Fear. One of the six basic emotions, along with happiness, anger, sadness, surprise and disgust. It has ancient origins, since without fear there cannot be survival. The fear of the wild beasts and the creatures of Grimm allowed humans to research means and ways to avoid a premature death. The fear of the unknown sparked the desire in some to explore the world, so that more and more things could be used and not dreaded. The fear of the end of society, may it be brought by either Grimm or humans themselves, created the Academies all around the world of Remnant.

Unfortunately, the fear Weiss Schnee was experiencing was for her own life.

"Ruby, are you absolutely sure this is... safe?" the heiress asked with a doubtful tone

"We will be fine! Stop worrying!" the young leader with the red cape answered with a smile.

The white member of team RWBY gazed over the place her leader was pulling her through. The gardens of the Beacon Academy were a rare sight: fields of green grass interrupted now and then by sporadic trees that welcomed under their shadows little groups of students, using their free time studying in the pleasant breeze or laying on the grass, managing to rest between a class and a training session. Alongside the structure itself, a line of different flower species gave a mixture of colors and scents. That provided the students a place to meditate in, either by walking beside the flowers or sitting on one of the many white stone benches.

Weiss tried to look for someone, anyone, who could give her an excuse to stop her from following the ever joyful Ruby Rose to what she called 'The most amazing way to spend an evening ever'. Though the days of winter were long ended and the midday sun of spring was warm, the so-called Ice Queen was feeling cold shivers running down her spine while the two of them exited the boundaries of the Academy and entered in the stunning Emerald Forest.

The trees were beautiful and majestic whether they were seen from above, while flying after being launched from the top of a cliff, or at ground level, where the leaves seemed to almost completely block the sky, creating a bright green roof instead. Even if the view was amazing, though, the students learned almost immediately not to drop their guard, for the creatures of Grimm could be present anywhere, even in the sections closer to the academy. Ruby seemed to have missed a lesson. That dunce almost got us killed in the initiation, Weiss thought with a bittersweet feeling. Sure, the insufferable little brat tried her best not to change her hot-headed nature, but the rest of team RWBY was transforming her into a better leader: step by step, with a cookie or two to support the changing, but they were doing it. She better thank all of us for what we are doing. For what we did. For what we had to endure!

"Ruby?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are we walking more and more inside the forest? Why are you humming so happpily? And most important..." before finishing the sentence Weiss let out a sigh, "Why am I following you?"

The girl in red smiled: "Those are very important questions. Let me answer to them all with... this!"

That said, the leader stopped. Turning towards Weiss with a triumphant smile on her face while stepping aside, she allowed the heiress to look at the little opening where the trip ended.

In front of her there was a small wooden hut made of logs and planks on top of a big tree. The walls where painted a bright green and the floor was held by some of the bigger branches of the tree. Clearly the little construction was made in the most stealthy way possible with the poor tools a student could afford. Though the effort was clearly visible, the result wasn't the most professional: some planks were clearly misplaced, the paint was missing in some spots and the overall sensation could be summarized in the word 'unsafe'.

"A tree house?" Weiss said.

"Yup. A tree house. I put a lot of effort in it and I wanted you to be the first one to admire it! I know Yang would just tease me and Blake... well, she hardly shows any emotion, so I wouldn't know if she likes the idea or not, so..."

Weiss could still hear Ruby saying something about the amount of time she used to choose the place, but she wasn't listening. The heiress didn't know if either laugh at the idea or punch the scythe-wielder. I know what I am seeing, but I don't know if my brain can translate what I am seeing into something that makes sense.

While Ruby was mimicking a rather questionable way to paint, Weiss snapped out of the trance she was in. "So every time you decided to 'go for a walk in the forest' you actually stayed here, building this extremely unstable tree house?" she asked. The Ice Queen tried to put as much coldness as she was capable of in the question. She knew all of this was a sincere attempt to impress the rest of the team but Ruby's work was, at best, dangerous, not to say useless. "And don't even get me started on how you could have better spent all that time, like studying instead." Will she ever think of school as commitment?

"Come on, Weiss! Try not to be so stiff once in a while and enjoy the little things!" Ruby said. It seemed like the harsh tone of the heiress could barely scratch the extreme enthusiasm of the young leader. "When was the last time you had some fun? Like, real fun and not one of those boring tea parties?".

At this statement Weiss crossed her arms and reduced her eyes to slits. "Excuse me?" she whispered tilting her head to the left, giving Ruby one chance to take back what she said, "If I recall correctly, it was you who insisted so much on having one of those 'boring tea parties' after I said I received a selection of teas from home."

