Aaand, I'm back, with another chapter. Thank you all again for the support, it means a lot. Be sure to leave a review if you feel the urge, and let me know what you like or dislike. I always welcome constructive criticism. Anyways, I'll just let you get right into it. Without further ado, on to the story. Enjoy.

Blake frowned as she glanced around the spacious dining hall, not spying the familiar vibrant head of blonde she'd been searching for for the past half hour. She sighed, as she turned back to her companion.

"So, where do you think she went?" Blake asked. "She wasn't in the dorm or the cafeteria." Ruby scrunched her eyebrows together as she thought.

"Well, we haven't checked the exercise facilities yet," she suggested. "She's more of a, uh, physical person, in regards to her emotions. She might be there letting off steam." Blake nodded.

"It's as good a guess as any," the faunus agreed. With that, the pair headed off towards the Beacon exercise areas, the endless corridors along the way giving Blake time to ponder the blonde's behaviour. "Hey, Ruby?" Said girl glanced over at her teammate as they walked. "Do you know why Yang was so upset? I mean, sure, nobody likes losing, but I've seen her lose sparring matches before, and she's usually pretty calm about it. Any idea what made her blow her top?" Ruby didn't respond for a moment.

"I don't think she's just upset that she technically lost," the smaller girl replied after a brief silence, "I think it's more that she lost to me." Blake thought about that for a moment.

"Maybe. Any idea why that is?" Ruby shook her head at that.

"Nope," she answered. "Again, it's not like we talk much, so I don't really actually know that much about her. Not for lack of trying, mind, but after a while without any result I just gave up." Blake sighed.

"Right, sorry," she replied quickly, before retreating into thought. 'What's going on in your head, Yang? What did Ruby do to deserve such... hostility? I don't get it.' The faunus snapped herself out of her ruminating after several moments when they found themselves outside the training rooms. She reached for the doorknob and was about to open it when she paused. Straining her faunus ears, she could hear sounds of exertion coming from the other side of the door, accompanied by a rapid thudding of what she could only assume was fists meeting a punching bag.

"Blake?" Ruby enquired curiously. "What is it?" Blake was about to respond that someone was inside, but she was unsure who. That is, until she heard the muffled scream of 'Dammit!'.

"She's in there." Blake replied, glancing back to Ruby. "You ready?" Ruby frowned slightly.

"Not really," she admitted before taking a deep breath, "but that doesn't matter. Let's go." She nodded, and Blake opened the door. It only took her a moment to spot her partner, who was currently sitting on a bench with her forehead resting in her hands. She didn't seem to notice the newcomers right away, and Blake could hear her mumble something to herself before she looked up and spotted the pair of intruders.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, glancing past Blake and looking directly at Ruby. "Come here to rub it in?" Blake frowned at her.

"No, Professor Goodwitch asked us to come find you and make sure you went to the infirmary like she insisted you should," Blake replied with a scowl, "but since you seem to be fine enough at the moment, perhaps we can have a little chat before we leave, hm?" Yang raised an eyebrow at the dark-haired girl, and Blake noted the moisture in the blonde's eyes.

"About what?" she asked cautiously, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. She eyed the pair warily, and Blake gestured to the shorter girl beside her.

"Ruby," she stated simply, and the blonde narrowed her eyes.

"What about her?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

"I have no idea what you're-"

"Cut the crap Yang. I know what you've been doing to Ruby behind closed doors, and I'm not letting you push her around anymore," Blake snapped. Yang stared at her for a moment before glaring at her sister.

"Still the same little chicken shit you've always been I see," she spat. "can't handle anything on your own and have to get someone else to deal with it."

"Yang that's enough!" Blake yelled, startling the blonde for a moment. "Where is all this coming from? What the hell did Ruby, one of the kindest people I know, do to deserve such malice?" Yang crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall.

"I don't have to explain myself to you," she replied simply. Blake's scowl deepened.

"No, I think you really should," Blake insisted, crossing her own arms. "I'm all ears." The pair stared each other down for several moments before Yang huffed angrily.

"You want to know so bad? Fine," she started, never once breaking eye contact with the cat ninja. "Lets start off with the fact that because of her I'm criticized all the time by teachers, by my dad, by pretty much everyone. That's really fun, getting bitched at all the time because I don't get straight A's like her, wasn't a team leader like her, didn't get into Beacon two years early for trying to bust a notorious criminal like her. It pisses me off and it just never stops. It's like, fuck off, I'm not Ruby!"

