Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY.
Amber
By: Imyoshi
Blake Belladonna was a Faunus.
Her companions knew that.
She was part of the Felidae Family—a feline.
They knew that too.
Which made her wonder why the living biscuits her teammates didn't seem to understand she loathed dogs. Hated them! Blake despised those flea carrying mutts to the bottom of her instinct-driven heart. She hissed at the thought of one, yet none of them saw that. They cooed in their presence. Cooed! Well, Blake Belladonna wasn't one to coo.
Some blamed it on her instincts. Some didn't. Who cared? None of that changed the fact that Ruby and Yang's pet made her skin crawl, especially when it drooled at her for fixed periods of time, or when the blasted thing barked at the most random of moments, disrupting her reading or well-needed catnaps.
Blake Belladonna hated Zwei like a cat to water. Plain and simple.
It was a miracle by Mother Nature herself that she hadn't lunged and attacked the dog yet, but miracles only happened once in a blue moon. Sooner or later something had to give.
Reading on her bed with the rest of the team missing, she failed to stop the scowl that replaced her typically calm features. Without saying a word, without even looking, she knew her fingers had dug deep into her book's cover as she attempted to focus on the mess of words in front of her. A losing battle, but she tried her hardest to win. Tried being the keyword.
Bark!
Tried exactly being the keyword!
Bark! Bark! Bark!
That was it!
Snapping her book shut, she rested on her poorly suspended bed, pinching the bridge of her nose in much annoyance. She lazily ignored the sound of Zwei chewing on something below her, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. At this point, she felt like giving up and throwing in the drool-covered towel. What little fight in her burned like a dying ember.
First, reading in the library was a no-go due to Yang somehow always knowing when she ventured in there, hiding around with her laser pointer of evil. Gosh, darn it, Yang! Then reading outside proved too much of a challenge for half the people in Beacon tended to be too loud to focus compared to her three teammates. Children! All of them! Anywhere else was a waste of time since Ruby found her each time she so much as ventured out. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for her leader's inability to understand subtly, even when her hints were beyond the realm of subtly. Anywhere else was moot like Emerald Forest. Pesky Grimm owned that place.
If that wasn't a kick to the stomach, now she couldn't enjoy the sanctum of her team's room.
Somebody put her out of her misery. Make it quick.
The worst part about it all—the saddest part—she couldn't harm, scare, or even kick the dog out. Her team adored that dog. The tricky mutt already had her friends under its spell with its tail chasing antics, useless rolling skills, sitting, and the constant need for tummy rubs. Curse those tummy rubs!
Staring at the bland ceiling, she heard Zwei enjoying himself with whatever it was he found to chew on, tearing apart the item with a tiny growl. Whatever it was must've been delicious and appealing to nibble on. Part of her hoped it was Ruby's curtains. Was she a horrible person for thinking that? Eh!
The chewing soon got to her, and she turned to see what Zwei nibbled on, eyes growing dramatically large before narrowing into slits resembling that of a big cat's glare. She fought every fiber of DNA not to instinctual hiss. Another losing battle of hers.
Her book!
One of her precious books was being torn to shreds in the drooling jaws of that—that animal! Filthy teeth ripped through her beloved companion! Pages ripped out! The cover got bent! Words became ineligible. Drool. So much drool! Then he had the gall to look up at her and wag its tail in complete innocence of the murderous crime it committed.
Time froze for her.
Then something snapped in her.
Hiss!
...
In her defense, she loved that book.
Not even a glorious minute after she lunged forward and attacked the despicable dog, the rest of her team had returned to see her holding and strangling said dog, shaking the guilty creature back and forth stubbornly in her arms. Of course, they took the dog's side! Calling her childish and pointing out how unreasonable she was acting. Unreasonable? Her? What about her loving book?
"How could you, Blake?" Ruby accused, holding Zwei in her arms and hiding behind a bewildered Yang. "What did Zwei do to deserve such... such torment?!"
