Wow guys, it's been...I think a little over a month since I've posted something, to some of you that might not have seemed that long. For others all I can say is I'm sorry, hell to me it felt like years since I've last posted anything. This chapter is particularly long in hopes that it makes up for my absence, my excuse for being away...well i don't have one. I kind of fell in and out of writing and had writers block all at the same time. Some days I could write a page or two other days I could hardly get a paragraph done. Let's hope it doesn't take that long to get the next one out because I am excited for what's to come. That you all for being patient and please, enjoy reading and don't forget to drop a review.
The Dragon's Rage-Part II
Silence, this was all she needed right now, just her and the quiet of the gym, though quiet wasn't exactly what she got, but the sound of her fists colliding with the heavy punching bag, that was quiet to her. This was her only way of relieving any stress and calming down, each time her fist slammed into the punching bag she felt another coiled muscle relax, each time another shock went up her arm, she could feel her stress slowly fading away. She had been lucky enough to find the gym empty and good thing too, she just didn't want to be around anyone right now, after that match with Rodric she just...didn't understand. She didn't understand how her sister her baby sister could just up and replace her like that, she didn't like it but hanging out with him constantly was one thing, talking together and laughing together while she didn't like it she could deal with it. But, to have her own sister cheering for someone else and then rushing to their side after the match was over, it was just to much for her, to think she had been easily replaced was just to much for her.
Sighing heavily she ceased in her assault of the punching bag and placed her hand on it to keep it from swinging, she couldn't stop thinking about it anytime she tried to get a reign on her anger she would just end up thinking about it. She huffed before returning to what she had been doing, throwing punch after punch at the punching bag. Did something happen that she didn't notice, why else would Ruby be so attached to Rodric, he had to have something on her and was holding it over her head. It was the only explanation, and Ruby would be to proud to come to anyone for help, after being assigned leader of their team she had tried to do a lot of things on her own without resorting to asking for help. What if this was the same thing? What could he have over her though, it wasn't like there was some dark secret that she was hiding, Yang had been with Ruby since she was little, she knew everything about her including every embarrassing secret she could have. She tried to think of what Ruby could be hiding that would be so bad that she could be blackmailed over it, but nothing came to her, sure her sister acted up in class sometimes but other than that she was as innocent as they came.
Then what? She grit her teeth as she slammed her fist harder into the punching bag, the more she tried to figure out just what he had on her the more her mind began to wander. She began to think that maybe he didn't have any dirt on her but that maybe he was doing something to her, threatening her, after what happened during their first encounter she didn't put it past him to do some low down dirty stuff like that. Her hands began to ache with how hard she was hitting the bag but she pushed herself on as she began to get lost in the things her mind showed her, what if this was that Stockholm Syndrome thing she had read about one time. What if his hold on Ruby was much more sinister than she had imagined, if he was threatening her that meant he could be doing just about anything to her, maybe she finally broke down and that's why she's so attached to him. Scenes began to play in her mind of the different things that could happened to Ruby and each one made her as sick as the previous one, growling loudly she threw an anger filled punch and punched straight through the punching bag. "Agh, dammit!" She watched as the sand poured from the hole she made as she removed her arm from it, no there was no way something like that would have happened, because she would have noticed it by now. Still, now that she thought about it those terrible images were stuck in her mind and she couldn't get rid of them until she found out just what was going on.
"Should have figured I'd find you here." She quickly turned and spotted Blake sitting at the bench she had left her things at when she entered the gym, she sighed softly before turning back towards the mess she had made. "I guess this explains why you haven't been answering my messages." Yang simply shrugged as she unchained the punching bag and tossing it into the pile of others she had managed to ruin in her attempts at clearing her mind. She walked into the storage area next to the pile and picked up another punching back, she hefted it over her shoulder as she walked back out with it to hook it back onto it's stand. "You know you can't hide in here forever Yang, you have to come back to the dorm eventually."
"Who says I'm hiding?" She asked with more bite in her words than she had intended to use, but with a quick look at Blake's face it seemed it didn't affect her either way. Shaking her head she went back to setting up the new punching bag before she went to work on it, while she admired Blake for being just as stubborn as she was when it concerned one of her friends, now was one of the times she wished she could just leave her be.
"Well seeing as you have your scroll set to 'ignore all' I would say you are." Blake sat and watched as Yang threw punch after punch into the brand new punching bag as her eye traveled to the piled of ruined ones tossed off to the side. Considering what she had did to the lockers after her match with Rodric this was at least a little...less destructive. While it was nice to see her trying to work her anger out with as little destruction to school property as she could manage, there was still one major problem that needed to be addressed. "Why didn't you go to the infirmary Yang?"
Yang hesitated in her punches long enough for the bag to swing into her and nearly knock her off her feet, she stumbled to keep her balance as she kept her back to Blake, "Cause I didn't need to go." She knew Blake wouldn't buy it considering the beating she had taken just a few hours ago, but she was perfectly fine considering what had happened, sure her head was throbbing slightly but other than that she was fine.
"Yang why-"
"Cause it's me, I mean look at me, does it look like I need to see the nurse? You wound my pride Blake suggesting that I couldn't take a few punches." She gave a hollow chuckle as she went back to attacking the punching bag, all the while she bit her tongue to keep from saying anymore, it was bad enough that her and Weiss had caught her little tantrum. She didn't want them to tell her how unreasonable she was being in hating Rodric, that was the last thing she wanted to hear after what happened, she didn't want to feel betrayed by anyone else.
"It's not the punches that I'm worried about Yang." Blake was usually blunt about speaking of things that seemed important as she saw no reason to tiptoe around a subject when getting to the point was the whole objective. This was different though, Yang knew how to dance around anything that had to personally do with her, making jokes or finding a way to turn it around and deflect the question onto someone else. Not to mention a head on approach with someone who fought much in the same way probably wasn't a good idea, she didn't mind getting confrontational with Yang, sometimes it was fun to see her partner genuinely getting flustered and upset. But, with the way she had been acting for the last few weeks she wasn't sure whether or not she would get physical as well, she couldn't win in a fight with her she knew that. Sure she could outlast her simply by using her Semblance but where would that get her when she was forced to be defensive when she needed to get to the root of the problem. She sighed softly before finally speaking, "How's your head?"
"Still rock solid."
"Yang-"
"I'm fine Blake really, if the four of us can go against a giant Nevermore on our first day, I think I can handle a little fight with some random guy." Even if he does hit like a truck, she shook her head and ignored the lightheaded feeling that filled her head from the sudden motion before going back to the punching bag. She could hear Blake sigh heavily from behind her but she ignored it as she focused on the pain that was now filling her arms, how long have I been at this? She knew she usually lost track of time when it came to training but she wasn't training...and she wasn't hiding like Blake had suggested she was just...just...what am I doing? Her strikes became slower and weaker until she stopped all together, she looked around the room slowly as if she were taking in every detail, wait why'd I do that? She was in the gym, she had come here after the match with Rodric, she remembered pushing past the students on her way here, she had been in a hurry to work off her stress before she did something stupid. Yet when her eyes fell to the pile of ruined punching bags she couldn't remember doing that, she didn't remember destroying them.
"Yang?"
She flinched slightly, not out of surprise but at the pain that lanced through her head when she heard Blake speak, it felt like she had a really bad ear infection with how much it hurt to hear her. She ran her fingers through her hair only to flinch again when her fingers brushed against the sore spot that Rodric had left after bashing his head against hers, when she held her hand in front of her eyes she frowned seeing the bits of dried blood on her fingers. She had tried her best to clean it up but by the time she had gotten to the gym it had dried and was a sticky mess on her face and in her hair, she had to scratch it off and some of it had gotten stuck under her nails. She groaned softly when she felt her stomach begin to knot up, she placed a hand on her stomach as the pain began to increase until she was almost doubled over from it, she didn't mind the sight of blood so she wasn't sure why she was feeling like this.
"Yang."
