works as well as it does. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can count on Yang to find the best of it and then subsequently beat that situation to a bloody pulp.

I quickly scrawl out an answer that I find acceptable and take my paper, walking up to the front of the room where Yang and Professor Port stand.

"Oho! This is quite an astute and might I say bold strategy Miss Xiao Long." Professor Port says with a hearty chuckle. It seems that he's grading Yang's exam in front of her. As stressful as that may be, it's probably better than her waiting nervously for a week. I don't think I could take that many restless nights in a row.

"You know me sir; I always like to be sharp." She replies with her hands on her hips, a lazy smile upon her face. Somehow, Yang makes arrogance seem admirable and I've come to love it over time. There's a time and place for it and by my calculations. This isn't the time.

Unphased, Professor Port finishes grading the test and looks at Yang happily "It seems that your edge may have paid off. Along with the points from the other sections, you have just enough points to pass this exam. Congratulations!" Professor Port says, slapping Yang on the back. Her eyes light up vibrantly and she leaps into the air punching it with joy. She then follows up by hugging everyone in the immediate vicinity. I chuckle lightly. I may be used to Yang's antics but not everyone else is. She runs out of the classroom like a tornado hooting exuberantly as she does. I turn in my exam and quickly but quietly follow her, my feet barely making any sound as I walk through the hallways. I turn the corner and bound up the stairs towards our dorm. It's quiet, but that makes sense. Most of the first years are still taking the exam. I pull out my scroll and see that it's a quarter after ten. The test will be over in fifteen minutes or so.

I pull the door open and see Yang sitting on my bed, sullenly holding her head in her hands. The sight is a complete contrast with what I just witnessed. Without hesitation, I sit down next to her and put a reassuring hand on her leg.

"Yang what's wrong? Professor Port passed you. Isn't that what you wanted?"

She doesn't look at me; she doesn't look at anything but stares straight ahead, blankly focusing. I clear my throat and wrench her attention out of whatever thoughts plague her.

"Huh? Oh. Of course it is, Blake. It's just that I have other classes and I'm not satisfied with just passing." She says looking straight into me, her violet eyes screaming for help. Understanding what she means, I nod and smile knowingly at her. Of course Yang's too proud to explicitly ask me for help. Luckily for her, I feel an obligation to help as her partner and friend.

"I meant what I said before, Yang. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you here," I say soothingly pulling her into a hug to show that I care. She hugs me back warmly and the glum look disappears from her face replacing itself with a soft smile. There it is. I think to myself as I disentangle myself from her grip.

"Now," I begin as I reach into my bag, pulling out Dr. Oobleck's book on the history of Remnant. Yang wants to do well and with my help that's exactly what she's going to do. "Here, turn to chapter fifteen," I command, handing the book to her. She frowns at it but nonetheless flips it open. I smile to myself, this is a start but we sure have a lot more to do.

I do not own any of the intellectual property written about above. All rights go to Roosterteeth and Monty Oum.