Not believing that Ruby could glare so hard, Blake looked over to Weiss for some backup, only for the Dust Heiress to have an equally as powerful glare as her partner. That made her blood boil.
Really? Really!
Was no one on her side?
The Intruder massacred one of her books—something she paid lien for—shredded the poor thing to bite-size pieces, never to be opened again, and they were mad at her? Where was the justice in the world? The humanity? Someone had to stand up and protest against these atrocious crimes!
She narrowed her sights. Time to fight back.
"Look..." Blake spoke calmly, rationally, holding up her ruined book. "He destroyed one of my books. My books, Ruby. Lines were crossed, and I couldn't just let him get away with that."
She almost winced. That sounded much harsher than she intended, and Ruby thought so too, hugging Zwei close.
"So? He's just a dog. He doesn't know any better!" Ruby fussed, protectively cuddling the culprit. "Isn't that right, Zwei? You didn't know that Blake's books weren't toys?" She cooed and rocked Zwei back and forth, tickling his tummy. "Of course you didn't. You're just my silly, perfect Zwei!"
Knowing her case was already open-and-shut, Blake sighed, pinching her nose yet again. Life was unfair. She knew that early on, but come on! Any justice would be good!
Maybe she could trade one of her nine lives for a better one?
Heated, she glanced over to Weiss for anything, but she found the Heiress rubbing the Intruder's tummy, equally as fascinated as Ruby in belly fat. Blake then looked over to Yang for any support—anything—but she only offered the best apology-shrug she could, smiling both along the edge of apologetic and highly amused.
Well, she wouldn't be Yang if there wasn't a somewhat mocking element thrown into the gesture.
She gave up. Blake sourly looked over to her destroyed book, humming a stubborn sigh of disappointment. What she wouldn't trade away to find a place to read without the Intruder. The very idea seemed to be becoming an elusive dream like one of the stories in her books.
She couldn't handle this right now. She needed to be anymore but here. Any place away from Zwei. So she quickly headed for the door, determined to leave, and just as she made it to the hallway, her leader appeared before her in a tornado of rose petals, blocking her path while holding up Zwei toward her with the dog panting in flush excitement.
"Not so fast!" Ruby ordered in a leader like fashion. A pout appeared on her adorable face. "You still got to apologize to Zwei for almost hurting him! One tummy rub oughta do it!"
Blake blinked at her.
Over her nine dead bodies. She must be insane if she thought that was going to happen.
"I don't think so." Blake answered flatly.
She moved past her or attempted to, getting only another step in before a powerful rumble shook the whole corridor with Team JNPR's door surprisingly crashing open. Chaos erupted out the other team's room, and out stepped all of Team JNPR in their disorderly, filth-covered glory. First with a cheerful Nora who skipped out, grinning widely with a smile that screamed out guilty, covered from top-to-bottom in what she figured to be Red Sap. Ren quickly followed suit, covered in heaps of Red Sap, sticking to his regularly clean tailcoat, sporting a disbelieving glare toward his partner-in-crime who only appeared to rock back and forth in diluted innocence.
Finally, both Jaune and Pyrrha stepped out with the champion covered in almost as much Red Sap as both Ren and Nora, matching her flaming hair in perfect camouflage. She eventually sighed at her messy appearance. Jaune, on the other hand, remained sap-free with only bits here and there sticking on his unsure face. Sadly enough, the scene in front of Team RWBY wasn't too out-of-this-world for them, not with a Nora Valkyrie down the hall from them.
Flicking some Red Sap from his hair, Ren quietly groaned before staring at the guilty Valkyrie. "Nora?"
"Yes, Ren?"
He paused to flick more sap away from his hair. "Please explain to me why one your grenades just destroyed our entire stash of Red Sap and our room?"