She held her hand out before groaning again, "I-I'm fine Blake just feeling-ugh." As she clenched her stomach her head began to throb, she groaned louder this time, could this get any worse! She hadn't felt this bad since she had caught Ruby's cold when they were younger, that was the last time she let her sister sleep with her when she was sick. She took a few deep breaths before standing up slowly and taking a last deep breath, she shook her head slightly as the pain began to subside, maybe she should have gone to the nurse like Ruby-
"Yang!" Blake watched in horror as Yang collapsed on the ground, she jumped from her seat and ran over to her and flipped her over, the first thing she checked was if she was breathing properly. Thank goodness, she gave a soft sigh when she found out that she was, she wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with her but now she was faced with the problem of trying to get Yang to...she quickly fished out her scroll and opened up her contacts before calling one of them.
"Yes?"
"Weiss, I need your help."
Weiss and Blake sat outside of the infirmary room waiting to hear news from the nurse on Yang's condition, Blake wasn't too worried because nothing seemed terribly wrong...but-no, she shook her head pushing the thoughts from her mind. Yang's strong, she'll be fine. She turned to her side and saw Weiss sitting with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, "Honestly..."
"Weiss..."
"No, this is probably the dumbest thing Yang has done, and she's done plenty of dumb things." When she had gotten the call from Blake that Yang had collapsed in the gym she had shot up so fast from her seat that she had almost flipped her desk over. Ruby had freaked out when she got up so fast and wanted to know what was wrong, Rodric too wanted to know if she was alright, but before she could say anything Blake gave her a simple instruction. "Don't tell Ruby." She sighed softly before shaking her head, "I don't see why you had me lie to Ruby..."
"I didn't tell you to lie to her." She looked to Weiss who seemed to be glaring at her causing her to shrug, "Well I didn't, I just said not to tell her." She turned her eyes back towards the door to Yang's room as a heavy feeling began to settle in her stomach, she was worried about Yang. She knew Yang was strong, she knew that, she had seen Yang take down a full team on her own during combat class without breaking a sweat. Sure she was a bit roughed up by the end but she always had that smile on her face no matter what...she always had that stupid smile...
"Blake?"
She pulled herself from her thoughts and shook her head, "Besides Yang's a big girl she'll be fine, we would just be getting Ruby worked up and worried over nothing." Weiss gave a soft hum before they both settled back into silence both sets of eyes watching the door, with Blake's ears twitching under her bow listening for the faintest movement on the other side. She hated waiting, especially when it came to matters like this, Yang passed out in front of her and she had no idea what happened and now she was forced to sit and wait for the nurse to tell them if she was okay.
"Did she say anything?"
Blake sighed and shook her head, "About as much as you'd expect." This caused Weiss to huff in annoyance as she leaned back in her seat.
"Typical." She shook her head as she sighed heavily, after having to explain to Professor Goodwitch that they didn't know how the lockers ended up in that position, she was ready to tear Yang a new one. Verbally at least, she was smart enough to know that she wouldn't be able to beat Yang in a fight, a hand to hand fight at least. Though she did want to know just what had caused Yang to just go off the rails like that, she had a temper sure but she never seen anything like that, not to mention she never so much as saw her raise her voice to Ruby...that's what really concerned her. Yang was the over protective sister of the group and was protective of Ruby more than anything, more than even her hair, and to see her yell at Ruby like she had done was both upsetting and concerning. Of course neither her nor Blake had been able to get in contact with Yang after she had stomped off, they didn't really get a chance to look for her since they had to comfort Ruby and assure her that she did nothing wrong and that Yang's ire was simply misplaced. It didn't seem to work on her until Rodric spoke up and, honestly, said the exact same thing that the two of them had told her, only then did it seem to get through her head. She didn't understand what Ruby found so fascinating about him, but if he kept her from being upset then he couldn't be all bad.
She opened her mouth to speak but didn't get the chance when the door to Yang's room opened and the nurse walked out, surprisingly enough it was the same nurse, it had to be she doubted that there were a lot of nurses with red fox tails at Beacon. "How is she?" The nurse looked down at Blake and sighed softly as she rubbed the back of her head.
"She's fine, she simply has a very mild concussion, nothing to serious." She smiled slightly when she saw the two of them visibly relax at the news, though it shouldn't have come to a surprise to them, their teammate was very strong. "Though while we did examine her, we found a very small tear in the muscle of her right arm. Again, it's nothing too major, but she should be careful for a bit at least until it heals. She's awake if you two want to see her, we have her connected to an IV bag because she was dehydrated when she was brought it, just so you know, don't need the two of you freaking out." With that she excused herself leaving both Blake and Weiss alone.
"She's not very...professional is she?"
Blake shrugged slightly as she stood from her seat, "Does it matter? As long as she knows how to treat her patients I don't think it really matters how she talks."
Weiss followed suit and patted the back of her skirt sighing, "Just saying..."
Yang groaned softly as she turned her head to look at her surroundings, it was the infirmary no doubt, but she was wondering how she even got here. The last thing she really remembered was talking to Blake in the gym and then...waking up here, he head throbbed painfully when she tried to remember what happened and simply gave up on doing so. Lifting her hand up she saw a needle connected to a tube taped down on her hand, following the tube she saw that it led up to a bag filled with liquid, was I really in that bad of shape? The sound of the door to the infirmary opening pulled her from her thoughts, when she turned her head towards the sound she saw both Weiss and Blake standing in the door, Weiss looked upset while Blake looked...horrified. It's not that bad is it, shaking her head she raised the arm that wasn't filled with a needle to wave to them, "Yo, what's up guys."
Weiss glared at Yang as she pushed past Blake, "Don't you 'what's up' us, what were you thinking? What happened back in the locker room? What happened after that, I mean look at you you're a complete-"
"Geeze princess you're killing me here." Yang groaned out as she clenched her head now throbbing head tightly, she knew Weiss had every right to be angry with her, but at least save it for when she wasn't in pain.
"Well you deserve that and a whole lot more after that stunt you pulled in-"
"Weiss..."
She looked over her shoulder to see Blake frowning at her before huffing and crossing her arms and walking off to the side, Blake looked towards Yang and saw the IV the nurse she was hooked up too. Even though she was warned about it, she still wasn't prepared to see her like that, not with the bandage wrapped around her head and not in a hospital gown. She had seen Yang roughed up before but she never seen her like this, this was a side she knew Yang never let anyone see, she would never let anyone see how vulnerable she was. She wrung her hands as she clenched them tightly, "How...how are you feeling?"
Yang shrugged slightly wincing slightly from the action, "Eh, aside from the killer headache and feeling like I'm going to hurl at any second...I feel great." She sighed softly as she leaned back into her pillow, "I'm fine really, the nurse said that it was nothing to worry about and that I should be out in-"
"Nothing to worry about..."
"Well yeah I mean I'm still breathing so I'm-"
"You have a concussion Yang."
"Yeah that's what it was, the nurse said it was something like that, you know funny story, this is actually the first time I think I've ever had-"
"Do you understand how dangerous that is Yang?!"
Yang jumped slightly when Blake suddenly shouted, it was a surprise to say the least, she never really heard Blake raise her voice that often. The only time she ever heard her get like this was a few months ago before the incident at the docks with Roman, she smiled despite the surprise and looked up at her to speak but stopped. When she looked into Blake's eyes she saw both anger and fear, no doubt angry with how she was simply brushing off her injuries, and fearful at how injured she possibly was no doubt. She cast a glance towards Weiss only to see that even the ice queen was caught off guard by the sudden outburst from their normally silent team member. Yang turned her head back and looked towards the roof, "I know how dangerous it is Blake, I'm not dumb...I just don't like worrying any of you."
"And brushing off something as serious as this is going to help us how?"
Yang chuckled softly as she closed her eyes, "Okay, okay it is kinda stupid. I just...I just figured that if I can smile through the pain then no one would have to worry themselves over me. I'm the strong one remember?" She gave a lightly chuckle before softly sighing, "I'm suppose to worry about everyone else, not the other way around."
"Idiot..." Blake gave a small smile when Yang looked at her confused, "We're a team, we're suppose to look out for each other, no one is suppose to suffer more than the other." Blake moved over and sat on one of the beds next to Yang's, "I'm shocked you haven't figured that out yet Yang."
