Hello all! Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. It was originally 6k long, but I decided to save the rest of it for a upcoming chapter. I then ran into a problem where what I had written got deleted and that wasn't fun.

Thanks you Gorsouul for helping me improve my writing and thank you Unapologeticallyauthor for being my Beta.

This chapter will be cover the previous chapter from Weiss' POV and the rest after that is, well, interesting. Anyhow, enjoy!

XxXxX

Chapter 13: Massage

POV: Weiss

I'm currently finishing up my food along with Ruby so we can get to class. Luckily there's some time left and Ruby is still eating, so I can message Blake really quick.

Blake suggested that I really do like Ruby, and after some thought I've come to the conclusion that I indeed do like her. Because of this, even before I realized it myself, I've been acting abnormal. Maybe by reaching out to Blake, I can get back in the right state of mind. It's not that I don't like my feelings, it's just that my feelings are causing me to act in a way that I'm not comfortable with. Being flustered is something that makes me feel helpless, and I was taught not to feel that way. Ever.

Me: Hey Blake, I need to tell you something.

Blake: Yeah?

Me: Two things: We have class soon, and I do like Ruby.

Blake: I was reading with Yang, but we'll start getting ready for class now.

Me: Wait, can we talk about how I should handle my feelings for Ruby?

Blake: Oh that? Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you this so I'll tell you. Yang told Ruby that you like her, of course she just assumed at the time, and then told her to tease you.

Tease me? So that's what that was! I knew she was acting strange! Ruby you little. . .

Me: Seriously? I knew something was going on. Why tease me though? What's to gain?

Blake: She likely wants you to confess to her, saving her the embarrassment of confessing to you. I know you're all about being proper, but maybe you should retaliate?

Me: I will not let her win. How should I retaliate?

Blake: Well, I'm guessing Ruby's been doing things to get you flustered so just reciprocate those actions, but add your own twist.

It really isn't like me to do something like that, but maybe I should. Yes, I'm decided. Ruby Rose, two can play at this game.

Me: Thank you, Blake. I'll use that knowledge to my advantage.

Blake: No problem, we're heading to class now.

Looking up, I see that the devious individual I call a partner has finished eating. "Ruby, we should head to class."

She nods her head with a smile and with that we are off to class. Oh Ruby, now that I know your secret, I'm going to play it against you.

XxXxX

According to Professor Goodwitch, today we'll be focusing on hand to hand combat. I won't lie, I'm not as proficient in hand to hand as I'd like to be, but I think I can handle myself.

The first our that has been selected is Cardin and Pyrrha. This match should be pretty obvious, after Pyrrha revealed her semblance at the tournament, she doesn't really hide it anymore. The professor is allowing semblance in today's sparring – Cardin's in full armor so her semblance will effectively down him.

After barely even a few minutes, I was right. I took notes, but it was pretty obvious what was going to happen. If it had been a different opponent then maybe it would've been worthy of more notes.

As they clashed, Pyrrha wasted no time taking him down and keeping him down. After he is pinned on the ground by her, she kicked him relatively hard causing his aura to dip into the red zone.

Pyrrha holds her hand out to help Cardin up, who swats her hand away. What an ungrateful, stuck up. . . no, Weiss don't even think about it.

"As you saw, sometimes your own clothing or armor could be a disadvantage for you. What Mister Winchester should've done was counteract the magnetism with his body weight." She looks over at Pyrrha with a satisfied look. "Pyrrha demonstrated a great tactic: incapacitate your enemy while they're down."

I take a moment to glance at Ruby, who's quietly sitting and staring into space. No notes are present anywhere around her. "Are you even taking notes? This is important."

"I can remember this." She responds, a slightly defiant look on her face.

"Miss Rose, Miss Schnee!"

Here we go. . . "Y-yes ma'am!"

"How nice of the both of you to volunteer for the next match, please step down here." I will get you back for this Ruby.

Both of us step into the arena, Ruby appearing nervous. "Are you both ready?"

