Chapter 8

Weiss looked beautiful in her sleep and the rhythm of her breathing was music to my ears. She's yours! Don't mess it up! I felt so happy I could hardly stop myself from giggling hysterically as I watched her sleep. It was still a bit early and I didn't want to wake her yet so I'd been watching her for a while. Isn't that creepy?

"R-ruby?" She slowly blinked her eyes open as a soft smile creeped across her face. "So I wasn't dreaming…"

I shook my head and giggled, "nope. I love you."

"I knew it!" Yang called from the top bunk, you girls went and fell in love behind my back. Weiss squealed nervously and through the blanket over her head. Damnit Yang. I squeezed her hand, having not let go of it the whole night.

"Yang… she's shy." I looked over at Weiss and whispered, "it's okay. She's a friend."

Yang realized she might have made a mistake and got out of her bunk, "sorry. I don't mind, in fact, you've both got my full support." She put her hands on me and Weiss' shoulders, "I know Ruby loves you a lot, so I really hope it works out between you two."

Weiss popped her head out from under the blanket, "t-thanks Yang."

I nodded in agreement and Yang started heading towards the door, "don't go doing untoward while I'm in the cafeteria." I blushed and Weiss made a comment about Yang being a dumb brawler.

"Sorry about her, you know how she can be but she meant well."

"I know Ruby. It's okay. What she said… about supporting us, I'm glad." I smiled and leaned down to kiss her, she was just so beautiful and I'd lost my restraint. My lips were an inch from hers when I saw her wide eyes and scared face. Stop! Do it! Stop!

"S-sorry… uh" She frowned and rolled to be facing away from me. I said don't mess it up! You had one job!

She was silent for a few seconds, "i-it's okay. It's my fault. We can kiss now if you want." She still seemed upset, despite her words.

"No, I can tell your still nervous. I was being inconsiderate, I don't mind waiting."

She rolled over a minute later with tears running down her face. You made her cry. "J-just kiss me, you dolt." Her lips quivered as she battled between anxiety and want. I figured she was forcing herself to do this and my chest grew tight. I didn't want to hurt her by rejection but I didn't want to make her do something she didn't fully want. Just kiss her, stupid!

I repositioned my body so I was laying in front of her close enough to feel the heat from her face. "W-Weiss, I want to, I really do but if you don't I don't want to force you." She let out a slight gasp and I could see more tears start running down her cheeks. Kiss her better! I couldn't take looking at her cry anymore and leaned over to give her a kiss. Even as hesitant as I was at first, when our lips brushed against one another's there was this sensation that overtook me. It was like a lightning bolt shot through me, splitting every atom of my being and replacing it with pure bliss. I was unable to stop and continued kissing more and more passionately for several seconds but eventually I realized she was trying to pull away. You fucked it up again.

She panted and gasped for breath as I waited for her to say something. I knew I pushed it too far and it was clear on her face she was thinking about how to tell me that. "R-ruby… t-that felt good but… I was getting uncomfortable."

I nodded and gulped, "I know. I'm sorry, it just felt so amazing I couldn't help myself. I didn't know a kiss could feel that intense."

She blushed really deeply and punched my shoulder, "dolt." She really does like compliments.

"It's because I love you so much. You really are special, Weiss." I squeezed her hand and started sliding out of bed to get dressed.

"Y-your special too Ruby, really, your amazing." I giggled like a little girl. Amazing? Maybe everyone likes compliments.

"Thanks Weiss, now let's go get some breakfast."

A while later

"Since we're back to normal… well better than normal, do you want to pick up where we left off on training?" Weiss looked down at her food, gave it a thought and nodded at me. "It'll involve a lot more running…" she groaned but didn't seem deterred.

"Ruby, Weiss! Haven't seen you two eating together in a while." Nora slid into the bench in front of us with usual smile, followed by the rest of team JNPR.

I frowned and looked at Weiss, then calm as ever she smiled over at her and said "yeah, we got into a bit of a fight but we're over it now. How've you guys been?"

"We've been practicing our teamwork. So Ruby, how did it go with Coco?" Nora! Me, Pyrrha and Weiss all blushed and began looking flustered. I gulped visibly and munched on a cookie, failing miserably to pretend like I didn't hear anything. "Oh… woops." Woops? She put her hand on her face and Juane glanced between me and her with a curious look on his face.