Yang couldn't help but smirk as she closed her eyes and relaxed into her pillow, "What can I say I'm pretty hard headed." She chuckled softly before opening her eyes and looking over to Blake, "Thanks for worrying about me, I'm fine though...I promise." Blake shook her head and started to speak only to be interrupted by Weiss.
"Well seeing as your making jokes I guess my worry was misplaced. I think I'll take my leave, I have some work I left unfinished to deal with this nonsense." Without waiting for anyone to say anything she quickly walked out of the room, Blake sighed heavily as she shook her head.
"You'd think she's at least show a bit more concern when her team member ends up in the infirmary."
Yang chuckled slightly, "Oh Blake, don't you see, I think that is her way of showing she cares. I mean, she did come with you after all." Blake opened her mouth to argue with Yang but slowly closed it when she realized that she was in fact right...for once. If Weiss truly didn't care, she wouldn't have come at all, a small smile crossed her face when she realized that Weiss had changed a lot since their first meeting. She looked up towards Yang and saw that the smile that graced her face was replaced with the frown she had been wearing the last few days.
"Yang what's-"
"I see Ruby didn't come with you two..." Yang's frown deepened as she clenched tightly at the sheets that covered her, she scoffed slightly, "Can't say I'm surprised I guess...she has more important things to see to huh?"
Blake wasn't sure what to say, the sudden change in attitude caught her completely off guard, she had thought that Yang was back to her normal self. She shook her head as she struggled to speak, "Yang I-I don't...what are you-"
"I shouldn't have expected anything different really, she hasn't spoken to me in a month, it's like she doesn't care about anyone else."
"What are you talking about?"
"Ever since he showed up here, it's always 'Rodric' this and 'Rodric' that, seriously what's so interesting about him."
"What's this about Yang?"
"What do you think?!" She shouted as she slammed her fist into her bed, "It's about Rodric, it's always about Rodric, ever since he showed up here it's always been about him." She roughly ran her fingers through her hair as she ignored the pain that shot through her head from the action, "I mean seriously what's so interesting about him, h-he's just some guy some random guy that we found in the forest and yet...yet..." She let out a heavy sigh as she looked up towards the ceiling, "I'm a good sister right Blake?"
Once again Blake was caught off guard by the sudden shift in attitude, by now she was wondering if they had actually given her some sort of medication. The Yang she knew was never like this, but then she never had a reason to be like this, "Yang I...I don't understand."
"I mean that has to be the reason right? I-I must have done something to Ruby without realizing it, I mean why else would this be happening? Why else would she be hanging out some much with Rodric, and cheering for him, and running to see if he was alright? What did I do Blake?"
"Yang stop, you didn't do anything alright? You're a great big sister that's all there-"
"Then why hasn't Ruby spoken to me since he showed up?!" She glared at Blake before huffing and looking back up towards the ceiling, she didn't know why she was yelling at Blake, she knew she had nothing to do with it, it just felt like she couldn't keep it in anymore. If she didn't say anything about it now she felt that it would end up making her sick in the long run, and after ending in the infirmary she didn't want anything else to happen, "I-I just don't get it Blake, what's going on?"
Blake slowly shook her head, she wasn't even sure what to say anymore, after getting whiplash with how often Yang's attitude was changing, she was left speechless. Though it seemed now she had finally heard just what was going on in Yang's mind for the past few weeks, sighing softly she got off the bed she was sitting on and moved over to Yang's making sure not to sit on her leg by accident. "Yang I..." She stopped herself, she wasn't sure where to begin, she wasn't the most...ideal person when it came to comforting others, but this was her partner...her friend. She sighed softly before starting again, "You're probably not going to like hearing this but...good for her."
Yang glared up at Blake, how could she say something like that after she let all of her concerns out like that, "What are you-"
"Just...hear me out for a second okay?" Yang frowned but nodded slightly nonetheless, "Ruby has made an...interesting friend outside of the group of friends she already has. For someone like Ruby don't you think this is good, you wouldn't want her to grow up into that person that refuses to go outside of her little group do you?"
"...No." Yang's frowned deepened as she crossed her arms, "But-"
Blake sighed heavily shaking her head, "But what Yang?"
"But why? I mean I'm not the only one who forgot what he did right? What he tried to do? He tried to kill us back in the forest, am I the only one who remembers this or am I just going crazy?"
"You already are a little crazy Yang."
"You know what I mean Blake, back in the forest he didn't just threaten to kill us, he tried to kill us. If it hadn't been for Weiss with her glyphs I think all of us would have been toast, oh and speaking of Weiss, did we all just forget how he tried to break her arm and neck?" She took a few deep breaths to calm her beating heart, she shook her head once again as she clenched her fists, "She got hurt because of him, he filled her mind with all those...terrible thoughts and images, things she should never have to learn about and she just...forgives him. Why, why after everything he's done to us...done to her, would she just forgive him so...so easily."
"Because that's who she is Yang..." She looked away from Yang who was now, no doubt glaring at her, "What I mean is that...she's still young, she still see's the good in people, why she forgave him after all that I couldn't really tell you. But, if she did, she did it for a reason don't you think? Ruby isn't naive, she knows he hurt her and sadly I think she understood what he was telling her, but if she forgave him then...maybe she saw something that we couldn't see." She turned back towards Yang and placed her hand on her leg patting it gently, "Listen...none of us have spoken to Rodric like Ruby has, honestly none of us really go out of our way to speak with him like she does, so of course she's going to be more comfortable around him than we are. After the incident in the forest we were all wary of him, even Ruby, but she made the effort to talk to him, she went out of her comfort zone to get to know him, and this is what happened."
Yang sighed heavily but said nothing, she was right after all, after the incident in the forest and what happened in the dorm none of them wanted anything to do with Rodric...except for Ruby. She remembered how angry she had gotten that Ruby had gone out of her way to find Rodric and to apologize to him, she was beyond pissed when she hung up on her, she just didn't understand why she was apologizing. But, as she thought about it she remembered what happened that night, the way Ruby begged and begged and begged for Rodric to tell them about his home and then she asked something that just...set him off. It was Ruby's fault, as much as she didn't want to admit it she knew it was true, she tried to use the excuse that Rodric had went to far but in her mind she knew that if Ruby hadn't pushed him he wouldn't have reacted. She shook her head to push the memories away as something suddenly dawned on her, "Wait...you said that we haven't tried to talk with him, but you and Weiss talk to him all the time."
Blake couldn't help but smirk slightly at that, "You call what Weiss and I do talking?" She gave a soft chuckle before continuing, "Yang if that's what you think then you sadly haven't been paying attention to your team like you should be. When I 'talk' with Rodric it is probably the most...forced conversation I ever had, and compared to how we used to be...it's pretty bad. Weiss on the other hand tried to put on this brave front when interacting with him, but she's scared, scared to be anywhere near him after the forest incident. The reason it looks like we all get along has simply been for Ruby's sake, she's our leader, how is she going to keep a team together when one person makes us all uncomfortable. How is she going to keep the team functioning, when we all refuse to communicate with Rodric, she has it hard enough already being leader at such a young age, we don't need to make it harder on her."
"I-I get that...I really do but why does she have to hang out with him so much, i-it's like I hardly ever see one without the other, they're more stuck together than Nora and Ren are." She huffed slightly as she turned her face to the wall, "I don't like it..."
Blake couldn't help but smirk slightly seeing a bit of the old Yang coming back to the surface, "Why Yang, are you jealous of Rodric?"
Yang felt her face flush slightly as she crossed her arms more and attempted to sink into her pillow, "W-What I'm not jealous of him I-I just mean...he's older than her by at least several years...it's weird isn't it?" She squirmed slightly before looking back at Blake slightly concerned, "You...you don't think they're-"
"That's a stupid question Yang." She shook her head sighing heavily, "Honestly as her sister I would think you'd have a little more confidence in Ruby to not do something like that." She was silent for a moment before speaking again, "I doubt she even knows how...that works...and honestly Rodric doesn't look like the type of person to force her to do something like that."