I nod at the Professor along with Ruby. "Ok, begin!"

She, of course, charges straight at me with her semblance to which I promptly block with a glyph. Ruby crashes into it and groans a little in what seems like frustration.

Predictably, she charges again, roses flying in the air. However, this time she's zig-zagging. This motion is really hard to keep up with and I feel almost dizzy trying to prepare myself. Now in front of me, she throws a punch directly at me, but misses. She missed! On purpose! I could tell just by looking into her eyes, the hesitation that was within them showed that she didn't want to hit me. Because she tried to pull her fist away, she crashes into me sending us both plummeting onto the ground.

We hit the ground with a loud thud, and pain jolts through my body. I wince, but recover, and instead focus on the weight resting on me. Opening my eyes I can see she's pressed really close to my body. Her face is so close that I can feel her nervous breathing tickling my cheeks. Speaking of cheeks, hers matches her cloak and mine is likely no better. Ruby just stares at me for what feels like forever, and I hopelessly stare back. Ruby Rose, as much as I'd like to admit I like you back, I won't let you win by giving you your desired confession.

Professor Goodwitch pulls me from my thoughts. "Congratulations, Miss Rose. You've subdued your opponent, now what?"

Following this statement, Ruby quickly pins my hands above my head. This is a very compromising situation and likely can and will be viewed as a lewd situation too. Yang may have a field day with this later. Looking up into her eyes, I'm again lost in her beauty. Those eyes are for some reason so easy to get lost in. Was she always like this? My goodness, listening to myself think like this! I never even began to imagine that this dolt would be the person who's always on my mind. Dust, her eyes are so. . . ok, I need to snap out of it!

Summoning a glyph, I push her off of me and pull myself up. Looking at Ruby, I can see she's created some distance between me and her, then I notice something. Behind her, in the crowd, I can see Blake who's smiling and giving me a thumbs up. That's what I needed! I won't let you triumph over me Ruby! I will win this game of yours, even if Yang is likely pulling the strings! Blake has my back and you won't best me. No longer feeling nervous, I adjust my stance to be more offensive than defensive. "You hesitated, dunce."

I form a light blue glyph under me that causes me to dash forward at a high speed. Catching up to her, I quickly knock her to the ground. Ok, hopefully this'll get her to try and retaliate. I mean, all I did was push her down, but it's not like I really want to do damage. Maybe if I add a little more reason to attack back.

She gets up and brushes herself off, getting into a fighting stance, but I waste no time forming a glyph and dashing to her again. What seems like a natural reaction, she thrust her fist forward, but moves it off to the side missing me. I grab her arm that missed my face, pulling her forward and pressing her against me. My mouth now next to her ear, I whisper. "You can hit me Ruby. I won't be mad this is just training after all."

I push her again, but she stands her ground this time. Now just a light insult and maybe it'll enough! "What's the matter 'fearless leader' of mine? You can't even hit your own teammate? Pathetic!"

With a very frustrated look, she charges me in an attempt to land hits on me. After a series of movement from both of us, she was actually able to land two hits on my lower back causing me to wince as the pain traveled along my spine. Good job Ruby, those hits were pretty hard too. Normally I would be mad at someone holding back, but to see someone hold back and then transition trying shows that they are willing to improve. This situation is a bit different, but I'm impressed nevertheless.

Ruby, who seems to have gained a new confidence, charges me again. Along with her confidence though I can see she's still nervous about hurting me. Forming a glyph in her path, I'm able to send her flying. She crashes into a wall with a loud thud; it isn't a sight I enjoy. I actually feel really bad for hurting her, but I need to keep my cool if I'm to triumph over her.

"That's enough, Miss Schnee you win."

Phew, I honestly think that if that continued, I would have to give up and lose.

"As you saw class, Miss Rose had the advantage, but hesitated." Glynda lowers the force field. "If you hesitate in combat, you automatically become your own enemy. You need to be prepared to do what it takes to protect others. Do. Not. Hesitate."

