Starting off, is this a romance fic or just a friendship one? Well, I tried to write it so it could be either. Read whatever subtext you want from it.

I'm glad I don't own RWBY, because I would horribly butcher it. All respect to Monty Oum and the guys and gals at Rooster Teeth.

Present

I woke up and immediately knew something was wrong. It was too quiet. There was a distinct lack of sound coming from the bed above me. Yang was never up this early unless she was planning something. My worries proved to be correct as the door opened and Yang walked in carrying a…tray of food? When she saw me staring at her she froze. "Drat, I was hoping you would still be asleep."

"Yang, is that from the cafeteria?"

"Uhh, yeah. But it's only because they wouldn't let me use the kitchen."

Even though both common sense and past experiences warned me not to, I decided to press the issue. "And just what, exactly, did you want to use the kitchen for?"

She set the tray down on my lap before continuing. "Well, our family has a tradition that you always get breakfast in bed as a birthday present. And after learning about how you grew up, I just wanted to make your's special."

She was right about growing up. Sure, there were always one or two people who would wish me a happy birthday. Occasionally I got lucky and someone had gotten a small cake, but it was like that for everyone. The White Fang's struggle always took precedence. Birthdays were just another day. Speaking of which, "How did you know today was my birthday? I never told any of you."

"Um…yeah. I might have, kinda, broke into the registration office and looked at your file."

"You did WHAT!?" An unintelligible grumble from the other side of the room reminded me that we weren't alone. "Are you insane?" I whisper-shouted. "Those records are confidential for a reason. What you did is grounds for expulsion."

At least she had the sense to look guilty. "I know I shouldn't have, but I really wanted to surprise you. Besides, it all worked out in the end. I didn't steal anything. All I got was stuff I could have asked you about, so there's no way they could prove it was me. By the way," Suddenly she was staring very intently at my chest. "Do you wrap those or something? Because they don't look nearly as big as the measurements I read."

And just like that, my sheets were at my chin and the tray was flung onto the floor. "That's private information!" I could feel my face getting warmer with each passing second. Why couldn't my Semblance have been invisibility or teleportation?

"What happened?" a croaky voice asked as our leader's head poked over her bed.

"Nothing." I answered trying to pass off as my normal, quiet self. "Your sister made me breakfast in bed and it got knocked onto the floor by accident."

"Yang. Breakfast. Bed." Suddenly her eyes snapped into focus as if someone just poured cold water on her. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday? I'm a horrible leader for not knowing; please forgive me, Blake. Ah! I have to get you a present. What classes do we have today? I hope I have time to go into town."

It was hard to tell if she was still talking to me or herself and how long it would have gone on if she hadn't been interrupted by the last member of our team.

"Ugh! Will you keep it down? Some of us are still trying to sleep."

In an impressive display of balance, Ruby leaned more than half her body over the edge of the bed. "But Weiss, it's Blake's birthday. We have to celebrate. Come on, I'll let you plan the party."

"Not now." the heiress grumbled. "I'm still trying to sleep. Besides, we don't have class today, so there'll be plenty of time later."

"But it's the first birthday we've had as a team. I want it to be special."

In an effort to distract her from her increasingly frustrated partner, I spoke up. "Really Ruby, it's fine. I've never really celebrated my birthday before, so you have no need to try this hard."

The silence that followed was surprising. Even Weiss sat up and looked at me strangely. "You never celebrated your birthday?" Ruby finally asked as if I had committed some great taboo.

"I didn't say that." I tried to clarify. "It was just that the White Fang's mission was more important. Birthdays tended to be very small things, if they were observed at all." Though I remember Adam always managed to find some sort of present for me.

"That settles it." Ruby said as she jumped off her bed and caused it to sway. I honestly wasn't sure if that bed was held in place by unimaginable luck or engineering genius way ahead of its time. "I'm giving team RWBY a new mission. Blake, you're going to celebrate and enjoy your birthday. Yang, you stay with her and make sure she doesn't run off and hide somewhere. Weiss and I will go into town and gather the necessary supplies. Operation Birthday is a go!"

While Weiss grumbled a half-hearted protest, Yang shot up ramrod straight and gave a salute. "Aye aye! She won't leave my sight. You have my word." It was like she was accepting a bodyguard position for royalty or something. All I could do was roll my eyes. It seemed I was going to have a birthday party whether I wanted one or not.