"Looks can be deceiving you know?" When Blake said nothing she looked towards her only to receiving a scathing glare causing her to look away, "B-But I guess you're right." She sighed heavily as she rubbed her eyes, all this hate she held in her heart all this time, she couldn't exactly deny it was only because she refused to see anything other than what she wanted too. She knew that Rodric was different than when they had first met, just the way he acted around them showed that he was different, he didn't try to keep his distance like he used too. He didn't actively try to talk to anyone else, but it was a lot better than to how he used to be, the only person he still seemed to get into arguments was Weiss. Even then that was because they were so alike that they butted heads on multiple occasions, both of them having swelled prides and matching attitudes, their dorm room just wasn't big enough to fit all that ego in. She just refused to see it because she was filled with this blind hatred for him that stemmed from his mistakes, and while she did have enough justification to hate him for doing them, she couldn't exactly hold it above his head.
Giving a heavy sigh she closed her eyes as she shook her head, all those stupid things she had thought of back in the gym slowly faded from her mind, she knew something like that would never happen. Ruby might not be the best at dealing with people but if someone was seriously threatening her in any way she wouldn't hide it if she couldn't deal with it herself, those thoughts had simply been her over active overly protective big sister brain working against her in her worry for Ruby. She honestly felt a little disgusted with herself to even think for one second that someone was forcing Ruby to do something like that even though she really didn't like Rodric, going so far as to accuse him of doing something like that was a bit much, even for him. While she wasn't going to just up and forgive him for everything he's done she could at least...try and start over with him, while she normally started people off at the same level when they met Rodric was going to have to start from the bottom before she even began to trust him. She groaned loudly as she covered her face with her hands, "I can't believe I was being so stupid!"
Blake gave a low chuckle before patting Yang's leg again, "It's alright Yang, we're all kind of used to it."
Yang slid her hands off her face and onto the sheets pouting slightly as she looked towards Blake, "When did you turn into such a wise cracking cat huh?"
Blake gave a slight shrug, "Around the same time I grew accustomed to your terrible, terrible puns."
Yang ignored the jab made at her amazing puns as her stomach began to twist up almost painfully, she wasn't sick as she didn't have that disgusting taste in the back of her throat. After all this talking and thinking things over she remembered something that happened not even a few hours ago that gave her the sensation of being sick, "H-How is she?" She cringed slightly when the smile that Blake had been wearing slowly faded before she looked away.
"She...she was really upset over it, was really beating herself up trying to figure out what she had done wrong." She looked up and saw the pain in Yang's eyes as she quickly spoke up again, "B-But we calmed her down, told her she didn't do anything wrong..." She bit her lip as Yang seemed to relax ever so slightly.
"Oh...good I wouldn't want-"
"Actually..." Blake hesitated slightly wondering if she should tell Yang the entire truth, whatever hatred she seemed to have for Rodric seemed to have faded but wasn't gone completely. She feared that if she were to continue that it would only rekindle her hate for him, but maybe if she knew that he cared for her sister in the same way she maybe she wouldn't be as angry. "I-It wasn't us that calmed Ruby down...actually me and Weiss couldn't really calm her down, she was just so sure she had done something wrong to make you angry at her." She sat back slightly rubbing her arm before continuing, "You see it was actually...Rodric that managed to calm her down, he pretty much said the same thing we did but...she seemed more responsive to him." Blake said nothing more and instead tried to gauge the exact level of anger on Yang's face, but for the first time since she knew her, Yang showed no anger. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or a very bad thing, "Yang?"
"Oh...that's...good."
"Good?"
Yang simply nodded, "I mean he calmed Ruby down after I made her upset, I don't think I really have a reason to be upset with him...you know?"
"Right...you know Yang I'm really surprised that your not-"
"Upset?"
"Yeah..."
"I'm fine Blake, he cheered Ruby up so I can't really be upset over something like that." They were both silent after that before Yang began to laugh softly, "You have to have more confidence in me Blake, I'm not going to lose my mind over every little thing."
Blake scoffed and crossed her arms, "Really? That coming from the girl that loses it when so much as a single of strand of her hair is cut?" She could help but smirk as Yang seemed to flush slightly at the comment, apparently she didn't count those actions as "losing it."
"O-Oh you remember that huh?"
Blake smirked, "How could I forget, I watched the entire thing. To think someone like you who is so laid back and carefree would completely loose their mind when that Ursa cut off one, single, tiny strand of hair." She couldn't help when she felt her smile widen when Yang seemed to grow more embarrassed at the reminder of how the fist met, seeing her like this was so strange. Yang wasn't the type of person to easily be embarrassed but seeing her at a loss for words and her face completely red, she couldn't help but find it a little...cute. She quickly shook her head, a little surprised at herself for thinking like that, granted there was nothing wrong with the thought it just...surprised her. She had never thought that the words 'Yang' and 'cute' would ever really go together, 'annoying', 'insufferable', 'terrible joke maker' were the words she associated with Yang...yet...
"You alright there kitty cat?"
She was pulled from her thoughts and looked up only to see those bright lilac eyes looking back at her, she quickly looked away before managing to stutter out a response, "Y-Yeah I'm fine." She turned back to Yang whose eyes flitted across her face, no doubt she was looking for any sign that she was lying, sadly for Yang she was good at hiding things. It was a sweet gesture, but that's just how Yang was, she was in bed at the infirmary and she still cared about her friends more than herself. Giving a sigh Blake pulled her legs up onto the bed and crossed them as she turned to Yang who was already sitting up, almost as if she had suspected this was what was going to happen.
The two began to talk, though it seemed to devolve more into the antics Yang would get into while she had been going to Signal, from what she heard she was a bit surprised that Ruby had managed to get through her time at Signal just fine. She would have thought after managing to let several stray animals into the school she would have been expelled, surprisingly she wasn't, what was more surprising was that Ruby wasn't under constant watch in the event she tried something similar. Despite getting on trouble in multiple occasions it seemed Yang wasn't very different from how she acted now, and Blake couldn't help but find that funny. She had this idea that Yang might have been this studious student in her time in Signal, maybe even going so far as being the protective older sister until she graduated. She had been partially right about that in one regard, perhaps that was the reason she found her self laughing and enjoying the stories Yang told her, maybe it was just the fact she had gotten her partner out of her slump that allowed her to indulge herself in these stories, she wasn't exactly sure.
"A-And then he ended up with this large tear in the back of his pants, t-that he never noticed!" Yang gripped her sides as she fell back into her pillow laughing loudly struggling to breathe, the nurse had come in to see what all the noise was but had thankfully left when she saw the two of them laughing together. She didn't know what had suddenly come over Blake to her to laugh so much, she never laughed this much, whatever it was she didn't want it to stop. She never heard Blake laugh this much, and as strange as it was for her to even think...she liked it, this wasn't one of those fake laughs Blake usually gave in public this was a genuine from the heart kind of laugh. She looked to Blake who was busy trying to cover her mouth to keep from laughing any more but it seemed her stories were too much for her and every time it seemed she settled down she would end up breaking down into another fit of laughter. She couldn't help but feel a small smile come over her face as she watched Blake's shoulders shake from laughing so much, she felt heat rising from her face as she quickly shook her head.
Blake managed to stop laughing long enough to wipe the tears from her eye, she couldn't believe some of the stuff Yang had told her they sounded so far-fetched, but she knew better than to think she was lying. Giving a soft sigh she turned and was surprised to see the time on the clock, she hadn't thought she would have been in here so long, she knew that Ruby was probably pestering Weiss by now as to where she was. She stepped off the bed only to stumble forward as her legs nearly gave out from under her, as she managed to right herself she gave a low chuckle, "Well I should probably be getting back, you'll be able to leave soon right?"
Yang gave a light nod, "Yeah the nurse just wants to do one last test on me and then I'll be good to go."
"That's good, then I'll see you back at the dorm."
