Author's Note: Incoming Lancaster! You have been warned.

Entry 4: High Caliber Love

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"Heya, sis, whatcha working on?"

Finding Ruby hard at work in a weapons forge was nothing unusual for Yang. What was unusual was seeing her little sister give a quick jump, a yelp, and then try to hide her apparent project behind her.

"Oh, Yang! Just, uh, you know, tinkering. With stuff. And things." Ruby's eyes darted back and forth, yet somehow never managed to return Yang's gaze. Yang was fairly certain that she had the most adorable little sister in the whole world. Given the significance of her silver eyes, the world also apparently agreed with her that she had the most important little sister in the whole world. But Yang's little sister was also the worst liar in the whole world.

Plus, Ruby was still short.

"Rubes, I can see it behind you. Hey, why is it white and yellow?"

"Dang it!" Ruby gave up the charade with a little wince. "Jaune still doesn't have a gun, so… I kinda made him one. It's no big deal," she added quickly as Yang reached over her and picked up the weapon.

It looked like some kind of short, double-barreled shotgun, bearing twin smooth-bore barrels of a rather disconcerting size. There was no stock, but it had an elegantly curved pistol grip, and space for what would be a rather large Dust magazine. She had engraved a design along the barrels, the twin Arcs of Jaune's sigil, only made of vines with roses blooming from them. "It's just something to give him a bit of range, a little more versatility," Ruby was explaining. "I was going to make him a revolver, since, you know, he prefers weapons that are simple and reliable" Like himself. "Kind of a starter weapon."

"Hmm," Yang peered at the weapon. "Starter weapon. Just a loaner until he gets something better, huh? I guess he'll just have to make do with high-grade Mistrali Bronze, compressed enameled white steel, and a polished ivory hand grip. Jeez, Rubes, did you measure this to his hand or something?"

Not… exactly. Ruby could recall, with exact detail, the feeling of his hand on her shoulder as he reassured her in the ruins of Kuroyuri. How it looked on his glass as they toasted each other at the school dance, taking solace in their shared social awkwardness. His hand reaching down to her on their first day at Beacon, offering her friendship when she had never felt more alone. So she made the grip to fit his hand perfectly, from memory.

And if she maybe wanted to know what those hands felt like on her waist, between her shoulder blades, running through her hair, or… on other places, well, that was her own business.

"Remnant to Ruby, come in Ruby!"

Oh right, Yang was still there.

"Wow, you were practically glowing for a minute there." Her big sister's eyes narrowed as she peered at Ruby. "Oh my gosh, you're crushing on Vomit Boy!" Yang snatched her sister up in a big hug, ignoring, as she always did, the smaller girl's sudden frantic waving.

"Ooh, you're just so cute! I never thought I'd see the day! And you would go for the dork in shining armor. Just like a storybook! How long has this been going on? Dad's going to murder him when he finds out you ran off with a boy." Yang gasped as a thought occurred to her. "Was Team RNJR just one big love party between you and Jaune and Ren and Nora? Pretty sneaky, sis! I'm both proud and appalled."

"Shut up, Yang!" Ruby didn't quite escape her sister's clutches, but she did manage to loosen the grip enough to speak. "He doesn't know. I've been waiting until he's… okay, you know?" Yang let go as Ruby turned to the table, running her hands over the gun she'd made. "And I… I don't know, part of me feels guilty. Like I'm stealing him from Pyrrha, or disrespecting her memory. Or something, I don't know."

Yang embraced her again, but this time, it was softer, more tender. "Ruby… It's been a year and a half now. Pyrrha's gone. And you're still here. You remember what Vom… what Jaune told us about it? She put him in a locker and sent him away. She wanted him to live, Ruby. Not just survive, but really live. She would have wanted him to live a long, full life, with adventure, friendship… and love. And do you know what I think?"

