Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in almost three weeks. I don't really have an update schedule, but I have been trying to get a new chapter up every week. Sorry I'm not more consistent haha. Before I start getting into the reviews I just wanted to say a few things that a few people have commented on throughout the story. In regard to the fact that the story has a lot of grammar issues, and the writing style is a bit choppy I just want to say that I do almost no editing before I post a chapter. Awful of me, I know. I am just the kind of person that could re-write and re-write the same paragraph and still never be happy with it. I feel that if I don't just throw the chapter out there I never will. At some point I really want to go back and fix all the little mistakes like missing or double words, but I write these chapters week to week. As soon as I am done with a chapter I begin writing the next one, so I don't have anything planned out before hand. Velvet wasn't supposed to go to the same school as Coco, and their relationship was just something that felt right in the moment so I added it.
Okay, lastly if anyone doesn't want me to shout out their reviews just let me know and I won't add you to this section. I know a lot of people feel uncomfortable about stuff like that.
Shout outs:
Webdog177- Thanks for the review! You thanked me for sharing, I thank you for reading. It means a lot.
naruhinafan11- Good to see you again! Thanks for the review as always. You're the best.
GrnDrgnzrd - When you say see you next chapter you mean it, haha. Thanks for reading, I hope you think things continue to get good lol.
BerserkBookWorm- Thank you for the review! I really like that Ruby just knows who is a good person too. I didn't plan that, it just sort of happened haha. I'm not planning on Ruby getting severely beaten, but some fights will definitely be bad. I hope you like the next chapter.
Hellwyrm- Thank you for the review and the favorite. I love that you have been ninja following the story for a while lol. Thank you for the comments about the grammar. When I read it I thought 'It can't be that bad', but I went back and re-read the chapters. It's bad haha! You're completely right, I always say words in my head that I don't actually write down. My brain just moves faster than my fingers I guess haha.
RedtheWolf2- Thank you for the review. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and I really appreciate it. I can understand how the writing could be jarring when I switch perspectives like that. That's why I used their names so much, it was a way for me to keep track of who was talking and to who. Again, I do almost no editing before I publish a chapter, kind of because I want to see how well I can do when I am not constantly editing my own work. I tried to be more careful this chapter, and I hope I did a good job keeping the perspectives separate this time so it is easier to read.
On to the chapter!
Weiss sank down low in the driver's seat of her car, hoping that the tinting on the windows would help hide her presence in the car. Curiosity and stubbornness had brought her to drive her newly fixed car back to the same street she had met Ruby and wait in hopes of seeing her. Weiss had berated herself several times throughout the night for practically stalking Ruby, but it was now 3 a.m Saturday morning and she hadn't seen Ruby since Monday when the younger girl had visited her after school.
Ruby had texted her on Wednesday, and the two had kept up a pretty consistent stream of texts going the rest of the week, but they hadn't met up at all even though Weiss had offered to treat Ruby to an early dinner since the girl seemed to work in the early evenings…and the late evenings…and the early mornings. Weiss blew out an exasperated breath. The young brunette always seemed to be working, and Weiss was sick of hearing work as an excuse to not meet up. What teenager worked that much; and all those hours?
Weiss was worried that Ruby was lying to her about work so that she could avoid her for some reason. She was also somehow even more worried that Ruby was telling the truth and really did work that much. If Ruby really did work as much as she said she did then that could only mean that she was working in less than reputable places. Weiss had researched the child labor laws and it was clear that it was illegal for Ruby to work not only the amount of hours she did, but also to work such strange hours. Ruby had refused to tell Weiss about her job beyond that she was a delivery girl, and Weiss was now ninety percent positive that it was either a lie, or not the whole truth.
Weiss remembered that they had both agreed to respect that the other had some questions they weren't ready to answer, but Weiss was concerned. Okay, maybe I'm mostly curious, but this is also getting ridiculous! You can't avoid me forever Ruby.
She was so caught in her internal fuming that she almost missed the three figures stepping out of a dark alleyway across the street. Just like the night they met Ruby was wearing her red hoodie, and a pair of ripped blue jeans. Yang's blonde hair was as wild as Weiss remembered and she was wearing a brown leather half coat over a white tank top, and a pair of cutoff jean shorts. Weiss didn't know the third girl, but she was dressed similarly in a black half coat over a white shirt, and a pair of black, ripped jeans. She would have looked more dangerous had she not had a black bow tied on top of her head.