"But none of that is Ruby's fault!" Blake interrupted, earning another scowl from the brawler.

"It gets better. When Ruby's mom died, dad spent so much time comforting and consoling Ruby, but you know how much attention he gave to me? Practically none. I know she wasn't my real mother, but she was the one who raised me, and was the only mother I'd ever really known. On top of that Ruby was too young to fully understand what was going on at the time whereas I could fully comprehend that Summer was dead, but still dad barely spared me a passing glance and gave Ruby all of his attention while I was left to grieve alone." Yang's eyes were now brimming with tears, and her voice had climbed to the point where she was now shouting. Blake was unable to speak, which was fine because Yang wasn't done yet.

"And you want to know the cherry on top?" Yang asked, standing up and pointing directly at Ruby. "You're probably the reason my mom left, too." Ruby's mouth hung open, unable to form any sort of response, Blake in much the same position. It took Blake a moment to regain her ability to speak.

"How could you possibly blame Ruby for that?!" she shouted at the blonde. "She left before Ruby was even born, there is no possible way Ruby could have had anything to do with that."

"Yeah, she left just before Ruby was born, and gee, I wonder why?" Yang retorted. "Maybe because of the baby dad had with another woman?"

"Then blame your dad!" Blake cried. "Blame him, or Summer, or even your mom for leaving, but don't blame Ruby for things she had no control over!"

"Shut up!"

"How about you grow up?!"

"ENOUGH!"

Both the squabbling girls turned to the third person in the room, whom they'd both almost forgotten was there. Ruby's cheeks were covered in tears, but she had a determined look on her face.

"That's enough fighting. We'll talk about this later, after Yang's gone to the infirmary, which is why we came here in the first place," she said to Blake, before turning to Yang. "Let's go. No arguments." Ruby started towards the door, and Blake and Yang glared at each other before moving to follow her.

"I told you two I was fine. We didn't need to waste our time waiting for the doctor to tell me nothing was wrong," Yang complained as the trio left the infirmary, the blonde having been found to be well enough to not need to stay.

"Better safe than sorry," Ruby replied. "We need you to be cleared as healthy to be able to take on missions. Plus, Professor Goodwitch will probably check to see if you actually showed up, and I don't want her breathing down our necks." Yang snorted.

"She's still gonna get on my ass, but whatever. Not like I'm not used to it by now," she muttered bitterly. Blake placed a tentative hand on the blonde's shoulder, causing her to glance back at her in confusion.

"Yang, I'm sorry your childhood wasn't exactly ideal, but you can't keep taking your frustration out on your sister. She doesn't deserve it. Now, we just want to-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it," Yang interrupted and shrugged her hand off. Blake grit her teeth in frustration.

"And I'm sure you never will, which is why you NEED to hear it!" she snapped back. "We're all going to be on the same team for the next four years, and I don't want to have to spend that whole time fighting with you. I don't want to be your enemy, and I'm sure your sister would love to actually BE your sister for once. Deep down, I'm sure you already know it's not Ruby you're angry at anyway." Yang didn't respond, simply turning away from the other two and starting off down the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked, pointing in the opposite direction. "Class is this way." Yang turned back to the other two and grunted.

"I'm taking the rest of the day off," she replied casually.

"Skipping, you mean," Blake stated, frowning.

"We're already halfway through last period, and Port's class suuucks," Yang whined, putting her hands behind her head. "So you two can head back to the snooze fest if you want, but I'm heading outside to enjoy this fabulous weather we've been having."

"We're not done talking yet!" Blake cried exasperatedly. Yang shrugged.

"We are as long as you don't follow me." With that, she turned on her heel and began walking away. Blake frowned before turning back to Ruby and raised her eyebrow.

"What should we do?" she asked, drawing a shrug from the other girl.

"There's no real point in heading back now," she replied. "Class will be over by the time we show up." She sighed. "There goes my perfect attendance." Blake nodded, and smiled after a moment.

"Well... in that case, why don't we go get changed and head to the cafe?" Ruby grinned at the suggestion.

"That sounds pretty good," she replied. "Let's go."

The light breeze was cool, caressing the blonde's face as she stretched her arms over her head. With a small sigh, she lowered her arms and leaned on her elbows on the newly installed safety railing. From her perch on top of the school, she gazed out over the school grounds.

'Maybe she's right,' she thought to herself, sighing once more as she looked out towards the horizon.