Authors Notes: Enjoy.

Yang sighed in irritation as the Professor continued to talk. School life had seemed to catch up to her and it had finally started to stress her out.

Usually Yang loved combat class, it was one of the few exciting classes the school actually had, but over the past week the class had only served to irritate her more and more for no good reason. Combine that with Oobleck and Port's classes and Yang was on the verge of tearing someone's hair out.

She took a deep breath and attempted to calm herself. It didn't help all that much.

For not the first time, Yang's eyes drifted to Jaune in the row across the isle from them. The two hadn't said a word to each other since the day of the food fight. They had stopped training and their teams had sat as far apart as would not seem rude when the two were around.

Yang thought on the words the two had said to each other and again regretted what she had said. Was she right? Yes, but she knew she had said it wrong. Jaune cared for his partner tremendously, and Yang had insulted her.

Her head hit the table with a soft thud and she released a groan. She knew she had no right to be mad at him, he was the one who had reasons to be upset, but she was mad anyway. That only served to make her mad at herself before making her even more unjustifiably mad at him. In a never ending cycle.

Her partner nudged her slightly with her elbow and she sat back up. Blake looked at her with narrowed eyes and her patented 'what are you up to' look. Yang had the common since to not respond. Even if she wanted to talk about it, this was professor Goodwitch's class. There was nothing more idiotic than talking during her class.

Blake looked away and Yang released another sigh, her eyes moving over to Jaune.

"Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester." Yang was surprised by the sudden utterance of names, she hadn't been following along and so missed the point when the combat portion of combat class was supposed to kick in.

The two opponents grabbed their gear and then made their way onto the arena. The lights in the rest of the room dimmed and the aura display was brought online.

The professor gave her standard speech about the rules and stepped aside.

The two boys squared each other off and waited for the fight to officially start. When it did however, neither of them rushed off immediately, instead both waiting for the other to make their move first.

It went on longer than it really should have, and had Yang been the one fighting either of them she would have won already.

Finally Cardin got bored and launched the first strike, something that was clearly a probing attack meant to get Jaune to attack back.

Jaune slid the lunge off his shield and stepped back, prompting Cardin to follow. There were a few more exchanges like this, Cardin attacking and Jaune retreating.

The audience seemed incredibly bored, being as how this was probably the slowest paced fight all year, but Goodwitch seemed curious. Her eyes as ever were glued to the fight but something about her posture didn't read 'kill' for once but rather curiosity.

Cardin, large brute that he was, became frustrated. What little patience he had wore off and he finally committed to an attack, landing a solid hit on Jaune's shield before he retreated once more, leaving him basically on the edge of the arena with nowhere left to run. The next lunge however Jaune's plan finally slid into place.

Cardin launched an attack, it was over extended as usual, and committed to the attack with all his force.

Call him what you will, but Cardin was actually fairly good at getting a read on a persons fighting style. He sucked at knowing when to back off or not engage someone but he could make a fairly good guess at what you were gonna do next once he got to know your style, so long as he kept his cool.

He knew how Juane usually fought, bringing his shield up to hold the hit off and avoid the damage, blocking his face and eyesight in the process. The point of a shield after all was to take the hit and it was what most people used it for, excluding Pyrrha who used it like a damn frisbee.

Cardin also knew how to exploit this to his advantage, making the shield more a hindrance for its user.

The larger boys mace came down slow and hard but never found the white shield it was aiming for. This time, instead of doing what he always did, Jaune mixed it up.

Jaune stepped as far to the side as he could, without getting Cardin's attention and making him redirect his attack, and then used his sword to push the mace the rest of the way. The result was a loud thundering hit on the ground, and surprised yell from Cardin. Jaune did not run this time. He planted his feet firmly in the ground and twisted with all his strength, smacking Cardin in the face with his shield, causing the larger man to twist and fly backwards a small ways.

It was at this moment Cardin realized where they were. He was barley still on the arena when Jaune planted a foot in his chest and promptly kicked him out. The room was silent for a moment after the fight, all in disbelief about its outcome.

Jaune Arc had won by ring out.

A slow clapping started by the professor picked up throughout the room. Jaune's team were the most adamant, Team RWBY coming in shortly behind them.

Despite what the two were currently going through, despite how irritated she was at him and herself, she couldn't help but be proud. Jaune Arc had finally bested Cardin Winchester in the sparring ring, and he had done it using her training advice.

Down in the ring Jaune offered a hand to the bully lying on his back, who to everyone's surprise, took the hand without a grumble or insult.

Yang's smile didn't last as Jaune took his place beside his partner. As much as she wanted to go talk to him and congratulate him, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Class ended shortly after that and the students departed, happy that the day was over and another weekend was finally here. Yang rushed out of the room in a hurry even compared to everyone else. She knew Ruby would want to talk to Jaune but that she wouldn't if Yang stayed there, so she left.

