Clandestine Panic
Ruby swims for a few more meters forward, careful to minimize the sound of the water splashing so she can focus on the sounds of her surroundings. "Princess is this far enough?" Ruby calls as loudly as she can though her voice is muffled by the roaring sound of the crashing waves from the massive waterfall. Ruby carefully clenches the small piece of soap in her hand so as to not let it slip from her grip as she awaits the reply.
Weiss barely turns her body towards the waterfall, "Yes that will do Ruby!" Weiss shouts though her voice doesn't carry all the way to the young leader. With the sound of the massive waterfall drowning out Weiss' delicate voice Ruby turns her head slightly to make sure that nothing sinister has happened to the Princess.
To her surprise Ruby catches a rare glimpse of Princess Weiss utterly anxious and flustered, when their eyes meet Weiss' entire face turns a bright red, "WHAT- TURN AROUND YOU DOLT?!" This time Weiss' voice carries all the way to Ruby who gracefully spins around and dunks her head beneath the water again.
"Sorry!" Ruby shouts with her head slightly tilted only to hear mumbles back. The young leader slicks her wet hair back out of her face.
"How dare she….is she crazy…." Weiss mumbles to herself, even the confident Princess shyly takes off each dirtied layer of her excessively intricate outfit. Bending her arm back so that she can feel a dangling string with her index and middle finger looping the string around her fingers and tugging until the tight clothing loosens with each breath. For the first time in her life the Princess is forced to place her clothing on the ground as there are no nearby logs or flat stones for her to place her clothes, though they are filthy without needing any help from the ground. Weiss takes a deep breath as she finishes removing the last few layers of clothing that peels off of her sweat saturated skin. "Ugh…." Weiss groans as a sour odor emits from her clothes. Weiss keeps her undergarments on, a chill in the air nearly drives the Princess into a sprint to get into the lake. Wiess stops for a brief moment to dip her toes into the water at the edge, that is surprisingly warm.
"What is taking her so long?" Ruby quietly asks the waterfall before her, should I call her to see if everything is okay?
Weiss eases her pale and exposed flesh deeper into the water, with each step the water grows from a lukewarm to a temperature so bracing that goosebumps rush up her neck. Usually cold temperatures don't faze the Princess, What….is going on? Weiss wonders as she runs her fingers over her jawline feeling the field of bumps that envelop every inch of her skin.
"Is everything alright… gahuhhh...Pri-Prin-cess…." Ruby struggles to cough out as she inhales while her mouth is too close to the edge of the water. SPLASH...splash…. "Princess?!"
"DON'T YOU DARE TURN AROUND!?" Weiss shouts, her body up to her chin now completely submerged. I jumped in… thinking that she might see me in this state… The Princess continues to walk up until her feet no longer feel anything beneath them. Ruby keeps treading water in front of the Princess, though Weiss stays where she can stand. Weiss stops on the ledge before the lake bottom seems to disappear, beneath her feet she feels the soft squishy ground covered in algae causing it to have a slimy and slippery feel. The Princess grimaces as she feels the disgusting concoction oozed up and over her toes. The young leader keeps her face staring forward awaiting the word from Weiss.
"Wei- Princess when may I turn?" Ruby calls without moving from her spot, "We will need to finish-"
"Yes you may turn but if you are only allowed to submerge your head if you are not facing in my direction for OBVIOUS reasons." Even in this frigid water I still feel like I am burning up… Weiss responds as she quickly dunks her head into the water. Ruby slowly turns her body all the way around to her surprise the Princess is nowhere to be seen.
"Princess?!" Ruby blindly swims closer to where she last heard Weiss' voice, I didn't realize that I was so this far. Ruby glances quickly over to see that the Princess is still a good distance from her.
"Wahhhhhh…." Weiss utters her eyes widen as the sensation of something brushing against her calf. "...ruby…." The Princess voice drops, her focus shifts from the sounds of splashing behind her to the murky water around. "WAHHHHHHH"
"PRINCESS?!" Ruby shouts after hearing Weiss' distressed voice, in a haste she turns to see that Weiss is nowhere in sight, " Princess?!" Ruby notices the bubbles and rippled water in the area she last remembered the Princess being at.
Ruby dives into the murky water swimming as fast as she can, even with the clear sky the visibility in the murky water is barely enough for the warrior to see anything past her. Please be fine.
"Bahh, kahhhh…" Weiss coughs as some of the dingy water, as she throws her hair behind her head. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" she shouts looking around for her Captain, "Ruby?"
