A/N: Went back, proof-read everything once again and removed most of the A/N because no one wants to read them... There will be warnings in chapter titles if I think the chapters may not appeal to everyone (a la Chapter 8 and 9). Anyways: Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – "Kind of Cute"

A light blush washed over the usually calm and collected girl's face as a gentle warmth in her heart overcame the harsh bite of the cold night air. She awkwardly lowered her face, hiding the red tone visible on it. It was a simple, innocent compliment from her teammate and yet the faunus found herself embarrassed, and all of a sudden a little shy as her teammate, Sun and Penny looked quizzically at her. "Thanks Ruby." She managed to choke out in a small, nervous tone.

"No problem." Ruby replied in a cheery tone, bouncing up and down as excitement and relief replaced the fretting and worrying that she had been feeling all weekend that her raven haired friend had been missing without a trace. I'll have to thank Sun at some point...

Battling back her blush and regaining her composure Blake peered back up, Sun and Ruby seemed none the wiser of her previously flushed complexion but Penny had a knowing look etched on her face as she smiled at Blake. She shrugged it off and looked past the eccentric redhead at the approaching duo behind her. Ruby followed Blake's gaze, taking one glance at Weiss's still slightly flippant expression before turning back to face her teammate and friend "You finish up with the police; I'll try and explain everything to Weiss."

"Thanks Ruby." Blake replied, only her second pair of words spoken in the last 5 minutes. The police had recently finished up with some stranger a few feet away, apparently he witnessed the White Fang jumping out of the Bullheads during the battle. She'd actually already given her statement as had Ruby and Sun, still after all this time she had no idea what she was going to say to the heiress and appreciated any extra time she had to think up a logical way of explaining herself to the white-haired girl. She had actually bonded with Weiss the most over the last few months which came as a pleasant surprise to the faunus girl, and she wanted nothing more than to retain that friendship.

Ruby had already made her way over to Weiss and Yang and was now speaking at a nearly incoherent rate. The only words she understood were the last 'She has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute…" Another light blush decorated her features before she recomposed herself once more in time for Weiss to push past Ruby. So much for Ruby buying me some time Blake nervously joked inwardly as Weiss stopped moving in front of her.

Here goes nothing… The black-haired girl rose off of the crate she had been sat on and turned to face the heiress, her amber eyes scanning the face of her teammate, a cold look gazing back stinging Blake internally. She bit back her worries, put on her usual calm face and went with the first thing that came into her head, not willing to let Weiss start the conversation. "Weiss, I want you know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with them-"

"Stop," That stopped her in her tracks, the young faunus taken aback by Weiss's interruption, once again biting back fear of Weiss rejecting her she just stood there, waiting, listening.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?" Blake stood there in slight confusion at the girl's question. Was she expecting an- "Twelve hours." Guess not… "That means I've had twelve hours to think about this, and in that twelve hours." The Schnee heiress took a step forward. "I have decided…" This is it… Blake thought to herself, a knot forming in her stomach as she mentally prepared herself for whatever came next. The air was thick as a short silence washed over the situation, a look of worry on Yang and Ruby's faces as they exchanged apprehensive glances.

Sun stood to the side, hoping that Weiss wouldn't cast Blake aside, he knew her story better than anyone at that moment… even Ruby. "I don't care." Weiss announced with a shake of her head, finally breaking the seconds of silence that had begun to feel like minutes, relief visibly washing over Sun and the two sisters as the knot in Blake's stomach dissipated, her fretting now replaced with confusion.

"You don't care?" it was all the relieved faunus could say in response. How could she NOT care?

"You said you're not one of them any more right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger." Blake stuttered, her voice quickening as she once more tried to explain.

Weiss raised her hand silencing her. "Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." Blake's eyes narrowed slightly as Weiss peered over Blake shoulder at the petty criminal sat on a crate behind her, her head turning to following the gaze of her teammate. "Someone else…"

Blake let a single tear roll down her cheek as she let Weiss's forgiveness and acceptance seep in, quickly wiping the droplet away. "Of course." again it was all Blake could say in response to her teammate's unanticipated response.

Another short silence fell upon the group, this time without the tension and suspense that dominated the last. Ruby glanced at Blake, and then at Weiss before letting her happiness overcome her, pumping her fists in the air as she bounced giddily. "YEAH! Team RWBY is back together!"

Sun, Ruby and Yang all took a few steps forward, coming closer to the reunited duo. Unexpectedly Weiss turned to face Sun, giving him a small shock as she pointed at him, a slight tone of venom in her voice "I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you!" eliciting a nervous laugh from the blonde haired monkey faunus.

"Hey…" began Ruby, slowly taking in her surroundings in search of the girl who had yet to provide a statement. "Where's Penny?" she finally asked, certain that the mysterious and unique girl whom had saved her's, Blake's and Sun's lives had disappeared.