Ruby looked up at Yang, whose heart ached a little from the moisture she saw in her eyes. "I think that if P-money had to choose anyone to be crushing on Jaune, it would be you. Who was the first person to give him any sort of friendship, even before she met him? Who else believed in him, right from the beginning? Who else saw things in him before anyone else could, even Jaune-y boy himself? It was you, Ruby."

Ruby felt herself relax a little at that. Yang was right, like she usually was. It wasn't like this was coming out of nowhere, she and Jaune really did have a history.

"Besides," Yang said, a little mischievous glint in her eye. "Could you imagine how she'd react if, say, Weiss changed her mind, and started putting the moves on our resident Ladykiller? Pyrrha would freaking come back as a ghost and start haunting her out of spite."

The silver-eyed girl did not care for that thought, not one bit, and Yang, having noticed that reaction, opted to run with it. It wouldn't do for Ruby to repeat Pyrrha's mistake and wait to say anything until it was too late, after all. Maybe lighting a fire under Ruby's butt would get it in gear.

"Of course," Yang began slowly, as if thinking it over. "Those two have been getting along better since we met up with you at Haven. He saved her life, all white knight, and she acts like a proper little lady… a kind word here, a soft look there…"

"That's illegal!" Ruby blurted, causing Yang to burst out laughing. "Well, not illegal, exactly, but… she can't?"

"Oh? And why not? Have you told him how you feel? Have you told her how you feel?"

Ruby's pout was all the answer that Yang needed. "They're not mind readers, Rubes. You gotta let them know these things, or someone's feelings could get hurt. Speaking of which… does he feel the same way towards you?"

That stopped Ruby cold. Of all of the ways that she had imagined screwing up her first attempt at romance, the idea that Jaune might not return her feelings literally had never occurred to her. So naturally, she did what Ruby was wont to do, and began to flail around in a panic, zipping about and trying to gather up the gun, the magazines, and the case that she made.

"Ohmygosh, I'msostupidhowcouldhelikeme, my knees are in no way normal, Iscrewedup, I screweverythingup-"

It was through the ease of long practice that Yang calmly reached out and plucked Ruby out of the air like a hyperactive hummingbird, holding her up to look her in the eyes. "Ruby. Stop. Breathe. It's going to be okay."

She held her sister's gaze until the younger girl had calmed down. Yang set her down. "Maybe he'll return your feelings and maybe he won't. Maybe he will, but won't be ready to act on them. Who knows? Heck, he might not know, and he could need time to think about it. But if you never put yourself out there, if you give up without even trying, you'll never know. And you're too brave to have it go down like that."

Mind you, that kind of courage was of a different sort than the nigh-insane antics that Ruby usually got up to, but Yang didn't mind too much. Ruby had grown up so much, and Yang was so proud of her that sometimes she thought she might just burst. But… all of the magic, and Maidens, and gods, and destiny?

Yang considered herself to be a pretty good big sister. There was that one time she fell into a depression after losing an arm and being abandoned by the girl she loved, but no one was perfect. Ruby not only didn't hold that against her, she had turned it into an opportunity to grow even more than she might have otherwise. Beyond that, Yang had always been there for Ruby… but her mystical Big Sister Powers couldn't prepare her to help with this entire aspect of Ruby's life, her essence, her capital-D Destiny that was so far beyond Yang's comprehension.

So in a way, this little dilemma of Ruby's meant that Yang could still play a part in helping her amazing little sister grow as a person. Staring down Grimmzilla to pull magical blasts out of her eyes? Kinda beyond Yang's pay grade. (Speaking of which, was Ozpin ever gonna, you know, pay them somehow? Destiny is great and all, but a girl's gotta make a living…)

Teaching her little Rubaby how to deal with her first crush?

Yang's got this.

"So here's the deal," she said, holding Ruby lightly by the shoulders. "Making this boomstick for Jaune is a great icebreaker. Give it to him, let him know how much he means to you, and see where it goes from there. If he says yes, than I'll be your biggest cheerleader. If he says no, we'll have a girl's night, eat ice cream and gripe about how boys are stupid and we should eat them, and we'll be recovered in a few days. No matter what, I've got your back."