Ruby emerges from the lake right beside Weiss instantly throwing her arms around the Princess' pale body. "Thank the goddesses you're fine!" Ruby can feel the thousands of goosebumps that cover the Princess' skin.
Weiss grabs the warriors scarred shoulders trying to pry the woman off of her "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?! GET OFF OF ME! NOW!" The Princess shouts, Ruby holds on tight to the Princess blissfully unaware of the gravity of her actions.
Ruby throws her arms up, "Apologies Princess… I- I wa- you- ummm…" the young leader backs away from the Princess. "We should probably hurry." Ruby rambles remorsefully as she turns away and quickly rubs the ivory soap across her scalp. "Here…" Weiss turns to see Ruby holding the soap out towards her.
"Yes ummm...thank you…" Weiss apprehensive takes the soap from Ruby and the slippery bar slides right out of her hand. "OOohhhh" Weiss cries as she quickly tries to grab the bar as it sails through the sky. "Ahhhhh"
Ruby hears the brief commotion behind her followed by the sound of something small landing in the water. "Uhh is everything alright Princess?"
"Of course it is!" Weiss exhales as she scans the surface of the lake to locate the ivory bar that has slowly begun its descent to the floor of the lake. "Oh where did that stupid thing go to?!" The Princess whispers to herself, as she turns to see if Ruby is checking on her.
For a brief moment their eyes meet and as they do Ruby awkwardly grins before dunking her head into the lake. Was she blushing? Weiss turns quickly seeing that the soap bar gently floats towards the lake bottom. "There it is!" The Princess' arms darts towards the water, wrapping her slender fingers around the slippery bar. The instant her fingers apply any pressure the bar shoots out of her hands and taps against Ruby's leg.
"EEEPppp…" Ruby squeaks as turning slightly to see the ivory bar beside her. "Umm Princess…." The young leader gently scoops up the elusive soap bar in her left hand, extending her hand towards the Princess.
Weiss quickly snatches the elusive object from Ruby, "thank you…" her whispers cutting through the sound of water sloshing away. The comment causes the young leader's cheeks to burn.
The corners of her lips slowly rise upwards, "yeah no problem…"Ruby responses. As the leader continues to tread water she looks down to see wisps of blood around her leg. "Princess, I will be getting out soon. Once you are done with the soap if I may use it to clean my cloak I would appreciate that."
"Of course, it will be fine, it will take me awhile to finish washing my hair." Weiss turns to see Ruby's bare and battered shoulders gliding atop the waters edge. The sight incites the Princess each of the deep scars with its own story to tell one day she wishes to hear their tales. Weiss quickly snaps out of her daydreaming state as Ruby whips around. Weiss quickly lathers up her hands and begins the long process of washing her extraordinarily long hair. The pale strands float beside her as she carefully pulls the bottom of her hair out from the water and carefully lathers the ends. To her surprise there are virtually no knots or dirt even with the long length between cleanings.
Ruby spins in circles feeling her fingers cutting through the murking water, every few seconds her silver eyes catch a glimpse of the Princess causing her cheeks to burn. The young leader stops her spinning when she notices fish beginning to gather near her leg, some even bold enough to ram their heads onto her bare and bloodied flesh. Ruby makes her way towards the edge of the water where the pair first entered the lake. "Princess, I shall be getting out now!" Ruby calls to Weiss, whose body is nearly completely submerged in the murky water.
Weiss waves her soapy hand up, instantly going back to washing her seemingly endless ponytail. "It may be easier to wash it with some help...or remove it from the ponytail... Princess!" Ruby watches as Weiss struggles to clean the top of her head. " I know that...but…
As Ruby's body rises from the water she remembers that unlike the Princess she is as bare as the day she was born. "Ughhh Princess please remain facing the waterfall…I-" The entirety of her face turns a deep red as she quickly gathers her clothes to hurriedly puts her undergarments on.
Weiss reluctantly removes her hair from it's ponytail right as Ruby finishes getting her tunic and leggings on. "PRIN-" The young leader's mouth stuck wide open as she sees an image very few outside of the Royal Family have ever seen. Princess Weiss with her hair without her signature ponytail, "beautiful…." the only word to leave Ruby's lips.
"Ms. Rose, you may use what is left of this soap to clean your cloak now." Weiss turns to see that the young leader has yet to place her cloak into the lake. "Well?" The Princess notices that Ruby is completely frozen. "Miss Rose…" Weiss throws the soap bar straight at Ruby's head, it snaps Ruby out of her daze as the soap hits the sand and instantly gets coated.
