Ruby and Qrow packed up and returned to the castle in the light of breaking dawn. The warm orange filtered down through the trees catching on the snow. They left so early because it was easier for Qrow to slip out of the town and because Ruby didn't want to run the risk of running into Gaston. They had to return in a few weeks to pick up the metal for her weapons. When they came up to the courtyard of the castle Qrow landed beside her and asked. "So what do you want to do while we wait for the metal?"

The young woman bobbed with Philippe's stride. "I don't know. I think I unlocked my Semblance while in town. Gaston grabbed me but suddenly I was several meters away with a trail of rose petals the way I had come."

Qrow chuckled. "You really are a rose and here I thought you just smelled like them."

"Well my mom's name was Summer Rose. So I am technically a Rose. I wonder if she had a similar Semblance if she had ever activated her Aura."

The cursed man cocked his head at the sight of her little frown. "Do you miss your mother? I am going to assume she died."

"She did. Grimm." Ruby sighed and nudged Philippe towards the stables with a heel. "I guess, I don't really remember her enough to miss her. Can't miss what you've never had, sometimes thinking about her makes my heart ache but I don't remember her."

They went in silence till they got to stable and Qrow pulled the book bags off of Philippe's saddle as a stable hand held him. Ruby jumped lightly out of the saddle. "Shall we read till dinner?"

"Sure, that sounds fun."

They retired to the massive library, unpacked all their new reading material onto a coffee table. Qrow stretched out over a lounge so that his wings rested off the back and Ruby into a high backed leather chair. They sat in companionable silence to read till Miss Potts arrived.

"My look at you two, a pair of book wyrms." She parked a tea trolley out of the way. "And where am I going to put your tea? You've taken over the coffee table!"

Qrow blushed and rolled off the lounge to remain low as he cleaned up the table organizing all the new material. "Sorry Potts, it's just so nice to have new things to read."

Ruby also turned red and put her magazine down to help. "Yeah sorry, I wasn't thinking about tea. There were a couple new issues from Atlas that I just had to get my hands on."

Miss Potts found them extremely cute as they contained their mess. "It's alright dears, it's nice to see that you two are having fun." She poured them tea and handed it out with cookies.

Ruby's eyes lingered on the purple ribbons embroidered with the tea pots. "Qrow, Miss Potts. How long till the curse can't be broken?"

Qrow paused mid reaching for his tea cup. Anxiety turned over in his guts as he tensed his jaw unwittingly. "Three weeks. To at least break the first half of the curse, so that my friends can be free of this place. For the latter half I don't know if there was a time limit."

"Three weeks?!" Ruby's jaw dropped and she flopped back onto the chair. "Good grief."

"Don't worry about-."

"Miss Potts if I want to worry I'll worry. Thank you for the tea. Can we be alone please?"

"Of course dear."

Ruby had several sips of tea as she tried to calm down her racing heart and to think about how to fall in love, to be more than just friends in a couple weeks. She turned her mind to books she had read, ones that made her blush that her father had gotten her from Vale. He was determined that if she was going to read 'romantic rubbish' in his words, that she would have a proper education to go along with it. She put her tea down and licked her lips thinking it over. "How much biology do you know?"

Qrow put down his tea and looked up from the magazine he had been reading. "Ruby I've been stuck here for almost a hundred years as you know. Assume I'm horribly out of date."

"Well." Ruby got up and walked over, she gently pushed on his shoulder he moved back onto the chaise longue and arranged his wings out of the way. "Did you know kisses release the chemicals oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin which make you feel euphoric and help with feeling affection and bonding. Another fun note is they also lower your cortisol the stress hormone levels. Kisses can actually help make you fall in love. It's good for a bunch of other things too but just for the right now-."

"-You want to kiss me?!"

The silver eyed woman found his shock just a little bit sorrowful. "Well we are on a timeline and I don't see why not to use our own hormones to help out. Plus some studies suggest that a kiss is a good way to figure out if you're compatible for a long term relationship."