Ruby took a deep breath and then nodded. "Okay. Okay, I can do this."

Yang suddenly grinned. "In the meantime," she said, "I wanna take this to the range and see how she fires. Yoink!" she snatched up the gun.

"No, wait!"

Yang was taken aback as Ruby literally dove for the weapon, snatching it back from her sister.

"Ruby, what gives?!"

"It's not a shotgun. You need to be careful with it, because… well, it's not a shotgun."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "It looks pretty shotgunny to me."

"For your information," Ruby snapped, sounding almost as prissy as Weiss for a second, "This is a prototype miniaturized magnetizing plasmid Hard Light Dust Projector."

Yang blinked, her expression perfectly blank.

"Well, Jaune sometimes isn't the best at things," Ruby began. "So I thought, what if I made him a gun that was really, really hard to miss with? So I thought about putting a computer targeting assistance sight on a revolver, but the parts are delicate and need frequent calibration, which would annoy Jaune, and I don't want him to be annoyed with something I make for him. Then I thought about a sawed-off shotgun, but the spread wasn't coneing out the way I wanted it to. Then I thought, 'well, what if we made it so it was a single blast instead of multiple projectiles?' I was going to make it a flamethrower like Doctor Oobleck's thermos, but then we went to that one lab in Atlas, and I… kinda, sorta, maybe stole some stuff. A little."

Truth be told, she had thought "how would Jaune solve this problem?" and then immediately hit upon a bold and outrageously illegal solution, just like Jaune would. That no one had tried to stop them as they left Atlas just meant that she was good at it, or, more likely, that General Ironwood had recognized the futility of trying to keep Ruby Rose away from weapons technology and just handwaved it.

It was that latter, but Ruby didn't know that.

"So," Yang began slowly. "You stole prototype weapons technology from the most powerful military on Remnant."

"Yup."

"To make an apparently extremely powerful weapon."

"Uh-huh!"

"To give to a boy to let him know you have a crush on him."

"Gotta give it my all, you know?"

Yang just pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath. "Oh, Ruby… I do love you."

"Love you too, sis!"

"Well, let's go test it out, at least. Want to at least see it in action before Atlas has us all killed."

"That's the spirit!"

Ruby cheerfully led the way to a closed-off firing range. Yang paused as she saw the decimated state of the reinforced steel wall behind the targets. "I had to do some fiddling with the barrier projectors because they kept shattering," Ruby explained.

"Ruby…"

"No time for questions, only awesome! Now, the target is that cluster over there."

"Cluster?"

Ruby pulled the weapon up and cheerfully announced "Both barrels!" before pulling the trigger.

It was, technically speaking, a burst, in the sense that a tsunami is still a wave. After an audible whine, the Dust erupted with a deep buzzing sound. To Yang, it was as if someone had taken a pair of columns, each one growing from a stream emerging from each barrel to a full five feet in diameter, turned them into white-hot molten Dust death, and thrown them downrange. The barrier projectors flickered under the onslaught, only barely holding together. The cluster of reinforced steel and ceramic Huntsman drones that Ruby had aimed for were simply gone, well and truly vaporized.

The lilac irises of Yang's eyes seemed very small, so wide was her stare. Wordlessly, she turned to stare at her sister.

"It works!"

"...what."

"I said, 'it works!'"

"You made that to give to Jaune?!"

Ruby looked down at her newest creation. "Well… it might be a little more than a crush," she admitted.

"Not the point, Ruby! How is he supposed to fire that thing without killing one of us?!"

"That's why it's a secondary weapon! It gives him options! Besides, if you're behind him when he shoots it, it's perfectly safe."

There was an audible clang as Yang facepalmed with her metal hand. This was the most Ruby thing that had ever happened. "Just… what are you hoping will happen when he uses it?"