She heard Blake follow her but had made certain not to stop and wait for her until they were alone somewhere. When they were finally alone for the first time in a week, silence was the immediate response.

Blake's eyes were narrowed in suspicion but Yang couldn't guess why. After two more minutes of silence her partner finally spoke. "You need to talk to him."

Yang released a frustrated sigh and turned away. "I don't know what you're talking about." It was a poor lie, yes she knew who she was talking about. How could she not?

"What happened between you two?" Blake moved a step closer to her. "One moment the two of you were sparing and laughing like always and the next you refuse to be in the same room as each other."

"Look, its nothing, ok." Yang wanted to tell her, she really did. She wanted someone she could vent and rant to but that wouldn't be fair to Blake. It wouldn't be fair to put all her problems on her friend.

Sadly, Blake didn't seem willing to let it go. "What did he do?"

"Blake, please just drop it." Yang took a step away but heard her partner follow.

"What did he do that has you so upset?" Blake set a hand down on her shoulder. Her yellow eyes taking on a surprisingly soft tone. "I'm your partner Yang, you can trust me."

Yang tried to avoid oversharing, she really did, but her friends blatant concern was enough to wear down her defenses. Yang told her everything. From the argument the two had had, to his partners own words, to her own hatred at herself for screwing things up so much.

She hated to admit it but it felt nice to let it all out. By the end she was chuckling a little bit at herself. "I know, pretty pathetic huh." Blake made to interrupt but Yang kept talking before she could. "I just… it was really nice to have another close friend. I love team rwby and all but there are just somethings I can't tell you, or Weiss, or Ruby. It was nice to have someone else… I really liked him and then I went and screwed it all up."

Blake seemed… surprised to say the least. Yang's ramble has been almost entirely self driven with next to no input from the faunus girl. She sat there in silence, taking it all in.

"You… liked him?" Blake picked the decidedly wrong details to focus on.

"No no no no no, not like that!" Yang felt heat rushing to her face. "I like him as a friend! That's it, nothing more! Get you mind out of your porno books!" Blake seemed mildly annoyed at Yang insulting her choice in literature but said nothing about it. "He's a cool guy, and he isn't all that bad looking but… he and I… together?"

Blake grinned slightly. "It does sound kinda far fetched, but if he is your friend you should talk to him."

"I know I should apologize bu-"

"I didn't say apologize." Yang was caught off guard by Blake's sudden interruption. "From what you told me, it doesn't sound like you have all that much to feel bad about." Yang tried to interrupt but Blake wouldn't stop long enough to let her. "You said some things that he took the wrong way, that sucks but that's just as much his fault as it is yours." Her eyes softened once more. "That being said, don't lose a friendship over something so small."

Yang was shocked, so much so in in fact that it took a few moments before she was able to come up with a response. "I thought you didn't like him?"

"I didn't, I didn't trust him." Blake paused a moment before realizing Yang wanted her to elaborate. She did so with a sigh. "I didn't trust him because he never felt right to me, I couldn't understand him."

"And you do now?"

Blake seemed to think for a moment before coming to a conclusion on what to say. "He and I had a chat over the break… he said a few things that shed some light on his motives."

Yang waited for her partner to go on, but she didn't. "Anything I should be worried about?"

Blake paused a moment, collection her thoughts and leaving Yang in suspense. "You can trust him to care, that much I'm certain of."

With new resolve Yang set off down the hallway. "If you'll excuse me, I have a man to go get!" It took her three seconds to realize what was wrong with that statement, and a second more for all the blood in her body to move to her cheeks.

Pyrrha had finally had enough, between all her failures to allure his attention, to Yang's sudden appearance and interest in Jaune. She had hoped he would have made a move by now, but he hadn't.

In all fairness she had failed on her own end. For one of the only times in her life The Invincible Girl had failed due to fear. No more.

The night had started as any other, training. It had been something she had initially wanted to use to get closer to him, to spend more time with him and of course help him at the same time. He had of course never noticed.

It was one of the most frustrating things in her life, one of the few things she had ever truly failed at doing. It was an entirely alien experience for her, she wasn't a fan of the feeling. She had spent the better part of half a year wondering if he felt the same, if he cared for her the same way she cared for him. She had spent the better part of that time afraid he didn't.

All that ended tonight. She was finally going to ask him, as flat out as she could bring herself to do.

The spar had been a short one, him making more mistakes than he had in the last month combined and her punishing him for each of them. By the end each of them were covered in sweat.

They sat on the roof letting the breeze cool them off, a scene they did almost every night. Something Pyrrha had come to love about Beacon.

It was now or never.

"Jaune… there was something I wanted to ask you." Her hands gripped each other in her lap.