"Puts an awful lot on a first kiss." Qrow's belly was full of butterflies.

Ruby perched on the edge of the lounge. "Well not like we can't have more then one first kiss. Figure it out together I've never kissed anyone romantically."

"I used to get around, I know how to kiss. I'm fine with the idea, do you want to start?"

"Sure." Nerves made her hands quiver as she reached out to him. She touched the feathers around his collar and turned a little bit to sit more easily on the chaise longue. She studied his thin lips and the scruffy beard along his jaw. His flat cat-like nose and pale red eyes that were studying her just as much as she was him. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and leaned down to press a simple kiss to Qrow's black lips. She kept it short and closed, she knew that Qrow had fangs and didn't want to risk cutting her lips or tongue. It made her feel a little bit fuzzy inside but not like how she read kisses in her stories to be.

Qrow chuckled softly and reached up, a single hand made her head feel small as he tilted it slightly and kissed her. He guided her through a longer kiss, letting her smaller lips follow his. To part them slightly as he swiped just the tip of his tongue over her bottom lip. Ruby turned boneless as he led the kiss, how this was what she had read about. Her whole body started to flush as her heart sped up. She went easily with him as he drew her onto the chaise longue and laid her back under him.

Ruby barely had the thoughts to think gosh he's so big. She could feel their bodies pressed together her feet brushing his furred knees. The petite woman felt tiny under him as he let her head rest on a pillow. He let it go and reached down to smoothly stroke her thigh with the backs of his fingers. Being careful not to ruck or damage her skirt. Ruby moaned and blushed all the harder in embarrassment. The gryphon's chuckle put her at ease though, she reached out again and side her fingers through his mantle.

The reciprocated petting made him purr as they moved together, getting more comfortable. Qrow was enjoying this just as much as Ruby, even though he was mindful not to put too much of his weight against her. Meanwhile Ruby enjoyed the feeling of his weight on her, it sparked instincts in her mind that she had never felt active before.

Their breathing was quick when they parted and silver eyes looked up at Qrow with the black pupil dilated with sheer lust. Not a look on a woman that he had expected to see ever again. The room was a little bit bright so Qrow knew he looked the same, he swallowed thickly. "Good?"

"Very good." Ruby squeaked. "More?"

"More." Qrow agreed and kissed her again, letting his hand roam up to stroke more of her side.

Kisses became a regular pass time for them. Long hours reading in the library turned into even longer hours touching and kissing. They both grew more bold, Ruby exploring her way over his body touching everything she could reach, well almost everything she could reach. Likewise Qrow did the same only with one extra spot he avoided. He was waiting till he got a direct invitation to touch her breasts. These long kissing sessions left them both aching and yearning for more.

Still the weeks slipped by them and again they made the trip to town. Ruby rode Philippe but this time Qrow walked beside her. He was less afraid of the townsfolk now, Ruby had made it clear they were no threat to him and she would defend him if needed. That he was no beast but a good man with an unfortunate curse. They were heading back to town because their metal order had likely arrived and Ruby wanted to visit her father.

They headed in through the back-roads and to Ruby's home first. The wagon tucked up against the side of the house made Ruby's heart soar. She jumped off of Philippe and raced up the backstairs. "Papa! I'm home!"

Qrow chuckled as she vanished into the house and took Philippe into the little stable. "Hello Ebony." He addressed the large mare already there.

Philippe huffed and pushed his nose into Qrow's chest. He pet the stallion's nose. "I am not forgetting you." He took Philippe into the stable, took the saddle off, brushed him down and checked his feet. With ease Qrow pulled some hay down from the loft and gave him one last pet satisfied that he would be comfortable.

