"Let me embrace you."
Ruby snuggled closer, a tentative mewl escaping her throat as her body told her that it was time to get up and begin the day, whilst her mind actively refused the order with a vengeance. She didn't want to get up. Never again. She was in heaven, just laying there away from the troubles of the world.
She had always been a bit of a heavy sleeper, even though the recent years spent learning to become a huntress had forced her to get used to awakening far earlier than what she would have liked.
Beacon Academy was a breath of fresh air in comparison to her old school.
Ah… Right… Beacon Academy. I did it, mom… A sleepy part of her mind droned on, some half-baked remembrance occurring in the depths of her thoughts.
It was still rather shocking to be in Beacon Academy so early.
Probably need to get up… Classes are on today, aren't they..?
Wearily she opened her eyes and-
"Eeep!"
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no. Why. Why did that have to-
Her mind continued to repeat slight variations of the same dreaded question, over and over as she stared in disbelief at the sight that had greeted her in the morning.
This wasn't her dorm room.
A mop of light peach blonde hair covered most of her vision, but she didn't need to be actively pursuing the girl to know that the head that was currently resting on her chest belonged to one girl and one girl only.
Kirakishou.
She was in Kirakishou's room, sleeping with the doll. Or, suffice to say, she had been sleeping with the doll. Because she was most certainly awake at the moment. Ruby could say that she'd had some crazy dreams in the past from what she could remember, but never in a million years would her mind torment her with the idea of waking up like this. Not with Kirakishou sleeping atop her with her cheek to her chest, snoozing peacefully.
Ruby was laying on her back, she realised belatedly, something she rarely if ever did. It normally felt really uncomfortable to her if she tried and she'd typically end up just sleeping on her side. Although with Kirakishou laying atop her, she assumed that she hadn't been able to move in the first place. Not that she would have.
It was actually quite relaxing, in an odd sort of way that made her body tingle in weirdly pleasant ways whenever she thought about it. But perhaps that had to do with the intimacy of the moment.
There had been a small bedsheet that had been covering them, from what she could tell of the discarded sheet laying on the ground, but it had obviously been kicked away by either herself or the doll. Which only served to display that Kirakishou had changed her attire into the same silken set that she had worn when Ruby found her after resurrecting her mother. Ruby wasn't entirely certain if Kirakishou had been wearing the outfit when she had found the doll at the balcony before, as she'd been too drowsy to take much notice in such things.
But now? She could see everything.
Just like that moment where she first saw the garment after the incident at the docks, it did little to hide the obvious ball-joints of the doll's artificial body. Ruby hadn't even paid much attention to it last time she saw them, as she'd been far too overwhelmed with emotions to even think straight.
For a moment, Ruby allowed herself to marvel at the beauty of the scene as it lay presented to her. She had never been that much of a doll person when she was growing up, as she had developed her fascination for mechashift weapons at a pretty young age compared to most other kids. But she was steadily reconsidering her choices.
She felt the doll shift atop her, signalling that Kirakishou was waking up.
"...Ruby." the girl breathed sleepily, a half-formed giggle escaping her. "...I'm sure you must be weary, soaring up so high… What shall I do, to prove the warm affection I've always felt for you…?"
She's still asleep. She's just talking in her sleep. Ruby thought with reddened cheeks, trying in vain to calm the heat that was raging inside her at the inadvertent declaration. Of course about me. Gosh. This is so embarrassing!
"Ruby..?" Kirakishou shifted again, her head tilting upwards as Ruby was greeted by the sight of the doll's lone amber eye slowly opening to stare at her. She was once again reminded of how Kirakishou's one eye was slit like a cat. It held an intensity, visible even through the dredges of sleep.
"K-Kira I didn't, I mean, I don't know how-" she tried to explain, only for the doll's giggles to silence her. She pouted in embarrassment. She hadn't been able to get out a single sentence before Kira started laughing at her.
The doll gave a small little smile as she gazed up at Ruby. From her perspective, Ruby thought it looked more than a little mischievous to her. It was actually quite adorable.
"You passed out again."