Weiss seemed more than a bit annoyed, maybe a little jealous so I had to save myself this time. "Uh, it went… well."

"What did you want with Coco?" Damnit Juane! Drop the fucking subject!

Weiss picked up her tray and started walking away, "I'm done eating. See you all later." There was a clear edge to her voice that really stung me, I looked down at my tray and back to JNPR before saying I was also done and followed Weiss out.

Weiss was walking fast towards the gardens, "Ruby, leave me alone."

"I'm sorry!" Your sorry? You fucking had sex with someone else!

Weiss stopped in her tracks, turned around and glared at me. "It's my fault, I'm the coward who couldn't tell you my feelings."

"N-no… it's my fault. I'm the one with the problem." She cocked her head to the side, temporarily confused.

"P-problem?"

I gulped and looked down at my feet, the sky and anywhere but her. "Well… when I'm stressed or tense or just dealing with something, I look for distractions. I'm the coward who couldn't face her feelings, not you." I panted and looked at her, she was smiling. There were tears on her cheeks but she was smiling at me.

"Thanks for telling me but you're not a coward. I drove you to that but your facing your feelings now. I'm trying to do the same, I just… got upset knowing you were that intimate with someone." She took a few steps closer to me, "next time you need a distraction, I can't uh, do that. But I'll do my best to make you happy."

I looked around and saw no one was outside, felt no auras nearby. "C-can I hug you?" She blushed and glanced around herself before giving me a nod. I stepped forward and lightly put my arms around her, she embraced me for a couple of seconds and pulled away when she got uncomfortable.

"That felt nice but… not in public. Not yet." So no screaming my love for you to the whole world? Damn.

"Alright. I'll be patient. Just being near you is enough."

Start of class

"That's a lot of Grimm." That's an understatement. In the fields just outside of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch was standing in front of a dozen massive cages chock full of Grimm of all shapes and sizes.

"Students! You might be wondering why we've got all these Grimm. Well today, we're going to be doing some practical exercises. Each team will have their leader come forward and draw a number, each number corresponds to a cage. Each team will be dropped into their respective cage, the teams will be judged for their performances." Audible groans went up around me but I felt pretty confident that we'd do well and walked forward, have faith Ruby.

Glynda smirked at me, "you aren't afraid?"

I shook my head and looked back at my team, who all seemed bolstered by my confidence. "A good team leader should have faith in their teammates, I'm certain that we'll do well." She held out a bowl with slips of paper. I drew my number and walked back to my team as the rest of the leaders went up to grab theirs.

Yang snatched the paper out of my hands before I even looked at it, "let's see… 7! What's 7?" We all looked over at the seventh cage, inside were at least three dozen large Beowolves and a massive Ursa Major. "Aww, I was hoping for the death stalker."

I chuckled and looked at my teammates who were a bit worried looking, "come on guys, we fight Beowolves all the time. I think I've got a plan of attack." They all glanced around and smiled at me, "When we go in, Blake you need to send in a clone, they'll pounce on it and me and Yang will use the distraction to take out the first couple. From there, Weiss and you will distract the Beowolves while me and Yang pick apart the Ursa. From there, it's child's play."

"What about my glyphs? Do you want me to throw up a field of them?"

I shook my head, "no Weiss, I'll bounce off the cage walls and ceiling. Also, I know we haven't had much practice lately but I want us to trust each other to handle are end and help each other when we need to." They nodded and I put my hand in the middle, Yang put her hand over mine, then Blake and hesitantly Weiss. "Go team RWBY!"

Once everyone was ready, Glynda shouted "go" and the doors to the cages opened. Immediately Blake sent in an explosive clone that the Beowolves pounced on, the explosion took out two and me and Yang annihilated a few more before they even knew what hit them. By the time they started to move back and began attempting to encircle us, Weiss had an ice wall up that split the entire cage in half. Blake leapt onto and then off of a wall and began distracting the Beowolves while Weiss shot off dust blast.

"Yang, throw me." My sister nodded and grabbed my arm, hurling me into the air in the direction of the massive Ursa Major. Its massive paws lashed out at me but I was too quick and with the help of crescent roses recoil, I was able to change direction mid air and keep it distracted. Yang saw the opening and punched it hard enough to send it flying against the wall of the cage but looking at Weiss and Blake made me nervous. There were too many Beowolves.