Yang nodded as she watched Blake move over to the door, she couldn't help but chuckling slightly causing Blake to turn and look towards her just as she opened the door. Though she really wished she had stopped herself at what she had said next, "You know, you're pretty cute when you laugh like that Blake." Yang instantly froze up as soon as those words left her mouth, she looked up towards Blake who seemed to be staring at her in shock, they stared at each other in silence as a dark blush crawled up both of their faces. Yang quickly shook her head and gave Blake a wide smile trying her best to play off her slip up, "S-Sorry that was weird wasn't it...m-must be this stuff they have me on."
Blake relaxed slightly as she looked at the needle currently in Yang's hand, she gave a light nod before speaking, "O-Oh t-that's fine...anyway I'll see you back at the dorm." She quickly exited the room and closed the door behind her, she gave heavy sigh as she placed her hand on her chest only to find her heart racing. She didn't understand why though, like Yang had said it was only because of the medication they were giving her, she pushed away from the door shaking her head slightly. Even as she walked out of the infirmary something nagged at the back of her mind, she suddenly stopped in her tracks as her heart began to race again, Wait they didn't give her any medication...
Yang pulled the pillow over her face groaning loudly into it in the hopes of suffocating herself after making such a major slip up like that, while it was true what she had said she didn't know why she said it in the first place. It was just one of those times where she got so relaxed that she just blurted out the first thing on her mind, wouldn't have been the first time something like that happened. She froze when she heard the door to her room open again and slowly slid the pillow from her still red face expecting to see Blake again, thankfully it was only the nurse, though she gave her a curious look.
"Are you alright Yang?"
She gave a heavy sigh as she let her head fall back onto the bed, "Just perfect..."
Running one last test Yang was finally discharged from the infirmary though she was given some medication to take for the headaches the nurse informed her that she would get in the coming days. Looking down at the little bottle of pills she sighed softly, she had been in the infirmary for much worse and she was never prescribed medication over it, her aura usually dulled any pain she felt until she was completely healed. Guess headaches worked differently, tossing the bottle into the air she caught it as she walked down the hallway, it was empty well sort of empty there were still plenty of people walking around and talking. She shook her head as she watched some of the people walk by her, she still couldn't believe she said something like that, she wasn't thinking that much was obviously but she usually managed to keep her stupid comments to herself in cases like that. The more she thought about it the more she couldn't help but admit that it wasn't because she wasn't thinking it was more along the lines that...that she couldn't exactly help it.
She groaned loudly as she snatched the bottle of pills from the air, she didn't get why it had to be so complicated, it never was before. It just seemed she couldn't stop thinking about Blake ever since that incident at the docks a few months back, she had been so worried about her, even though she knew she could take care of herself she couldn't get rid of the anxiousness she felt. Then after they found her she couldn't be happier she wanted to wrap her arms around Blake and just hold her, the clatter of the bottle of pills pulled her from her thoughts as she looked at the bottle lying on the ground. She slowly shook her head as she picked them back up, she just couldn't help it really, she was just amazing. If she were to go all the way and actually confess to Blake, which she would probably never do anyway, she knew Blake would probably let her down and not for any reason but simply because she was a Faunus. That would be the only reason really, Blake didn't want anyone to know about what she was, she barely let team JNPR know her secret, and starting a relationship with someone would probably be the very last thing she wanted to do.
Blake might have been this quiet mysterious person but her friends knew exactly how she was, she was kind of like the sister of the group kinda like herself, just less...loud. She cared about her friends and would want the best for them, since humans think so lowly of the faunus she wouldn't ever want someone to catch the backlash of something like that, she would sacrifice her own happiness for someone else's well being. Well too bad for her one Yang Xiao Long was a stubborn and hardheaded person, and she wouldn't have to worry about her, she let her fists do the talking and if someone wanted to say something bad, well they wouldn't like what her fists had to say. Though none of that would matter if she couldn't even get the guts to say something to Blake to begin with, she let some of her thoughts slip out and lied about being drugged up so she didn't freak Blake out. She probably didn't even feel the same about her based off the way she had looked at her after that had slipped out.
Yang groaned again only louder drawing strange looks from the students that walked by her, her head was starting to hurt thinking of all this stuff. She opened the bottle she had with her and popped a few of the pills in her mouth before making her way towards the dorm. She just had to act natural, just act like herself and everything would be fine...at least she hoped so.
Yang fidgeted slightly as she stood outside her dorm room, she didn't want to go in but at the same time she did, she needed to clear some things up with Ruby but...she didn't want to be around Rodric when she did. She really didn't want to make a big spectacle out of it, she sighed and pressed her back against the wall next to the door as she pulled out her scroll and found her sisters name, Hey Rubes do you think you can come outside right quick? She closed her scroll and put it away as she waited, she could hear some sort of commotion on the inside but it was kind of hard to tell what was going on, not even a few seconds later did the door fly open and Ruby rushed out with the door closing behind her. She turned and looked ready to run off but stopped when she saw her standing there, "H-Hey sis..."
"Oh...hey Yang..." They stared at each other with the silence growing thicker by the second, she shouldn't have been surprised that Ruby would have been like this after having yelled at her. She pushed off the wall and couldn't help but notice Ruby shifting slightly from her spot, but before she could even open her mouth Ruby interrupted her. "I-I'm really sorry Yang, I-I don't know what I did to make you mad but I'm really really so-"
Yang threw her arms around Ruby and pulled her tightly against her in a firm hug, she didn't want to hear her apologize over nothing, she had no reason to and it wasn't right for her to think so. When Ruby struggled against her it only served to make her hug her even tighter until Ruby finally pushed her away gasping for breath, "G-Geeze what are you trying to do kill me?"
"S-Sorry Rubes I just...listen Ruby I'm sorry about what happened earlier I just, I shouldn't have spoken like that to you. You don't have anything to apologize for I was just angry and ended up snapping at you for no real reason, I'm sorry Ruby." When Ruby didn't say anything she just decided to keep going, "My head was just full of this stupid stuff and I didn't really have anyone to talk to it about and it just all kind of came to a head and I let it out on you..."
"Yang..."
"I-I mean it was just all really dumb stuff, when I finally had a chance to sit down and think about it i-it was just me being stupid and not thinking clearly. I was seeing things that were all in my head I was just being really really stupid."
"Yang."
"I-I mean I can't apologize enough Rubes you were just caught up in the cross fire between me and my mind, I-I know that sounds weird but I just...it's really hard to explain I just mean that I'm really really-"
"Yang!" She jumped slightly when Ruby suddenly shouted her name, she looked down at her sister who seemed to be scowling up at her slightly, she never seen her look like that and it made her squirm a bit. Though before she could say anything Ruby wrapped her arms around her waist giving Yang the tightest hug she could manage, "It's fine Yang, I guess I kind of figured that was the reason you snapped at me. I mean I've seen you angry before and learned not to bother you but I guess I just got caught up after your match and didn't notice."
Yang fought back a whimper that began at the back of her throat before throwing her arms around Ruby again and pulling her tightly into her chest, "S-So you're not mad at me then...even though you have every right to be?
Ruby shook her head as she looked up at Yang, "Well...if you take me back to the Baker's Dozen I think I could find a way to forgive you."
Yang couldn't help but chuckle as she squeezed Ruby again before sighing, "Have I ever told you that you're the best sister ever?"
Ruby gave a light chuckle, "Well you could stand to say it more often you know?"
"Ha, in your dreams."
The two of them shared a laugh before Yang kissed the top of her sisters head, "Thank you Ruby."
After they shared their moment Yang entered the dorm with her sister and neither Weiss nor Blake really payed much attention to her except for welcoming her back. It seemed they kept her little incident a secret from her sister, and she was thankful, she didn't want Ruby to be worrying so much over her. She did question the bottle of pills in her hand and she brushed it off and said that she had a really bad headache and nothing more, while everything seemed relatively normal she couldn't help but notice that Rodric was a little more colder to her than normal. She even tried to lighten the mood by making some rather poor jokes yet he didn't seemed to enjoy them as Ruby did, he didn't even crack a smile like he usually would when he tried to hide the fact that he found her jokes funny. The only time he seemed to relax was when Ruby was anywhere around him, it would make sense though, after her episode in class he wasn't going to enjoy her presence very much. She still remembered the look he had given her back in class both when she had launched her folded paper at Ruby and when she had snapped at Ruby, he was very protective of her she noticed, though it seemed Ruby didn't.