No, the most dangerous looking one at the moment was the tall blonde who was glaring down at her sister. Weiss took a closer look and noticed that there were obvious bruises on Ruby's face that she could see from the dark interior of her car. The trio of girls stopped as Yang stepped in front of the smaller brunette and seemed to be talking to her through gritted teeth. The black haired girl that was with them looked shocked before she schooled her features and watched the sisters impassively. Ruby was glaring back at Yang and it appeared as if the two were arguing.
Weiss really wanted to know what they were saying, but she was parked on the other side of the street and she didn't want to risk rolling the window down for fear of being seen. The two sisters kept up the back and forth for a few minutes when the black haired girl walked up and rested a hand on each of their shoulders. She said something and Ruby seemed to calm down, but Yang shook off the hand before saying something that caused the other girl to take a step back. The blonde turned and stomped off leaving the other two behind.
The white haired girl watched as Ruby placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder. Her bright blue eyes narrowed just a bit as she noticed that the two girls appeared a little too…close. The girl with the bow in her hair nodded at something that Ruby said and gave the smaller girl a small smile. Weiss grumbled as she saw Ruby give her a big grin in return. She realized that she was feeling jealous of the raven haired girl and she shook her head to clear it. Ruby is allowed to have other friends. We just started being friends, so it's not like I should expect for Ruby to smile at me like that. She has probably known that girl for a lot longer.
She was so caught up in her mental lecture to herself that she had failed to notice that the black haired girl had pointed to her car and drawn it's presence into Ruby's notice. She didn't notice as Ruby parted ways with the other girl and walked over to the car. She only noticed that there was a sudden tapping at her window that startled her from her musings, and a scowling Ruby peering into the window. Weiss gulped as Ruby half glared at her and motioned for her to roll her window down. I am so busted.
Ruby had not been having a good day. She had started off the week on such a high note, but things only went down- hill from Monday. She had known that working for both Warehouse and Ember would be physically draining, but she had thought that she could handle it. Over the past week the constant running-literally- from job to job had been taking a toll on her. The late nights and early mornings with no breaks in between had caused her to be at less than her best during her fights.
She had a newfound respect for her sister who took beatings every day and never complained, and never let her injuries affect her performance in the arena. After a week of constant hits and kicks her body felt like it had been hit by a truck. Her body had been given no time to heal before more abuse was heaped upon it, and she had no other choice but to grit her teeth a bear with it. She had chosen to do this; she just hadn't realized how much the job at Ember would affect her.
Then tonight her exhaustion and physical condition had caught up with her and she had almost lost her first fight at Ember. She had been so tired by her fourth fight, and her body in so much pain that she became sloppy. She made stupid mistakes and she had gotten her ass kicked. The only reason she won was because the girl she had fought didn't realize that a choke hold didn't mean you couldn't breathe. It meant that the arteries on your neck were squeezed and blocked the blood flow to the brain. Ruby herself had been about to pass out as she was pummeled by the bigger girl as they wrested on the ground. It had been too close and Ruby was trying to figure out a way to keep this lifestyle up long enough to earn the money she needed.
After her last few fights there was no way to hide her bruises anymore. Her face was a black and blue mess, her lip was split in two different places, she had a cut above her right eye, and the only thing hiding the mess that was her body was her baggy red hoodie. Yang had been livid when she saw her. Her sister knew she was fighting somebody, and Ruby was just glad that her big, blonde sister assumed she was getting into fights on the streets. She did not need to have her second job discovered right now.
Yang had held in her temper until they had left work. Yang and Blake were both each other's last fight, and Ruby had finished her shift when their fight ended. Yang had won again, but not by much. Ruby decided that her sister had been too mad to register any pain her body might be in. Since Blake's Krav Maga style was meant to cause pain and overwhelm an opponent, Yang's pain tolerance was probably the only reason the brawler had won. Blake was still crashing on their couch so they had all left the Warehouse together. That's when Yang demanded that her silver eyed little sister tell her what she had been up to.
They had argued, and Ruby and Yang never argued. They squabbled and pestered each other, they had tussles or spats. One thing they never did was out right fight with each other. When Yang had stopped her on the street and gotten in her face Ruby had been too tired and upset to handle it calmly.
"I'm not going to put up with your moods anymore Ruby." Yang had snarled through gritted teeth. "I thought we worked past this when you were twelve, and I won't go through this again." Blake appeared startled at Yang's outburst.
Those words hit the smaller girl harder than anyone knew. "You're not the one going through anything, Yang. I'm fine, you're the one making a bigger deal out of this than it has to be." Ruby glared up at her sister, hardened silver eyes meeting lilac.