"Yang." I looked over at Blake, then back to her. She gave me a nod that meant she understood my meaning, so I kicked off the wall and cleaved a Beowolve that was about to ram into Blake in two. "Help your partner." She nodded and started heading towards Yang while I began leaping off the walls and ceiling to get the Beowolves to attack me. They weren't taking the bait and it looked like Weiss was in danger. She looked up at me and smirked confidently, she wants you to wait. As much as I wanted to protect her, I swallowed my pride and remembered to believe in my partner. It seemed to pay off as Weiss waited until the last minute to jump onto a glyph and sent a massive blast of ice chunks at them, killing a few.

"Go Weiss!" I cheered, until I saw one of the remaining Beowolves leap and to cut her. I used my semblance to move her out of the way and kill it, just barely arriving in time, so close that its claws managed to cut her clothes.

"Thanks Ruby." She glanced at the cut in her shirt, "bastard ruined it." Too close.

"Don't worry, I'll sew it when we get back. For now, sit back and watch." I set her down and stood between her and the remaining Grimm, "so you want to hurt my partner? I'll show you not to mess with team RWBY!" Maybe you should try that? No… not yet. I set Crescent Rose to scythe mode and dashed forward, putting my full power on display. I cut one in half, then another, throwing myself right into the center of them but even as they lunged at me from behind I dodged easily, sensing them and dodging before they even moved. It was less than a minute before I'd finished them all off. By that time, Yang and Blake had already finished the Ursa as well.

"Great job sis! You're a badass!" Yang wrapped me in a hug and the others congratulated me.

"No no, it was all of us. Weiss got them all in one place, Blakes clones got us off to a great start and Yang took out the biggest enemy." I hugged Yang back and smiled at my teammates, who all seemed rather satisfied with themselves and we exited the cage.

Glynda Goodwitch greeted us by giving me a handshake. "Good job once again, team RWBY. Excellent teamwork and leadership, though your original plan held some tactical flaws." Can't let us get a win, can you?

She moved on as the second team exited the cages. "I hope JNPR is doing okay." Blake said as she glanced over at the cage they entered.

"I'm sure their doing great." Just then, they walked out, Ren seemed fine but he was followed by Nora and Jaune who were holding a very obviously injured Pyrrha. Yang gasped and we all started running in their direction.

Glynda gave them her cold as ever appraisal and suggested they go to the infirmary, "wait. Let me." I looked down at my hands, I'd never healed and injury that big before but I wanted to help however I could. I put my hand on her stomach and started pouring energy into it, I could feel the ribs mending and the wound closing as Pyrrha screamed from the pain. I knew from experience how bad it could be. I was panting and breathing heavy when I was half way through, come on Ruby! You can heal her! I pushed myself and after another minute, the wound was good as new.

"Wow, Ruby your awesome… Ruby, you okay?" I stumbled backwards, caught myself and then my vision started to go black as I collapsed into someone's arms.

I woke up a few minutes later, I looked up and saw Yang's face. I was resting on her lap, "uh… how long?"

"A couple-"

Weiss punched me in the stomach, "you dolt. I was worried." I looked up at her and smiled weakly as I tried to sit up, finding myself incredibly tired.

"S-sorry… guess I overdid it with the healing." She sighed and I looked around, team JNPR and RWBY were all waiting with me.

Pyrrha put her hand on my shoulder, "next time, stop before you feint. T-thanks though." Yeah, that would be wise.

Weiss offered me her hand and I took it, squeezing lightly. She frowned and I realized it was to pull me up, not to hold. Before the others noticed I pulled myself up and sighed, "now I'm hungry." I took a step forward and nearly feel, Weiss caught me and wrapped an arm around me.

"Dolt. You'll fall." She blushed, "lean on me." I need to feint more often. I nodded and thanked her.

Pyrrha tried to help but I pushed her away, saying that Weiss got me. "Alright. Hey, later… could you teach me how to heal?"

"Maybe. Perhaps you should ask one of the medical staff? I've only had a couple of lessons at it and mostly I heal through brute force, I never really grasped all the details Azure tried to teach me." She nodded and Weiss chuckled at something.

Later

We left Blake and Yang at the cafeteria with JNPR for some alone time after eating. "You'd probably gain energy faster if you ate something other than cookies." I groaned at the mention of eating healthier and sat on her bed.

"But cookies are so good, I've gained enough energy to walk on my own now." She blushed at the memory of carrying me through the school. "Thanks for that by the way."