"Well," Ruby blushed a little. "I'm hoping that he'll blast Cinder into little bits and think 'Wow, I sure am glad that Ruby made this for me! She's so awesome and cool. I should totally love her for the rest of forever!' Besides, think of how great it'll look hanging from his side, on one of those belts that he has slung low across those hot little hips of his..."

"Ew, Ruby, I don't need to hear you perving out like that!"

"Oh, what happened to 'Just break out of your shell a little, Ruby?' or 'let's go purr at boys in the auditorium, Ruby?' Can't get mad at me for finally buying what you're selling. Now, you onboard, or what?"

Yang looked up from her hand and stared at her little sister again. "I… just teach him how not to kill us with it, okay?"

"That's fine. He's super tactical and smart, when he's not being a dummy."

"... I tentatively sign off on this idea."

"Woo!"

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In retrospect, Yang's Big Sister Powers really dropped the ball on picking up on the growing relationship between Ruby and her dorky crush. The group was sitting around a campfire next to the road to Vacuo, the next leg of their grand adventure around the world. They had been eating dinner and discussing their plans for reaching Shade, and all the while, Ruby had been stealing glances at Jaune… and unless her imagination had been playing tricks on her, Jaune had been stealing some right back.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who noticed too, as Weiss helpfully suggested the two have their own discussion about "tactics," and "team cohesion." Alone. The other assorted teens agreed with Weiss, with Nora adding "We work better when you two are close!"

Ren nudged her.

"Working closely! Yep! That's what I meant!"

They all scattered to their own tents after that, though Yang opted to hide behind a tree to watch over her sister. The two of them were seated on a stump in front of a campfire, with relative privacy, and a gorgeous panorama of the multitudes of stars arrayed across the clear night sky. Perfect scenery. Yang gave little mental cheer as Ruby used a map as a pretext to scoot closer to her target, practically leaning against him. Jaune didn't seem to tense at all, his body language indicating that this was a pretty common occurrence for the two of them.

"You know, I'm kind of surprised you're not over there, beating Blondie into a pulp."

Yang behind her to see her uncle peering at the scene.

"What, are you nuts? I've got her six on this. Besides, Vomit Boy is alright. A little noodley, but after everything she's already done for Remnant, and everything she's going to do, if Ruby wants the noodle, she gets the noodle."

Qrow made a face. "Uh-"

"Yeah, yeah, I realized as soon as I said it. Now shut up, and don't ruin this for her, or I'll have you plucked and deep fried."

"I'm pretty sure that's a hate crime."

"Shh." Yang shushed her uncle. "C'mon, Rubes," she muttered. "A Huntress always catches her prey."

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For once, Ruby was able to set aside her anxiety and just enjoy the feeling of being with Jaune. She leaned against his shoulder with an easy familiarity, resting against his unarmored right arm and idly noting how lean and strong he was. And for someone who had been hiking all day, in armor, and carrying a pack to boot, he still somehow smelled nice, with a scent of vanilla to him. Whenever she asked him how he did it, he would just wink at her and say it was "an Arc family secret." It became a running gag between the two of them, and if her heart beat a little faster every time he winked her way, well, no one needed to know.

Suddenly, a small flash in the sky caught the pair's attention. Looking up, their map forgotten, the two watched as a brief meteor shower streaked through the night sky. Ruby had never seen anything like it, and gazed in wonder, looking on as the lights streaked through the sky.

"Wow," she breathed, once it had passed.

"You know, we've seen a lot of amazing things so far. But the most amazing thing I've seen out here is you."

Ruby almost jumped as she saw that Jaune was softly looking at her. Also, as she had been watching the meteor shower, it was entirely within the realm of possibility that she had lifted his arm around her shoulders and had snuggled against his chest as if she belonged there. And what he said! She could feel her cheeks burning, but she would be lying if she said that it didn't come with a warm, bubbly feeling spreading throughout her body.

"Uh, hi," she blurted.

"Hey there," he said fondly.

