Gah! I'm sorry! Life happened again! I'll try not to keep you guys waiting so long in the future...but you know...no promises...thanks life...Anyways, we passed 50 followers which is pretty crazy. I want to thank all of you for your support. I've said this a lot, but the motivation you all give me really is much appreciated. Ah but enough mushy stuff! Here's the next chapter, Enjoy! :)

Ruby:

"I'm leaving now; I'll see you all later!" Weiss announced as she left team RWBY's room. It was finally the weekend so Weiss was going to do some shopping in the city of Vale. Blake had also left to roam the campus, leaving Ruby and Yang alone in the room. It was nearly the afternoon, but Yang had only gotten out of bed moments ago after extended motivation from her sister. She was now taking an eternal shower as Ruby sprawled on her bed trying to figure out what to do.

'Yang isn't burning like her normal self,' Ruby thought. 'I can't imagine how she must be feeling; I have to do something to fix her up with Blake. That seems to be the only thing that could cheer her up. Maybe I can convince her to approach and tell Blake how she feels? Yang clearly doesn't want anyone to hear about her feelings and I didn't tell Weiss and Blake yesterday for her sake, but I certainly don't support keeping it a secret. It'll tear the bond between Blake and Yang if not that of the entire team.'

Ruby sighed; she heard Yang was out of the shower now by the shower door being slammed shut. 'Maybe I can spark some hope into her somehow,' Ruby thought. 'Yang may be slow to admit it, but she listens to my advice. Maybe I could convince her there's still a chance of Blake being open to a romantic relationship. Then Yang could just go confess her love to Blake and either they'd live happily ever after if Blake admits to being a lesbian or Yang will get more confirmation that Blake's an asexual and…uh. Well I'm sure she can't get much more depressed than she already is. I think it's worth the risk.' With the marginally formed plan decided, Ruby now awaited her sister's exit from the bathroom.

Finally Yang emerged through the door, appearing even more casual than usual. She wore baggy sweatpants and a yellow shirt that was way too big for her. Her hair somehow managed to be messier and more tangled than usual despite just washing it.

Yang slugged past Ruby and collapsed onto the chair of her desk. After staring at the clean slate of her work station for several seconds, Yang proceeded to plop her binder onto it and opened up to some mindless math problems – a fraction of the work she still needed to do.

'Well, here we go,' Ruby thought. She leapt off her bed and walked up to her sister.

"Hey, Yang. Are you feeling any better today?" Ruby asked.

Yang turned back to her younger sister, locking their eyes together. She gave a pleading look that begged 'leave me alone.' Ruby didn't want to make her sister feel any worse than she already did, but Ruby knew Blake was Yang's only chance. Ruby disregarded Yang's resistance and pushed forward.

"Yang," Ruby said, "I think you need to tell Blake how you feel."

Yang slowly set down her pencil as she turned her full attention to Ruby. Clearly on the verge of breaking down again, Yang pleaded, "Please just forget everything I told you yesterday. I-I'm trying to forget as well. We're just going to move on and pretend none of this ever happened. I just…" Yang lost it again as her voice cracked beyond repair and her eyes resumed its flow of tears. Yang curled back into a ball in her chair just like before.

Ruby immediately wanted to take it back and shut herself up, but she knew this was for Yang's own good. "Yang, there's still a chance Blake could love you back. If you could just find a little hope, I'm sure-"

"Don't you dare lecture me about hope," Yang yelled, suddenly enraged. Ruby stepped back, shocked at Yang's sudden shift. "Hope is the fucking reason this happened to me," Yang continued yelling as her eyes became a fiery red, "I was going to be perfectly, fucking fine with Blake being straight, asexual, or incapable of liking me for whatever reason. God damn, I initially planned that date with Sun specifically confirm Blake was straight so I could move on! But then I got blindly hopeful! I decided it was safe to admit that I loved her off of pure, baseless hope. I had kept myself from ever admitting to loving her for this very reason. Now that I've decided I love her, I'll never forget about her." Yang eyes started to continue their flooding as they returned to their usual purple color. "I'm done hoping, Ruby," Yang whispered. "The sooner my pathetic heart can accept its mistake, the sooner I can move on with my pathetic life." Yang dug her head into knees, without any sign of leaving.

Completely caught off guard, Ruby stood staring at her weeping sister. She never thought Yang would be one to not only abandon in, but blame hope for her problems. Ruby awkwardly excused herself from the room to leave Yang to have some peace. Ruby rubbed her forehead as she wandered down the halls of the dormitory.

