Semblance

Chapter One: New Beginnings

Upon opening her eyes, Ruby Rose feels sore. Her entire body aches from the impact of Torchwick's flare, and she groans as she sits up in bed. Listening, she is glad to hear the sound of her team's soft snoring. Her entire team. The drama of Blake's revelation is still fresh, but Ruby is confident that she and her team, now together again, can work through it.

She tries to slide stealthily from her bed, but a combination of the tangled sheets, her sore muscles, and her inherent gracelessness cause her to topple to the floor with a muffled "Shit!" She lies still for a moment, listening to see if she's woken any of her dozing teammates. Other than some murmuring from Yang's bunk-and Yang always murmurs in her sleep anyway- all is good.

Satisfied, she untangles herself, tossing the sheets back onto the bed, before hobbling her way over to the bathroom for a hot, relaxing shower to relieve some of the tension in her muscles. As she closes the door behind her and turns on the hot water, Ruby idly wonders if Blake will let her feel her cat ears.

…

Thump

"Shit!"

Upon opening her eyes, Yang Xiao-Long feels satisfied.

Blake is back.

Yang's eyes are puffy from days of crying, but Blake is back.

Ruby is sore, but Blake is back.

Weis is…well… Weiss, but Blake is back.

Yang rolls out of bed, landing gracefully and almost soundlessly, her golden locks falling around her in a curtain. She smirks as she remembers Weiss's incredulous tone.

"How can you carry all that extra weight and still be so silent?"She had demanded, gesturing vaguely at Yang's chest, furious after Yang had unintentionally startled her into spilling coffee over her notes one night.

Yang had simply shrugged, grinned, and hopped into bed, further infuriating Weiss with the fact that she had done so in complete silence.

Now, she pads silently between the two bunks and looks at her two sleeping teammates. Contrary to insultingly popular belief, she is far from stupid. That being said, she knows the following weeks won't be easy. An entire lifetime of prejudice on Weiss's part won't disappear after a single incident, nor will Blake's resentment of the Schnee family's unfair treatment of Faunus.

Yang couldn't care less.

Oh, sure, there might be fights. Weiss and Blake will probably have many more arguments like the one they had the night Blake revealed her Faunus heritage, but Yang can handle that.

Personally, Yang couldn't care less that Blake is a Faunus. Tactically speaking, it gives them more advantages in battle, due to her enhanced senses. On a personal level, this has opened up a whole new world of puns for Yang, for which she is thrilled.

Speaking of which…

She sneaks forward and raises her finger, coming within a few inches of Blake's face. Slowly, she moves it forward, practically hearing the pop as she invades the Faunus girl's personal bubble, and caring not at all. Relishing the calm before the pun, she closes her eyes and smiles.

Blake is back.

…

Blake opens her eyes, and, before she has time to register thought or feeling, is prodded on the nose by a familiar blond-haired bombshell. Her eyes focus on Yang's wide grin, and, despite herself, she smiles.

"Something you'd like to say, Blakey?" Yang coos, bopping Blake again on the nose.

Blake begins to open her mouth, but Yang covers it with her hand. Blake simply raises an eyebrow, not even attempting to speak through Yang's hand.

Yang quirks her eyebrows. "What's wrong, Blake. Cat got your tongue?"

Blake rolls her eyes and groans, rejecting the pun. Yang removes her hand, its role in the joke over, before hopping onto Blake's bed and lying next to her. "Seriously Blake, how are you?"

Blake turns to the side to face Yang, blushing as she notices that her partner is wearing nothing more than a tight pair of shorts and a bra, what seems to pass for 'pajamas' in Yang's mind. She averts her face for a moment, letting the heat in her face fade before she responds.

"A little sore, but much better."

Yang simply nods and, for once, doesn't say anything else, simply enjoying Blake's company. Blake smiles, relishing the feeling of being back home and, even more so, being accepted. She closes her eyes, and feels content.

…

Upon opening her eyes, Weiss feels conflicted.