Aside from Rodric and sometimes Weiss they all ended up talking up until they decided to go bed, there wasn't much said after that but she felt that, despite Rodric's anger towards her, everything was fairly normal. Even Blake seemed to be acting rather normal around her despite the slip up from earlier, she had wondered if Blake actually bought the lie she told her. Somehow she doubted it, but if Blake didn't bring it up she wouldn't either, after all there was no need to ruin the friendship they had over a rather stupid slip like that. She sighed as she looked up at the roof as her fingers played with the edge of her sheets, the day after tomorrow would be when they finally made their move. She had wished they had done it sooner but so much had happened between the time they made their plans and now, with Rodric suddenly appearing out of no where, they had been fairly distracted until now. There wasn't anything stopping them now though, except for the classes that they had to endure until then, she wouldn't admit it to anyone but she was fairly nervous about going against the likes of people like the White Fang and that Torchwick guy. He didn't look like much but according to Blake he was a pretty good fighter, good enough that someone as fast as she was couldn't even touch him, it made her nervous, not for herself but for everyone else. She shook her head and gave a light sigh, everything would be fine it was just simple reconnaissance and information gathering nothing else, giving herself a firm nod she turned on her side and attempted to fall asleep.
Yang's eyes slowly opened, at least she thought they did, all she could see darkness, groaning softly she threw her pillow onto the floor and threw the sheets off her head before groaning again as the light flooded her eyes. She rolled over in an attempt to block out the light and nearly fell off her bed, now that her head was hanging off the edge though she looked down and saw that Blake was still asleep. She couldn't help the smile that came over her face seeing the peaceful look on Blake's face as she slept, she shook her head slightly trying to shake away the blush creeping up her face. She looked over to Weiss' bed and saw that the ice queen was asleep too, no way, she shot up in her bed and looked across the room and saw that Ruby was in fact still asleep as well. "I'm the first one awake..." She couldn't help but feel weird about that fact, she had never woken up early in her life, her file filed with tardy slips back at Signal was proof of that.
"Second actually..." She jumped slightly at the voice as she quickly turned her head in the direction only to see Rodric sitting in the chair of their desk completely dressed in his uniform. "Couldn't sleep..." He gave a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair that he had yet to put in it's usual ponytail, she fidgeted slightly, after him ignoring her all last night and then suddenly talking to her she didn't know what to say. She wasn't just going to ignore him though, she had promised herself that she was going to try an attempt at fixing things between them.
"You uh...you feeling okay?" She tried to gauge his reaction but didn't give anything away through facial expression, he simply nodded, though while he didn't say anything his body language said a lot more. Something was bothering him, "What's wrong?"
He looked up to her before looking back down towards the ground, "I...I don't know, I just have this strange feeling in my stomach, it feels as if I swallowed a ball of lead. It's been there since last night and has yet to go away, I feel...uneasy."
Yang was a little shocked that he had answered her honestly, she had expected some sort of sarcastic remark from him, but from the way he was fidgeting and constantly moving it seemed like it was honestly bothering him. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when he spoke again, "You should probably take your shower before the others wake up while you have the chance." She attempted to say something but he didn't look like he was going to say much else, guess she wasn't the only one who didn't like talking about what was on their mind. They probably had more in common than she was willing to believe, but before she could dwell on that thought any more she heard her sister groaning from her bed, and that caused her to jump from her spot on the bed and rush into the bathroom.
Rodric merely shook his head as he turned towards the bed and watched as Ruby slowly sat up wearing that over sized shirt she had bought on their trip into Vale. "Well good morning little one."
Yang ran her fingers through her freshly washed hair before stepping out of the bathroom much to the shock of everyone else that had now woken up as well, they all expressed their surprise to see Yang up early without the coaxing of anyone else. She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, "Whatever I can get up early any time I want...I just chose not to, I need my beauty sleep after all." She flipped her hair over her shoulder to emphasize the point that she was trying to make, though it seemed everyone ignored her while they busied themselves with getting ready for their classes that day. Amidst the chaos that was Team RWBY's dorm in the early hours of the morning there was only one person who ever seemed out of place, but today it seemed he stood out a lot more than usual.
While Rodric wasn't the most social of the group, even rivaling Blake sometimes, he seemed a lot more...closed off today than usual. It was a very rare occasion when Rodric and Ruby weren't talking to each, it was either because Weiss was making Ruby do her homework , or she was eating, or sleeping. Any other time the two of them were joined at the hip, much to her dismay, but it seemed like whatever was bothering him might have been a lot more than he was letting on. He was spaced out, anytime Ruby asked him something she would end up having to repeat herself , Ruby being Ruby she didn't think much of it and simply continued to talk despite Rodric obviously not listening. She felt like she should ask him, if not as a friend then at least as a concerned teammate, but she had the sneaking suspicion that he would say that it was nothing, she didn't think pressuring him to talk to her would do anything for trying to fix things between them. She was going to leave it alone, she just hoped that it would really end up being nothing.
Their first class of the day was with Professor Peach, they were suppose to be learning about the different habitats that different species of Grimm inhabited, but apparently according to the professor that since someone in the class failed their last test by a large margin they were going to review for the period. Yang just didn't understand why everyone was looking at her as she said that, anyone could have failed the test, either way she settled to scribbling on the paper in front of her as the professor droned on about stuff they already covered. She only looked up once when she stopped talking to at least make it look like she was paying attention, after that she dwelled on her own thoughts, though most of them seemed to be about the things she and Blake talked about the night before. A lot of her thoughts brought her to the topic of Ruby and Rodric, and how she had treated the both of them, she already made amends with Ruby she just had to find someway to apologize to Rodric.
The thought alone made her cringe, she wasn't one who actively apologized to people we weren't friends or family, but she could at least admit she made a mistake in judging him. That was a start at least. She gave a light huff as she laid her head on the table and continued to scribble on her paper that now had several lines completely colored in from her pencil. She set her pencil on the table as she turned her head and saw Weiss give her a disapproving look but said nothing as she continued to jot down notes, she stuck her tongue out but was either ignored or went unnoticed by her. She rolled her eyes at that and looked past her to see Ruby really focusing on the notes, it was kind of weird she never really seemed to pay attention when it was reviews but it seemed like she was really-oh she was asleep. Yang couldn't help but smile at that as she shook her head, she tilted her head slightly to get a better view further down the table and spotted Blake, she felt another smile crossing her face as she watched Blake work. The way her bright amber eyes quickly jumped from the paper in front of her to whatever it was the professor had written on the board, and that cute way the ears hidden beneath her bow twitched ever so slightly when she was concentrating hard on something. Or the way she would look at her when-Yang blinked several times only to realize that Blake was in fact looking directly at her, she quickly looked away and back to her own blank, hopefully Blake simply mistook her gawking for her staring into space.
Giving a soft sigh she shook her head slightly, just in a matter of a few hours things had changed, at least for her. Blake had no idea, at least she hoped she had no idea, about her feelings for her, and yet with the few hours that they talked heart to heart Yang had managed to turn into a love struck school girl. She watched enough dumb romantic comedies with Ruby to know almost all of the dumb cliches they used, and now she found herself at least doing one of them. This wasn't how it was suppose to work she was suppose to be laid back with this sort of thing, she had it all planned out, she was going to wait for the perfect time and then ask her. Now though everything seemed to have fallen apart, with Rodric showing up out of the blue, this plan to find out just what the White Fang was up too, it was a lot on her mind. If she was being honest with herself, it scared her, not knowing what they were going up against and not knowing what would happen in the end with Blake. She never showed it though, she was the laid back and take nothing seriously person of the group, she had to keep the image up despite being terrified of what would happen. She didn't want to drag her baby sister into this, but she was the one who came up with the plan, she wasn't going to end up sitting out after that, the only way to make sure she would be safe was to go with her.
Everything else was didn't matter, as much as she liked and cared about Blake her sister came before anything, if running blindly into the darkness would keep her sister and friends safe, then she would run as long as she needed too.