She shook her head, "I just didn't want anyone else to do it." I blushed and smiled at her. I noticed the cut in her blazer, and reached around for my bag, pulling out a needle and thread.

"Give me your blazer, I'll fix it for you." She smiled and started unbuttoning it. If only it cut deeper. I looked away to hide the blush on my face and by the time I looked back she was holding it out to me. "T-thanks."

"You're the one sewing it for me, besides, it would have been worse if you didn't save me last minute." I winced at the thought of being a second to late, not that she'd have been seriously hurt. Just that I didn't want her to ever be in pain.

"We're partners, saving each other is our job. Besides, it wouldn't do for a princess to sew her own clothes."

She blushed, "I'm not a princess."

"You are to me."

She blushed even more and bit her lip as if she was thinking about asking me something. A moment passed as she opened her mouth and closed it several times before finally saying, "you can kiss me… if you want." Yeah!

I immediately put the blazer to the side and leaned over to her. "Your wish is my demand, oh fair princess." I pressed my lips against hers just barely and let her choose the tempo. At first, she was hesitant and didn't press further but eventually her anxiety broke and she started kissing back with passion. It was hot and intense but also soft and incredibly intimate. We were like that for a while, lips locked together until I was running out of breath and she pulled away."

"T-that was… wow Ruby." I nodded in agreement as I pushed thoughts of going further from my mind. But look at her… you're alone, in bed together. She scooted closer to me, "I think I can do it again." I gulped, behave yourself!

"Perfect." I leaned in and started kissing her again, just like last time she started hesitant but picked up intensity much faster. I could feel my hands moving towards her, hear the thoughts in my mind. You want more. Eventually I forced myself to pull away before I made her uncomfortable.

She got a concerned look on her face. "I-is something wrong?"

"N-no…" I looked at my feet, "I just… think we should slow down."

"Why? I thought you liked this?" Too much.

"I do… I just, might not be able to help myself… you're too exciting. If we keep making out, I'm worried I'd do something to make you uncomfortable. I'm worried I can't resist those urges."

She leaned over and kissed me, taking control this time. Just how you like it. Shut up brain! I let her increase the intensity and tried to force my hands to stay in place but eventually I got lost in the sensations and they wrapped around her, tracing up and down her back. She didn't seem to mind and I was too lost in oblivion to stop my hands from pressing into her rear. So firm… shit! Weiss broke the kiss and pulled back, not looking angry but surprised.

"I'm so sorry… I'm such an idiot."

She shook her head, "no. I wanted to show you that you know to stop when I get uncomfortable. I just… didn't expect you to uh, grab me… there."

I blushed, "well uh, sorry… it was uh, nice though." She blushed and gasped, obviously flustered. "S-sorry."

"Stop apologizing. I'm really glad you find me attractive and even though sometimes I feel nervous about physical contact, you stop when I tell you to." I wish you didn't need to though.

"Weiss, why are you uncomfortable with physical contact?"

She sighed and looked at her hands. "It's well, personal…" I bit my lip and looked at her, wanting to console her but not wanting to make her uncomfortable. I reached my arms out like I wanted to hug her but she shook her head, "n-no." She offered me her hand and laid down, "join me." I took her hand and put my head on the pillow beside hers.

"You don't need to tell me today if you don't want to." She shook her head.

"L-last time… I didn't tell you. It made me feel worse, I just… wasn't ready. But, the first step to being free of my anxiousness is to face it." She squeezed my hand and looked at me, "y-you can hug me. I'll be uncomfortable telling you always, may as well have you give me some courage." I nodded and wrapped my arms around her while she slowly gathered the courage. "S-sorry… I don't think I'm ready after all." She pulled out of my arms and started to cry.

"It's okay Weiss, I'm here for you." I squeezed her hand and let her cry into the pillow, wishing it was my shoulder.

She cried for several moments before looking up at me, "stay with me again tonight… I don't want to have a nightmare."

"Of course, Weiss. Whatever you need." I pulled a blanket over us and she pressed her head against the pillow, obviously still feeling upset.

A/N: Seems not only Ruby has emotional baggage to deal with. Anyways, hope you folks enjoyed. Next session will probably skip ahead a few days and cover *gasps* actual, non slice of life plot. I know, crazy isn't it? Thanks for reading and remember, reviews are always welcome folks.