Chapter 13 is here, 14 is mostly done. Pushing close to 200 followers, I really can't believe so many of you guys follow this crap…..for whatever reason but thank you.

Well the neck marks got Nathan in trouble. He got treated like a figurative and briefly literal racket ball by Tai and Yang. When they saw the marks on his neck Ruby started to get scolded until she made the puppy eyes so she got off easy.

It was several days later that Ruby, Yang and Nathan went hunting for some Grimm in the forest around the cabin. What sparked them to go hunting was when Zwei found some beowolf tracks along the edge of the property. Worried they might come back during the night the group went off to get them first.

The three were moving through the forest with Yang and Ruby in the front and Nathan following behind them. They followed the tracks until they disappeared into the grass and leaves of the forest, no other signs of the Grimm creatures after that except for a few scratches marks left on trees probably marking their territory or working on their claws.

Yang and Ruby seemed to get more apprehensive the further they went into the forest, especially Yang who was quickly looking around with a worried look on her face.

"You alright Yang." Nathan asked breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I-we've been here before, Ruby and me. We came this way looking for mom." Yang answered grimly.

"What happened?"

"Grimm attacked….but Uncle Qrow saved us, we were just kids then." Said Yang.

The silence amongst them returned with the exception of the dry leaves crushed under their boots. The forest seemed to become darker and the best word to describe it would be "deader" with all the dried-out vegetation from the Grimm habituating the area. The grass was brown or just replaced with dirt and the trees and bushes have lost all their green and leaves.

As the three got further they became aware that they were surrounded, seeing shadows moving at a distance around them. The Grimm were watching for an opening to exploit or an advantage in terrain. Nathan kept his rifle up pointed in the direction of the forest he saw some beowolves moving behind trees to break line of sight with them. "What are they waiting on?" He said.

"I think thei-" Ruby was cut off by a loud wolf howl in the distance followed by the noise of brush all around them being crushed through by the pack of beowolves that encircled them.

"Play time!" Yang yelled out before blasting forward to pummel a beowolf apart.

Ruby got to swinging, splitting Grimm vertically and diagonally. She zipped from target to target and started to take out beowolves that Yang would've gotten. "Hey, stop stealing my kills!"

"Didn't know we were keeping count, but I'll win anyway!" Ruby answered before bisecting another beowolf.

Yang started fighting more aggressively to try to keep up with Ruby. Nathan was picking off beowolves at a distance by lobbing fire dust grenades into the brush with the underbarrel grenade launcher, starting some small fires in the forest but he wasn't too concerned about that at the moment. Switching to using the rifle portion he gunned down several beowolves that ventured too close to him, their bodies evaporating mere paces from his position.

He was just starting to swap magazines when another beowolf emerged from the bush next to him. Allowing the pulse rifle to hang from his sling Nathan unholstered his Great War Mantle Empire pistol(Luger P08) and fired several ice rounds into the Grimm causing it's bone mask to shatter puncturing the brain, killing it.

With that handled, he reloaded his rifle and continued hosing any Grimm that weren't being dealt with by the two sisters in their wild melee. The number of beowolves were starting to pitter down when they heard another load howl but much closer with a large tree falling nearby. "What is that?" He muttered.

Out of the woods came a very large alpha beowolf with all of its extra bone armor. It immediately settled on going after Yang sensing she was the most dangerous of the three. It lunged after her rapidly swinging its long claws. Ruby used the opportunity to slash at the alpha's back tearing up its bone armor but still not stopping it.

Yang took in several swipes across her chest and back but she absorbed the damage and gave it back using her semblance. Her punches cracked the alpha's chest armor making it give up on trying to kill the blond. The Grimm then went after the easiest target: Nathan.

The alpha charged after him as Nathan leveled his pulse rifle and held the trigger down holing the alpha beowolf like cheese. The Grimm creature finally died as it made a defiant swipe knocking Nathan to the ground but the slash attack was nullified by his aura.

"Nate! You alright!" Ruby said running up to him.

He checked his chest to see he was unharmed. "Never better." He said giving a thumbs up.

"You dummy, you're supposed to dodge remember?" Ruby said helping him up.

"Thanks." He kicked the dissolving carcass of the alpha. "But, we got 'im."