The girl in red seemed to notice she did a misstep, so she casually looked away from her partner while laughing nervously. She mumbled something that could be interpreted like an apology after bowing the head. Weiss was really annoyed, so she turned away while saying: "If this is all you had to show me, I'll go back to the dorm. I still have to finish that essay, so if you don't..." She stopped mid-sentence because a storm of red petals announced the semblance of her leader, which appeared right in front of her. The two looked in each others eyes, Ruby smiling and Weiss trying to understand the intentions of girl in red with a surprised expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this kind of things, and neither do you" the heiress said, walking beside the girl in red, "And you better not..." Again, her sentence was interrupted by roses' petals and a red-tinted cape.

Weiss stood there for a second, staring at the smiling face of her team leader. "You are not going to let me go, are you?" the Ice Queen asked. The response was given by the girl in front of her by shaking the head. "And you want me to go with you inside that thing, am I right?" the girl in white added. This time the silver eyed girl nodded with enthusiasm. Seeing herself being forced to choose between never-ending pleads and the risk of permanent injury, the heiress opted for the lesser of two evils.

The latter.

With a sigh announcing her defeat, Weiss said "Fine. I'll visit this... tree house of yours. But I give you five minutes, not a second more."

The excitement of Ruby took form of a bigger smile and a short squeal. Without any restrain, she grasped the hand of her partner and pulled her towards the tree-house. When close enough, Weiss noticed that on the tree were several rough cuts, creating a rather simple ladder towards the bottom of the construction. "I hope you have at least some tissues with you. This is quite dirty, even for you. And I've seen you eating a chocolate sweet you found underneath your bed."

"Well, I still have to give the finishing touches, but most of the work is done. So, would you kindly..." the girl in the red cape replied, indicating the big tree.

With that said, the girl with the white combat skirt started climbing the log towards the bottom of the tree house. Although rough and small, the steps cut into the wood had been sanded enough to not have any splinter. When she arrived at the bottom of the hut, she noticed that a solid wooden floor was above her, with no visible signs of trap-doors or hidden passages.

"Ruby?"

"Yes Weiss?"

"You did put an entrance to the house, didn't you?"

The silence that followed the question was deafening.

"If I wasn't in a rather unstable position I would come down there and hit you until you develop a proper brain!" Weiss shouted, "Now, I gave you an opportunity and you wasted it. I will now proceed to go back, have a shower and you, Miss Rose, will have to..."

Her sentence abruptly turned into a surprised scream as a swift movement passed by her. In a moment rose's petals were in her hair, a passage was created and a falsely indifferent Ruby was standing inside the tree house, "See? There was an entrance!" she said.

The heiress opened her mouth to scold the younger girl, but she realized anything she would say would not have effect on her partner. With yet another sigh Weiss climbed the last couple of steps and entered the little tree house.

Though small, the wooden hut was big enough to allow both girls to stand and not be awkwardly close. The floor, except for the hole Ruby just created and the few destroyed wood pieces, was surprisingly well-leveled, without any major chipped plank. In the corners there were four pieces of what seemed like the same, dark log, cleanly cut to make simple stools. The wall opposite to the tree that held the structure had a simple window with two wooden sticks in it, forming a cross: probably a structure to hold future blinds.

"So, if you please..." Ruby said pointing to one of the log pieces. The heiress knew that for it to be over quickly she had to follow every single request of her partner and leader, or the consequences would be unbearable, to say the least. Managing, somehow, to not show too much distaste for the chosen furniture, the white-haired lady made herself as comfortable as possible, not before laying her handkerchief on the log. The small, silvery embroidered symbol of her household shone over the otherwise colorless cloth thanks to the little direct sunlight that somehow managed to enter in the room. She sat with her back to the window and crossed her legs in a ladylike pose, an old habit she refused to let go.

While she was glancing now here, now there, mentally lengthening the list called 'Reasons to not enter this shack ever again', the white-haired girl noticed the maker of said shack was oddly quiet. She looked at her, only to find the scythe-wielder staring awkwardly in her direction. Not quite at her: it was like Ruby was trying to figure out something. She had the same expression and slightly tilted head of that time the whole team went to a photographic exhibition in Vale. She simply could not understand a photograph of the artist himself: a young man with a strange jacket, an absurd hairstyle and fingerless leather gloves was standing in front of a white wall with one hand in his pocket and the other one pointing to the sky. To complete it all, a pair of what seemed mechanical wings were attached to his back, making him look like some kind of strange, but amazing, angel.