To say the least.

Blake is a Faunus.

This goes against everything Weiss knows- thought she knew - about the Faunus. Blake is quite, intelligent, compassionate, and bookish. What she is not is a murderous, thieving fiend.

Out of her entire team, Blake has always been the one that Weiss could relate to the most, neither girl feeling the need to fill the silence with words, unlike both of their partners. Until two days ago, Weiss had never found a single thing wrong with Blake.

And then, Weis thinks bitterly, she goes and becomes a Faunus!

This, Weiss knows, is absurd. Blake has always been a Faunus, of course. Weiss just finds it difficult to reconcile the new identity that she has attached to Blake with the quite, apparently human girl she has spent the last few months living with.

Living with.

Weiss shudders, and immediately scolds herself for doing so.

There is nothing wrong with living with a Faunus. Blake being a Faunus does not make her a bad person. Living with Faunus-Blake will be the same as living with Human-Blake.

Except one of those never existed, Weiss thinks to herself, bitterly.

She doesn't bother rolling out of bed, though she can hear whispering coming from Blake's bunk and water running in the shower.

Surreptitiously, so as not to alert her teammates, Weiss covers her head with her pillow. She will have to face Blake, but for now she'd rather sleep.

…

Team RWBY

Please report to my office at once

Professor Ozpin

"What do you think it means?" Ruby asks as she dresses, fastening her cape to her uniform and checking herself in the mirror.

"Probably that he wants us, Team RWBY, to report to his office," Weiss deadpans while brushing her hair, adding, almost as an afterthought "preferably at once."

"How astute of you." Blake teases from behind a book, lowering it to offer a small smile to Weiss. Weiss returns it feebly before turning away.

True to form, before the awkwardness has time to mount, Yang exits the bathroom dramatically, steam billowing into the dorm from behind her. "Ah, there's nothing like a hot shower in the morning!" she announces, standing tall and proud. And naked.

Weiss shrieks and covers her eyes. "Dear lord, woman! Put on some clothes!"

"Why?" Yang teases "Am I too hot for you?"

Everyone but Yang simultaneously groans.

"No," Ruby squeaks from behind her cape "you're too naked! For everyone!"

"Not for everyone." Yang says, winking salaciously at Blake, who, admittedly, has not averted her eyes. Blake glances at both Weiss and Ruby, but they're both hiding their respective sets of eyes. She offers a small smile to Yang, before blushing and ducking behind her book.

"Clothe thyself, harlot", she says, tossing her partner a towel.

"No need, milady." Yang says, catching on immediately. "My inner fire doth burn bright."

Yang tosses the towel back at Blake, who looks up at naked huntress questioningly.

Yang clenches her fists and her eyes briefly flash red. Blake watches as the water on her skin hisses and disappears.

"You didn't set anything on fire this time. Nice"

"Why, thank you." Yang bows, before turning to the dresser to don her uniform. When her pants are on, Blake calls to her teammates, "It's okay, she's decent."

Weiss emerges from behind her hands and puts her hair into its signature askance ponytail. "Warn a girl next time, would you?"

"Sure." Yang begins to brush her own hair, taking care to do so carefully. "Hey Ruby, I'm surprised you're still here. Aren't they serving cookie pancakes for breakfast today?"

Ruby nods, frowning. "Yeah, but Ozpin wants to see us this morning, so we haven't got time for breakfast."

"Well, how soon does he want to see us? Maybe we can hit the cafeteria before we go to his office."

"At once"

"Oh, she's learning." Weiss smirks, standing up and brushing nonexistent dust from her uniform. With one last check in the mirror, she walks to the door, beckoning her partner.

Ruby sticks her tongue out at Weiss before joining her. "Yang, Blake, are you guys ready? We got Ozpin's message half an hour ago. I don't think he'll wait for us much longer."

The two girls nod and, together, the team departs for the Headmaster's office.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Yang complains, pouting. "it's probably nothing."