"Hell yeah we did, and you bagged an alpha!" Yang cheered punching him in the shoulder.

"It was you two that did all the work, I just finished an already dying Grimm." He said sheepishly.

"Well I think that takes care of the Grimm problem around here for awhile, let's head back and eat." Said Ruby walking back towards the cabin.

On the walk back it was mostly Ruby and Yang bragging on who got the most kills, Ruby even tried to say Nathan got more kills than Yang but the blond sister was having none of that. Getting closer to the house they could smell food cooking along with a hint of one of Ruby's favorite foods. "Cookies!" She rocketed off in a stream of rose petals into the cabin.

"And there she goes, you think she'll eat them all?"

"Nah, dad won't let her. Not before dinner even if she pulls the face." Answered Yang.

They entered the house to see Tai shooing Ruby out of the kitchen so he can finish cooking dinner. "You'll get your cookies after dinner Rubes." Tai said.

"Awwww, but I wants." Ruby sighed.

Nathan grabbed Ruby's hood and started pulling her to the living room. "Come on Ruby, leave your dad alone."

"But…my delicious treats…"

"You'll get them later." Said Yang.

The three spent the afternoon cleaning their gear and weapons though this time Nathan didn't cake Ruby's face in unburnt gunpowder. None of their gear was damaged but Nathan had to realign Yang's right shotgun gauntlet barrel. Apparently a strike to some Grimm bone armor pushed the barrel into a slightly down position making Ember Celica unable to collapse into passive mode completely. A couple whacks with a rubber mallet fixed the problem, Nathan would've preferred to just replace the barrel but that would have to wait until they get back to Vale and if Yang wants the work done.

Showers were in order after the Grimm hunt, blazing a trail through the forest and fighting beowolves left them filthy from sweat and dirt. Yang got the shower first again, followed by Ruby and then Nathan. Ruby took all the remaining hot water, Nathan guessed it was pay back for the teasing he gave her when they took that shower together.

After they had dinner Ruby got her promised cookies that she eagerly gobbled up much to Tai's amusement. She had so many that Yang and Nathan only got a handful that Ruby wasn't able to snatch from their hands.

Dinner out of the way the three excused themselves to go to bed, tired from the day's adventure. "What you two doing tomorrow?" Yang asked, she was going to be with Tai again.

"Well since it's our last day off I was just going to hang out with Nate, maybe do some light training." Ruby answered crawling under the covers.

"Cool, just don't have too much fun~." Yang said with a wink before turning over with her back to them.

Nathan laid down in his blanket bed to get some sleep but Ruby wouldn't let him. "Nate." She whispered.

"Yeah."

"I wanna cuddle." She said looking down at him.

"But…" He whispered looking in Yang's direction.

"She's asleep already and we'll be up before her in the morning."

He sighed, "Ok, but if we get in trouble I'm blaming you."

"Yay!" She cheered quietly before moving over so Nathan can get in bed with her.

As soon as he crawled in Ruby clamped onto him, throwing a leg over him. "You're trapped."

"Oh no." He said quietly in mock alarm before kissing her.

"What kind of training you had in mind?" Nathan asked.

"It'll be a surprise." She said with a smile.

"What kind?

Ruby turned a little red. "T-that's for you to find out."

"I hope it's not too intense, you have the tournament coming up."

"Yeah…i-intense." Ruby said looking at Nathan's chest.

"Ruby?"

"N-nothing!" She said into his chest.

"O-ok." He said holding her close and kissing the top of her head.

"Hey Nate, y-you think I should t-take my shirt off?" She asked looking up at him.

"I-I'd love it, but what if Yang sees?"

"I'll just tell her I did it in my sleep again." She said pulling off her tank-top exposing her breasts.

"Again?"

"Yeah, in my sleep I sometimes take my shirt or pants off if I get hot." Ruby pressed her warm body against him and kissed his lips.

Ruby felt Nathan getting hard down there causing her to blush. "W-we should get some sleep….d-don't want to get carried away."

"Y-yeah, nights Rubes." He whispered giving her a long kiss.

"Night." Ruby settled into his arms sighing contentedly before dozing off.

Nathan stayed awake a little longer playing with Ruby's hair wondering what they were going to be doing tomorrow, especially Ruby's "surprise".

Gripes? Bitches? Complaints? Let me know.