They went back and forth for a few more minutes before the Faunus finally couldn't take anymore and reached out to lay a hand on both of their shoulders. "Yang maybe Ruby is right. She said that there was nothing wrong, and it's not like we can really say anything about Ruby getting into a fight or two on the street."
Ruby was glad for the support. The older girls' words made her take a step back from the argument and she gave herself a mental shake to get rid of any lingering anger towards Yang. The blonde however did not find any comfort in the Faunus's words and turned to her with her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Don't butt in where you don't belong Blake! You have no idea what you're talking about." Blake took a step back at the harsh tone and simply watched as the bigger girl stormed off.
Ruby put her hand on the taller girls shoulder. "I'm sorry Blake. I appreciate you trying to get us to calm down. Yang is just angry right now; when we get home I think she will be calmed down enough to talk."
The faunus sent Ruby a small smile at the encouragement, and was rewarded by a big grin in return. Ruby had enjoyed having Blake around this past week, and she suspected that Yang had enjoyed it as well- if maybe for a different reason than Ruby had. The young teen had noticed that sometimes-only sometimes- Yang had actually let the faunus get a little closer than she let others.
Ruby was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when Blake made a slight scoffing sound. "Someone must be pretty stupid to leave a car that nice parked in this neighborhood. It'll be stripped by sunrise."
Ruby looked to where she was pointing and saw a slightly familiar light blue BMW parked across the street. Silver eyes squinted as she tried to remember where she had seen the car before. It wasn't until she could just barely make out the silhouette of someone in the car that she remembered whose car that was. Then all she felt was angry.
"Blake go on ahead without me. I have some business with that car I need to take care of." The faunus almost questioned her about it, but Ruby was already making her way across the street. Blake just shrugged and continued on her way home.
Ruby stayed upset all the way from walking over to the car to Weiss rolling down the window. It was the look of fear on the blue eyed girls face that changed her anger to worry. "Weiss, is everything ok?"
Ruby watched as the other girls eyes widened in surprise. "I thought you were mad at me?"
She shrugged. "Well, I was, but if you are afraid of something then I don't really have a reason to be angry." The white haired girl just looked at her with a somewhat disbelieving expression.
"No, I was afraid because you were mad at me." Now it was Ruby's eyes that widened in surprise.
"Am I that scary?" Weiss could only give a slight chuckle at that. "Well with bruises like that you could scare anyone."
The younger girls blush was only barely hidden by the dark purple and blue discolorations on her skin. She had completely forgotten the bruising was there, and now she was standing in front of Weiss looking as bad as she possibly could. Ruby groaned in embarrassment in her head.
"What happened to you Ruby? You didn't get bruises like that being a delivery girl." Ruby grimaced at that. Crud.
"W-well what if I was saving someone who had no clue how to defend themselves, and they had decided it would be a good idea to go to one of the worst neighborhoods and sit in a very expensive, noticeable car. Said person is practically live bait." Ruby regained some of her glare as she turned the situation back to Weiss' presence in the street. Weiss blushed a little, but was also slightly indignant.
"I can defend myself!" She crossed her arms and glared slightly at the silvery eyed teen by her window. Ruby outright scoffed at the words.
"I think what happened the night we first met is a clear indication that you can't. Jim and Joe are thugs, but to anyone with any sort of training they are like kids throwing temper tantrums." Ruby softened her glare as the wealthy girl lowered her gaze in frustration.
"No one should be on this side of town unless they can defend themselves properly. I don't want anything to happen to you." They both blushed slightly at that. Ruby sighed as she felt the lack of sleep catching up to her quickly. Her limbs already felt heavy, but now it was getting harder to keep her eyes open.
"I want you to go home now Weiss. We will talk more about this later, but right now I don't have the mental capacity to talk clearly for long." Weiss wanted to protest, this was the first time she had seen Ruby all week since Monday. However she could see the exhaustion quickly seeping into the younger girls eyes. She gave the girl a small smile and nodded as she turned her car back on.
Weiss waited for Ruby to back away, but the younger girl stayed at her window. When she turned to look at her questioningly a hand was suddenly cupping her cheek and she squeaked in surprise.
"Y'know, Snowflake? You really are very beautiful when you smile." Startled blue eyes locked onto silver as they lazily traced her features. Before Weiss could say anything in return the hand was drawn away. "G'night, Weiss."
Ruby left without waiting for a response and headed down the street. She only turned around long enough to make sure that the car was indeed going down the street towards the more reputable section of town. As she began walking again she knew that she should be feeling some sort of embarrassment at what she had just said to Weiss, but she was too tired at the moment to fully process her own actions. She trudged the rest of the home and found Yang waiting outside of the building for her.