'Convincing Yang to confess her feelings to Blake seems to be out of the question now,' Ruby decided. She had to think of another way to push them together. Getting them together was Yang's only chance. 'If Yang isn't going to ask out Blake, then my only other option…' Ruby thought, '…is to get Blake to ask out Yang." Upon thinking of how to convince the faunus to date the brawler, the answer quickly became clear to Ruby. "I could interrogate Blake and prove that she's still open to romantic relationships. Regardless of sexual attraction, I'm still sure she'd be up for relationships considering the type of novels she reads,' Ruby reasoned. 'Once I prove that, then I'll either have to tell Blake how Yang feels myself, which I don't really like, or I'll manage to convince Blake to ask out Yang without disclosing Yang's side of the story. Then everything will fall into place and Yang will live happily ever after.' With an alternate plan constructed, Ruby headed out of the dormitory to find Blake. If Yang had lost hope, only Blake could restore it.

Ruby walked through the doors of Beacon's grand library several minutes later. The place was a ghost town considering it was the weekend. Such an empty wasteland would be a paradise for any book addict like Blake. Ruby was sure she'd find the faunus here. After passing rows upon rows of books, Ruby reached an open area of tables and chairs and found a single student reading. Blake sat on a large, cushiony chair with her face buried in her novel. One would think she needed reading glasses by how closely she held it.

With a grin, Ruby approached her teammate. "Hey, Blake!" Ruby cheerfully said. Blake looked up from her book, clearly not expecting to be disturbed in her lonely paradise.

Blake:

Blake made no attempt to hide her displeased look as she thought, 'Dear god, can't I do some reading in peace? What could Ruby possibly want from me?' "Hello, Ruby. What are you doing here?" Blake responded.

If Ruby noticed Blake's annoyed tone, she certainly didn't show it. "I just wanted to check in on one of my favorite teammates. How's the book you're reading?" Ruby asked, still as joyful as ever.

Blake was slow to respond, as she was thinking of how to politely tell Ruby to get lost. "The book I'm reading is fascinating actually," Blake answered, "and if you don't mind, I'd really like to get back to it. I haven't had too much free time available since we had that essay due for Oobleck's class." Blake looked up at Ruby once more, but she was surprised to find the cloaked girl's cheerful expression had melted away into one as serious as could be.

"Alright," Ruby started, "I'll go ahead and cut the crap. Blake, I'm calling your bluff." Blake immediately had all of her attention directed at Ruby. Her mind raced to think of the implications of such a statement. Nervously laughing, Blake responded, "W-what are you talking about?"

Ruby lowered her eyebrows, displeased that Blake wasn't catching on. She replied, in a lower tone as to keep the conversation private, "You said that you're asexual, yeah?"

Blake could immediately predict where this was going. 'Yang obviously told Ruby that I was asexual and Ruby didn't buy it so she's trying to confirm it for herself. I hate doing this to Yang, but the story I've started is the best solution. I'll just have to convince Ruby of my supposed sexuality as well.'

"Yes I am," Blake replied, quietly, "please don't go around telling anyone. I'm not exactly-"

"And that was your way of justifying not dating Sun, correct?" Ruby quickly followed up with.

Blake stammered for a moment. She grew slightly nervous as her team leader was hastily digging for more information. "Well yes," Blake returned, "As an asexual, I'm not really into dating anyone, not only Sun."

Blake started to panic as she saw Ruby was slowly growing a smile. She wasn't believing Blake's story for some reason. 'Does she know something I don't?' Blake thought, 'she has no reason not to believe that I'm asexual. I-'

"Your logic is flawed, my dear teammate," Ruby said with a confident grin.

Blake hesitated, "W-What do you mean?"

"Being asexual means you aren't sexually attracted to anyone," Ruby continued. "So unless you believe a relationship is nothing but sex, you should still want to pursue a romantic partner." Blake couldn't fully process what Ruby was saying before the cloaked girl resumed her assault. "It could be possible that you truly aren't interested in romantic relationships and you simply used the term asexual incorrectly, but your taste in reading material heavily argues against that. All of this is to say, there's another reason you turned down Sun the other night. Something you've been keeping a secret."

Blake was officially horrified. She felt her face boiling to a blood red from the eminent embarrassment. 'Please don't say what I think you're going to say,' Blake desperately thought. 'I certainly never thought that you of all people would figure me out. I realize you're doing this in hopes of helping Yang, but this won't help anything! I'm begging you Ruby! Don't say that I'm-'

"Blake, are you a lesbian?" Ruby asked, without any hesitation.

Blake stared in disbelief at Ruby, her eyes quickly growing bloodshot. "I-I," Blake scrambled for anything to say. 'She actually figured it out? I never thought anyone would…I hoped no one ever would…! Quickly, I've got to give her a response and shut her down! I've got to put on a strong face and just say no! Insist to her that I'm straight! Just tell her I think Sun's a dumbass and I didn't want to date him.' Blake opened her mouth to speak, but upon seeing the look on Ruby's face, she realized resistance was useless. Ruby seemed to have a sick pleasure in seeing the hesitation Blake was being cursed with. Ruby crossed her arms as the faunus tried to form a response. 'No! It's useless. She's already made up her mind!' Blake thought, pitifully. 'Fuck.'

