The first time we kissed was following a particularly gruelling mission.
The way she'd darted in and out of close range with the Grimm, frequently coming within scarce inches of my own attacks, the idiot was lucky she'd gotten off with only a minor beating rather than, say, a snapped neck or a faceful of fire.
She finally realized that my yelling at her wasn't an act, and smoothly ducked out of my way, attacking from another angle and getting the beast too turned around to manage to attack either one of us properly. It took her long enough.
That didn't stop her from taking the Grimm's tail to her stomach when I blasted it in the face with flames, though. She smacked into a tree and hit the ground with a crack. An unintentional yelp had escaped my lips, then, and I emptied my entire chamber of red dust into the Grimm's gut. The trees shook when it fell.
"That was so cool!" Ruby chirped delightedly, springing to her feet with a massive grin. "Oh man I didn't know you could shoot the entire chamber like that! Wow, geez, what was that recoil like—" I stormed towards her, incensed. Her smile froze and dropped into a nervous grin. "Um, I know you're mad that I got in the way, um, again—"
"You could've been killed, you idiot!" I seethed, sheathing Myrtenaster so I could throttle her properly.
Ruby began backing up, hands raised in a defensive gesture. "I wasn't going to be killed, I just got a little banged up! I mean, yeah, you sort of, um… scorched my cloak and all, but I mean there was no real danger of, uh, catching fire or um—" Her nervousness only increased when she realized she'd backed into a tree. "I-I, uh—" She balked when I grabbed her by the clasps of her hood, jerking her towards me.
It was far from a pleasant kiss—she'd split her lip something awful taking a blow to the face, and the coppery taste of blood nearly made me pull back. Plus she hadn't been expecting it and so didn't respond properly to the surprise, her teeth clicking sharp against mine and her forehead bashing against my own.
I'd cursed at the impact, releasing the clasps of her now faintly-charred robe as she stumbled backward, her face crimson with flustered shock. I regarded her scuffed-up bruised-up self briefly before dealing her a good wallop upside the head.
That snapped her out of it.
"Ow!" Ruby rubbed the back of her head, glaring balefully at me.
"Stop trying to get us both killed!" I ordered, jabbing her in the chest with a manicured nail. "So help me if you die on a mission I will bring you back to life tokill you myself!"
She stared at me in disbelief. Her jaw worked briefly, trying to come up with some response and ultimately failing.
I sighed. "Geez…" I wasn't entirely sure what to say to her either. "Come on, Red, let's get back to Beacon."
I turned around to start walking, then, but I swore I saw Ruby touch her fingers to her lips in wonder as I did.