"Oh! That's easy, Ren!" Everyone leaned forward to hear her answer. "I forgot I put it there!" Everyone fell. "Oops! Hehe, sorry, Ren. But look on the bright side, that was amazing! And look! We're covered in sweet sap! I bet we taste delicious! Like a strawberry filled pancake! Oh! You should make pancakes right now. I bet they'll be extra-sweet, but then again, we're also sticky—!"
"Nora?" Ren stopped with her humming happily. "I think it would be best if we all got cleaned up first before making any other plans."
"Yes." Pyrrha agreed, pulling Red Sap from her hair. "I would prefer that, my face is so sticky, and so is my hair, I feel so dirty."
Clap!
Yang never even got the chance to open her mouth before Weiss slapped her hand over it, glaring coldly. She dared the blonde to say something remotely indecent, frown strong. Yang merely huffed before mumbling fine and grinning at the recoil the Princess got when she flicked her tongue over her palm. Never a dull moment for Yang Xiao Long!
Agreeing with her handsome friend, Nora started licking some of the Red Sap away from her fingers, savoring the taste as mouth-watering goodness. She then blinked with a tasty digit in her mouth, finally noticing Team RWBY standing across from them. When she got ready to wave, her eyes quickly fell upon the dog clutched in Ruby's arms.
"Oh my, Oum!" Nora cooed, gushing over Zwei. "Guys, guys, look! Ruby has the world's most adorable dog in her hands! Can I hold him? Can I! Please! Oh, say yes!"
All eyes turned to the panting dog and thrilled Nora. Ren wanted to lament, but Nora's bubbly personality soothed him. Seeing her so happy made it physically impossible for him to be sad. A weakness. He never desired her to be sad.
Ever!
"Sure." Ruby agreed, handing over an excited Zwei who began mercilessly licking off any Red Sap off of Nora's face. "His name is Zwei, but don't tell anyone we have him, okay?"
"Okay!" Nora saluted, hugging the dog right to her chest with Zwei licking her sugar-stained cheeks. "Awww, he likes me!"
Pyrrha giggled at Nora's antics, pleased to see her friend enjoying herself, at least that happiness lasted until some Red Sap fell from her hair and slid down her forehead, leaving a trail of stickiness. Then all bets were off, and she shivered from having sap in places where a champion should not have sticky fluid!
Okay! They all desperately needed a shower. Now! Well, at least Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha did. Jaune got spared. He only had bits on his cheeks, having been standing behind Ren when the explosion occurred. A quick rag and he would be all cleaned up. Lucky sap.
Speaking of Jaune?
The champion looked over to her partner to spot his face molded in a mask of out-of-place seriousness, far from his usual carefreeness. The fire in his eyes burned to such an intensity that she had never seen before, not even during training. It looked like he was reminiscing, remembering something not too pleasant with the deep frown as further proof.
"Jaune—?"
"Oh! Oh! I have an idea!" Nora cut in, laughing with delight. "Let's bring this cutie inside our room so he can lick all the—!"
"I don't think that's a good idea, Nora." Jaune finally spoke, cutting in and glaring at the dog. "I'm not a fan of dogs."
"C'mon, Fearless Leader!" Nora begged, not noticing the way he tensed up from her coming closer with Zwei in her hands. "He could help us clean up."
"No."
Everyone froze, breathes got held with that cold tone chilling their bones to the core, and they looked over to the source, shocked to find Jaune Arc, the Noodle Leader of Team JNPR the origin. He ignored them all, staring heatedly at the dog hugged in Nora's arms with eyes filled with hate. A darker frown tugged at his lips, but he persisted from allowing it to grow, instead keeping his voice thinly neutral with thinned lips.
"I don't like dogs." Jaune repeated, voice cracking with bits of emotion. "We are not bringing a dog into our room."
Nora moved closer to Jaune with Zwei still in her hands, eyes wide. "But, Jaune—?"