What? I passed out? What- she wondered internally, before her memories caught up with her and she blushed a crimson hue as deep as the tips of her hair. Oh… Last night. Or, well, this morning. I found Kirakishou out at the balcony and we started kissing after a bit of talking. Didn't think I would fall asleep, though… Oum. So embarrassing! Why does this always have to happen?!
"I brought you back here after you fell unconscious, my dear rose." Kirakishou continued as she rose to a sitting position atop Ruby's lap, pulling the young huntress-in-training out of her thoughts immediately. "You were very drained. You had to come here to replenish your energy. I couldn't help but join you, here in this small little bed." she put her hands over her own face and cocked her head to the side, peeking at Ruby between her fingers. "Ah~ To lay with my maiden of the red rose. We were two pure roses, nurtured in this beautiful garden together. Is there anything else that can compare to such pleasure?"
"It, ah, it was certainly something..." Ruby muttered lowly, squirming at the ticklish sensations she was feeling at the moment as the girl continued to shift and writhe on her lap in some apparent attempt to make herself comfortable. "But I'm sorry for causing such a hassle. I didn't mean for things to end up like this… You didn't have to bring me back to your room, Kira."
Kirakishou's delighted smile drooped for a moment and she stilled, before relaxing into a warmer and dare-she-say-it affectionate expression. "Oh Ruby. You needn't apologise. A pale rose wanted you here, held tightly between the petals within my garden. I wanted things to end up like this. So that you can be here, with me. Is it wrong to crave the person one cares for?"
"N-No… Of course there's nothing wrong with that…"
The heat in her body intensified again.
It was with some manner of surprise that Ruby realised right then in that moment, those had been the precise words she had needed to hear.
Whilst Kirakishou was technically right in saying that she had clearly brought Ruby to her own room out of her own desire, Ruby was happy that she had. For a lot of Kirakishou's flirting and kissing, Ruby had always been the one to make the first move in things. It was a refreshing change of pace that, thankfully, put Ruby into more of her comfort zone.
A little part of her had felt like she was pushing herself on Kirakishou. Taking advantage of her. The reassurance that the doll also wanted her was certainly reassuring and helped allieviate any worry that she had felt. Along with any shame for actively yearning her next encounter with the blonde.
Because she wanted the doll to do these things, likely just as much as the doll wanted to do them in the first place. Even on a day that was no-doubt going to be as hectic as today with everything planned. Now that she was finally away from her team for a bit and alone with the doll...
I-
Oh no.
She just remembered.
My team.
"Is something wrong, dearest?" Kirakishou asked, obviously noticing her expression.
"I-I, um. It's my team." Ruby stammered, trying to rapidly explain. "They would have realised that I'm not there by now. Oh Oum. I don't… Well. They're not going to be, well, pleased when they found out where I was. Especially Yang..."
"...Yang?" Kirakishou said in an airy tone of voice as she cocked her head to the side, her blonde tresses falling beside her.
It took Ruby a brief (awkward) moment for her to realise that Kirakishou wasn't in-fact asking who Yang actually was, which would be weird as anything considering everything that's happened, but she just seemed confused about what Yang had to do with things.
Ruby really didn't want to have to mention all the drama involving her possessive big sister, but she didn't have much of a choice. It needed to be said, so that Kira could understand and they could work through it together. If she didn't say it now, she'd never be able to.
"Yeah… Um. She, well, you… you saw how she acted when I came to give you your transcript, right?" the doll nodded along slowly, the look in her eye showing she still was pretty confused about things. Ruby groaned. Did she really have to spell it out? "Well, er, after that we went looking… for Blake. Yang and I talked about a few things. A-About us."
The confusion vanished immediately. A tiny smile tugged at the doll's lips, but the expression didn't reach her eye.
Gulping nervously, Ruby continued onward. "I don't think she's that, um, supportive. Of us." She blurted, before raising her hands in a placating gesture and rushing to continue before the doll could say anything. "It's not that she doesn't like you, she just doesn't understand you, you know? She's always been pretty protective of me ever since we were little. She just needs time to, um, understand things. From her perspective."
A lot of time. Preferably spent learning from a distance. At least outside of punching distance. Or shooting distance if she had her gauntlets on. Just, well, far enough away that no harm could come to her.
