Alright. Disclaimer time. So, RWBY. It isn't my creation. The characters aren't mine either. Universe, not mine. I could go on. RWBY is Monty Oum's creation/baby, so... Yeah. That's that. Also, this is my first fic and constructive comments/criticism is always good. Thanks. On to the good bits. Without further adieu..
Chapter One: Budding Feels
Yang's lavender eyes stared at the ceiling in the pitch blackness of the team RWBY dorm room. Her eyelashes silently closed over the purple orbs. She sighed. Yang quietly rolled out of the bed and let her feet lightly thump onto the hardwood floor. Her blonde waves of hair swished over her shoulder as she turned, amethyst eyes floating over her partner, Blake's, sleeping form. Yang sighed, content. What was she doing? The blonde blinked furiously, eyebrows knit into a look of confusion. Her gaze lingered for a few more seconds before she turned. A soft voice made her jump.
"Yang? What are you doing?" Ruby questioned from her bed. She still had the fronds of sleep gripping her voice.
"Ah, n-nothing," Yang tried to wave away the question, "Just, getting some water is all." The blonde smiled reassuringly at her little sister.
"Yang. You did this same thing last night. Your water is still on the bookshelf, where you left it. So, I ask again, what are you doing?" Yang's eyes downcast shamefully to the floor, she was suddenly very interested in if they had a carpet or not.
"I-I-" Yang started, but Ruby cut her off with a shake of her head.
"You've been acting odd since Blake left. She's back now, so why are you still acting so weird?" Yang again shamefully looked at the floor, not wanting her eyes to betray her.
"I- I'm just making sure she hasn't gone off again…" Yang looked back up at her sister, her eyes were silently pleading with the other girl. "I don't want her to leave again, y'know?" Yang made an exasperated arm gesture. "Just- making sure she's safe…" Ruby looked approvingly down at her older sister.
"Aw…" Ruby's silver eyes grew big, her hands clasping together in front of her lower face.
"Shaddup…" Yang grumbled quietly. With that, the blonde clambered back onto the top half of her bunk-bed, the lower half designated to Blake. Yang flopped onto it, and shut her eyes, falling into a fitful sleep.
Yang awoke to the feeling of someone staring at her. Opening one eye, she glared at the person who had woke her. Ruby stood next to her bunk with a wicked grin on her face. Blake stood slightly behind the red-hooded teen, with arms folded, and wearing one of her signature Blake-to-Yang smirks.
"...What?" Yang asked, sitting up.
"Oh, nothing." Ruby snickered, and held up her whistle. Yang suddenly realized what was going on.
In a flash, Yang had gotten dressed and had her ears covered, watching in suspense. Ruby sucked in air and poised her lips to blast into the silver item in her hand. She tweeted it right in Weiss's ear. The white haired heiress jumped high into the air, crashing onto the floor with a thud. The heiress shot an icey, piercing glare at her three teammates. The three teammates in question were doubled over in laughter.
"C'mon Weiss! It was just a joke! Weiss!" Ruby screeched, chasing Weiss as she entered the other room. Blake and Yang were left chuckling together in the main room of the dorm. Their collective laughter died down slowly, and they glanced at each other, Blake wore her smirk and Yang wore an odd, dorky grin. This grin caused a pang of… Something, in Blake's chest. The faunus chalked it up to hunger and gestured to Yang. It was official, they were going to go eat some breakfast.
"Ruby! Weiss! Yang and I are gonna get some breakfast! See you guys later!" Blake shouted to the other room. She didn't wait for a reply, just simply dragged Yang along. " I heard that they have salmon down there today!"
"So, Blake," Yang watched with curiosity as Blake devoured the salmon, "You're pretty excited about the fish, aren't you?" Yang's eyebrow perked at the sight of Blake's plate. The thing was completely gone, all that was left was Blake's satisfied face as she wiped it with a napkin.
"Would you like another piece?" Yang questioned, still amazed at the speed in which her friend ate the fish.
"Sure, I'd like seconds," Blake replied with a small smile. Yang grabbed the raven-haired girl's tray and walked down towards the serving area. As she walked, she noticed Ruby trailing a very peeved and agitated-beyond-belief Weiss.