"Go take a shower." Jaune ordered for the first time in a leader-like tone, leaving no room for argument. "I'll clean up the mess in our room. You can play with the dog in their room, but not ours."
The leader left everyone alone in the hallway, retreating into their sap-covered room to work on cleanup. The Valkyrie wanted to argue, and Pyrrha felt inclined to join her to understand her partner's motives, but Ren put a stop to both of them.
"C'mon..." Ren urged, purposely grabbing Nora by the shoulder. "I'm sure if we ask, Jaune will tell us later, but he's right." A wisp of Red Sap dropped from his hair. "We all do need a shower. And yes, even you, Nora."
Nora pouted. She opened her mouth, ready to argue, but Ren's eyes showed he was in no mood to for it. Red Sap and pink eyes made for an interesting compromise, and she gave, grumbling about unfairness and handed back the drooling dog to a still stunned Ruby Rose. The girl then followed Ren to the showers along with Pyrrha in tow, stopping only once to look back at their room.
Easy enough to say, everyone was shaken up by Jaune's unnatural harsh tone, but none more so than Blake. Her mind worked. Her lips bit. All of it worked to recall how firm Jaune acted to a specific thing.
The Intruder.
Jaune Arc loathed dogs. She felt confident betting one of her nine lives on that. Call it instinctual. She just knew it to be true, and an idea wrapped a tendril around her head before she found the effort to breathe.
...
"Did we always have this much Red Sap lying around?"
Being the Fearless Leader had its perks and downsides. Scrubbing the walls of a sap-covered room happened to be one of those downsides. At least some of his dirty laundry found an excuse to be dirtier. Mostly, he went through the motions, preoccupied of thinking of ways to talk to his team later. Dust knew that conversation was going to be awkward.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Minutes passed without interruption until that knock came, stirring him out of his wishful thinking. He sighed, throwing his shirt down. The Arc would be lying if he said he wasn't expecting the knock. However, what he hadn't anticipated was the person on the other side of said knock. Of all people he thought to be standing there in the hallway, Blake wasn't one of them.
Honestly, purely literal, he expected to see perhaps Ruby, Yang, or even Weiss on the other side. Blake wasn't one of those three options. Not even remotely. Seeing her standing outside his team's door, alone in the hallway sparked a curiosity that reflected from her eyes. It was subtle, but so was Blake.
There was irony in there somewhere.
"Blake? What are you doing here?"
The Faunus winced a smudge from his shocked tone. She couldn't fault him. They weren't friends. Maybe they tethered on the edge of acquaintances at most, but not friends. The duo had barely spoken a sentence or two between them without their teams to act as a buffer. Were they genuinely that awkward?
Time to fix that.
"Hello, Jaune." Blake said, clearing her throat. "I just came to ask you something. May I come in?"
He stared at her. He stared like a lost child, blinking. Then he remembered his manners and waved for her to come in. Talk or not he had the room to finish cleaning. "Uh, yeah, sure, come on in, but um, excuse the mess."
She nodded, duly noted.
Stepping in, Blake absorbed the scene around her with a Faunus sensitive nose picking up just how densely packed that Red Sap was. Red Sap. A lot of it. Covered a fair portion of the walls, floor, windows, and just about everything else in the room. On the plus side, it appeared he removed most of it off the beds and carpet before it settled in. Small victories. Never overlook those.
"Well?" Blake observed. "Nora's bomb did a number on this place."
"What do you wanna talk about?"
He cut straight to the point, still a bit on edge, though the Arc had a rough guess to what she wanted to discuss.
"It's about what happened in the hall."
Two points for him.
He sighed, going back to finish de-sapping the walls. "What about it? I don't like dogs. Enough said."
"I wasn't going to ask why you hated dogs. I only want to know..." Blake paused, bow twitching in anticipation. "If I could read in here... sometimes?"
He paused midway of a swipe, throwing a glance over his shoulder, of all things he predicted her to say, that was not one of them. "Wait a second? That's it? You're not gonna ask why I hate dogs?"
