"Weiss-" Yang whimpered as she collapsed into a sweaty heap. "Make her stoppp."

"S-Shut up you oaf." The heiress replied in a tired wheeze, coming to a stop beside her. She planted both hands on her knees, breathing heavily, the end of her ponytail tickling her shins. "Don't you think I've tried?"

"Well try harder…" Yang flipped herself around, the action enough to make her muscles groan in pain. With her back against the floor, she winced when her eyes caught the glare of the overhead lights. "Forget about walking. Any more of this and I won't be able to get up for months."

She groaned, her hands laying uselessly by her sides, palms facing up and knuckles scraping against the training mat.

Weiss used the last dregs of her energy to look up at Blake, who was standing (standing! Can you believe it?) beside her, muttering under her breath.

"Blake. I know we've had our differences but would you please-"

"No." The girl shot down, a small part of her enjoying the look of desperation.

Weiss huffed at the snappish reply. "Yang and I are in no shape to argue with Ruby. So for all our sakes, can you please just…talk to her? I fear that we won't last much longer if this keeps up." A groan escaped her, the heiress starting to sway on her feet.

"You know that she won't listen to me, right?"

Blake glanced over at the still exercising Ruby. The crimson haired leader didn't even look remotely tired, and they'd been at this for at least three hours. Blake herself had shut down after the second hour of non-stop drills. "She barely even talks to me- or us for that matter, outside of class and training, save for that talk after initiation."

"Well-" Weiss shrugged weakly, trying to straighten her back. She failed, and ended up with her hands on her knees again. "You better think of something before our ten minute break is over. If you do it right, you get to read those books of yours, Yang might finally stop whining, and I'll be able to wear my heels again."

Blake sighed but nodded. She had a point. Team RWBY had been going through an intensive exercise regime for months now, a by-product of all of them (save for Ruby) losing to Pyrrha. Their leader hadn't been pleased to sit through three losing matches, two of which that had ended in less than five minutes. And when the ex-mercenary decided to ramp up the intensity of their team training sessions…well, it had become hell on earth.

At the end of each day, the three of them would be out cold before midnight. Blake didn't even have the energy to read anymore! If that wasn't a sign of how bad things were getting, she didn't know what was.

As she contemplated on how to go about this, a loud squeal interrupted her musings. She looked toward the source of the sound and snorted. Jaune was face first on the mat, his sword in Pyrrha's hands. Blake watched as the champion gave Ren and Nora a strained smile, shaking her head in thinly veiled disappointment. Ren responded with a nod, and his orange haired partner gave the redhead a loose shrug.

Catching Nora's eyes, Blake was startled out of her observation when the girl waved at her. Without any warning, the hyperactive girl jogged over, sidestepping the blonde boy on the mat, and stopped in front of her with a large cheerful grin that the cat Faunus couldn't help but reply with a small smile of her own.

"Hey Blake! How has Ruby's training treatin' ya?" Nora gave her a friendly slap on the back which nearly made her to fall over. "It's great for the muscles, I mean just look at these guns."

The orange haired girl flexed her arms. "I can bench five of me!"

"Er, yeah it's great." Blake smiled weakly. "But we think that's it a little too much for us. Yang and Weiss can't endure it for much longer."

She threw a glance behind her at the two figures who were doing fantastic impersonations of wooden planks.

Nora tilted her head in confusion. "Eh, but you look perfectly fine Blake! Are you and my bestie having private training sessions?" She said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Blake rolled her eyes, her lips pursing at the mere thought of it.

"No, I did something similar to this back at my…old combat school." Flashes of memory took hold of her before she bit her lip to clear her thoughts. "Ruby doesn't mix with us very much." Or at all "But anyway- can you help us out Nora? Can you get her to lay off the training for a while?"

"Okay, but I demand payment!"

"You mean in Lien?" Her empty wallet came to mind. Maybe Weiss would be willing to chip in…

"Nope, I want pancakes. With lots and lots of syrup!" Nora cheered. She froze and looked around them before leaning in, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "But don't tell Ren about this, because he'll be mad."

"It's a deal." Blake nodded, silently apologizing for Nora's partner. They would make it up to him somehow for dealing with the fallout. This was a small price to pay to get some reading done, and finally have a chance to just relax. "Thanks, we'll be counting on you."

Nora shook her head, "I'll back you up, but you have to talk to Ruby first. Or she'll know that I'm in on it."

Blake cursed. The universe really did have a foul sense of humour.