Perhaps now that Mom was back, she could speak to Yang and help support them with this. But even then Ruby doubted that would really stop her big sister that much. There would have been a time where Yang would have relented if Mom just said so, but after a few years without Mom that time was long gone.
Kirakishou remained silent for a while after her admission, staring at her unblinkingly. Ruby lay there awkwardly, listening to the sounds in the distance in the hopes of distracting her from the moment. It was clear that a few people were getting ready for classes now. She could hear the chatter. Eventually, Kirakishou shook her head and smiled.
"If you're worried about retrieving your uniform and apparel from your room, you don't need to be. They're in the next room, all ready for the day. I have retrieved them for you."
Ruby blinked, wondering how in the world the blonde managed to get through that landmine of a room before abruptly realising that she may have forgotten to lock the door to her dorm when she walked out early in the morning.
Oops…
Kirakishou must have gotten them whilst everybody was sleeping. Which meant that she'd planned for Ruby to stay and get ready in her room. Oum. Kirakishou really had gone the extra step just to spend some time with her. It was a really cute gesture just for plain girl from Patch. She blushed, before shaking her head. She couldn't let those thoughts derail her. Not now.
It wouldn't-
"...T-That's not what I meant, but… argh, okay."
Okay, maybe it was enough for now. There was only so much she could take. Only so many romantic gestures that Ruby could handle before she had to act. Besides, she was feeling a little adventurous. After all, she had been told time and time again that she couldn't remain in her comfort zone forever.
Kirakishou would get what she was talking about eventually. Probably. Hopefully.
For now, she'd had enough ignoring her hormones.
Abruptly, she wrapped her arms around the doll and pulled her back down, mashing her lips against Kirakishou's in a feverish kiss filled with need. The doll gave a brief squeak in surprise, before smiling against her lips and surrendering to the sensations, her lone eye fluttering shut.
Her hands revelled in the feeling of Kirakishou's silken pyjamas, tracing the fabric and feeling the slight feeling of a joint around her shoulder blades. Ruby didn't know nearly enough about dolls to have a full understand of their inner workings, especially talking animated dolls, but she knew enough to know that a lot of dolls have different joints on their body for movement. It felt a little weird against her fingers, but she soon found that she kind of liked the sensation.
Kirakishou's arms wrapped around her even as the doll adjusted her posture, practically crawling over her prone from. She pulled back from the kiss for a moment and opened her eye to glance at Ruby for a moment, before giggling when Ruby found herself growing impatient and pulling the doll back again for another kiss.
This was easily the longest that Ruby had lasted.
She wasn't tired like she had been earlier this morning out on the balcony. She wasn't exhausted like their first kiss in this very same room. No. She was filled with energy and, by oum, she was going to use it.
The room was spinning, but she didn't care. Kirakishou had clearly activated her semblance at one point; there were a vast number of pale white vines crawling along the walls as sparkling white flowers appeared on seemingly impossible surfaces. What was once a relatively unfurnished room without any personalised touches became a thriving pale forest in the blink of an eye.
It was beautiful.
With a burst of her own semblance she reversed their positions, scattering rose petals everywhere without a care in the world. She moved her hands up to Kirakishou's shoulders, forcefully pushing the blonde down against the mattress. Kirakishou blinked at the abrupt change, before giggling cutely even as the duo continued to make out, the sound of her enjoyment causing strange little vibrations against Ruby's lips even as she found herself moaning blissfully.
The doll's hands snaked up her sides and around her back, jointed fingers brushing against the thin fabric of her pyjama shirt what Ruby belatedly recognised was a hug. They clutched the fabric tightly in a blatant display of yearning. For the middle of an intimate moment, it was a really adorable display.
More. Ruby thought, pulling back briefly for air before trailing kisses down the doll's neck as she listened to her lover's delighted mewls. More. More. More. I want more.
Ruby blushed heavily as she recalled the mornings events for third time during this class, her silver eyes momentarily darting over to the doll sitting beside her before glancing away when the doll shot her a knowing smile that seemed particularly ravenous in her eyes. Although perhaps she was projecting a bit.