That brought everyone back to reality, Ruby's teammates now scanning the environment to see that the real hero of the night had vanished. Yang shrugged. "The same place we're going… home…"

That was three days ago and yet it was still playing on Blake's mind, she sat there in Grimm studies, Port's usually self-absorbed lectures once more failing to hold her attention as her mind drifted. How could Weiss NOT care? Why did Penny slip away before giving her statement? Why do I still feel flustered whenever Ruby mentions my cat ears? Who keeps nudging me? she peered around, tearing her eyes away from the boring lecture to see Yang vying with Blake's own thoughts for the black beauty's attention. "Uh, Blake? Are you okay?"

Blake shook her head, ridding her mind of her recurring thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine." Her expressionless face soon moulding into one of intrigue as Yang looked at her apprehensive, a single eye brow raised pointedly.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course why'd you…" Blake stopped herself in her tracks as she heard someone next to her clear his throat. Peering round she met the gaze of Professor Port, the professor slightly hunched over.

"Ms. Belladonna, since you are 'fine' I'm sure you will have no problem participating in today's demonstration… " Blake was a little unnerved at that, her Grimm Studies teacher was never one to do anything the sane way; they learned that in their first ever class when Weiss found herself up against the Boarbatusk. The demonstrations had only gotten more dangerous since then, though she had to admit it was fun watching the ""Aaeeyup!" Guy" as he had since been dubbed battle against three ursi…

Blake soon realised that no one had spoken in the last minute and rubbed the back of her neck. "Umm… yes?" she asked apprehensively, a little worried about what her train of thought had gotten her into this time.

"Good, then we will make our way to the training facility. Get ready students for today is a rare opportunity to see the lethality of a beowolf pack when they have a leader…" Blake couldn't fight back a gulp, the girl growing even more nervous at her professor's phrasing of the announcement.

A few minutes later and Blake found herself on her own inside the combat arena that comprised over three quarters of the training grounds, a few training students let out sounds of frustration as the teacher took over the facility. She was looking across the way at a gate on the fair side of the arena, unable to see anything save for a few pairs of red eyes. "Ms. Belladonna, are you ready?"

Blake gripped Gambol Shroud a little too tightly, heart pounding in her chest as she gazed at the cold, merciless eyes staring back at her, a few snarls escaped the gate as the beowolves grew restless. Of course I am. "Yes sir."

Without another spoken word the gates raised and several beowolves stepped into the open arena as the students and the rest of Blake's team watched on from the balcony area that situated the gym, showers, changing rooms, sauna and a small social area for resting. Behind the baker's dozen of beowolves stepped out a much larger beowolf, a slightly different pattern on its skull mask.

Blake took a fighting stance, her eyes narrowing to train on the pack before her. Just focus on the task at hand Blake. Don't let them surround you, remember this is just a demonstration, you're not in any real danger so don't panic if anything goes wrong… Blake closed her eyes and waited for the howl, the ear-splitting sound piercing the air as she opened her eyes to the sight of six beowolves charging at her at once, four splitting off an heading into two different directions.

She waited patiently for the lunge, the first beast slamming into her after image as she jumped back a step only to find two more closing in on both of her flanks, a second shadow clone allowing her to leap to safety once again. So they get more organised… still that Alpha may be a pain to take down…

Blake mentally prepared her assault as she ducked and weaved between the five beowolves that had now ganged up on her, the first one she dodged finally getting back to its feet as she shadow jumped once more and delivered a quick slash to the creature of Grimm at the back of pack before side-stepping the sixth lesser beowolf, her cleaver slicing at the side of the beast. Unsheathing her katana, the blade setting back into a kunai, she pulled her hand back and pulled the trigger, the ribbon around her arm coming undone and the sickle like weapon flying towards the alpha male.

She pulled on the ribbon once more as the beowolf alpha dodged it with ease. Bigger and more agile… likely stronger too… The weapon returned her way slicing into the beowolf that lunged towards her as she began to use her semblance repeatedly, her body seemingly disappearing and reappearing with each cast all the while her kusarigama pirouetting and flying elegantly in the air, repeatedly slicing into the beasts that lusted after her blood.

Amidst her focussed attacks she failed to see the alpha dashing towards her. "Blake look out!" shouted Ruby, drawing Blake out of her self-induced trance but it was too late, the formidable beast slammed into her knocking Blake out of midair and causing her to slam into the ground, grinding across the smooth surface. Several beowolves closed in on her as she scrambled back to her feet a minor gash on her arm from where her aura resisted the alpha's slash.