"Right. Of course. Wait- you mean we're doing this now?" Weiss was going to pay for making her do this.

"Yep. Well what are you waiting for? Let's go slowpoke!" Without waiting for a reply, Nora pushed Blake toward the ex-mercenary with a frightening speed. The brunette swore that she could almost smell the rubber soles of her shoes burning. Glaring at Nora lightly, to which she got a thumbs up and a wink, Blake stiffly walked toward a sweaty looking Ruby who'd just finished a series of graceful manoeuvres with her monster of a weapon dubbed Crescent Rose.

"Ruby," She began, her eyebrows knotting when the other girl merely grunted in reply. "We need to talk."

"Then do it." Ruby replied without missing a beat. "I'm all ears."

She pulled out a cloth from her pocket and began wiping down her scythe, not even turning to look at Blake. Standing a little ways away from the two girls, Nora observed the scene and winced. She'd forgotten how cold the silver eyed girl could be when she dealt with other people.

Blake bristled, her hands twitching in irritation. "Fine." She snapped. "The three of us need a break from the training you've been making us suffer through. Our bodies can't take much of all this."

She gestured to the bodies of their near comatose teammates.

Ruby finally looked at her, her eyebrow raising. "Well, you look fine to me. In fact, you barely even look winded. Doesn't this mean that we should take it up a notch?"

"No it does not." Came heated reply. "Stop changing the subject. You've been drilling us non-stop these past few months and what we need right now is to relax."

Ruby shrugged. "It's not my problem. You can relax in your own time."

"But you're the one who's taking up all of our free time!" Blake accused, imagining her hands going around the other girl's neck to strangle her. Ruby's mouth twisted into a half-smile as she tucked the cloth back into her pocket and switched crescent back into its compact form.

"Tough luck."

Before the situation could escalate any further, Nora decided it was time to butt in. Blake was turning into an unhealthy colour of red, and if she didn't stop them now, the girl was going to end up with a broken finger or worse. The last person to defy Ruby ended up six feet underground. In pieces.

She sighed. Swooping in on their conversation, if one could even call it that, Nora tackled Ruby in a sudden hug.

Blake watched as Ruby's expression change into one of confusion, hugging the girl with one arm. They looked so mismatched, both personality and height wise, that she found it unbelievable that they were friends. She didn't even think that Ruby cared about people other than herself to begin with.

"Nora?" Ruby said, frowning. "I'm in the middle of conversation."

"Yep I know. And I heard everything~" Nora grinned, letting go of the taller girl. She stepped into the empty spot next to Blake, giving the girl what she thought was a sly wink. Blake resisted the urge to face-palm.

"I think you should listen to Blake! Your team has been on a winning streak lately, so why not go out and have some fun? Great idea, eh?"

"I'm preparing them for one on one matches, Nora. Not just for team battles."

"Buuut! Since they fought so awesomely in the team matches, they deserve a break. Isn't that right, Blake?"

She gave Blake a thumbs up, not noticing the odd looks Ruby was shooting the two of them. Ruby sighed. Nora had never been good at subtlety. Case in point.

Blake forced down the urge to crawl in a hole and die, and answered, "Right."

"See?" Nora rolled her eyes but ruffled Nora's hair, eliciting a laugh from the shorter girl. Blake shook her head at the warm display, not quite believing her eyes. It looked like the girl had some semblance of emotion after all. The adoration in those cold silver eyes bled out when she realised Blake was watching, and Ruby drew in a small breath.

"You've convinced me of the error of my ways." Ruby deadpanned. "You've been a great help Nora. You should go back, your team is looking for you."

She grunted when the orange haired girl squealed in delight and bid them both goodbye, sauntering back to the other side of the training room where Ren was now helping Jaune with his sit-ups. Pyrrha gave them a look of…something, before welcoming her teammate back with a bright smile and an offer to spar, which was accepted readily.

Blake sighed. "Look I just-"

"Three days."

She blinked. "I'm…what?"

Ruby folded her arms, looking at Nora one last time before her focusing her attention on Blake. "Three days. That's all I'm going to give you three."

She snorted at the wide-eyed look the cat Faunus was giving her and shook her head. She pulled out her aviator shades and flipped them open, eyeing the slack jawed girl with an unreadable expression.

"And just to be clear, ask for help again and you'll have more to worry about than just sore muscles. Either you fight your own battles, or don't fight at all." Ruby finished, slipping her shades on and walking off.