The next few classes flew by in a blur, she was busy thinking of other things and right now the classes didn't even matter for her, tomorrow the plan was going to go into full effect, she had to get her mind straight. While she wasn't one to plan things out like everyone else she always thought about contingencies, whether they ran out of dust or ammo...or in the off chance someone actually got seriously injured, she always thought of every scenario everything she had to do to adjust to the situation. Thankfully she's never had to implement any of her contingencies, she chalked it up to everyone pretty much being unstoppable even her sister who honestly surprised her during their initiation. Even though she was glad she couldn't leave out the fact that a lot of dumb luck factored into them never getting hurt, she could only hope that their streak continued long into the future. Speaking of the future, if memory served she had a paper that was do by the end of next week and she had yet to start on it, which would be why she suddenly found herself in the library after lunch.
Her eyes scanned over the titles of the books, but it was one of the reasons she had put it off for so long, finding the right books to use was murder. She tilted her head back groaning loudly before looking back towards the book, if only Blake were here with her, she would have found several books she could use in an instant. She pulled a random book off the shelf and flipped it open and quickly read a few sentences before placing it back on the shelf, she took a deep breath before sighing heavily. Shaking her head and turned away from the shelves, she was still going to have the weekend to work on it, she probably wouldn't have been able to concentrate on it anyway considering what was going to happen tomorrow. She gave a light hum as she walked down the stairs to the first floor of the library, after so much time had passed since their initial plan had formed it felt like it would be a long way off, but now that it was just around the corner she felt...strangely calm. Despite the storm of thoughts running through her mind about everything that could possible happen tomorrow, she was strangely calm about it, she held her hands out in front of her and found that they weren't shaking. "Weird..."
She shrugged slightly and began to make her way towards the exit when she was stopped by a rather hushed voice of her sister, "We're still on for tonight again right?" Those words alone made her stop in her tracks, instantly her mind went to many terrible thoughts, she quickly shook her head and looked around for where her sister was. When she spotted her familiar red cloak she quickly ducked behind one of the bookshelves closest to her, she had only gotten a glimpse of her but she had also spotted Rodric sitting next to her, Why doesn't that surprise me?
"I suppose so, though I believe I won't be able to keep you up late this time correct?" There was nothing said in response to that meaning that Ruby more than likely nodded, "I still don't understand why we are keeping this a secret, we aren't doing anything wrong are we?" Yang's eyes widened slightly at those words as her breath caught in her throat, there was no way to stop the many thoughts that flooded her mind, as much as she tried to keep them at bay it was getting harder not to think about them.
"What of course not, but this way we won't end up being interrupted, you know?" Yang had to fight back a gasp of surprise from what she had heard, from the sound of it, it seemed Ruby was the one who was planning...whatever it was they were talking about.
"I suppose there is logic behind that, its better to have our privacy than to perform in front of others."
Yang's jaw was nearly on the floor from what Rodric had said, "Well I wouldn't call it performing but yeah same thing." Yang's mind was a completely blank after than, she had tried to give Rodric a second chance but just within moments it sounded like all her fears had been true. What was worse was that it sounded like Ruby was the one planning everything out and pretty much going to great lengths to make sure no one knew what they were doing. "Oh shoot come on we got to our next class." There was the sound of chairs scrapping against the floor followed by hurried footsteps with steady ones trailing behind them. She gave herself a few moments to compose herself before stepping from behind the bookshelf, if she was having trouble concentrating in class before, there was no way she was going to be able to pay attention now.
Yang laid on her bed facing the ceiling as her mind continued to race nonstop after everything she heard a few hours ago in the library, below her was Blake reading another book with Weiss sitting at the desk quietly working on her class assignments. Ruby and Rodric weren't back yet, apparent from the message her sister had sent her, Rodric had gotten into some sort of argument with another student and was forced to stay behind after class, and of course Ruby decided to stay behind to wait for him. She sighed heavily and rolled over letting her head hang off the edge of the bed as she looked down at Blake, her amber eyes glanced up at her before returning back to her book, "Yes Yang?"
"Say Blake..." She gave a soft hum though she didn't look back up at her and instead focused on her books, "Have you noticed Ruby...I don't know...acting differently?"
"What? You mean that thing about her going to study every night with Rodric?" When Yang didn't answer her she looked up to see Yang staring at her with her mouth hanging open, "You mean you never noticed? They've been having study sessions for about a week now, I mean yeah I was surprised about it too at first, but considering both of their grades have improved-"
"Moderately improved."
Blake sighed and rolled her eyes at Weiss' remark, "Improved, I didn't really think much of it, why what's up?" She looked up to see Yang frown slightly before shaking her head before laying back on her bed.
"Nothing...never mind." Yang closed her eyes as she shook her head, she felt so stupid for over reacting like that, it had only been a day since she decided to start over with Rodric and this is what she did. She was only glad she managed to keep her surprised outrage contained when she had heard all of that, otherwise she would have made an even bigger fool out of herself than she already felt like. Still she didn't really understand why they had to keep it a secret, considering it was Rodric it probably had to do with some sort of pride thing he had, didn't want others to know he was studying so hard at a school that seemed to have grew on him. She also wondered why he called it performing, but even then Ruby had seemed confused about it too, it was probably just what he called it, he seemed to have a strange word or phrase for just about everything. It wouldn't honestly surprise her if he had had a different word for studying , she was happy to be wrong about something for once, and was a little glad that Ruby's grades seemed to have picked up as well.
Some time later the door to their dorm opened and from the sound of it Rodric and Ruby had returned, it was fairly easy to tell as Rodric still seemed angry about whatever it was that had set him off in class. As always it seemed Ruby was the one trying to defuse his anger, Yang simply rolled her eyes and rolled over burying her head into her pillow as she let out a yawn, as much as she wanted to know the details of what happened she also just wanted to relax for the night. She could catch a few snippets of the conversation but not enough to put the whole story together, but boy did it sound pretty interesting, sadly for her it sounded like Ruby was trying to keep him from saying to much about the incident, it made her even more curious and she knew she was going to have to get it from her sister at some point.
Yang hadn't realized how long she had actually been lying in bed when she was startled awake when the bathroom door closed only to hear Ruby addressing everyone else, "Alright well me and Rodric are heading out again, we're probably going to be back a little late so...sorry if I wake anyone in advance." There was a mumble of a response from Weiss who sounded like she was still deep into her homework, chances were that she didn't hear a thing Ruby said, which meant they were going to hear about it later when she was inevitably woken up by them. Yang didn't say anything in response, she figured that Ruby thought she was asleep already seeing as she hadn't said a thing to her yet, which was great her thinking that was going to be a big help. Her eyes opened again when the door to the dorm opened up, Ruby was in the middle of saying goodbye again when Blake spoke up and interrupted her.
"Enjoy your date you two."
Yang froze up at those words despite herself, but it seemed Ruby was more caught off guard by them as she choked on her words mid-sentence, "W-What?! I-It's not a da-" She was cut off when the door clicked close no doubt Rodric had closed it, probably while wearing that smirk on his face, what ever his reason he seemed to enjoy when Ruby got embarrassed, she wasn't one to talk she enjoyed it as well it was one of the reasons she teased her a lot. She just looked cute when she was all flustered, she shook her head when her mind started to wander, she couldn't afford to get distracted right now. She pulled her scroll from under her pillow and pulled it open and took note of the time, in ten minuets she was going to make her move, while she wouldn't be able to sneak out she didn't need to worry about Blake and Weiss. As long as Rodric and Ruby didn't know she was going to make a surprise visit , then everything was going to be fine.
Time ticked by as slow as it could, it probably didn't help that she checked her scroll every few seconds to see if it had changed yet, but with the ten minuet wait finally passed she quickly sat up before jumping off her bed. Neither Blake nor Weiss said anything from her sudden movement, she was a bit surprised but seeing as one was immersed in their book and the other on their homework it made sense. She shrugged slightly and made her way towards the door, as she was closing it behind her Blake gave her a few parting words that made her frown, "Have fun."