She was in one of Professor Port's lectures at the moment, sitting in the corner with the blonde doll occupying the window seat. Her teammates were all scattered around in different areas. Weiss and Blake were currently ignoring Jaune's attempts to hit on the former whilst the latter tried and failed to hide the smile on her face. Yang was off sitting down by Ren and Nora, glancing back her way occasionally.
In particular, she did not like the looks that Yang kept sending Kirakishou, but at the moment she was more focused on attempting to keep herself calmed down.
The memory of her morning has continued to assault her all throughout the day. At seemingly the worst possible times she would find herself reminded of random parts of it. The coldness of Kirakishou's lips against her own. The feeling of Kira's artificial skin that had been warmed up by her own body heat. The wanton sounds of desire that had escaped her whenever the doll had done something that her body particularly enjoyed…
The softness of the doll's tongue.
It was all just too much for her body to handle.
They hadn't progressed that far, thankfully. Ruby had grown more than a little self-conscious of everything happening so quickly and shut things down before she threw caution to the wind. Plus, there was the whole spiel about how her big sister would probably be out for blood if she ever heard about it. She wanted to ensure that Kirakishou remained alive… animated… er, whatever the term for dolls is. That.
She didn't want Kirakishou to get hurt if they went too far. That was it. R-Right.
Her team had given her quite the grilling after she had returned before class to pick up a few things. Or, at least that was the story she had told Kirakishou. In all fairness, the doll had managed to grab quite literally everything she would be needing for the day of class up to and including even the red-coloured pencil that she'd lost on the second day of school. So theoretically she could have just gone straight to class and avoided the judging eyes of her teammates. But Ruby had figured that she owed them an explanation.
It thankfully hadn't been too bad of an event, even if Ruby had wanted to burst away in a flurry of rose petals during a few choice moments when she had said things that she hadn't intended.
She wasn't the best under pressure. Apparently she had picked it up from her mom. Especially when those interrogating her are her own teammates, along with her big sister who knows practically everything about the way her mind works.
Yang had been worried sick, of course. That much was to be expected considering her childhood history of sleepwalking and… other things that had occurred. Ruby had evidently left her scroll with her when she had left early morning, only for Kirakishou to retrieve and silence the device before Yang could send a message her way.
Well. Not a message. Seventeen. But still.
With just how her big sister had been acting recently she couldn't bring herself to really care that much about how Yang felt about things. They still hadn't really talked about the argument they had over Yang's thoughts about Kira. Whilst they were talking, technically, they were avoiding mentioning Kira unless they didn't have a choice.
Taking into account how she'd accidentally blabbed that Kira had grabbed her things, her team realised very quickly where Ruby had spent her morning. After somehow successfully lying and saying that it was a simple sleepover and nothing more, her team was quick to voice their displeasure at how close she was getting, saying that it was far too early from meeting somebody to be sleeping in their room.
Platonically or not.
In some small way, Ruby knew that her relationship with Kirakishou was progressing far too fast to ever be considered 'normal'. Whilst it was her first real relationship in, well, ever, she had been witness to a great many of Yang's relationships and occasionally seen some of her old friends in Patch date. None of them had happened so suddenly. Typically there would be some time where Yang was 'on the prowl' as she liked to call it, before she managed to snag whatever poor sap caught her fancy.
The point was that she had no freaking clue how to handle something like this.
But Ruby didn't care that she and Kirakishou were progressing so quickly. If anything, she loved it. She loved that it was something that none of her old friends former friends ever did. She loved that it was nothing like Yang's flings. That it held something real.
Never in a million years would she ever consider voicing that particular opinion out loud, but regardless, it was still how she felt about the matter.
Ruby had spent the next five minutes after that explaining how she'd simply woken up far too early and how she couldn't get back to sleep, so she'd decided to go out for a walk and found happened upon Kira on the balcony.
For some reason that had prompted a sharp gasp from Weiss, but for the life of her Ruby couldn't figure out what the heiress had been so surprised about. At this point she was chalking it up to disbelief that there actually even was a nice viewing area around the dormitory. Though she highly doubted that was exactly what Weiss had been on about.
