The Bark of the Night
Darknessxxx
Author's Notes: a first, a few things. First, obviously I do not own RWBY. Second, it should be known that I don't own a dog. And this gets really stupid. Don't say I didn't warn you.
It was night at Beacon academy, where not long ago the attending huntsmen and huntresses in training had bravely helped defend the City of Vale against an invasion of Grimm. With the city safe again, many of those students were now getting some much needed rest.
In her dorm room, along with the rest of Team RWBY, Blake Belladonna was fast asleep when she sensed she was being watched. Still with her eyes closed, as not to let on that she knew she had eyes on her, Blake tensed her muscles. Then, without warning, she opened her eyes and turned to see the corgi Zwei sitting on the foot of her bed with a length of rope in his mouth.
Not as fond of Zwei as the rest of her team, Blake gasped and got out of bed. With an ever wagging tail, Zwei walked closer to her.
Without taking her eyes off of him, Blake backed her way to Ruby and Weiss's bunk and placed a hand on Ruby. "Ruby" Blake whispered as she tried shaking her awake.
Ruby made an incoherent grunting noise, but made no appearance of waking.
"Ruby!" Blake shook Ruby harder, this time waking her.
"Cookies!" Ruby said as she shot up. She took off her sleeping mask to see that it was still dark and asked "What time is it?"
"I think there's something wrong with your dog" Blake explained, still without looking away from Zwei.
"Huh?" Ruby looked over the side of her bed to see him looking up at them with the leash still in his mouth. "Oh, he just wants to go for a walk" she said. "Hey since you're already awake, do you mind taking him? I'm just going to go…"
"What!?" not sure if she heard correctly, Blake spun around to see that Ruby was already back asleep and Zwei was still looking expectantly up at them. She then looked frantically around only to see Weiss and Yang also fast asleep. "Why me?" she muttered.
"Okay look" Blake knelt down to be eye to eye with Zwei. "You see theses?" she removed her bow to reveal her Faunus cat ears. "This just won't work, you understand?"
Zwei's response was to lick her nose.
"Fine" Blake sighed in resignation. She took his leash, attached it around his neck, and led him outside.
Outside, the campus grounds were well lit from the pale light of the moon. The leaves of the trees lining the pathways swayed to the light breeze, as if dancing to some unheard tune. Still being leashed to Blake, Zwei led her to one of the nearby trees and lifted one of his hind legs, out of curtesy Blake looked away.
"Hmm, I would've never have pegged you as a dog person." Blake and Zwei and looked up to see Sun sitting in the tree. He gave them a short wave "Yo".
"Sun?" Blake said, surprised to see him. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, you know" Sun said as he jumped out of the tree. "Just taking in the night life." He turned his attention to Zwei, "so who's this little guy?"
"That's Zwei, Ruby's dog" Blake explained. "She asked to take him out for her."
"That's cool" Sun said. "Hey, mind if I tag along?"
"Actually, we were just about to head back" Blake said, trying to minimize her time with Zwei.
"You're heading back already?" Sun said. "Come on, you've got to at least take him around the building, isn't that right boy?" Zwei gave a short bark.
Between Sun and Zwei, Blake realized that she wasn't about to talk her way out of this. "Fine" she said and turned to a walk down the path. Sun quickly took up a pace next to her, and Zwei followed behind them.
"So, nice night, don't you think?" Sun said.
Blake sighed and stopped short. "Listen" she said. "This may seem clichéd, but walking a dog is on the low end on my list of ways to spend my night."
"I understand" Sun said with a goofy grin. "Tell you what, if he drops one, I'll deal with it for you!"
Blake gave him a stare before saying "I'll hold you to that" and continued walking. They walked in relative silence for a few minutes until they heard a voice they didn't recognize call out to them.
"Hey! You two!" they turned to see a blue haired girl walking toward them. She wore a Beacon uniform accessorized with a utility belt and carried a staff with a claw at the tip. "Neither of you have seen a guy: about this high, with overly combed black hair and a long black coat?"
Having not seen whom she was looking for they shook their heads no. The girl wasn't pleased with their answer.
"Sorry we couldn't be any help" Blake said. "Ms.….?"
"Lucy Lazuli, Team COLE" the girl introduced herself with an extended hand.
Hesitantly Blake shook Lucy's hand. "Blake Belladonna" she introduced herself in a similar fashion "Team RWBY"
"Sun Wukong" Sun did the same. "Team SSSN."
Lucy shook both their hands. "Well then I guess I'll be on my… wait a minute" she suddenly spotted Zwei looking up at her. "Is that a dog!?" without waiting for a response she knelt down to be eye level with Zwei, and took a pair of sunglasses from a pouch on her belt. "Okay boy, find the person this belongs to!"
Zwei sniffed the sunglasses. He then ran around in circles, a couple times and pointed his nose in the direction of the junior dorms. Lucy took one look in the direction and clenched a fists. She petted Zwei's head, calling him "Good boy" and stood up. From a different pouch she took out a green dust crystal and placed it at the tip of her staff, the claws at its tip holding it in place.
"Thanks for your help Blake, Sun" Lucy said. They then watched as she walked toward the junior dorm, taking out her scroll and talking into it as she went. "Orca!? I've got a lead on where he might be…"
Still watching her go, Sun leaned over to Blake "So think she'll find who she was looking for?"
"Hard to say" Blake said. "I'm not sure Zwei's the greatest tracker in the world." Hearing her words, Zwei lied down flat, his front paws over his head, and looked up at her, pouting. Blake just scowled at him.
"Hey, you didn't have to hurt his feelings like that" Sun said. Blake responded by turning her scowl to him. Sun stepped back with his hands raised. "You really don't like dogs don't you?"
Blake gave him a resounding "Humph" and continued on their way.
"What I don't understand" she said. "Is how everyone falls for Zwei the instant the see him?"
"Come on, not everyone…" Sun tried to doubt her claim, but was interrupted.
"Even Weiss" Blake said. "Now if you don't mind, I think this little 'walk' of ours is over. Good night Sun." she turned to walk back the way they came, giving Zwei's leash a slight tug.
Once they were back outside of their room Blake reached into her pocket to get her scroll and noticed something. There was a sign Weiss had made and hung on over their door with their Team name, RWBY, and each of their names neatly written on it. But just after Yang's name there was a rather crude Z with Zwei's name written in Ruby's hand writing.
While distracted Blake's scroll slipped out of her hand and bounced down the hall. Zwei immediately chased after it, picked it up in his mouth, and brought back to Blake, dropping it at her feet and looking up at her.
Blake knelt down to pick the scroll up and once again found herself eye to eyes with Zwei. "I told that was a bad idea" she said.
Zwei tilted his head to one side.
"Don't look at me like that" Blake said, now questioning why she was having an argument with a dog. "We're just different."
Zwei barked and pointed his nose behind her. When she looked to see exactly what he was looking at she saw it was the Team RWBYZ sign.
"I'm still willing to work with you" Blake turned back to Zwei and said. "But whatever 'relationship' we do have will be purely professional!"
As soon as she said that, Zwei took the opportunity to lick Blake's nose. Somewhat angered, Blake stood up. "No! Just… just no!" she said. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Good night Zwei" she then turned around, unlocked the door, and walked inside. She was about to slam the door behind her, but just remembered that Zwei had to come in too.
Blake held the door open just long enough for Zwei to walk in. She refrained from slamming the door, mostly not to disturb the others, and crawled in to bed and defiantly faced the wall.
Zwei walked over to a makeshift doggy bed Ruby had made for him and lied down. He fell asleep with a sad look on his face.