"Uhh...yeah….I am sorry I will get started on this if you wanted to warm yourself in the sun on this rock." Ruby turns motioning towards the rock just behind her. The young leader scoops up the sandy bar and gently brings her beloved cloak into the murky water. Weiss makes her way up towards the shoreline, her face dusted red, the feeling of Ruby's gaze still makes her feel embarrassed.
The Princess passes Ruby just as the water turns a deep red. "Oh…." Weiss exhales as she sees just how much blood the cloak had soaked up. All that blood… she is lucky to be alive…. Ruby smiles as she rubs the cloth over her knuckles, even the soapy lather rising from the cloth is a red color each fiber completely soaked in the young warrior's blood. "Man I didn't realize how much blood I lost…." Ruby's voice dampens as she sees Weiss staring at the water change from a murky green to a deep red.
Ruby looks down at her hands, the blood seeps between her fingers. "I am sure some of this blood isn't mine." The comment meant to lighten the mood only made the Princess's eyes heavy with worry. Ruby goes back to washing her cloak as quick as she can. I have to hurry and finish... so we can get back to the road.
Weiss gathers her garments and returns to the spot where Ruby is diligently scrubbing her cloak. Here Weiss crouches beside Ruby and begins to wring her hair out. Once she can no longer ring out any more water, the Princess realizes that though she enjoys the length her hair is. With her hair completely soaked it feels as if her entire head is about to be pulled off her head. Weiss' delicate neck cocked to one side as she desperately continues to try to remove as much water as possible.
"HEEEYYYY" Yang's voice calls through the forest, " WE'RE NEARLY DONE HERE!" The sound of Yang's boisterous voice causes Weiss to jump upwards.
As Weiss shoots up her slick feet cause her to fall backwards, Ruby tosses her cloak into the lake catching the Princess before she hits the ground. The brunette manages to catch herself, Ruby looks down to see Weiss' eyes slowly open. Their faces so close Ruby can feel Weiss' breath, their bodies so close that Weiss can feel the instant change in Ruby's heartbeat.
"Ar….are you ok Princess?" Ruby slides her arm out from under Weiss slender figure. The young leader positions her newly freed hand beside Weiss' shoulder. The clear cerulean eyes stare directly into silver pools causing Ruby's face to turn a bright red turning her head away.
"Yes… I am fine…" Weiss carefully watches as the silver pools dart back and forth from the Princess towards the pathway as if she anticipated someone appearing there. The Princess cups her hand without thinking on Ruby's burning cheek. " You are extremely warm Ms. Rose."
The sensation of the Princess' cool hand against Ruby's feverish flesh causes her to shudder as she shys away Weiss' hand. Ruby gently takes the Princess hand in her own, removing it from her cheek as she pushes off the ground. As the young leader gets into a seated position, her body twists so that her back is turned to the Princess. "I….I'm fine…." Just as Ruby stands up, she feels the cool touch of Weiss' hand on her wrist causing her to pivot her body so that her torso is facing Weiss though her legs barely move.
"Wait...let me at least check on your wound." Weiss releases Ruby as she shifts her hand from Ruby's wrist to her arm slowly getting up as well. "It appears to be bleeding." Ruby glances down at her leg the oddly familiar sensation of warm blood trickling down her calf causes her to grit her teeth.
"My wound is not for you to concern yourself with Princess," Ruby purses her lips as a sharp pain flares up in her wound. The pain causes Ruby to bend down "...here…" a pale cloth is draped over the leaders hand.
Weiss stands defiantly with her fingers still grasping onto the pale cloth "It does concern me when my Captain is in pain…" As the last words leave her lips, she lets go of the cloth and crouches next to the young leader as she begins to untie the now loose fitting wrap on Ruby's oozing wound.
Ruby turns her face without realizing how close Weiss' is to her own. The young leader feels her lips press against the soft warm flesh of the Princess'. Both their pupils grow wide, as a feeling of comfort and relief rushes over the pair. Without thinking the two women slowly inch closer to one another their bodies naturally gravitate together. Ruby gently places her hand on Weiss' arm drawing the two of them even closer.
"CR-CK" The sound is so close to the pair that it throws Ruby into a panic causing her to let go of the Princess, tearing her lips away.
A/N Good Morrow, or Good Evening Young Travelers, I am so happy to see that our lovers have finally shared their first of hopefully many kisses? I am excited to be writing this and working on such an amazing story. I hope all the travelers that stop by or even those who have been with me since day one are enjoying the journey. As always feel free to comment, like and share this story. I am looking forward to seeing you all in the next chapter!