It didn't matter, once she explained that she had sat there watching the stars with Kirakishou and promptly fell asleep beside the girl, Weiss had noticeably calmed down. Which had the inadvertent effect of reminding the heiress that they were all mad at her for being a goof. Weiss had given her quite the lecture on behaving like a proper team leader, yet relented once the tears started.
She was just so new at all this, she had explained, and her teammates had thankfully understood what it was that she meant. For that, Ruby was incredibly grateful to have people like her teammates that she could trust with her feelings. Even Yang hadn't called her out on things after that.
Which meant that they'd stopped asking questions about her and Kira. Especially when said questions would eventually be asking about how exactly things went when she woke up in Kira's room.
...Blake might know.
She had read stories about how some faunus possess an extremely heightened sense of smell. Whilst normally these stories were either comedies or some action hero flick to watch during a boring summer, some of her old friends back in Patch swore that they had faunus friends who actually did have a heightened sense of smell. And were very flexible. Whatever that meant.
...So, well, Blake might have smelt Kira's scent on her. If dolls even had scents. Or, she might have smelt her, er, enjoyment of things.
The sheer idea was mortifying.
However her faunus teammate hadn't said a word about things like that, so hopefully her friends in Patch were wrong, or perhaps Blake just hadn't smelt anything suspicious. Though she was thinking about perhaps getting some perfume next time she went shopping. If it didn't stop Blake it might at least smell nice for Kira.
That all relied on the idea that dolls even could smell perfumes. She was going to have to ask her about that sometime. Along with what was probably a billion other questions that she was burning to ask the doll about.
Hmm… perhaps we can play twenty questions..? Nah… I might end up saying something embarrassing… But that is part of the game… Truth or dare…? Mmm. I could do that. Definitely behind closed doors, though…
But still. Getting off track. Again.
Not like I can really help it… Ruby thought glumly. Stupid Port. How can you not realise you told us this exact story on the second day? How is rehashing it in a different perspective supposed to help? Wish somebody would speak up and ask… How is this even supposed to help us become better hunters and huntresses? Not like we're going to be in one of your situations and suddenly think back to how you handled things…
Though he was pretty good with that blunderbuss-axe on the few times he demonstrated grimm weakpoints to the class. Now that was a class she had most certainly paid attention to. What'd he call that weapon… Blowhard? Oum. He was really bad with naming things.
...She was getting off track again. Eugh. Her mind was in a bit of a tizzy after everything happened this morning.
Focus, Ruby. Focus on what happened. Keep moving forward.
Blake hadn't really had that much to say about Ruby's 'transgressions', thankfully. She'd had enough of an earful from Weiss and her sister. No. Blake was still laser-focused on Team RWBY's investigation of the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. As long as Ruby was still on for helping them uncover every track, Blake didn't seem to mind that much about what she got up to in her spare time.
Something she wished the rest of her team could understand.
Although for now she just resolved to get Blake a gift or something as a thank-you present. Perhaps a meal that had fish in it. Now that Blake's faunus heritage had been revealed, Yang had uncovered that the girl did have quite the craving for fish. Pretty much the only time that Blake ever looked truly happy was when the cafeteria staff served any fish meal.
After everything that the girl had been through, Blake deserved to treat herself a bit. Even if Ruby had to be the one treating her.
Plus if it turned out that Blake had figured out that something was happening between Ruby and Kirakishou, then perhaps a good fish treat would be a suitable bribe. Though it'd probably take a LOT more than her small amount of lien could handle. For such a quiet girl, Blake was actually kind of a glutton sometimes.
But as long as the girl stayed away from her cookies, Ruby didn't mind.
...I wonder if fish cookies are a thing?
...Nah. I doubt it. Sounds awful.
Oh! That reminds her! Summer was finally being released from Ozpin's care today. She'd received a message from her mom on her scroll this morning saying that she was planning on heading home and explaining things to dad. Whilst she wasn't going to tell dad that Kirakishou had a hand in things, for obvious reasons, she did say that eventually the time would come when the blonde doll would have to come clean about it all.
Ruby knew that it was a given that mom would have to get back to Patch as soon as she could. She understood that. Logically, it made the most sense. Although deep down inside her she wished more than anything that the two of them could spend some more time together just so that she could ask some much-needed questions and tell her mother about how her life has been.