All in all, the party went well. I don't know where they found it, but Ruby and Weiss got a beautiful cake. It was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting covered with white and red sprinkles. Ruby said she got it because it had all our team colors. I can only imagine how Weiss reacted to that rationalization. The presents weren't bad either. I got a few new books from Ruby and Weiss got me enough Dust to last Gambol Shroud for a month. The only one left was from my partner. "So where's your gift, Yang?"

"Could you…uh…meet me by the statue later? I'll give you your present then." I guess my first clue something was up was when Yang said she wanted to give me my present in private, but I was too full of cake to notice it.

"You didn't forget to buy a present again, did you?"

Yang groaned and rolled her eyes. "Ruby, that happened once. ONCE! And it was like six years ago. Are you still holding a grudge? I got you full machine shop next year to make up for it."

"Really?" I knew Yang was a good sister, but a complete workshop sounded really expensive.

"Well not literally, but it might as well have been. I thought that would've been enough to be forgiven, but apparently not."

"That's beside the point." Ruby stated. "The fact of the matter is that you forgot my birthday."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. It's easy to forget that they are related, but right then they couldn't have been mistaken for anything other than sisters. Eventually I decided to come to my partner's rescue. "Don't worry Ruby. I'm sure Yang didn't forget." The look of thanks Yang gave me stirred something in me. Something that wanted to tease her. "And if she did, I'll be sure to bring her to you for punishment." I wish I had taken a picture of Yang's face. "So how long are you going to need to get ready?"

"Let's just do it now." she huffed as she grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room. "It'll stop everyone from breathing down my neck."

She kept going down the hall. The she headed down to the lower floors. Then out of the dorm. In fact, she didn't stop until we passed the Hunter statue and were practically in the woods. "Yang, is it really necessary for us to go this far? Most Faunus couldn't see us if they were looking."

"Umm…well…this is kinda personal and I don't want anyone else to see this."

The stuttering and mumbling caught my attention. Neither of those two verbs hung around my partner. "If it's as important to you as it sounds, I won't force you to go through with it if you don't want to." I tried to tell her.

"No." The finality of her voice said more than her words. "I've made up my mind and I'm not going back. Close your eyes."

I complied and heard her take a steadying breath. Suddenly, I was surrounded by a gentle warmth. Unable to resist, I peeked an eye open and saw Yang glowing like a little sun. Then there was a flash of silver and the warmth was gone.

"You can look now." I opened my eyes and saw Yang standing there with her hand outstretched. "Here. Happy birthday, Blake."

I reached out and took what was in her hand. Once I realized what I was holding, I could only stand stunned. "But Yang…this is…you just…for me?"

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. I know sometimes we will be given missions separately, and I want you to always have a part of me close by. I know it's sappy, but I'm your partner. I don't want you getting hurt. Think of it as me giving you some if my awesomeness to keep you safe."

I just smirked. Yang was always able to lighten the mood. All the same, I realized just how much giving me this meant to her. "Thank you, Yang. I'll always treasure this. What do you say we go back to the room? I'll help you convince Ruby to forgive you for that missed birthday."

~X~

"You would've thought I just gave her keys to her own club, she looked so happy." I said to the orange haired girl beside me.

Nora responded with a drawn out "whoaaaa."

"Alright ladies, we're nearing the drop zone." The pilot said over the intercom. "Scouting reports say there are two packs of Beowolves fighting over this territory and there's a frontier town caught in the middle of it. Your main targets are the two alphas, but the more you take out, the better it'll be for the people."

"Got it! Let's got play with the puppies." Nora said as the door slid open and swaths of forest flew under us.

"You are go for deployment. We'll be waiting for your pick up call. Good hunting."

I watched Nora leap into the treetops followed closely by a shout of pure glee. Before I followed her, I glanced at my wrist where a lock of golden hair was. Even after all these years, it still felt warm just like when I had closed my eyes. We'd have to finish this mission quickly. After all, it wouldn't do to miss your own birthday party.

And done! This ended up way longer than I originally planned. I don't remember the fic, but there was one I read that made me think 'what if Yang gave Blake a lock of her hair as a gift'. I hope you enjoyed reading this. It's 2:40 in the morning now so I'm going to bed. Here's hoping Volume 2 is awesome and congratulations to Munnkie for your Velvet design. It looks awesome.