Sorry for the late update! I've been busy with grad school and scholarship things.
40 followers?! That's insane! Shoutout to KHARAKI TAKAN, our newest reviewer!
Also, chapter lengths are gonna vary, just like my updates. Thanks for putting up with that.
It was the middle of the night. The pale shattered moon cast a faint glow into Team RWBY's dorm, the members of whom were fast asleep. Especially one in particular, as Ninja quickly found out.
After spending the last few weeks starving on the street, the chicken had apparently overloaded her gastrointestinal system, Ninja decided. It was the only reason why nature had decided to call during this godforsaken hour. Ninja blinked sleepily awake and tried to stretch, but found that she couldn't move. Instead, she was tightly hugged in place against Yang's chest. Ugh. Ninja squirmed to no avail. If anything, the girl clutched her more tightly, completely immersed in her own dreamworld.
Yang raced down the streets of Vale, pushing Bumblebee to its max. Tightly clutched in her arms was an important package for the Headmaster. She didn't know what it was, and she wasn't going to open it (Huntress' honor). But she knew it would mean the end of the world if she lost it. Everyone was counting on her.
Ninja began to lick Yang's forearm, tentatively at first, then earnestly in the hopes that Yang would release her hold. When that didn't work, she wrestled a paw out and swiped with her claw. Yang stirred but her grip only tightened so that she was holding Ninja in place with her hand rather than her arm. Frustrated, Ninja bit her new owner hard.
Light flashed in the sky, followed almost immediately by a boom of thunder. Yang pressed onward as a few drops of water began to fall, spattering her arms. She barely had time to tuck the package under her jacket before it began to pour in earnest. Amidst another peal of thunder, Yang detected the unmistakable growl of a Beowolf. Yang rolled her eyes, grinning to herself. Bumblebee vibrated even louder as she skidded around a sharp turn into a narrow alleyway, the pack of Grimm funneling in behind her. Ember Celica fired blindly, and Yang was rewarded with the squeak of a Beowolf being trampled by its brethren. As she aimed another shot, however, another Grimm lunged and grabbed ahold of her arm with its teeth. With a mighty punch, she threw it off and it slammed into a wall behind her.
Ninja flew off Yang's arm, landing sprawled out on the (now previously) sleeping princess in white. Yang, still in dreamworld and completely oblivious to what she had done, continued to gently snore.
"Get…off…" Weiss grunted sleepily, turning in bed and depositing the cat onto the mattress. Ninja shook herself off and started scrambling over Weiss's sleeping form. I need to use the bathroom now!
"Ugh, Ruby, you dunce!" Weiss slowly cracked an eye open. Huh? There's no one there. Weiss forced both her eyes open, only to come nose to nose with—
"Yeeough!" Weiss grimaced. She would have skewered the creature in front of her, thinking it was a Grimm, but Myrtenaster had thankfully been far enough out of reach. Weiss had opted to cast a white glyph on instinct, creating a barrier between her and the cat, before she remembered. "Oh, it's you."
Yeah duh its me. All Weiss heard was an indignant mew as the cat glared at her. And you're in my way. It quickly became mesmerized a second later by the bright spinning white light in front of its face and tentatively swiped a paw at the glyph, darting away the moment its paw touched the cold white surface. It would have been cute…except that it was one in the morning.
"What in the world are you doing up right now?!" Weiss hissed at the cat. "You're supposed to be asleep!"
Ninja started moving one way, then the other, trying to get around the glyph.
Weiss narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What?"
Ninja pawed at the glyph again, this time not jumping back quite as much or as quickly, then fixed her cat stare on Weiss.
"O-Oh."
Weiss dropped the glyph and Ninja padded over the heiress without another thought and jumped down from the bed. She began to prowl this way and that, brushing along furniture and sniffing different areas on the ground with her tail waving in the air. Weiss sat up to get a closer look, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Upon sensing the heiress's movement, Ninja paused, looked at her and meowed, then darted out of sight.
"H—Hey wait!" Weiss whisper-yelled, scrambling out of the sheets. Stupid cat, doesn't it know how cold it is? Weiss didn't need to go far. It was hard to tell from the dim moonlight, but it looked like Ninja was…pacing. Back and forth, its occasional meows serving as the primary method for Weiss to detect its location.
That is…odd. Weiss had never owned a cat, and to her it seemed like the cat was…distressed? Should I wake up Blake? Blake seemed to know a lot about cats, but Blake also hated being woken up in the middle of the night, as she had found out the hard way. Well, it had been Ruby's fault really. One, for being way too hyped up on cookies and practically yelling as she came back into the dorm room. And two, for having the idea to have a late night cookie eating contest in the first place. It certainly wasn't her fault that she had a bit of a competitive streak of her own…Weiss shook her head. She was getting off track. Blake would not only be grumpy, especially if it didn't mean anything, but she also wasn't in the mood to put up with Blake's quips, particularly at this hour of the night.
Okay, Blake's out of the question. Maybe Ruby? The little redhead might have some ideas…if she could succeed in waking her up in the first place. Of course, she could always make something up about there being trouble and Ruby needing to save the day. Or something about Crescent Rose being stolen. Ruby had most definitely played her fair share of pranks about dumb things like a Nevermore breaking in or her combat skirt missing. But the thought of facing those sad eyes when she found out her "bestie" had lied to her…she couldn't do it.
No on Ruby then. That just leaves…Weiss glanced at Yang's bunk and didn't even continue her train of thought. Waking up Yang was akin to asking for a death sentence. Only Ruby usually managed that successfully, and that was at 8:30 in the morning with a 50-50 chance of getting knuckled in the face with a Yang-punch. Weiss didn't have Ruby's years of experience or mass-defying Semblance to pull that off.
I could Scrollsearch maybe? But after the cat food fiasco, Weiss didn't think Scrollsearch would have anything helpful to say. Thankfully, Ninja chose that moment to jump back onto Weiss' bed, turning a quick circle before laying down smack dab in the middle of her bed, where it was warm. In a few minutes, she was asleep.
…Wow. I guess she's okay then. Weiss did feel slightly annoyed that the kitten was taking up all of this space in her bed, but it was an annoyance she could handle. She gently settled herself on her side next to the cat, shifting her weight to try to scoot Ninja out of the way. Instead, Ninja pressed closer to Weiss, her back against Weiss's stomach.
Umm…okay?
Weiss had never touched an animal willingly, and she wasn't going to start now. After all, who really knew how well Ruby had cleaned up the creature? But Weiss also wasn't cruel, contrary to some people's beliefs. She wasn't about to just toss the bag of skin and bones onto the floor. Hmm, I suppose I could…
Weiss flicked her fingers and a black glyph appeared against the wall. It gently pulled Ninja to the opposite side of the bed…along with all the blankets and sheets, leaving Weiss open to the cold. Weiss tried to grab her blankets back, but succeeded only in dragging Ninja back to the very spot she had occupied previously. Weiss huffed.
This is not how this night was supposed to go. Weiss stared at the little bundle of black fluff, as if by her very gaze she could will the cat to move. Ninja simply rolled over and splayed her paws out on Weiss's stomach. Weiss sighed.
I suppose there are worse things in life. It was hitting two in the morning now, and Weiss's eyes were closing of their own accord. Ruby's going to be in so much trouble tomorrow, Weiss thought sleepily. With the strangely comfortable warmth in front of her, Weiss drifted off to sleep.