Mixed Signals
Yang let out a long sigh as she walked to Team RWBY's dorm. The day hadn't been particularly draining, but after sitting through several lectures, she wanted to do nothing more than put on some comfortable clothes. The standard Beacon uniform was too restricting and made her sweat a little more than she would've liked. The blonde reached into her pocket and produced her scroll to the lock on the door. She was already imagining how great it would be to take off the accursed clothing while she opened the door. A nap sounded good, too. It was great having a bed to herself again. Not like Ruby and Weiss needed the extra bed, but still. It got Yang out of sleeping with Blake.
As soon as the door was opened, Yang was immediately hit with several facts and froze where she stood.
She inhaled deeply, pupils shrinking to pinpoints. A knot formed in her chest and it took everything in her willpower to stop from throttling a certain heiress. The tips of her hair had already started to ignite. Yang looked at the fire and forced herself to slowly exhale. It wouldn't do her any good to jump to conclusions. It would only do her well to go over the facts.
There were two voices in the dorm. Ruby and Weiss were around, but Yang couldn't see them because they were hidden behind the blanket that covered their hanging bed. Ruby was giggling. Weiss was sighing. The blonde was also able to detect the very heavy and stifling scent of sex.
The partners had been in a relationship for a month, ever since Blake had gone through her elaborate plan to make them fall for each other. Yang still didn't know how she felt about that, but that wasn't the current issue. The blonde shook her head to clear it of that particular line of thought. If she had learned anything about anything in life, it was best to cut right to the heart of the matter and avoid all of the other junk.
Instead of playing the role of doorway detective, Yang raised her voice and said, "I'm home!"
Her skin crawled when she saw her sister eagerly poke her head out from behind the blanket. "Hi, sis! What's up?"
"Just thinking about the homework I have to do." Yang slowly made her way over to one of the desks. She narrowed her eyes and asked, "How have you been?"
"Great!" Ruby's bright smile didn't fade.
"That's… good. What are you doing up there with your blanket pulled all around?"
A pale hand with red fingers shot out from over Ruby's shoulder and pushed the blanket open. Yang couldn't help but look away, her mind running rampant with disturbing possibilities.
"We were trying to paint each other's nails, but someone decided that she wanted to do it on the bed that swings!" Weiss said.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ruby asked.
Weiss shoved her hand in front of Ruby's face. "I look like I just murdered someone!"
"It's not even that bad!"
"That was also all of my red nail polish!"
Yang let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and let the couple's argument fade into white noise. Her younger sister had just been painting nails. They hadn't been doing anything else. Her heart could now stop trying to escape her chest. The blonde put one of her books on the desk and was about to start studying when she realized that the very important question about the scent had remained unanswered. But how could she ask it without drawing suspicion?
"Hey," Yang said, turning in the chair to look at Ruby and Weiss, "do you guys smell that?"
The two paused, looked at each other, and turned back to Yang. "Smell what?" Weiss asked.
"There's some sort of weird odor in here," Yang said. She got out of her chair and, aware of the intense scrutiny coming from her teammates, took another sniff. It was strongest on her side of the room, and she didn't like how it was leading her towards her bed. A cold sweat formed on her brow.
"Oh yeah, I forgot! When we came in, Blake ran out really quickly! I wonder what that was about." Ruby tapped her index finger against her chin.
Yang paused and looked down at Blake's bed. Her pillow was there. On Blake's bed. That was where the smell was strongest. She felt her cheeks light on fire. A part of her mind reminded her that she was being examined by her sister and her partner. Not wanting to touch the pillow with her bare hand, Yang put on her biggest nothing-is-wrong smile and turned around.
"Welp, today's been really busy. I could totally use a shower!" she said with vibrant enthusiasm.
"Is something wrong? You look shiny." Ruby said.
Yang wiped the cold sweat away. "Nope! A-Okay!" She edged toward the door, chuckling and maintaining eye contact with the two partners. Neither of them said anything. When Yang found the doorknob, she resisted the urge to fling it open and run to the showers. "Gonna go do that now, bye!"
She was out of the room before anyone could react.
Yang had made it to the showers before she kicked herself for forgetting a change of clothes. Now she was bound to stay in the accursed uniform for longer than was necessary. She popped her neck and sighed. At least she was out of the awkward room and the even more awkward situation that was in there.
She shuddered at the thought of her pillow being used for anything other than sleeping, but her nose didn't lie. Blake had obviously used it to relieve herself. Of course, that raised a whole range of questions that the blonde didn't want to deal with. Ever. She was more than prepared to burn the pillow and let everything fade away. Yang opened the door to the showers and came face-to-face with Blake.
"Yang!" the black haired girl said, backing away and clutching her chest.
"Sup?" Yang waved a hand and breezed past her startled partner. If she didn't acknowledge the problem, nothing weird would happen. She walked out of Blake's sight. A quick glance around the corner confirmed that the girl was still petrified on the spot. Yang grimaced and waited. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn't feel safe leaving any discarded clothing around.
When the door opened and closed, and Yang knew she was alone, she walked to a random shower stall and opened it.
The same odor from the dorm was thick in it.
Yang closed the shower and threw her hands up in the air. "You know what? Fine! I give up!" She walked back to the door. "I didn't want to shower anyway! What do you think of that? Huh?"
"Yang? Who are you talking to?"
The blonde reeled around and saw Pyrrha Nikos staring at her. She was wrapped in a towel and had a hand on her hip.
"I'm talking to myself. I think I'm going to go insane now," Yang said, lowering her voice. "If anyone asks where I went, tell them I went into the woods to become a hermit."
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "Um, sure?"
Yang gave her a thumbs-up, her other hand on the door knob. "Good on you, Pyrrha. Have a good life."
The blonde walked out of the showers before she could get a response. She dragged her feet down the stairs, intending to fulfill her promise. After all, Yang Xiao Long never backed out on her word. The warm scent of freshly baked rolls stopped her. The blonde perked up and her stomach rumbled.
"I don't think I've eaten anything since breakfast," Yang said and put a hand on her stomach. A quick glance out of a window let her see the sun was setting. That meant it was dinner time, and if memory served, they were serving chicken nuggets. Her stomach growled. Yang bit her lip and looked down the hall towards the cafeteria.
After a moment, the blonde blinked and realized that she was arguing against herself about whether she should eat or not. She chuckled and set off for the cafeteria. "Everything will make sense after I've got some grub. I guess hermitage will have to wait for another day."