"Hm?" He turned his head in her direction and to her shame she couldn't meet his eyes.

"Do you… um…" Pyrrha realized she had no actual plan of what to say. It occurred to her that she should have written it down or practiced lines in the mirror before this. "Um…"

"Is something wrong?" The concern in Jaune's voice forced her to act.

"Do you… like Yang." Pyrrha felt her soul facepalm.

You coward!

"Um…" It was Jaune's turn to be awkward. "I suppose so, she's a funny person, of course I like her. She's my friend."

Pyrrha sighed when it became clear he didn't know what she meant. "Jaune…"

He released a deep sigh, speaking in a low voice. "I guess you noticed huh, who am I kidding, everyone noticed." Pyrrha wanted to ask what he was talking about but he kept going before she could interject. "She's a close friend, one of my best if I'm being honest. Second only to you, but…" He sighed once more, unable to go on.

Pyrrha thought back on what Jaune had told her about the two's argument earlier that week, if one could call it that. He still hadn't told her what words exactly had been said on Yang's end but it was apparently important enough to have him so conflicted.

Pyrrha knew what she had to say. "You should talk with her. Whatever was said between you two, try to get past it if you can." She knew her words would make more sense if she had been informed on what the two had argued about but she continued on anyways. "True friends are hard to come by, don't throw it away over a poor choice in words. Especially if-" Pyrrha choked on her words for a moment, unsure if she really wanted to say them, in the end she settled her resolve and went for it. "Especially if you have feelings for her."

That seemed to get Jaune attention. "Feelings? What do you-" Possibly the densest man Pyrrha had ever met finally understood what she was saying, the amount of red on his face was more than her entire outfit. "No no no no no! She doesn't… no no no no!"

Pyrrha sighed in relief internally, before a wave of guilt washed over her for it.

"Yang is a good friend but she would never think of me that way!" Jaune's face somehow got even more red.

Pyrrha decided to risk one more question. "If not her then… is there anyone you feel that way towards?" she feared she was a little too obvious but the words had already been said.

Jaune seemed caught off guard by the question and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, I um… I don't know, maybe… I don't know if there's anyone I really like that way."

The words were like a hammer to her chest, the air being forced from her lungs. She struggled to keep he composure and ask one more question. "You're certain? There isn't anybody you're interested in in that way?"

"There might be one girl… maybe, I don't think she-" There was a momentary flash on Jaune's face and for a split moment Pyrrha dared to hope, it was dashed in a second as he panicked and stood up in a hurry. "Oh, hey Yang."

It hurt, truly it did, but in the end she did the right thing. No matter how much she wanted to do something else. "I'll leave you two alone."

Jaune panicked. "You don't have to leave Pyrrha, actually why don't I-"

Pyrrha was already at the door by the time he realized she was no longer standing beside him. She nodded to Yang and offered a soft smile, before walking through the door and down the stairs.

To call the air between them awkward would be an understatement, neither of them wanted to speak first but in the end Yang swallowed her pride and made the leap.

Blake had said she didn't have anything to apologize for, but Yang couldn't disagree more. She opened her mouth to speak only to be interrupted by Jaune speaking first.

"Yang, I'm sorry… I… I've been acting like a child." He turned away from her and look out over the academy. "I know you didn't mean anything by it and I guess I was just scared."

Yang was caught off guard with the sudden apology, especially when she had show up with the full belief she was in the wrong. "What were you scared of?"

Jaune hesitated for a moment, clearly struggling with whether to answer or not. "I was worried you'd expose me… I told you the truth and I was afraid you would tell the teachers and have me removed… I… I didn't trust you, even after everything… I'm sorry."

"Jaune" Yang struggled to find the right words to say. "You never attended a combat school, you never trained to become a huntsmen" each of her words caused him to forcibly flinch. "And yet you made it through initiation, something people who trained years for couldn't do. You made it through Beacon, you fought Vale's most wanted!" Jaune turned and finally met her eyes. "You've earned your place here a dozen times over, stop being so hard on yourself."

A smile came over both their faces as he extended a hand. "Do you forgive me?"

Yang grabbed his hand and pulled him hin to a hug. "So long as you forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive Yang." Jaune tried to pull away and say something more but Yang wouldn't let him.

"Then everything is fine. Everything can go back to normal." Even as the words left yang's mouth she had to admit, something felt different.

Authors Notes: So by this point in the story I think it has become clear… this isn't a Jaune X Blake fic! I know you all must be disappointed but please, put down the pitchforks.

Personally, I never really got why that paring is so popular, it has its moments but I'm more of a White Knight guy myself… probably shouldn't say that on a Dragon slayer fic huh?

Anyways, hope you all liked the chapter and please leave a review. I can't express how much it helps me improve if you all tell me what I did wrong… and maybe what I did right.

Sincerely SE