They gazed at each other, neither knowing quite what to say, and neither wanting to be the one to bring the moment to an end.

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"They're doing it again," Qrow muttered.

Yang raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Doing what again?"

"That damn thing they do where they just stare at each other for a while, being all emotive. Seen it a lot when they were on the road to Mistral, and again at Argus, and there was that one time at Atlas when I thought I was gonna have to murder that kid…"

"Wow, okay, so this has been going on for a while." Yang sighed. She really should have noticed sooner.

As if reading her mind, Qrow spoke up. "You kinda had a lot on your plate, Firecracker. Your arm, your girl, that shit with Raven. Sometimes things just don't show up on the radar. Hey, twenty lien says Shortstack screws this up."

Yang smirked. "That is inappropriate and mean. Make it forty."

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When they did break the silence, they did so in unison, causing a moment of confusion as neither could make out what the other had said.

"I want to confess something to you," he had said.

"I have something I've been meaning to give you," she had said.

"What?" they had both said together.

Ruby gave a little snort of amusement. "You go first," she said, sitting up to look at him more squarely..

Jaune took a deep breath to steady himself. He looked up at the stars, collecting his thoughts. "It's been absolutely crazy out here," he began. "We've done things I never thought we could do, seen things I never imagined we would see, and through it all, you've been our guiding star. Out of all the amazing things I've ever seen, you top them all."

"Well, that's just my eyes," Ruby demurred, but Jaune shook his head sharply.

"No, Ruby. They're a neat trick, but even if your eyes were a different color, or if you had goggles like Maria, it's you, the strength of your character, who you are, that's got us through these situations. None of us would have been able to carry on if not for you, and most of us wouldn't have been out here in the first place."

He looked to her, and Ruby held his gaze, not trusting herself to speak.

"I once said that you gave us the courage to follow you. Now, out here, after everything we've done, after everything we've learned… you give us hope that things might turn out okay after all. You've changed the world, Ruby, and through it all, you're still the same sweet, silly, wonderful girl I met at Beacon. I… I don't want to have any regrets, Ruby. Not like Pyrrha. I won't leave things unsaid until it's too late. I've fallen for you, hard. I love you."

Ruby's eyes were wide. This was everything she had wanted, more than she could have dreamed of! Her knight in shining armor had just confessed that he was straight-up in love with her! Her! All right, Ruby, time to knock his socks off!

"Words!" she blurted. "Uh, I mean, they're like, I mean, you're like, um, a big rock that's all stubborn and I can stand on. But it's like a happy rock!"

She looked at the baffled expression on Jaune's face and started to panic. "Oh gods, I'm screwing this up! I just… you're just!" Her arms started to flail. How could this be happening?! What happened to all of that swagger when she had been talking with Yang? Where did all of her swag go?!

"Shut up and kiss him already!" She heard Yang's voice call out from behind a nearby tree.

Good idea, Yang!

She threw herself into Jaune's arms, from a sitting position no less, straddling his lap and pulling his face down into a deep, passionate kiss. His arms felt strong around her, and she felt intoxicated from the feel of his lips on her. It felt good. It felt right and natural, and Ruby decided that she was going to grab him up and do this a lot more often in the future.

Eventually, the need for air forced them to part. Ruby's smile was nothing short of beatific as she squeaked happily at Jaune.

"Works for me," he said with a laugh.

Ruby broke down into giggles, resting her cheek against his armored chest. A thought occurred to her. "Thanks, Yang!"

"No problem, sis! You got this!"

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Qrow scowled at his eldest niece. "No fair interfering. Pay up, Firecracker."

"Sure thing, whatever, she just needed a helping hand," Yang grumbled as she fished out the lien.

"Right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go pry Ruby off of that boy."

Yang held out an arm, her real one, blocking his way. "You can't just, you know, let them be?"

"She's sitting in his lap, for crying out loud!"

Yang glared at him. "And she's perfectly happy there. And how come you weren't like this when I hooked up with Blake?"