Blake stared after her, biting her lip in a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment. Rubbing the string of her bow between her fingers, she walked back to the still forms of Yang and Weiss. She stopped beside the heiress and nudged her leg with the tip of her shoes.

"I hope you're happy." She muttered dryly. "I got us three days."

"One day, three days. I can't bring myself to care as long as I don't need to get up." Weiss sniped, slapping away the shoe with a shaky arm. Yang let out a breathy sigh of relief, eyes rolling into the back of her head.

The start of their three day break was an anticlimactic one.

The members of RWBY, excluding their leader, opted to lounge around in their beds for the entirety of the Saturday morning. Even Weiss, who was always up with the sun to finish up her assignments remained passed out on her luxurious bed until noon. Yang took it abit further, opting to only get out of bed after three when the growl of her stomach became too annoying.

Blake was the only one who'd left the room before twelve. When she realised that Ruby was staying true to her word of leaving the three of them to their own devices, she quickly gathered an entire day's worth of novels and headed straight for beacon library after a heavy breakfast.

Once through the double doors, Blake waded through small batches of students strategically hidden behind the shelves, who were mostly gossiping to their hearts content, and felt her heart leap to her throat when her favourite spot came into view.

Natural light filtered in through the small, circular window, the stream of light not drawing any attention as it was obscured by the towering bookshelf in front of it. This was the reading spot of dreams. It was bright enough to read without hurting her eyes, and it was the most isolated place the library had to offer. And considering how huge the library was, Blake was just grateful to have stumbled upon it when she did.

The small, leather armchair underneath the window was squished between the two bookshelves on either sides, and it had enough stuffing inside it to make long reading sessions comfortable. With a sigh of pure bliss, the cat Faunus stacked her armful of books near the leg of the chair, and settled into its comforting arms.

Picking up the topmost novel off her stack, she admired the beautiful limited edition cover of the Ninja's of love before beginning to read. It was the third novel and like the previous books it was a standalone story.

She breezed through the erotica filled pages with delight, amber eyes glimmering with untold happiness as she'd started reading the latest instalment in the franchise, where a villainous ninja battled a fearsome samurai general for the heart of a village girl.

Blake gritted her teeth in anticipation as the evil ninja struck down the girl's betrothed with poisoned sake, presented as a gift for the upcoming wedding. In an instant, the village guards were upon him, surrounding his only way of escape through a rocky mountain pass.

She clutched the book tightly, eyes widening when the ninja was pierced by a soaring arrow as he attempted escape, the darkness of the night proving to be the obstacle which felled him. Thankfully, the girl who he had killed for saved him by the skin of his teeth, leading the guards out of the village with a fake trail of cattle blood after dragging him away. The samurai general was among the guards, eager to get rid of his rival to capture the heart of his beloved once and for all.

"Finally…" Blake breathed, grinning at the paragraph of words. The ninja and the girl would finally be alone. "Ten chapters in and still nothing. This must be a new record."

Lifting her head to make sure no one was watching her read…well- smut, she dived back into the story, picking up where she had stopped.

The girl was now tending to the injured ninja's wounds. The ninja watched wordlessly as tears of misery trickled down her cheeks, unhappy that he was being pursued, unhappy that her finance –however disgusting he may had been– died at the hands of her lover. Blake could almost imagine the scene playing out before her very eyes, a scene that was for her and her eyes alone.

I flinch when she reaches out to touch my face. The dried blood on my skin was starting to flake, and I didn't want to stain her tender hands with the colour of sin.

"Stop it. Just-"

She glares and suddenly puts her palm over my wound. I have to bite down a yelp, my anger flaring at her action. But my anger is gone, whisked away by the low howl of the wind, its voice whistling in from the small holes of the secret hut. I cannot stay mad at this woman I have sworn to love, sworn to protect. My soul is black, and when I'm with her, the ability to do absolutely anything doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

"Look at me." She whispers.

I swallow roughly but don't heed her words. My eyes stay down, flitting over the blood stained arrow on a metal plate that was embedded in my chest up to a few hours ago, and let my gaze travel toward her slipper clad feet. I can see the scrapes and cuts that mar her fair skin, and my heart aches for her.

"Look. At. Me." Her whisper turns into a demand, and I cannot resist that powerful, yet captivating voice that draws my eyes upwards. I meet her gaze, her eyes boring into me and seeing my very essence. I am evil. I have killed for gold, and murdered for much less. As much as I wanted her in my arms, to touch her- to taste her- she was deserving of a more, cleaner soul than one such as I.