Blake lowered her head to the ground. She softly squeaked, "Don't tell anyone…I-"

"Yes!" Ruby exploded, "I knew it! I knew it! Yes!" Ruby started jumping up and down like she'd won the lottery. She'd clearly heard the answer she wanted to hear. The faunus, now a molten red, knew Ruby would relay this information to Yang. There was no way she could let that happen for the sake of preventing a doomed relationship. Ruby calmed herself down eventually and started, "Listen Blake, we need to-"

Ruby was interrupted as Blake suddenly stood up with crazed eyes and firmly gripped her shoulders. Blake glared into her teammate as she quietly ordered, "You cannot tell this to anyone, especially not Yang. You have no idea how difficult this is for me. You couldn't comprehend how-"

"Wait," Ruby snapped, her smile vanishing. "What do mean by especially not Yang. Why can't she in particular know about this?"

Blake immediately realized her mistake in her panicked rant. She slowly backed away from Ruby, anticipating the incoming storm.

Ruby glared at the faunus, now fully realizing the extent of information Blake had been not only hiding but also ignoring.

"Oh my god…Y-you already knew that Yang…" Ruby hesitated. She could already tell by Blake's expression that her new suspicion was correct. Blake had already known that Yang liked her. "How the hell could you do this to her?" Ruby demanded. "You're out here just reading while she's miserably reduced to sobbing in our room! You're just letting her suffer? You're perfectly fine with leaving her shattered and heartbroken?"

Looking up at her leader, Blake sighed with her ever growing guilt. She tried to keep her voice steady as she emphasized, "You don't understand…"

Ruby was far from satisfied with the lousy response. "Make me understand then!" Ruby demanded.

"Ruby, I never wanted to hurt Yang," Blake insisted. "That was never my intention and I didn't know about her feelings when I told the story of me being asexual to Sun. I only figured out how she felt yesterday. Believe me, I'm dying on the inside by thinking of the pain she must feel. I'd love to march back to our room, give Yang's feelings a chance, and repair her emotions, but-but…"

Ruby was still fuming, "Well? Why can't you?"

Blake curled back into her seat, with her gaze locked away from Ruby. She trusted Ruby enough to explain her thoughts, but was still going to struggle. The faunus whispered, "I'm terrified, Ruby. I'm terrified of how our society will view me. I already have to hide my true race; hiding my sexuality is yet another burden I have to carry."

Not fully understanding, Ruby responded, "I don't understand what you mean. Why can't you try going on a date with Yang? She's a lesbian; she's not going to judge you for being one."

Blake sighed. "No, that's not the problem," Blake said. "I can't imagine ever being publicly gay. That would give hateful people yet another reason to target me and such a thought keeps me up at night. If we gave a relationship a chance, I wouldn't let Yang and I ever openly be a couple. I would force us to keep it a secret for my own sanity, and a secret relationship would never work. I can already feel the guilt of ignoring our relationship whenever another person was around. I would rather leave Yang the way she is and be good friends than be more than friends and pretend our feelings didn't exist."

Ruby still didn't get Blake's view. "Then don't keep it a secret. Why do you care so much about what others think?" Ruby asked.

Blake shook her head, responding, "You haven't seen how cruel people can be to freaks like me, Ruby. Growing up as a faunus was hell. People glared at me wherever I went, disproving of everything I did merely for me existing. I started wearing this bow so I'd never have to feel that way again. If my sexuality suddenly goes against the norms, then all of the prejudice I've avoided will come spiraling back to me." Blake was relieved to glance up and find Ruby looking back with much more sympathy in her eyes. "I know you probably don't fully understand," Blake shakily continued, "and I hope you never will understand. You're a straight, white human; you're free to be yourself in this world. I-I'm not so lucky."

The two went silent as the thought lingered on. The soft ambience of the library filled the air. Blake desperately hoped Ruby would drop the subject and keep all of this a secret. The anticipation of a response was eating away at Blake.

Finally, Ruby spoke up, "I understand that you're scared, Blake, and I respect your decision - I honestly do." Blake softly smiled with gratitude. "But," Blake's expression snapped away as Ruby continued, "you two can't simply avoid each other. Neither of you have to bring up this topic again, but you're still partners and we're all still a team. Do you understand me?"

Blake nodded. "Yes, I see your point."