I walk over and offer my hand which she grateful takes. "See, that wasn't that hard was it?"

"It actually was. . ."

"Why would it be hard?" Did I overdo it? I don't want to actually stress her out, I didn't realize her hitting me was such a big deal. . . wait, it's a big deal huh? This could be something I could use against her later.

"See Mister Winchester, that's what sportsmanship is. Accepting one's hand even if you lose, something you clearly can't do." She comments on me pulling Ruby up.

We both take our seats and I nudge Ruby, who seems borderline sad. "Can we talk after class?"

She gently nods at me and I return my attention to the front of the class. The next fight is Velvet and Sky, an obvious fight, we all know who's going to win.

XxXxX

After the fight and a short ten minute lecture, class ends and everyone bustles out of the room. I stand up along with Blake and Yang, making way for the exit. I look back at Ruby questioningly and she just shoots me a small smile. "I'll be just a minute Weiss!"

Turning around, I catch up with Blake and Yang. Yang snickers a little and speaks up. "Seems like things got a little heated for you Princess."

"One, don't call me that and two, Blake can I talk to you for a moment?"

She nods and gestures for Yang to keep going without her. "What's up?"

"Well halfway through the fight, I think I regained my composure."

"Did the thumbs up help?" She smiles at me.

"Actually, it did. Just knowing I have support gave me a boost."

"Well that's good, I'll be here for you every step of the way." She gives me another thumbs up. "So is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"One more thing, thanks for telling me about Yang and Ruby's little plan."

"No problem, don't go overboard on the retaliation though." She begins to walk away.

"I won't." I call out to her as she rounds the corner of the hall. "At least not too overboard."

Ruby quickly exits the classroom and looks at me very timidly. "Hey Weiss."

"Ruby."I greet her with a stern expression. "Explain. Why did you hesitate to attack me?"

"I. . . um. . ." Of course she can't tell me.

"Is it because you're afraid of getting on my bad side?" I poke around the bush, knowing she hesitated because she likes me.

"The easiest way I can explain why is because I didn't want to hurt you, sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I'm grateful that my wellbeing is in your best interest, but it was just sparring. Good thing you ended up getting a few jabs in, but I can tell you were still holding back."

"Yeah. . . I won't next time." She shoots me a nervous smile.

"Anyways, despite you holding back, those jabs did actually hurt." She opens her mouth to try and cut in, but I hold my finger up to silence her. "But since you were holding back yet your jabs hurt, that means you're more of an effective hand to hand fighter than you may think."

Step one of my plan is now set. Telling her that the jabs hurt should've planted the seeds in her mind.

"We should head back to our dorm. Luckily we've only had one class today so we can relax today." I gesture for her to come with me.

We begin our walk back to the dorm room and I decide to start brainstorming ideas. Well, I have my major plan which I'm setting in motion now, but might as well add a few smaller more subtle flirts her way. Hmm, what's a good way to get at her? Oh! I have the perfect idea!

Coming to the corner of the hallway, I take a quick look around to see that no one is here. Good, this works perfectly. I drop my pencil to the ground in front of me. "Whoops."

Bending over to pick the pencil up, I decide to keep my legs straight instead of crouching down. Doing this is allowing my skirt to ride up my legs and expose my undergarments, and I just so happen to be wearing white panties today. I grab my pencil and pull myself up, looking at Ruby's bright red face as she turns her gaze away. Success! "Ruby, are you ok?"

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ok myself. My face is burning too mainly because I've never done something like that before.

She still keeps her gaze off of mine and she replies in a high tone. "Huh?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Let's just get back to the dorms." I tiredly sigh. "We need to study for our classes."

She just nods nervously and we return on our path to the dorm room. I'm glad I got the reaction I did from her. Now I absolutely know she feels something for me, or else she wouldn't of had the reaction she did when I bent over. She could just be a pervert, but she isn't the type of person to be like that; being a pervert is more for her sister.