"Hey guys!" Yang chirped. She earned no response from either of her teammates, only a look of desperation from her little sister. "Um…we're down the row a bit, if you'd like to joi-" the blonde was cut off by Weiss continuing to stomp on down the aisle. Alright.Yang thought. She turned slowly, and continued her mission to get Blake another piece of salmon.
As the blonde combatant returned to the table with the heaping pile of fish, she found the heiress was still showing bitterness toward the childish Ruby. When Yang approached the white haired girl, she decided to pun.
"Hello Weiss," the golden haired seventeen year old spoke to the heiress as she sat.
"Hi." The reply was short and final. Well, that would not deter Yang.
"Why, someone is in a frosty mood. Or even a... Weiss-y mood," Yang snicked and beamed at her terrible joke. "Get it? Cause icy and Weiss-y?" She noted the disapproving looks from her team. The blonde noticeably deflated, and handed the Faunus girl her fish. "Forget it." Blake watched her partner drop her head to her hands, lower lip extending out into a soft pout.
"Yang, how are you this morning? Tired?" Ruby asked, genuinely concerned for her sister's well-being.
"I'm actually feeling very energized this morning…" Yang had a questioning look on her face.
"Oh, that's good,"
"Why would she be tired?" Blake questioned. "She's went to sleep early all week."
"Well, she hasn't been sleeping very well. Ever since you left-" Ruby's eyes widened as she noticed her sister's death glare. "Um… N-never mind." Blake looked to Yang, who sat next to her.
"Ever since I left, what?" Her amber eyes narrowed at her partner. Yang visibly squirmed under her friend's gaze. "Yang?" The girl caved.
"I've been, ah, checking up…on you…" Yang confessed blushing wildly. "I just wanted t-to make sure you were still, um, here… Safe, I guess…heh." Yang rubbed the back of her neck and adjusted her hair. Blake blinked, blew out some air, bugged her eyes, and continued to focus on her food. Yang watched this reaction from under her heavy eyelashes. The purple pools slid back to her empty plate, defeated.
Yang tugged the yellow tank top over her silky, blonde mane of hair. She stared briefly into the mirror, then huffed as she left. The blonde left her friends after their group dinner, saying she wanted to catch up on some studying or some other lame excuse that she had no intention of actually doing. She just needed to be alone with her thoughts. Maybe that's why everyone thought she was off. Not many people believed she indeed had thoughts flying around under her mess of hair. Nevertheless, they were her teammates. They wouldn't see her as a mindless, pretty girl. The people that thought this were mostly men, or jealous girls, or exes, or et cetera. She was the pretty Xiao Long girl, she didn't need a brain… Yang never agreed with that. Though she was thankful for her looks, she was also thankful for her mental capacity.
She clambered up her haphazardly assembled bunk bed. She flopped herself on top of her sheets as she did most every night. Her lavender eyes stared blankly at the ceiling as her mind whirred. Yang's mind transported her back to the events of maybe a month ago. She ran over it for the umpteenth time. Weiss and Blake's argument. Blake's outburst. Blake leaving... Yang probably had the most difficult time getting to sleep that night. She lay awake, much like now, wondering if Blake was alright, if she needed help, if she wanted help. She still didn't know if Blake wanted to talk about the "Black and White event." 'Why didn't she tell me? Does she not trust me?' Yang's inner turmoil about her partner quickly threw her into the path of the guilt train, which the blonde was blindsided by. 'Oh no. I'm such a horrible partner! I'm such a horrible friend! I should have followed her… I should have… I should have… I should have… ' The seventeen year old's frantic, lavender eyes were closed in sleep before she could continue the depressing spiral.
Yang's mauve eyes shot open and nervously scanned the room. Her evil, evil subconscious did it again. It took her back to Blake's disappearance. To be specific, it took her back to searching for her partner with Weiss. Weiss' comment "The innocent never run, Yang" was what jolted the blonde awake.