She frowned at those words, it seemed Blake knew exactly what was going through Yang's mind and had decided to torment her a bit, why else would she have told Ruby to enjoy their "date." If it was to simply tease her sister than she could have said any number of things before she left, so why had she said that in particular she wondered, no doubt she was using Yang's worries against her. While it might have seemed a little mean spirited to use something like that against her, she knew she was probably doing it just to show how silly her worries had been. She gave a heavy sigh as she shook her head, she had to relax, she had been jumping to conclusions way too much lately, if she kept up like this she was going to end up driving herself crazy. Well...at least more crazy than she had already driven herself when she thought Rodric was doing all those terrible things...she quickly shook her head once again to rid herself of those thoughts.
The thoughts began to creep into her mind again she she struggled to push them down, she crossed her arms as she stared at the locked doors and darkened windows of the library. They had lied to her, no Ruby had lied to her, she was hurt by that fact though not as much as she had expected to be, yet she was very hurt at the same time it was a strange feeling. Ruby had lied to her about things when they were younger, but this was so much different and much worse, worse for her anyway seeing as she was struggling to keep the terrible thoughts from her mind. She ran her fingers through her hair before taking a deep breath and exhaling sharply, she frowned as she looked up and down the dimly lit halls, it was late and all the classrooms were locked and darkened. That at least meant they weren't in some class, still that didn't leave a lot of places for them to sneak off too, the dinning hall still served food for at least another hour, but if they were just going to go eat why not say so?
She groaned loudly as she tried to think of all the places that they could have gone as she started to walk down the hall, if they went outside there was no way she was going to be able to find them easily. Beacon's grounds were huge, she got lost plenty of times in just their first week there, there were still a lot of places she didn't know about, like that once place Blake disappeared to when she wanted to be left alone. It would take too long to search for them if they went outside, they would be back at the dorms before she managed to even search a fraction of Beacon's grounds, the only other place they could have gone to was the roof a lot of students liked to hang around up there at night as it gave a clear view of the sky. She shook her head, that didn't sound like either of them to go out to star gaze, she groaned softly as she walked by the gym her pace slowing down slightly as she looked at the doors, maybe they were here? It was the only place in Beacon that was open until pretty late for students who were really dedicated to training or had trouble sleeping, she herself frequented the gym on the many occasions she found herself to have trouble sleeping.
She tilted her head slightly a frown evident on her face, even if they were here she did understand why, Ruby was a great fighter sure she was bit rough around the edges but that's why she was at Beacon. Rodric...she would grudgingly admit that he was an...alright fighter, he could use a little work but combat classes would help with that, there was no need to come to the gym. She sighed and decided to continue her search despite not even knowing where to start looking, though she didn't get far from the doors when she was stopped by a rather familiar voice, "Come on I know you can do better than that, I've hardly broken a sweat!" Yang's brow arched sharply at the words as she moved closer to the door to hear better while being careful not to make any noise.
From the other side of the door she could hear ragged breathing and a groan of effort, "W-Well you'll have to forgive me I-I don't possess the stamina you do little one..." There was no holding back the thoughts that flooded through her mind as she had to bite down on her lip to keep from saying anything that would give herself away.
"Oh you always say that, you've been able to keep up pretty well lately don't start slacking now!" There was a low groan that came from Rodric, but it seemed Ruby was undeterred by it, "Now come on, I'm going to go all out this time and I expect you to keep up with me."
"Can't we take a moment to rest, I don't think I'll be able to keep up with you for another round..."
"Nope! Now come on, don't hold back, give me your best shot!" The sounds that followed her exclamation were...less than subtle in Yang's mind, she could feel her face heating up despite not wanting it too. She willed herself to move to just burst in there and break up whatever it was they were doing, but she seemed rooted to the spot as her heart race as she was forced by her own body to listen to what was going on beyond the doors. She her eyes in a fruitless hope that it would some how be able to block out the noise she was hearing, her heart was nearly beating out of her chest from the sounds, she bit down harder on her lip nearly drawing blood. "Come on, faster!" Her eyes flew open at the words and instead of embarrassment that she had felt she felt pure rage flood through her body, her hear beat faster as she turned and gripped the handles of the door a growl ripped through her throat as she tossed the doors open.
"What in the world is-" Her shout was cut off when a cry of pain cut through the room, her eyes widened when a splash of red splattered onto the floor and Rodric stumbled back gripping his chest.
"Rodric!" Yang was pulled from her stupor when Ruby's weapon clattered to the ground as she rushed over to him to assess the damage, Yang's eyes slowly moved up his body before she gasped in fear. A thick red line was drawn clean across Rodric's chest, Ruby's weapon had cut cleanly through his shirt as well as his flesh, his blood was flowing freely as it dripped down his body staining his clothes as well as the floor. "Oh my god, I-I'm sorry I-I didn't mean to hurt-" Ruby was cut off when Rodric grabbed at the hand she was extending towards him as he shook his head, they both turned to look at Yang who was frozen in her spot at the door as her eyes were locked on the wound across his chest.
"I'll...I'll be fine little one, j-just give me a moment." Rodric turned and headed towards the locker room leaving a trail of bloody droplets in his wake, silence reigned over them as both Yang and Ruby watched Rodric disappear into the locker room. The silence didn't last much longer after that when Ruby suddenly rounded on her and glared at Yang.
"Why did you do that?!"
Yang was shocked from her fear and managed to barely stutter out a response, "D-Do what?"
Ruby's frowned deepened, "Why did you just barge in like that?! That's not how people act Yang, you could have at least knocked or came in like...like a normal person!" Ruby was freaked out, she could feel her hands shaking, she was angry, angrier than she had ever felt, she had hurt her friend when she didn't mean too. She looked down and saw his blood staining the floor, it still bubbled slightly but seemed to have finally cooled down, she gave a shaky sigh as she moved back towards her weapon.
"I-I'm sorry Ruby I-I just thought...I mean I heard you too a-and I thought..."
"You thought what?" She looked at Yang who seemed to be struggling to find her words, she sighed softly and bent down to pick up her weapon, she looked at the blade and saw the blood staining the blade. She frowned as she cast a glance towards the locker room, "Yang what did you think we were doing?"
Yang still struggled to come up with an answer as she didn't want to just come out and say that she thought her sister, her baby sister was...being intimate with someone. She shook her head and did the next best thing, "Never mind that...i-is he going to be alright? Shouldn't we take him to the infirmary, or something?"
Ruby collapsed her weapon back into its compact form and stored it in her holster before turning to Yang, "Yeah he's going to be fine...I think." She quickly shook her head before looking back towards Yang, "Don't try to change the subject, you didn't answer me, what did you think we were-" She was cut off when the locker room door slammed shut, they both turned to see Rodric walking towards them, his shirt still torn and bloodied but there was a noticeable wound that was now missing from his chest. "Well there you go he's all-"
"Wait a minuet." Ruby turned to see Yang staring almost slack jawed at Rodric, "How did he do that? There's no way he could have healed that sort of wound in just a few minuets. I've taken injuries almost as bad as that and it took hours before my aura could heal it and even then I still had to go to the doctor to get checked out. So how did you, someone who I've had doubts that you could use your aura, manage to heal something of that severity in just a few minuets."
"W-Well you see Yang...I-I mean Rodric he...um he..." Ruby rubbed the back of her head as she struggled to find a way to explain Rodric's miraculous recovery speed, she frowned slightly as she looked up to Yang, "He can heal like that because...that's his semblance?" Yang didn't seem to buy that explanation as she frowned down at Ruby before casting her glare back at Rodric. He sighed heavily behind them as he shook his head, before speaking.
"Just tell her Ruby." Yang's brow arched slightly at those words, as she looked down at Ruby.
"Tell me what?" Ruby didn't answer her right away she instead turned her concerned gaze back to Rodric.
"Are you sure?" He simply nodded as Ruby turned back towards Yang who was now growing frustrated at being kept out of the loop.
"Tell me what." She said with a slight bit of anger slipping into her words, though it seemed to go unnoticed as Ruby looked down at her feet and tugged at her skirt slightly.
"W-Well you see Yang, Rodric...Rodric isn't exactly what he seems to be..."