XxXxX

As we enter the room, I notice Blake and Yang are both absent. After noticing this my scroll vibrates.

Blake: We will be at the library. Yang wants to find more books for us to read.

Me: Ok, how long will you two be?

Blake: About a hour.

A hour? That's more than enough time to put my plan in motion. I move onto my bed and lay flat on my stomach. Ruby joins me by sitting crisscrossed on the bed.

"Hey Weiss?"

"What is it Ruby?"

"Is there a way I can repay you for that sparring match?"

And step two of my plan is now set. Step one made her feel bad about hitting me which prompted her to ask this question. Without responding, I lift my school shirt about half way up my body while still laying on my stomach.

Back partially exposed, I reply to Ruby. "You could. . . massage the area you hit me?"

"Wha-wha?" She looks over at me, eyes growing wide at my exposed back.

"You know, massage the area you hit me and mix your aura with mine." I smile at her. "I've read that injuries heal much faster this way."

It does heal injuries much faster, but it's also something that is believed to only work for people who've been friends for years or people who share strong feelings for each other. A moment of truth, I suppose.

"O-ok." Ruby faces me and begins to massage my upper back.

Weiss you truly are a genius, but then again she truly is a dolt. Now step two is done, time for the finale step. Good thing Blake and Yang aren't here for this because the only person I want to see me in this compromising scenario, is Ruby.

Feeling her hands work into my back is an amazing feeling. Her hands aren't too hot or too cold and her aura is actually mixing, almost perfectly with mine. Well, that absolutely proves it. Her aura feels almost, fuzzy. The fuzzy feeling is accompanied by a warm, soft sensation that's very hard to explain. The best way to explain it is a ray of sunshine hitting your skin. It's a feeling that begins to calm me. Surely she knows that she jabbed at my lower back. . . right above my behind.

"Hey Ruby, I appreciate this massage, but you hit me lower than that." I smirk and put my face into the pillow so she can't see my face.

Thanks to Blake, I've literally gained every ounce of my confidence back. The me from yesterday would've nearly exploded with Ruby doing this, but now the tables have turned. I do still feel a light blush on my face though. She begins working her hands into the middle of my back and it feels great.

I've never let anyone touch me like this or do anything like this at all. Despite Ruby trying to make me flustered for her own gain, I do trust her. I would also say that I am nervous from this contact, but her aura is calming me to a point of pure bliss. It appears that Ruby may be feeling the same considering her breathing has gotten heavier.

"That feels great Ruby, but still, you hit me lower than that."

I hear her whimper slightly in response as she moves to the area she hit. Taking a peek at her, I see her face is nice shade of pink. Her hands go to work on my lower back and the small of my back, relaxing me entirely. Earlier when I thought her aura mixed with mine almost perfectly, I was wrong, it does mix perfectly with mine. I'm at a loss of words when it comes to the feeling of our aura mixing, it's the most calming thing I think I've ever experienced. All the pain from our sparring gets sent away with her nervous yet loving hands working on my back. The sensation feels so good that I let out an involuntary moan.

"What?! Did I hurt you?!"

"No!" Pulling my shirt down, I sit up. I can feel my face heat up from the embarrassment.

I didn't expect to moan. I, Weiss Schnee, moaned. Ruby really is something else. I'm half tempted to just confess to her right here right now after that, but that would go against my plan.

What happened to me? When I first met her I was not fond of her at all. She made a bad first impression and I wanted nothing to do with her. Then, out of nowhere, she comes across me during initiation and that's when our paths cross again. From that point on we were fated to be partners for four years. . . but after thinking about it, I want to be partners for longer than that. Screw this game, neither of us are going to win or lose, I'm going to settle this now.

"Hey Ruby?" I call out, jolting off the bed.

"Y-yes?" She has nervous expression that looks all too cute to me.

"Come with me. We are going for a walk."

"O-ok."

This will either solve everything or I will forever be embarrassed for failing at a confession.