"With that being said," Ruby resumed, "I'll keep all of this a secret for you, but in return you have to be a better friend to Yang and start spending way more time with her - starting right now in fact. Let's go back to the room so you two can start hanging out and get past this. Maybe you two can watch a movie or work on homework together."

'S-start spending more time…with…' Blake could barely process the information through all of the problems it contained, but before Blake could fiercely object, Ruby shook her finger, "And before you try to argue, the alternative is me telling all of this to Yang. One way or another, I'm not going to simply leave my sister all alone."

"Wait are you crazy? How would my presence in any way make Yang feel better? All that it would do is remind her of her feelings!" Blake argued. Ruby, however, ignored all of Blake's case as she began to briskly walk away, motioning Blake to follow.

Blake was about to yell after her, but quickly stopped herself. Gritting her teeth, she realized Ruby's advantage – there was no way Blake would continue this argument at a higher volume or with anyone else around. 'So much for respecting my decision. Well, if this is Ruby's plan, I don't really have a choice but to follow it. I don't see what hanging out with the blonde will achieve, but if anything I only hope this won't hurt her further.' Blake reluctantly rose from her seat, picked up her book, and followed the young leader out of the library.

Ruby:

'Holy crap, this is an absolute disaster.' Ruby was making her way back to the dormitory, looking behind her every minute or so to ensure Blake was still trailing her. What exactly to do once they made it back to the dorm was still beyond her though. Ruby's plan was ordered to Blake on the spot; she hadn't really thought it through, it just felt like it was the proper course to take. Ruby truly didn't see any of this coming anyways; she had expected to hear that Blake was a lesbian and then she'd just go convey that information to Yang. Life can never be so simple though.

'I never considered there would be an actual reason for Blake hiding her sexuality,' Ruby thought. 'I sort of just hoped she just failed to mention it since it never came up. I guess I can kind of understand how Yang hates hoping now. Hoping for things to go your way seems to only make it more crushing when life goes in the opposite direction.'

Ruby sighed. She wasn't fully confident in the idea that forcing her two teammates to spend time together would magically resolve all of the distress between them, but she had no other ideas as what to do. 'All that I'm sure of is I'm not going to let myself or Blake simply forget about this and walk away,' Ruby decided. 'Maybe this will make things worse by refreshing the pain Yang is feeling. Maybe this will only drive Yang further away from Blake and the rest of the team…but…'

Ruby glanced back at the faunus behind her. It was almost amusing how she was pouting about the situation. Ruby saw her expression as Blake marched along in a daze. It seemed to Ruby that Blake, consciously or not, agreed to this plan of spending time with Yang. 'I really think Blake could like Yang back,' Ruby thought. 'The only thing standing in the way of their 'Bumblebee' is Blake's fear. Maybe Yang could somehow assure Blake she'd be safe. Maybe Yang's open attitude of being gay will give some courage to Blake. Anything is possible. For Yang's sake, I'm going to keep on hoping even though she's given up.'

The two made their way to the dormitory and eventually stood outside of their room. Ruby stopped for a moment, giving her final thoughts before her plan commenced. 'I'm still the team leader and taking this risk of hurting Yang with my whole 'Bumblebee' plan may not be the most responsible thing to do, but I know I've got to do something. I know little about relationships, but I know in order to make one work, you can't avoid the other person. As leader, I'm going with this plan, as I it feels like the right thing to do. Now I just hope we're not going to walk in and find Yang still crying…'

"Uh Ruby, are you okay?" Blake asked, puzzled.

Ruby turned. "Of course I am," she gleefully replied.

"Then do you want to open the door? We've been standing here for a while…"

"Ah ha ha ha…yeah." She turned the knob of the door and the two entered the dorm room. 'Well, here we go!' Ruby thought.

hmm...I realize now my promise that we'd be climbing the emotional roller coaster this chapter may have been inaccurate. This chapter more of just just sets up our ascent for next time...well at least we didn't plunge any further into depression...I hope... Anyways, the first arc doesn't have too much longer and I can't wait to finish it. I'm glad we've gotten this far and can't wait to see how far this'll go.

Two other things:

Back in chapter 5 once I brought up the stuff of Blake being asexual, and it was pointed out that how I implemented it wasn't entirely accurate to the reality of asexuality. I hope I fixed it up by Ruby pointing out how Blake was wrong and I hope I didn't offend anyone or anything. In fact I actually like the plot point of Blake not fully knowing what asexuality means...can we pretend I did all of that on purpose? ;) ...I didn't...please don't yell at me

And also I have a deviantArt where I've done fan art and stuff. If you want to check it out, it's 'Fl00rMaster' just like this account, but if you don't want to then don't. It's America, you have to stand strong against the advertisements! DON'T GO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO!

Anyways, see you all soon enough for chapter 9. Going to work on it as soon as I post this...