"I already am." I breathe the words out, the pain in my chest spreading when the edges of her eyes crinkle in amusement. She will be the death of me. To my surprise, I feel her hands trail up my thigh and onto my chest. The softness of her hands belies the intensity of her gaze, and I can almost see my rotten heart beat wildly under my ribcage.

"Then you will listen when I tell you, that what you have done today is foolish." Her voice penetrates the haze of lust I have fallen under. I feel the shame at my actions prick at me once more, but I don't feel any remorse for what I have done. And I know that she realizes this too.

She takes in a deep breath, her bosom heaving. "I could have lost you. Had the arrow not missed your lung by mere inches, the only kiss you would experience would have been the kiss of death."

"And you would have mourned my death forever, and the general would be unable to capture your heart." I say, turning my eyes away at her flinch.

"My heart has been in your hands since the beginning. I wonder why you do not believe that."

"Because it is a foolhardy thing to believe. Would you tell a lame man that he could walk again someday? Would you tell a mother that her dead child may rise from its grave? I will never believe you without any proof." I sigh. "And proof, is something you do not have."

She slides in closer to me, her mint scented breath tickling my nose. Her hands descend, pulling at the sash which holds my yukata together. I freeze, and she takes that chance to gently pin me against the weathered wood of the hut, and pulls the sash free. I gasp when my bottom half is exposed, and reach up to cover it, but she does not give me the chance. With one hand on my shoulder, I watch with wide eyes as she uses her other hand to pull one side of her yukata down, exposing the supple skin underneath.

This is indeed the stuff of dreams.

"Proof. The proof is right here." She gestures downwards, but my eyes dare not follow. She lets out a giggle, wearing a smirk that could capture the hearts of a thousand men that was directed solely at me. And then suddenly, she reaches down to–

Blake jumped at the sound of a book snapping shut. Shoving the novel against her chest, she looked up with guilty eyes and saw the back of one Ruby Rose. It was easy to recognize, simply because of her trademark straight-as-a-rod spine, and the crimson tipped hair that curled outwards as it reached the base of her neck.

Blake couldn't stop herself from hissing in irritation as her leader turned to face her. Ruby was wearing her usual neutral expression, but she could see the slight amusement dancing in the pools of liquid mercury that stared back at her.

"What?" The crimson haired girl tucked the book she was holding under her arms.

"What are you doing here?" Blake snapped, her nails digging into the felt book cover. Why couldn't this girl just leave her alone, dammit?!

Ruby rolled her eyes, gesturing to the shelf full of books. "Looking for a book. Obviously."

"Of all the places…" The brunette mumbled under her breath. "What kind of book are you looking for anyway? This is the history section."

"This." Ruby held up the heavy leather tome with bright gold letters 'Taxidermy' emblazoned across the brown surface. Ignoring Blake's stunned look, she shrugged and started walking in the direction of the librarian's counter. Ruby saw no reason to stick around for any longer since she had already found what she was looking for. Not even bothering to look at Blake, she breezed past the girl and disappeared around the bend of the large shelf.

Blake sighed, and shook her head in disbelief. The ex-mercenary was an even bigger enigma than she had expected. Hunkering down to continue the story once more, Blake jumped when Ruby suddenly peeked around the corner, surprised by the abrupt appearance.

"When training resumes, you'll be doing extra for reading porn in a public area."

The cat Faunus could almost feel the colour draining out of her face, and shrieked angrily. Pulling her arm back, Blake flung the book with all her might. The book hit the side of the shelf with a loud thunk, Ruby already nowhere to be found, and Blake was left empty handed as she stared at the ground, breathing heavily in embarrassment.

AN: It…was longer than I'd expected. So it's going to be a three shot. :3 Hope you guys are fine with this lol, I find it funny all my two-shots are becoming longer. Probably because Ruby wants more screen time dammit!

Omake (aka I couldn't fit this anywhere but I liked it so much I couldn't not to show you guys)

"Guys…" Yang breathed, "I think our leader has a hard on for the little mermaid. Or she might be Ursula in disguise."

Blake groaned, and rubbed her temples. "Shut up Yang."

Weiss turned to look at her blonde counterpart. "Don't be a fool. At least Ursula had the decency to grant Ariel her wish without making her swim around the entire ocean first." She said.

Blake threw her hands up as Yang broke out in giggles. Why did Ozpin put her into a team full of smartasses?