When he entered the house he found Ruby telling her father about the castle at rapid fire. How awesome Qrow was and how he was going to teach her to be a huntress. Taiyang was listening and chuckling along with her clear enthusiasm. He looked over as Qrow stooped to enter the kitchen, the ends of his wings dragging against the floor. "Qrow you are looking well and Ruby seems enamored with you."

"Papa!" Ruby blushed and stomped a foot.

Qrow dipped his head lower. "The feeling is mutual."

The embarrassed rage departed in one fell swoop and she instead fiddled with a strand of hair. Qrow gave her a warm smile which she returned. Taiyang looked between the two with a grin. "Well welcome to the family Qrow." He offered Qrow his hand.

The huge man carefully picked his way through the kitchen and took it. They shook once. "Thank you."

"How much time do you two have left?" Tai asked.

"Less than a week." Qrow said mournfully. He didn't not know how they could fall in love faster. "We should go get our metal order." Maybe making a weapon for her together would help.

"I'll see what I can gather together for supper." Tai made a shooing motion with his hands. "Off you go."

They headed out together side by side and the whole town stopped and gawked. Ruby first visited the library and gathered up the new reading material while Qrow followed her. Then they headed over to the smith, whose jaw was stuck to the floor upon looking at Qrow. While he went to fetch their order from the back room an old woman. From a window above the square shouted. "BEAST BEAST!"

Then the inn door exploded outward and Gaston came out with his blunderbuss, took one look at Qrow and fired.

Qrow shoved Ruby behind him in the same action but the end result was rather humorous as the buck shot bounced off his Aura and fell to the ground with several tinks the sound of which seemed to fill the town square despite how quiet they were. Ruby peered out from behind Qrow and charged forward. "GASTON! STOP SHOOTING AT MY SUITOR!" She stormed over to him rose petals dropping from her cloak. She stood up on her toes for valuable height and jabbed Gaston in the chest with a finger. "Think before you shoot! If he was a Grimm would he just be standing in town square?!"

Qrow adored how she vibrated in rage on his behalf. Even though he was totally fine.

"But it's a Beas-" Gaston started.

"Oh shut up! His name is Qrow, he's the lord from the local castle and was cursed by a fairy! He's a human as you are or I!"

Qrow couldn't help himself, Gaston's stunned impression, followed by his little band of drinking mates. He held himself by his chest and laughed. He laughed till tears poured from his eyes and he couldn't stop his wings from shaking as his tail swished.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle along, Qrow's joy saturated the space. "Now go back inside, Qrow and I were just picking up the metal for my spear."

As she turned on her heel Gaston grabbed her by a wrist. "You're clearly not thinking straight he's bewitc-."

Gaston was very suddenly not there anymore and there were several crashes as tables and chairs shattered till he came to a stop in the inn wall. Ruby looked up to see Qrow standing beside her, the fist he had clearly used to strike Gaston still outstretched. His feathers were bristling as he swept a wing around her shielding her from everything and everyone.

Qrow waited till Gaston stumbled back out of the inn. Le Fou holding him up, he wasn't hurt his Aura having taken the brunt of the blow. "Keep your hands to yourself or we can see how well you hunt without them." Qrow growled. "She has told me at length that she doesn't like you pursuing her hand in marriage. She is mine, I will teach her to defend herself as well. Never touch her again or we will both kick your ass to hell and back again."

Ruby was a little weak in the knees, not from terror but from how utterly she loved this side of Qrow. He desired to teach her to fend for herself but still stood up for her. That and this was totally and utterly amazing. He looked powerful and strong in a way she hadn't seen yet. So used to how he usually timidly carried himself. She reached out and threaded her fingers through the feathers on his chest. "Thank you Qrow."

The red eyed man turned his attention to her and his hackles fell and smoothed out. He smiled and dipped his head down so she didn't have to reach so far to give him a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome." Together they walked back to the smith and collected their order. Then went back to tell Taiyang that Gaston had peed his breaches when Qrow growled at him. Little did they know back at the castle the staff no longer needed their ribbons.