The heiress stared into Ruby's face for a couple of seconds, hoping the other girl would notice what she was doing, but no response of that kind came from her. She really is a dolt she thought, her anger level rising. Just before shouting something about manners and education, Weiss decided to go for a more pacific approach: she snapped her fingers in front of her face, causing the black-and-red haired girl to snap out of her concentration. Ruby blinked a few times before focusing on a rather annoyed Weiss.

"Now that I've seen this from the inside, can I go back to the dorm?" Weiss asked, hoping her partner would actually be satisfied with the agreed five minutes.

"Aww, come on Weiss! It's been so long since we talked! And I mean really talked, not just exchanged class notes!"

The Ice Queen could not object to that statement. The last couple of months were really packed with tests and trainings that left little time for being persons and not huntresses in training. But they could always talk in their room, while sitting on a more comfortable bed, "Well, we could always talk back at the dormitory. It isn't necessary to come all the way here just to chit chat!"

"Please? Pretty please?" Ruby said, starting to open wild her eyes. It was a mystery how her eyes could become so big and teary in just a second. I won't fall for it this time. I refuse.

"No."

"Come on, Princess! There's a time to study and a time to live! A now is time to be a girl, not the honor student of one of the most renowned Academies in Remnant!"

Weiss didn't know if it was the puppy eyes, the building tiredness caused by two weeks of combat training or the not Ruby-like statement, but the option to relax a little started to not sound so unreasonable. She could actually breath for a couple hours, not worrying about grades or assignments. She could just be Weiss Schnee... Better still, she could just be Weiss.

Damned be the time I chose her and not Jaune. "I think I can spare some more time here..." the heiress said showing a straight face, but honestly happy to have a team leader who, in her own way, wanted the happiness of her teammates. Were they willing or not.

A wide smile appeared on the lips of the red-caped girl, clearly happy that her partner would stay for a little more.

"I was really hoping we would be staying here for a while, so I brought something to drink," Ruby said as she reached the pouch she had on her back. Usually from there she would extract a new, full magazine for Crescent Rose, but this time in her hands was a thermos with two small plastic cups. "I asked Yang advice to fill this with something good and..."

Weiss' eyes opened widely: "You asked Yang? I really hope there's nothing alcoholic in there!"

"Of course not! Had you let me finish, I would have said that I asked her for an iced tea. Though I didn't know your taste, so I preferred going with a classic lemon-flavored one. I hope it's fine with you." She then poured some of the cold beverage in one of the cups and passed it to Weiss.

"Hey, I'm always up for some lemon..." Weiss said, stopping with the cup still in her stretched arm. She realized she quoted a line from Blake's not so secret book, the one with a clearly visible red stamp on the otherwise black and anonymous cover. She knew everyone, from both team RWBY and JNPR, had read a page or more of that book when its owner wasn't around. The page Weiss and Ruby read together one night was a particularly visual one, to the point the girl in white had to abruptly close the book, redness spreading on her face, to shelter the naive eyes of her partner from such explicit themes. Both of them read the first couple paragraphs though, so when Weiss said that phrase they both knew where it came from.

For a second or two the girls stared to each other, with a dumbstruck expression and a light red spreading across their cheeks. Then, Ruby started giggling lightly, making a smile appear on the heiress' face. With all her might Weiss tried to suppress the laugh that was building in her throat, but the more she tried to, the more Ruby's expression, clearly trying to do the same as her, made her laugh. It seemed like a close call, but what the girl with the cape said blew every effort away. "You really didn't choose your words Weissely, did you?" she barely managed to say before bursting laughing.

At that very moment, all the composure, all the tedious hours spent learning how to behave correctly, all the manners that were something to be proud of, ceased to exist and were replaced by nothing but laughs. Sincere, crystalline laughs that could be clearly heard from outside, the light forest noises not loud enough to cover the happiness of two girls.

After what seemed like an eternity, the girls gradually stopped laughing and dried their tears. Out of sheer luck, Weiss noticed, the tea that was in her cup simply spilled on the floor and not on her, or Ruby's, dress. When she was sure the other girl was capable of moving without laughing again, she handed the cup, hoping to finally taste some kind of refreshment.

"I guess that blood really is thicker than water..." the heiress said, thanking the other girl with a little nod. We could try as much as we like, but Yang will always be Yang. And she will always have an influence over her.

"My big sis loves me so much that, over time, I think she made me act like her. Just a little though."

"I guess it was a long work of conditioning"

"Since school," the leader said, pouring herself some tea, "she always tried to show me the right way to handle things. You know, bullies, bruises... Of course, she showed me her way of dealing with this type of thing."

