Yang was looking through Blake's things for notes she took during classes. Ruby's notes were useless, if she even took them, and her own weren't much better. Weiss refused to give hers to the brawler since she once accidentally spilled some coffee on them.
The ice queen would be pissed if she found out Yang took her notes.
That only left Blake. The cat Faunus always took notes in classes and they were good structured and easy to learn with. Exactly what Yang needed. And don't forget the beautiful handwriting of the raven haired girl.
So, she searched for the notes of Oobleck's classes for the next test they were set to write in a few days.
The blonde stopped her searching and let out a sound of triumph as she found one of Blake's notebooks. Yang opened it and stopped. Instead of the material from classes, she was greeted with the sketch of a man in black coat and a Grimm mask hiding part of his face. It was clearly a White Fang member.
The man held a sword in his left, the right on the hilt, ready to draw. He had horns that nearly blended into his combed back hair.
The next page showed a woman with cat ears on top of her had. The ears were pierced and she looked like she was in her thirties. She had a remarkable semblance to Blake.
Next to the woman was a big man with wide shoulders and his coat open, revealing his hairy chest. The man had his big hand on the woman's shoulder.
Yang sat down on the bottom bunk bed and looked through the notebook. There were more drawings of the man with the mask but they got fewer the further she went until she didn't see him again.
Drawings of Ruby, Weiss and Yang took his place. Sometimes it were all three of them, sometimes there were only two or just one of the girls.
It was the same with team JNPR that joined the drawings of Blake's team mates. The members of both teams sometimes mixed together.
Yang had no idea her partner could draw so well. These sketches looked amazing.
Soon after JNPR was found on the pages the first drawings of team CFVY came followed by Sun and then Neptune.
There was one of the whole team SSSN but other than that it was either Sun, Neptune or both of them. The most drawings showed the three girls from team RWBY.
The sketches showed them all in different situations. Mostly hanging out with each other or in combat.
But the person portrayed the most was Yang. Normally with her bright smile, few times with a serious expression or deep in thoughts.
The further the brawler got the more the images of her seemed to change. Yang couldn't put her finger on it but something about the way she was portrayed changed. The best thing that she came up with was that the sketches looked warmer but that wasn't quite right either. She just couldn't explain it.
But it wasn't only the air around the drawings that changed. Of everyone there was one version in their prom cloths. But apart from that the sketches of the others were in combat attitude or uniform except for team RWBY. Some of their drawings were in pyjamas.
But Yang was sometimes shown in normal clothes or her revealing gym outfit. And there was more than one of her in the dress she wore to the dance.
There were drawings of her on Bumblebee as well. Sometimes it showed Yang posing on the bike. Some images of her left the impression the blonde was flirting with the viewer and on some she had a dreamy look on her face. That too, was exclusive to her. But she only flirted when she could use it to her advantage and mostly against opponents.
The only real flirts from Blake's friends were the boys from SSSN. Or better Neptune and Scarlet. But even they weren't portrayed like her.
The next drawing Yang found of herself showed her sleeping in her bed with a wrinkled sheet underneath her, blanked kicked off. In the drawing Yang wore her pyjamas. The short shorts showing off her long legs and her tank top hiked up, giving a glimpse of her tight abs. She was clearly asleep with her eyes closed and lips slightly parted.
For a moment Yang asked herself if Blake watched her sleep to draw that with so many details.
She wasn't sure what to think about that prospect.
Yang was about to turn the page but stopped when the door opened.
Blake came in and greeted her. The Faunus sat down her things and wanted to go to her bookshelf but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what Yang was doing. Or better, what she was looking at.
Her amber eyes widened and the noirette ran over to her and slammed the notebook shut, keeping her hand on it to keep it closed.
The golden girl looked dumbfounded at her partner, her fingers still held the page she had wanted to turn.
Blake must have recognized the place she was at because her eyes widened even more when she took notice of the position the of the blonde's fingers.
The Faunus' face suddenly turned redder than Ruby's cloak.
"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed through clenched teeth. The panic was clear in her voice.