"Because your kitty cat girlfriend can't get you pregnant!"

"As far as you know," Yang said with a wink, stopping Qrow cold.

"The hell does that mean?!"

Yang ignored him, and started to head for the tent she shared with Blake. She was feeling pretty good about herself just then. Best wingwoman, ever.

"Yang? What did you mean by that? Damn it, Yang!"

Qrow turned back to the campfire, only to see Ruby shoving the boy into her own tent. "Thanks for taking first watch, Uncle Qrow!" she called out cheerfully, before disappearing inside.

The Huntsman looked around, not quite comprehending what had just happened. Finally, he gave up, sitting down for first watch. "Tai is gonna kill me," he muttered.

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"Okay, so I made it so that it will slot onto the underside of the shield, so you can carry it with the left and keep it ready to fire."

The following morning, Ruby had shown Jaune the weapon that she had made for him. She had had a real good night last night, snuggling against Jaune and holding him close to her as she slept. He was like the best teddy bear ever. Of course, Qrow had been waiting up for them, and had made all manner of increasingly over-the-top death threats towards Jaune until Ruby finally figured out what it was that her uncle had been worried about.

She had gone scarlet as she explained that she wasn't ready for, you know, that. But even if she had, who was Qrow to threaten Jaune about it? For all he knew, all of those barmaids and one-night stands he bragged about had uncles just like Qrow, who all wanted to murder him, too. At least Jaune would be there in the morning.

That shut him up.

So, while he was off pouting, Ruby had taken the opportunity to show her new boyfriend the weapon she had made! Ruby wasn't like other people. She had come to accept that. Most people wouldn't get as excited as she did watching her boyfriend carry a weapon that she had made especially for him, or at least, not excited in the same way, the way that had her heart racing, that had her biting her lower lip as she fitted the scabbard onto his belt.

She wasn't like other people, but that was okay. She liked who she was. And apparently, Jaune was quite the fan, too.

As she glanced to one side, she saw her sister give her a big grin and a thumb's-up. She took confidence from that, and moved close on Jaune, wrapping her arms around him and placing her hands around his.

"Okay," she said softly. "Hold on tight, now."

She blew into his ear, causing his finger to tighten on the trigger. The burst tore through the clearing, vaporizing the Deathstalker that Blake had reported on a scouting run. With a single shot, the massive Grimm simply ceased to be, decohering in the face of the searing Dust.

Ruby basked in the adulation that Jaune heaped upon her. It was a dangerous weapon that she gave him, sure, but she knew he would always be careful to keep his friends out of harm's way. And if seeing Jaune carry the weapon made her all tingly, seeing him actually use it had her practically euphoric.

There would be struggles and hard fights to come, she knew, but Ruby could honestly say that she hadn't been this happy, truly happy, for a long, long time. She had her friends, her uncle, her super awesome big sis, her lovey squishy knight in shining armor, and high powered implements of mass destruction.

What more could a girl ask for?

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Entry Endnotes: Sorry for the absence. It's been storming non-stop where I live for the last few days, and power is spotty.

As to the gun Ruby made: You ever see Gundam Wing? The main character's giant mech in that show has a beam rifle that acts like the weapon I described. To those who haven't seen it: it's a kamehame-hadouken in a can. Outrageous, over the top, and so very Ruby Rose.

I am completely amused that, in RWBY, the team paladin, the knight with the healing hands, is also the one to immediately hit on illegal solutions to their problems. Forgery, piracy… look out, Roman, there's a new Gentleman Thief on the scene. Also, he and Ruby do kind of stare at each other, a lot.

I think Yang is in an interesting situation where she had always been half-mom and half-sister to Ruby, and their relationship is changing now that Ruby is not only growing up, but leading them on this grand adventure. Undeniably proud of her, but also a little wistful that she's outgrowing the singular need that she had for Yang at the beginning of the show.

Whelp, that's a wrap on this drabble. See you all next time!