Yet there was a time and place for everything.
Once the term was over, she would be heading straight back to Patch for the holidays. Hopefully by then mom would have gotten everything sorted over there and she could avoid all of that embarrassing parental stuff.
Dad had cared about precisely three things in his life; Summer Rose, being a hunter and ensuring that his daughters were safe. He wasn't going to rest when mom showed up and said she was back, no matter what explanation she gave. He'd figure out something was up and eventually put the pieces together. Somehow.
It was actually kind of scary how good of a detective he was sometimes. He'd always find where she hid the cookie jar as a kid, for instance. Perhaps it was his semblance, or he was just naturally that good at it. Who knows.
But still. Eventually Kirakishou would have to explain things to him. She'd told Kirakishou about it and the doll had told her (in her own way) not to worry. So she wasn't worried. Not exactly. But Ruby was nervous about the idea of Kira explaining things to dad. Or even talking to her dad at all. Because then she'd actually have to meet dad, which was terrifying for its own reasons.
Ruby knew, without a doubt, without a single fibre in her body calling out in protest, that dad would bust out the baby photos. It was only a matter of time. No matter what she did to convince him otherwise, no matter how hard she tried to destroy those damn photos, he would find a way to show her girlf...
Huh. She really was dating Kirakishou, wasn't she?
Ruby smiled, absentmindedly doodling in her notebook.
She was beginning to really start enjoying this whole 'Beacon' thing.
Introducing Kirakishou to all of the other Beacon students that she knew had been an interesting endeavour of patience.
For the most part, it was beyond obvious to Ruby that Kirakishou wasn't that interested in most people and whilst she played nice at times, tended to keep everyone at arm's length. It had been made abundantly clear to her that the only reason Kirakishou was even bothering to talk to her friends was just to make Ruby happy.
And, in a way, it did. To see the level of devotion that the doll held for her was incredibly heartwarming and only served to cement her budding feelings for the doll, along with her apparently seemingly ever-increasing craving. There had been quite a few times where Ruby had toyed with the idea of pressing Kirakishou up against the wall in the exact same manner that the doll had once done when Ruby had delivered her transcript.
Yet her fear of being caught was what kept her instincts at bay. She knew that it would a long time until she was even comfortable with the idea of letting people know about her budding relationship with the blonde, let alone actually feeling like it would be in their best interests to tell others about them. Kirakishou, for the most part, agreed with her plans.
"Whilst the whims of other little dolls do not matter to a pure white rose such as myself, I would hide myself from the world just to be hidden with you, dearest."
Oum. How in the world could the doll still be able to keep saying things like that with such a straight face? All it did was just make her want Kira more. Which… may in fact be why exactly Kira phrased it in that way. Or perhaps because that was just the way she spoke. Who knows.
She still giggled nonetheless at the sheer lunacy of a doll calling other people dolls. Kirakishou even pouted at her! It was so adorable. Part of her could understand why Yang liked to tease her so much, just from seeing that cute face scrunched up in embarrassment. She almost wished that she had been quick enough to snap a photo.
...It still wasn't enough to hide that even though Kirakishou was socialising with others now, it had been entirely because Ruby had forced the issue for her. She had wanted the doll to have others to talk to about things, not just Ruby herself. Whilst she would do everything in her power to be there for the doll, with the plans that her team was making to continue to pursue the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, things may be getting dangerous soon. There was no telling if Ruby would even be able to be there for her.
Even if every cell inside her was screaming to just keep the doll with her and never let go.
She wanted her beloved doll to be happy and healthy. To work through the trauma of her past with the help of others. Ruby had been one of the lucky ones to have had Yang and her dad there to get her out of her funk when mom died. Even if it had been tough love, it had been what she needed to get out of her rut. Kirakishou had never had anybody to help her through her pain, apart from Ruby herself.
Kirakishou needed others. A part of her realised that. Like how a starving man needs juicy steaks.
W-What… Oum, that's not how metaphors work! Bah, get your head in the game Ruby!
She had weird thoughts sometimes, okay. Especially regarding Kirakishou. That was just another one in a long list of half-formed questions and nonsensical ramblings. Most of which would normally occur right after she woke up. So it was strange that she was still getting them now.