Yang took her fingers out of the notebook and Blake instantly took it and pressed it against her chest.
"Sorry. I was looking for your notes on Oobleck's classes and instead found this. It's no big deal. You can draw really well."
Blake's cheeks got surprisingly redder at the compliment. The blonde didn't know that was possible. It was really cute.
The Faunus suddenly relaxed a little when she seemed to realize something.
"Don't go through my things again!" Blake hissed before her gaze softened. "I took my notes with me to the library to study."
She got them from her bag and handed them to Yang. "Here."
"Thanks." The brawler answered still a little confused from Blake's strange behavior. That totally surprised her. It was so untypical for the normally quiet girl. That made Yang just more curious. There had to be something in that notebook that had Blake reacting like that. Something she shouldn't see. But nothing that Yang had found explained that reaction. So it must be on one of the pages she hadn't looked at.
She couldn't concentrate on studying. Yang really wanted to know what was in the notebook. She was determined to find out.
After that incident Blake kept the notebook with the drawings in her bag. Yang had briefly wondered why she didn't use an actual sketchbook. She got her answer when she saw Blake drawing in it in the middle of Port's class. The few times he said something worth writing down, Blake took notes into another notebook.
Yang keep glancing at the new sketch the Faunus was making. It showed Ruby, one elbow on the desk and head in her hand, as she slept in her class.
One quick look past the artist showed Yang's sister in the exact same position and an angry Weiss. Ruby would get a lecture about sleeping in class later one.
Yang knew the only reason the heiress hadn't woken her partner yet was because she stayed up late with her to study and besides, it was one of Port's lectures. She wouldn't miss anything important.
After Ruby was finished Blake added Weiss into her drawing. She didn't manage to finish though because the bell rang.
After the last class was over, team RWBY made their way into the library to study.
At some point Yang had enough and put her things away. She could concentrate on such boring stuff for only so long. Instead she looked at her team mates.
Weiss, as usual, wrote down important things from the books while also helping Ruby when necessary. The younger girl wasn't bad at studying at all but because she skipped two years she still had to catch up on some subjects. But with the help of her team, mostly Weiss, she managed to cover most of it since their start at Beacon.
So Ruby was next to Weiss and studied, her tongue between her teeth in concentration.
Blake hat traded her study material for one of her books. She held it with one hand and turned a page with the other. Her eyes gleamed in the light of the setting sun that shone through the window. The orange light also seemed to play with the highlights in her black hair and gave her pale skin the illusion of a little colour. Blake was simply breathtaking.
Yang, head in one hand and the other arm at the table, hadn't even noticed she stared at her partner with a dreamy look in her lilac eyes as her mind drifted.
Luckily the others didn't notice either, too occupied with their own things.
Blake was just gorgeous, even while doing such mundane things. She always has this mysterious and calm air around her. It even affecting the energetic blonde.
Yang wanted to cares her soft cheeks and run a hand through silky black hair. She wanted to take off the bow and stroke those adorable cat ears she only saw on few occasions. She wanted those gleaming amber eyes looking at her like they could see right through her soul. It never cased to send a shudder down Yang's spin when Blake does that.
But at the moment those golden orbs were focused at the words in front of them. Reading seems to be the only activity Blake could lose herself in and not notice what's going on around her.
Yang's dreamy smile turned into a sly grin and she pushed the thoughts she just had out of her mind. She could ponder them later. Now she needed to use the opportunity.
With all of her team mates distracted, Yang fished with her foot under the table. As soon as it caught one of the slings from Blake's bag, she slowly pulled it to her.
Nobody paid her attention while she rummaged through it. She barely suppressed the sound of triumph that made its way up her troth when she found the notebook. A quick look inside confirmed it was the right one.
She put it inside her own bag and slid Blake's back to its owner. Now she could find out what the Faunus wanted to hide from her.
"Hey guys, I'm going on ahead. I'm a little tired." Yang yawned to emphasize her point. The others mumbled something in response and Yang went to their room. She just managed to keep the smile from her face until she turned her back to them.