She gave it her best cat shrug, not deterred from his baffled look. A sense of understanding passed between them. "Why would I care? I'm not a fan of dogs either. And I can understand not wanting to talk about the past. It's, how does the saying go, no skin off my bones?"
He stared. Then blinked, and finally snorted. Eventually, he allowed himself a smile and already felt his mood brighten.
"Sure." Jaune nodded, pointing to a clean corner almost sap-free. "I'm still cleaning up right now, but if you want, that corner's pretty clean. I'll just finish up here while you read—if you want that is! I'm not forcing you to read! It's not like—I didn't mean—I'll just be shutting up now."
It was the first time he ever saw Blake smile.
...
Later into the afternoon when the rest of Jaune's team returned from their much-needed showers, they found their leader cleaning the little remained of the Red Sap, body language practically back to normal. An atmosphere of calmness surrounded him, like the act of cleaning had cleared his mind. Psh! Weirdo! Even stranger was they spotted Blake sitting by a corner of their room, profoundly lost in one of her books, legs bunched up together with her face buried in the pages.
A genuine smile tugged at those lips of hers.
First things first, team meeting. Ignoring their guest, for the time being, Nora stepped forward with a helpful push from Ren, grinning sheepishly at her leader with her fingers pressed together.
"Um, Jaune?" Nora hummed with Ren right behind her. "Sorry for blowing up the room and stuff. It was an accident! Honest."
The Arc sighed. He struggled not to bang his head on the wall, knowing full well being mad was an understatement, but Nora's sorrowful tone cooled any anger bubbling inside. It was, by all laws of probability, an accident. Nora would never deliberately destroy their supply of Red Sap they painstakingly acquired after how much she pleaded for more. She loved the stuff on her food, destroying it meant no more syrup. Yes. It was an accident by all regards.
Jaune Arc failed to find the strength to be mad at her.
He briefly wondered if this was how Ren felt all times during the day? Besides, he was never mad at her per se, only at that blasted dog. Stupid mutt stirred up some not-so-pleasant memories that he preferred remained buried.
Still, Nora deserved an apology.
Jaw set, he turned to greet a nervous Nora, an indifferent Ren, and a mildly impressed Pyrrha who inspected each corner of the room cleaned. What? Living with a big family made a guy pick up a few skills. Living with younger and impressionable sisters also made a brother learn to pick his battles with this being one.
"Nora." Jaune began, feeling somewhat guilty over making her nervous. "It's alright. I know you didn't mean it. I'm sorry, too. No harm done."
To prove a point, he gave her a disarming smile with a quick thumbs up, effectively removing whatever dark clouds hovered in their bubbly teammate. Ren smiled somewhere in the background in appreciation and Pyrrha was busy staring suspiciously at their current guest, trying for the life of her to figure out why Blake was here.
Nora beamed. She ran up and threw her arms around Jaune-Jaune, squeezing the life out of him in one of her patent Nora Valkyrie Death Hugs. The hapless leader struggled in his hold. Karma, this must be karma. Ah! Yup! A bone of his cracked.
"Aw! Thanks, Jaune! You're the best leader ever! How can I ever make it up to you?"
"You could let go of me?" Jaune wheezed, struggling not to pass out.
She did just that, too awestruck by a sudden idea. Before anyone said a word, she grabbed Ren by the sleeves. He got no chance to ask, being pulled toward the door by his grinning not-girlfriend.
"I know what we can do!" Nora yelled, already out the door. "We'll make you the bestest pancakes ever! They'll make all the other pancakes in the world jealous! C'mon, Ren, time's a wastin!"
Her ecstatic voice died down the further she went, and Pyrrha shook her head in wonder. Part of her questioned how it went from Nora asking what she could do to make things right, to how what we could do to make things right.
Poor Ren.
Whelp! That was how the cookie crumbled!