"Blake is innocent," Yang whispered to herself in the dark. "She was afraid, afraid of what we'd think of her… Right? Right. Yeah, she knows we accept her for who she is, and for what she is. We'd never hold that against her. Yeah, Blake knows that, she knows… Right?" She kept second guessing herself. It was the same pattern for the month post Blake disappearance. 'Is she gone again? She can't be gone again. She wasn't gone last night, or the night before...' Her body moved before the blonde commanded it to, and she only realized she was out of bed when the thump of her feet hitting the floor resonated throughout the room. That resounding thump landed on the keen, sensitive, and awake faunus ears of none other than Blake Belladonna.
"Evening Yang," the ebony haired girl greeted monotonically, eyes not leaving her book, until they did. Yang really wished they hadn't. The piercing stare shot straight through the blonde's body, sending a biting shiver down her spine, and tensing all her muscles, effectively paralyzing the bruiser. "What are you doing up at this hour," Blake stated, eyes still trained on her partner-turned-prey. The book was now discarded, the page marked, and all of the amber gaze was directed towards Yang's feeble amethyst one. "Are you 'checking up' on me again?" The cat faunus' gaze shifted. It became more downcast. Yang took notice.
"Sometimes it's good to have a friend who'll do that for you…" the golden haired girl stepped closer, looking more intensely at her partner. "Are you… okay?" The teammate with the champagne colored hair had an expression that was twisted into a look of concern. Blake looked like she was a million miles away, eyes teary and unfocused.
"I'm fine." The answer did not convey that message.
"I don't believe that for a second." Yang sat at the foot of the bed. After waiting a considerable amount of time, she said, "Spill. What's going on in that noggin of yours?" The buxom blonde leaned forward, and tapped her index finger on Blake's forehead, earning a small smirk and hand batting at her. "Finally! I thought you were dead!" Blake let out an amused sound, and spoke.
"You know, I heard you," Yang looked confused. "Talking about the innocence thing. I've done a lot of terrible things in my past, and I- I don't want to drag you guys into it…"
"Hey, that was the past, and you're a better you because of it," Yang set a reassuring hand on her partner's shoulder.
"That still doesn't change what I am…" Blake glanced up at Yang, seeing a twinge of anger in her eyes. "And I still have no clue if I fit in on this team, and sometimes I have doubts that even you want me here,"
"If that's because of the catnip thing, I really tried make it up to you for that!" The black haired girl looked to the floor and shook her head. That gave Yang the peace of mind to continue.
"And as for you being a faunus, I think it's great! I mean, it is no problem, and you need to stop beating yourself up over something you can't control. I'm still your friend, faunus or not. No one can change that," the toned arm of the blonde draped over the faunus' shoulders. "You fit perfectly on this team, and there is nowhere you'd be a better fit. We need you here… and I need you here, so don't leave again, okay?" A small squeeze accentuated her point.
"Okay, Yang,"
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise," Blake looked back up at her partner, her keen, nocturnal eyes picked up every detail of her face, "I appreciate you checking for me. It's nice to know that you care, no matter how creepy you watching me sleep was..."
"Well, what are friends for?" Yang beamed, disregarding the 'creepy statement', and stood up.
"Exactly how long have you been checking up on me?" A black eyebrow arched, and a pair of lips curved into an entertained smirk.
"Uh…" the blonde's hand rubbed the back of her neck. "About every night since you… Y'know…" Lavender eyes looked at the floor, still seeking an answer about the carpet issue.
"Wow. A whole month, huh?"
"Shaddup." Yang began to scale back up to her bunk, when she turned back to face her partner. "If you even think about leaving again, I cannot be held responsible for what I may do to you… Anyway, g'night Blake."
"Heh. Goodnight, Yang." Blake watched her partner until the last strand of her golden locks disappeared into her bunk. After about fifteen minutes of silence, the faunus spoke.
"Yang?"
"...Yeah?" The grogginess was barely evident in her voice.
"Thanks, again. For everything." The girl didn't expect an answer, but if she could she Yang's face, she would know how much that meant. The blonde was honestly scared that if she stopped biting back her giddy grin, its brightness would wake her sleeping sister and the heiress on the other half of the room.
Chapter Two is coming soon. 'Til then... Peace.