Back in the room Yang pulled the notebook out of her bag before dropping it on her desk. She climbed into her bed and opened the notebook.
Time to find out why Blake had reacted so strangely when Yang found it.
The brawler found the page with the drawing of her sleeping quickly. She turned it.
The next showed Sun as he hung from a tree with his tail, looking through the window into RWBY's dorm. Nothing of interest.
The next drawing was of Ruby, Yang and Nora, sneaking into the kitchen to steal some snacks.
Yang couldn't believe it. They had been seen. But nobody ever scolded them for it. So Blake must've kept it for herself. Yang was thankful for her partner.
The sketch after that showed Pyrrha awkwardly flirting with a clueless Jaune. Also nothing that explained Blake's strange behaviour the other day.
But when the blonde turned the page to the next sketch she gasped slightly from shock. It was not like the other drawings. While some had shown Yang maybe a little flirty this one was downright suggestive.
The drawing showed her sitting on a bed, wearing something similar to Blake's yukatas. The robe was pulled down, exposing her shoulders and most of her chest. Yang's feet were on the bed, knees bend and legs spread. Only a little part of the fabric hid the girl's womanhood and left the impression of her not wearing any panties. One hand was at the collar, pulling it down while the other gestured for the viewer to come to her. The lust filled eyes and the seductive smile completed it all.
Yang didn't know how to react. She was mostly angry but also surprised that her partner would think of her like that. She just stared at the drawing of herself, jaw dropped. Never did she image finding this inside Blake's notebook. Suddenly the cat Faunus' panic and red face made sense. Blake had never wanted anyone, last of all Yang, to see this.
She didn't know why she turned the next page but Yang still did it. Again a drawing of her. This one was different than the others that showed the buxom girl in her gym outfit. It wasn't just a sketch of her working out. It showed her, skin shiny from sweat, in another indecent pose.
Yang felt a sting of disappointment. She knew that many people imaged her like that but she had never thought that Blake, her own partner, would be one of them.
But there was also something else, to know that the Faunus looked at her like that…. Yang gulped, her mouth suddenly dry.
She pushed those feelings aside and continued to look through the notebook. The next sketches were innocent again. Sometimes she found some suggestive but they were few in between. Some of them even nudes but they never showed more than her curves and lots of skin. Other bodyparts or objects always hiding her private parts.
The next drawing that made Yang pause was not like them, though.
She knew that it wasn't something that happened, just Blake's fantasy.
It was outside a nice little café on a beautiful day as far as Yang could tell. There were few other people in the background. It looked like the viewer was sitting at a table. Opposite from them was Yang, a cup of coffee in front of her. She was leaning forward, showing interest at what the person across from her said or at the person in general. In the drawing Yang had a shine in her eyes and a smile on her face that wasn't like the ones she usual wore. It wasn't even that wide but showed how content she felt, how happy she was. It looked like she was in love with the viewer. No, not the viewer, the artist.
Suddenly Yang realized why the sketches of her seemed different than the others. It was because of how the artist viewed and felt about her. Because of how Blake felt of her.
Yang couldn't suppress the gasp that escaped her lips. How long did the Faunus girl had feelings for her?
If the scenes and the way Yang was portrayed in those sketches was anything to go by it must've been somewhere around the start of their second semester in Beacon. That was over a year ago.
Yang couldn't believe it! Blake had liked her for that long? And she never said anything!
The blonde had always thought her partner had a thing for Sun. With how he made her blush and how she talked to him, a stranger at the time, after she ran from her team and how he always made her laugh the idea wasn't that far fetched.
But thinking about it there had been signs. How she sometimes went with Yang's pranks. How she didn't push her away when the brawler got close even thought Blake never was one for physical contact. How her eyerolls at Yang's puns were more fond than annoyed most of the times. How she let her get away with some of the cat jokes she would never overlook if they were from someone else, even Sun. How at the dance Blake gave Yang her first dance even though she only asked for one.