It reminded her of how Kirakishou's 'conversation' with Nora Valkyrie, JNPR's resident grenade-launcher-wielding girl with a passion for... well, she didn't exactly know what Nora's passion actually was but she did kind of enjoy talking about sloths a lot...
Still. It was weird.
"Oooh!~ I loooove the rose little eyepatch thing you've got going there, bucko! Though it must be hard to see with only one eye! You're like a pirate! Yarr! A pirate in a dress, no sword and probably much better grooming than most, but a pirate nonetheless! H-Hey Ren, do pirates shave? Come to think of it, do you think it'd be possible to teach a sloth to shave? Or become a pirate? Ren..?"
Nora had spoke that particular word-salad line right after Ruby had tried to introduce the doll to team JNPR at the cafeteria, before abruptly booping Kirakishou on the nose and darting to the other side of the table to continue to badger what Ruby was coming to believe was the most patient man who ever lived.
Ruby took a brief moment of silence in honour of Lie Ren's situation. Bless that man.
She had been glad that she decided to introduce Kirakishou to team JNPR, despite Nora's excitable attitude. They had been understanding in regards to Kirakishou's speech impediment and were more than willing to take the time to process the meanings behind her flowery words and odd observations.
But for the most part, Kirakishou also seemed to understand the excitable girl's crazy tirade and even had giggled fondly at the display.
"She has a lot of energy." Kirakishou observed, cocking her head and watching as Lie Ren despondently handed over his remaining servings of pancakes to his partner who immediately demanded that he feed her personally.
"We're very sorry about her." Pyrrha answered apologetically, bowing her head curtly. "She's always like this. It's a part of her charm, really. Just takes a while getting used her. She certainly makes the day interesting…"
There had been a part of Ruby that felt a brief flicker of… something when she noticed Pyrrha staring at the doll with a considerate look in her eyes. It had made her scoot just a little closer to the doll, who merely glanced at her with a warm smile before returning to the conversation.
"...A pale rose cannot help but be reminded of her second oldest sister; Kanaria, whom is much the same. A beautiful canary of yellow, orange and sea-green. Exuberance and pleasantry flourishing from a strong intellect. A truly fine girl."
Ruby had perked up at that, momentarily confused by the fondness in Kirakishou's voice. After all, she knew that all six of Kirakishou's other sisters had betrayed her for 'Jun' and had left the doll traumatised. It had been surprising to herat first, until she noticed that the smile that Kirakishou wore did not reach her eye.
Not that she could see that anybody had even noticed it. She had wondered how. To Ruby, it seemed so very blatant.
There had been a fondness in her voice, but Ruby could tell deep down she hated her sisters for what they had done. Though, apparently one bad event isn't enough to erase pleasant memories.
This was why she had wanted Kirakishou to have others to help her through it.
"Wow. You had a sister like Nora too, huh?" Jaune laughed out, drawing the attention of his teammates at his inadvertent reveal. He wilted at all the stares, before answering for Kirakishou's sake. "Uh, I have seven sisters. One of them is just like Nora as well. If it weren't for her, I don't know how I would have handled becoming the leader of team JNPR."
"You would have found a way." Pyrrha said warmly, placing a hand over his. "We're a team, after all. We need to stick together."
"R-Right..." Jaune mumbled as he looked away, blushing and pulling his hand away.
Kirakishou had smiled at the interaction, yet for the most part the conversation had come to a close when the bell rang and signalled that it was time for her final lecture of the day with Professor Port. She and Kira had bid their farewells to Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora as they quickly scrambled to get their gear and head over to the class.
Ruby knew what was happening once that particular class ended.
Their investigation could finally begin.
It was finally time.
A/N:
Things are heating up and the plot ball is finally rolling again.
This was a very fun chapter to write, all things considered. Ruby and Kirakishou's dynamic is an interesting spin on how Ruby is typically portrayed in romance fics.
I'm certainly curious to see what you all think of this chapter. Please be sure to leave a review, or even a message if you would prefer.
As you're all probably aware, RWBY takes a significant turn in the future. I wonder how that will mesh with Kirakishou involved in things?