The tall girl instantly came over to Ruby and wrapped her in her muscular arms. Luckily for the younger girls ribs it was not one of her bone crushing squeezes, but a gentle embrace that seemed to convey everything the elder was feeling. "I'm sorry," Yang whispered as she simply held the smaller girl.
"Me too." Just like that their fight was over, and all was forgiven. The sisters had grown far past needing to talk their issues out. They had an almost complete understanding of one another, and that one hug and the soft apology were all that was needed to bring the girls back together.
Ruby wearily leaned into her sister's shoulder, her cheek pressed against Yang's warm shoulder. She was suddenly lifted up and carried into the building. Too tired to say anything more she let herself be carried all the way to the apartment on the third floor. Yang was barely winded after climbing all those stairs with Ruby in her arms. Ruby vaguely heard Blake's voice as she was carried to the bedroom and laid in the bed. Her shoes were removed and the covers pulled up to her chin, not bothered at all that she was still in her regular clothes.
"Love you, Yang," she murmured before sleep pulled her down into its deep embrace.
Yang looked down at the brunette already breathing deeply in slumber and gave a soft smile.
"Love you too, lil' sis."
Re-entering the living room of the small apartment she found Blake sitting on the couch and plopped down next to the dark haired faunus with a heavy sigh. Leaning her head back and closing her eyes she simply enjoyed the silence in the apartment.
"Are you ok?" Lilac eyes blinked open at the question. She looked over to see Blake looking at her questioningly. "Yeah, I'm just tired I guess."
The faunus raised an eyebrow. Yang could see that the other girl didn't really believe her, but she didn't question her about it.
"If you wanna talk about it I'll be happy to listen. Only if you want to of course." With that the raven haired girl picked up a book from the small coffee table and began to read. Yang looked at her for a while as the faunus read. She had apologized to the other girl when she had first arrived home, but she still felt guilty for what she said before she stormed off. The only other person she had ever apologized to was Ruby, and even then she had never had to say much more than 'I'm sorry' to clear the air. This time just saying the words didn't feel like enough. She didn't have the same kind of bond with Blake, and she knew that the other girl wasn't likely to fully understand just how bad she felt about it. She took a deep breath.
"I want to apologize again for what I said earlier," she said stiffly. She cleared her throat awkwardly as the faunus raised slightly startled amber eyes to meet her own. "I know I said it earlier, but I just wanted to say that I know I handled that whole situation badly. I'm very protective of Ruby, and it's just been us for so long that when you stepped in it felt like an intrusion. I want you to know that I appreciate that you were trying to get us to talk about it calmly."
Yang's cheeks heated up in a slight blush. Gods, could I have sounded anymore stupid?
"That was very…proper. Do you always talk like a schoolmarm when you apologize?" Given the slight smirk on Blake's face she knew that she was being teased, but she felt her blush deepen at the words. She folded her arms and grumbled under her breath. "I do not sound like a schoolmarm."
The dark haired faunus gave the smallest of chuckles at that. Yang felt a hand rest on her shoulder. "Thank you. I know you were just upset. I didn't mean to intrude on anything, and I'll be more careful about stuff like that from now on."
The tall blonde simply nodded at that and stood up to make her way into the bedroom. She stopped at the doorway and took a quick glance over her shoulder.
"I wouldn't really mind if you intruded a little bit. It'd be kinda nice, actually." Cheeks turning scarlet at the small confession she hurried into the bedroom and shut the door quickly but quietly. Changing into her sleep wear she slid gently onto the mattress next to her sister. She placed her hand briefly on the small girls bruised cheek. We are going to talk about this again, but calmly this time. Then after that you are going to tell me what to say to Blake after what I just said because I have no idea what I'm doing!
Blake stared at the closed bedroom door in shock. She sat there processing what Yang had said to her, and she felt a small blush rise to her cheeks. She couldn't deny the blonde brawler didn't interest her in a way. When she had decided to start her life over in this city she had planned on staying distant, not forming any bonds with anybody, and only relying on herself for a change. Now here she was crashing on someone else's couch, and feeling drawn to a girl who was reported as keeping herself closed off.
She turned off the lamp next to the couch and snuggled down under her blanket. She didn't want to acknowledge the fact that her insides warmed a little at the thought that Yang wanted to be closer to her, but here she was, undeniably happy that the blonde opened up to her little. She closed her eyes with a small smile on her face. Maybe, just maybe, we can both open up to each other.