Yep, there had been signs but Yang never noticed. The question was how she felt about Blake. Yang thought about it while she continued looking through the notebook.
She thought back on their interactions. She had always been at her partner's side, more often than not literally. She liked being close to Blake. It set her at ease.
Yang was one of the persons who naturally got a little touch feely with others but the amount of it was different. With Blake it even rivaled her sister.
The blonde remembered the one time she came into the room. Blake sat on her bed and drew something into her notebook. Back then Yang thought she was writing something. Blake had this small smile on her face. Seeing it, the brawler couldn't help but smile too and her cheeks had turned a little pink.
At the dance they held last year, Yang had only danced with Blake. Not because nobody asked, a lot of people did, but because she didn't want to dance with someone else.
And just today Yang had lost herself in thoughts about her feline friend.
So yes, she really liked Blake. But did she want to be more than friends with her, to have a relationship with her?
Just the thought of them going on a date or kissing let Yang's heart race and her face heat up.
She was definitely interested. How come she never noticed before?
But that wasn't the important question. What she had to ask herself now was what she should do. Should she confront Blake? But there was always the chance she was wrong and Blake didn't like her like that.
A look at another drawing of her helped with her doubts. How else could someone interpret those drawings?
And Blake hid her feelings for over a year now. It wasn't likely that she planned on confessing anytime soon, if ever.
It wouldn't take the Faunus long to notice that her notebook was missing and it was unlikely there would be a chance to put it back soon. The best action would be to just confront Blake about it.
Yang came to the unfinished sketch of Ruby and Weiss in class. After that there were only five blank pages before the notebook was full. She put it down and thought abut how and when to confront her partner.
It didn't take long for the person on her mind to come through the door.
Blake looked up from the book she was reading. "The others said they'll stay in the library until later. We can go ahead to dinner, though we still have an hour or so."
Yang hummed to show she had understood. Blake put her bag away and made herself comfortable on her bed. She continued reading.
It was just the two of them and Ruby and Weiss wouldn't be back soon. It was the perfect opportunity.
The blonde jumped down from her bed and grabbed the notebook.
"Blake?"
Said girl looked up at her.
"Care to explain?" Yang hold the notebook into Blake's view and kept her face expressionless.
Horror showed on the Faunus' face as all colour left it and she let her book fall from her grasp. It looked like she would bolt but Yang caught her after she made it off her bed. With no way to escape the hand holding her wrist Blake turned to Yang, face downcast.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… I never thought anyone would see it. I didn't think you would ever see it." It was clear in her voice that she fought with her tears. "I know what you must think of me now. I-"
"Blake." Yang interjected softly. "I wasn't talking about that." The heat crept up her neck and into her face. "Though, we probably should talk about those too."
The Faunus looked up at her. She was totally confused. If the indecent drawings weren't meant, what then?
Yang opened the notebook at a specific drawing. The one of her at the café. She showed it to Blake.
Now it was the noirette who turned beet red.
"Is that what you want? From me? From us?" The blonde's voice was still soft.
Blake nodded. "Yes." She answered meekly, facing the ground again.
"Why did you never say anything?"
"I don't think you would say yes. I never thought you would return my feelings."
The Faunus let out a small, surprised squeak when Yang pulled her into a tight embrace.
"And what if I do? What if I feel the same?"
Blake pulled back enough to look Yang in her eyes. "You do?" She asked disbelieving.
"Yes, Blake, I like you. Sooo want to make that drawing reality?" The brawler asked unusually shy. "And maybe some others too?"
The noirette was shocked and her face turned red again. "You mean…?"
Suddenly Yang pulled away, her face matching Blake's. "No! I didn't mean those ones! At least not no so soon." She looked away when she said the last sentence, missing Blake's reaction.
"So, tomorrow? At the café?"
"I'd love to." Blake answered with a bright smile.
Yang returned it before it changed into a sly grin.
"About that one sketch. Was that one of your yukatas I wore?"
The question set the Faunus' face aflame again. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, you sure do. Your face is redder than Ruby's cloak." Yang grinned. She found some really good teasing material.