Pyrrha sighed wistfully. Best to leave them to their antics. Instead, she went back to staring at Blake who hadn't reacted to Nora's outburst in the slightest. If the subtle turning of the page in her book meant anything to go by, then this happened a lot in her room, too. Ruby and Yang must've curved the weirdness factor to make Nora's outburst a blockable occurrence. That merely spoke volumes to what went on in that room.
It was still a bit nerve-wracking having her just sit there.
Slightly uncomfortable, she coughed into her hand, glancing back at her partner who was tackling the last spot covered in Red Sap. He was nearly done and the time for their training regime quickly approached. Asking about Blake would come later.
"Uh, Jaune?" Pyrrha called out. "We should be going soon."
Jaune paused, checking the time on his Scroll. She was right. Time to train!
He grinned. "Okay! I'll meet you there in a few minutes. I only have to finish up this last part here."
She smiled, nodding and waltzed toward the door. She paused in her stroll to somewhat wave at the silent Blake.
"Goodbye, Blake?"
"See ya." Blake answered absently, turning another page.
Still utterly baffled, the champion blinked and left to get ready, abandoning the odd pair back in the room. A modest pressure resided in the bedroom, but neither felt like confronting it. Minutes passed, and Jaune finished cleaning, tossing the stained clothes away before rushing off to retrieve his weapon and shield. Another day, another grueling training session. Oh well! He waved to Blake as he made his way toward the door, but his hand lingered on the handle, thinking hard.
When he didn't move for two pages of her book, she braved a look up to see what had frozen her acquaintance. Then his voice cut in with a hint of undertoning sadness.
"When I was little, a couple of stray dogs attacked me and if wasn't for my dad being nearby—I had to be hospitalized for a week." Jaune informed somberly, grabbing all of Blake's attention. "Ever since then, I can't look at them and see the adorable faces everyone else sees. I can't. Just seeing one brings up so many bad memories."
She remained tight-lipped. Blake hadn't a clue to why he told her this, but she felt a bit touched that he did. Then a sigh of relief escaped the tense leader, and just like nothing, he was back to his goofy self, maybe more so with some confidence sprinkled in-between.
"Man, I feel so much better!" Jaune laughed, opening the door. "I've got to go, Blake. You can stay here if you want. I have to hurry—!"
"Wait."
He did, and she stood up to move closer. She leaned forward with her face blank. "You missed some Red Sap."
"Really?" Jaune asked, looking across the spotless room. "Where? I don't see any anywhere."
"Here." Blake flicked her finger across his cheek and took the remaining sap away from him, tasting the red liquid, face still very blank. "Mmm, this stuff is pretty good. I can see why Nora likes it so much."
"I... uh?" Jaune froze, and she sat down, reopening her book. "Wait? What?"
A secret smile remained lost in the infinite words. "You better hurry. You don't want to keep Pyrrha waiting, do you?"
"N-No!" He jumped, running out the door in a hurry only to pop his head back in right after, face still flushed. "You know, Blake... I could always use more friends."
She peeked up from her book, eyes curious. Her bow twitched as she thought about it. That hidden smile of hers grew. More friends sounded nice.
"That all depends..." Blake said, enjoying his discomfort for than she should've. Damn it, Yang.
"On what?"
"What's?" Her words were purposely flat. "Your opinion on cats?"
He appeared confused by the sudden question, not understanding where it came from, but shrugged with a scratch against his head.
"They're pretty awesome with the way they always land on their feet and stuff. They're mysterious when they want to be. I don't hate them." Blake watched as he rambled for a bit, waiting for him to say some words with worth behind them. "They're much better than dogs, that's for sure."
In Team RWBY's room, Yang Xiao Long suddenly froze-in-place and felt as if she just missed the chance of nine lifetimes as Blake Belladonna next door smiled a smile that could only be described as the grin of a Cheshire Cat.
Author Notes: Book friends are the best of friends.