Under that light, Yang seemed like a caring sister. I wonder if Ruby ever accidentally cut a blonde hair. "I can only imagine what she had to do for you. What she was for you"

"Yeah..." Ruby said with a sad smile, looking into the amber liquid. But just before Weiss could reply with an apology, the dark haired girl lifted her eyes from the cup and asked: "Have you ever thought about love, Weiss?"

The Ice Queen was taken aback from the sudden question. She remained silent, staring at the floor and sipping a couple times, hoping the cold beverage would help her properly articulate the simple answer she gave herself many times before. "Far too much" were the only words to exit her mouth.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two huntresses. Only the occasional noise made by the wind between the leaves filled the otherwise quiet hut.

"You know, we would be the perfect couple," the leader said with a straight face.

Weiss stared at Ruby with a confused look on her face, trying to understand the meaning of that statement.

"What?"

"Yeah! You know, opposites attract and all that jazz. Besides, isn't there a tribe that considers someone part of the family if they shared two cups of tea with them?"

The heiress could understand that the rant was only a way to distract her from starting brooding, so she did what she could do best: correct people. "Ok. First, is my personal conviction that opposites attract only in physics. Second, indeed there is such tribe, but the cups are three. And one of them just spilled across the floor because someone made a very bad pun. Third, you would be so clumsy that on our first date you would probably mess everything up." She was trying to be as serious as possible, but she couldn't repress a small smile while saying that.

The red leader noticed the moral of her partner was raising, so she decided to continue her teasing: "Yeah, but if we were together we could paint our nails, and try on clothes and talk about cute boys!"

Those words took Weiss back to her very first day at Beacon. She knew she could expect difficulties in a new setting, but have a girl explode in front of her face two minutes after setting foot in the Academy was far from what she imagined.

"Are you serious?" the heiress asked trying to show her best version of Ruby's expectant look.

At such sight, the silver eyes of the scythe-wielder sparkled. "Of course I am serious! We could go together everywhere and sleep in the same bed and be partners..."

"You do realize all of this pretty much sums up our everyday life, right?"

The leader giggled a little before answering: "Yeah, I guess so. But there would be gifts and stuff... Oh, we could wear each other's symbols as necklaces!"

Weiss tried to imagine herself wearing a metal rose around her neck. The small pendant she has dear replaced by several closed lines, each one connected to others to form a stylized rose. The very thought of it made the heiress giggle. "Yeah, why not?" she asked almost laughing, "And where did you see such a thing?"

Ruby's eyes went to the ground while her face tried to match the colour of her cape, almost succeeding: "Well, it was written in one of those books..."

"What books?" the heiress asked, now curious.

The leader's voice was low when she answered: "Well, you know, 'A Random Hero' and 'X'... Those... Blake's..." she said, being careful to not make eye contact with a now shocked Weiss.

The sound of loud drinking Ruby was purposely making to take time could not help her. "So you read those filthy novels? All by yourself?" Weiss asked, incredulous.

"I wasn't alone! Yang was reading with me and..." she stopped when she realised she was digging her own grave.

At that point, the heiress' face was livid: "You did... And she..." she only managed to articulate, before standing up. She handed her cup to a very embarrassed Ruby and said: "We better go back"

"Yup, I think we should" the leader said before pouring the remaining tea on the already wet floor.

The two huntresses jumped down the hole in the floor and landed in a now less illuminated opening. The wind that from the inside of the tree house simply moved branches and leaves was now slightly cold, causing Weiss to shiver. Why didn't I bring a warmer jacket? she thought, envious of the red cape that was in front of her.

Now too embarrassed to talk about anything, the white and red members of team RWBY walked back to the main building, beneath a cold roof made by the leaves. It was ok, until this dolt started talking about couples and love and... "Ruby?"

"Yes?" the leader answered, with a hoping smile.

"What about you?"

The girl with the cape seemed puzzled by the sudden question: "What about me?"

I really need to be better at girl talk. She sighed before continuing: "Have you ever thought about love?"

The two made a couple steps before the answer was given. A small grin appeared on Ruby's face before she replied looking forward: "You know me, Weiss. I'm a natural born huntress. I will hunt my prey down."

The heiress stared at her partner with a confused look. Before she could say anything, Ruby continued talking: "Even if I make a mistake or two, in the end I will get what I want."

The white building of Beacon Academy welcomed them as they exited the forest.

A/N: Hello and thank you for reading the first chapter of Covert Attention! This is my first attempt at something long and to stimulate me I will try to keep the chapters above 4k words. I will update it every two weeks, if my studies allow me to.
Please, leave a note or send me a message to let me know how this went.
Thank you and have a nice day!

-Dystopico