Weiss, Yang and Ruby reached for their weapons only to see the professor shake his head. They all swallowed down the lumps in their throats as they watched Blake narrowly avoid the four remaining lesser beowolves, now entirely reliant on evasion as Gambol Shroud had slipped out of her grasp after being taken down. She back stepped before rolling to side and used an afterimage to jump back away from three separate beowolf attacks before a fourth slammed into her back, Blake letting out a cry of pain as she stumbled forward towards the alpha, the intimidating creature slashing at her jugular, just missing and instead scraping across her back as she used her shadow clones to once more jump to the side.

Her teammates once more reached for their weapons, now gripping the hilts as Port turned to them. "No! Let us wait a little longer…" Weiss shot Port a look of disbelief, Yang readied her weapon despite Port's orders as Ruby just looked on worriedly at the young girl being set upon by the beowolf pack. They really are ruthless when paired with an alpha…

Recovering from her stumble Blake began to run across the arena, arcing back round to her weapon of choice, two beowolves chasing after her as two more charged inform the side and the alpha dashed over towards Gambol Shroud. Blake slowed her pace, the pain in her back no doubt attributing to it, even if it was intentional. The two beowolves behind her began to catch up and she counted the seconds as the four remaining lessers began to close in on her. At the last moment she dodged in the only direction she could: forward. Her semblance allowing her to perform two leaps causing the four beowolves to crash into one another.

The alpha swiped at her once more but she ducked under it, rolling towards her weapon. The alpha quickly recovered and charged into her back, the girl falling to the floor, having to roll to the side to avoid the follow up swipe. She backed up across the arena floor from the frenzied alpha's ruthless attacks, her eyes glancing over to the recovering four as she finally reached her weapon, gripping the ribbon and pulling as the sickle flew towards the alpha. She caught it off guard and sliced into its collarbone, she pulled again, this time her body flying into the air, narrowly avoiding the four other beowolves as she landed on the alpha's back in a blur of black.

The alpha roared as she yanked out her blade and glanced over to her discarded cleaver. Quickly converting the kusarigama back to a katana she sliced at the now struggling alpha's jugular, the creature's throat ripping open as she pushed off the wolf-like Grimm's back and, converting her momentum into inertia with a roll, retrieved her second blade. The other four beowolves had inadvertently piled on top of the alpha, seemingly reverting back to their usual reckless, feral selves with the alpha being too panicked to provide instructions… or whatever the damn thing did.

Taking her chance Blake charged at the pack, slicing through the lesser beowolves with ease in a flurry of parries and slices before ending with a quick shadow jump to a safe distance as she glanced back. How the… her eyes narrowed on the alpha who was now standing, blood gushing out from its throat. She gripped her blade and charged forward, each dodged punctuated with a cut and small growl of frustration and pain from the alpha. After about a minute of baiting, evading and slashing the beowolf alpha fell to the ground, an exhausted Blake finally coming to a stop next to its corpse. More durable too…

She looked up to see Ruby, Yang and Weiss jump the balcony and land with varying degrees of style before rushing over to her. Blake let out a smile whilst all three insisted on checking over her body. Letting them get on with what they considered medical checks she peered up at the balcony, the professor giving her a nod of respect as the class cheered her. She grimaced as the professor began to lecture the class on the pack mentality and on how alphas could communicate with their lesser kind non-verbally.

Great, so I nearly got killed for a lecture that no one is even listening to… I swear these demonstrations are for entertainment purposes only… Ah! What the- Blake's face contorted as she jerked away from her teammates Ruby winced at seeing Blake act so defensively, a shooting pain going through Blake's back. "Sorry." Ruby said sheepishly, Blake turned back to her expressionless self, a small twang of guilt filling her as she looked at Ruby's apologetic and sorry face. "It's okay Ruby… just be more careful next time." no one had ever managed to stay angry at Ruby; she was far too adorable for that… no matter what she did…

"I'm so glad you're okay!" the cheer entering Ruby's voice as Weiss gave her a small smile and Yang, as always forgetting boundaries that Blake set months ago, rushed in to hug her. The hug was painless, Yang long growing accustomed to avoiding any wounds, presumably back when she played mother to Ruby after their mother had passed.

"I don't know what we'd do without you Blake…"

Blake glanced over to Ruby as she extricated herself from Yang's grasp. "I'm guessing you would not be as literate." a small laugh escaping her lips as Weiss's face dropped.

"HEY! I read plenty, thank you very much!" Weiss shouted, taking a step forward, her hands placed on her hips as she defended herself against her faunus teammate.

It's almost too easy to pull Weiss's strings… Still entertaining though… She turned to Ruby, a smile on her face. "Don't worry Ruby, it'll take a lot more than a few beowolves to keep me down, I have too much to lose." And for the first time since her last training session with Adam she meant it, she finally belonged to something again, and she was not prepared, not willing to give it up now… And yet still she found her mind wandering back to those questions, one more prominent than the others…