Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Co-Authored by ToxicExotic
Desires (Part 1)
Ruby was suddenly jolted awake as a large mass caused her mattress to shift and wake her from an excellent dream. Despite her groggy state, she knew exactly who it was and kicked out with her legs to get rid of them. She had been so happy to be back in her bed again, the soft mattress much more comfortable than the one at Beacon, and seeing how she was on break, she'd hoped to sleep in a little. Unfortunately, just like always, Yang didn't care and simply laid horizontally across her body instead. Letting out a loud groan, Ruby tried to raise her legs to shove her sister away but the girl was much heavier and stronger and refused to budge.
"Yaaang!" Ruby whined, trying to pull her sheets up over her head only to find them also trapped beneath her brutish sister. "Lemmie sleep."
"No can do, Lazy Butt," Yang said happily, twisting her body so that she could reach up and pull the blanket down. "Time to get up."
"Ten more minutes?" Ruby pleaded, still not opening her eyes as she could already tell that bright sunlight was filling the room.
"Hmm," Yang hummed while moving again.
The hand holding the covers slipped to the side and ripped them open and Ruby let out a loud, disgruntled moan. However, just as she thought she would have to actually wake up, she felt a warm body slip in behind her and cover them both back up.
"Fine, ten minutes," Yang said in resignation and Ruby felt her sister cuddle up to her. "You're lucky I love ya."
"Mhm," Ruby hummed, nestling back into the perpetual warmth of her sister.
She couldn't count how often they had been in the exact same position growing up, in fact she could barely recall a morning before she turned ten when she hadn't woken up with Yang in her bed. A large wave of comfort rushed through her at those memories. After her tenth, Yang had stopped doing it so much, but it wasn't uncommon for it to still occur at least once a week. After a couple of years though, it had practically stopped for the most part and was a rare luxury that she still enjoyed when she could.
"It feels good being home again," Ruby sighed, her eyes still shut. "I missed my bed."
"It's a good bed," Yang said, the daunting sound of upcoming torment entering her tone. "So what were you dreaming about?"
"N-Nothing," Ruby said, covering her stutter with a yawn as she knew exactly what she had been dreaming about.
"Well you were certainly smiling a lot for nothing," Yang teased. "Or was it actually a certain raven-haired teammate of ours?"
"Shut up," Ruby groaned, jutting her arm back into her sister's stomach despite knowing the action would do little but confirm Yang's question. "You know you mutter about Coco and Velvet in your sleep too."
"That's because my dreams of them are excellent."
"Ewww! Gross, Yang."
"All clean dreams," Yang chuckled, finger's grazing across Ruby's stomach and pulling a small laugh from her. "When did you start getting such a dirty mind, huh?"
"When I was thirteen," Ruby admitted, feeling a small blush on her cheeks.
"Oh."
The reply hung between them with an air of awkwardness as Yang's fingers stopped their tickling. After a couple of seconds though, she felt Yang let out a deep breath.
"I guess we never really had that talk, did we?"
"I don't need that talk, Yang," Ruby said quickly, not wanting to have such an embarrassing discussion.
"I know…" Yang sighed and wrapped an arm tightly around her. "Guess it's just hard seeing you really start to grow up. Not just with that stuff, but everything else too. Makes me feel like my days of being the person you go to for help are coming to an end."
Those words hung in the air too. It was very rare for Yang to voice her worries to Ruby, just as rare as it was for them to spend the morning cuddling. She often hated how Yang bottled things up, keeping them to herself until she inevitable got so angry that she went off and took it out on something. It was because of that rarity that Ruby took care to think about how she could settle her sister's mind. After a minute, she budged a little closer to her sister.
"I'm a sixteen year old who still reads comics and regularly eats myself sick with cookies," Ruby grinned. "I'm pretty sure you have a few more years."
"Good," Yang breathed with a hint of relief of relief that made Ruby happy. "Coz I have a lot more wisdom left in me still."
"Pfft," Ruby scoffed playfully and slowly stretched, finally admitting that she wasn't getting back to sleep. "Weiss isn't here to laugh at your jokes."
As she felt Yang's body shake with small chuckles, Ruby opened her eyes and instantly regretted it as light burned her retinas. Rubbing them clear of the spots, Ruby let her eyes slowly adjust and was surprised to see the outline of her girlfriend standing in the doorway watching them nervously. Once she noticed she was caught, she straightened up and awkwardly rubbed one of her arms.
"Morning," the girl said with a meek smile.
"Morning," Ruby blushed, wondering just how much the girl had heard.
"I think the sneaky little kitten was eavesdropping on us, Rubes," Yang teased, causing Blake to roll her eyes at the blonde. "So how was the patrol?"
"Fine," Blake shrugged and Ruby saw a leaf fall from the girl's hair, something that Blake clearly saw too. "Couple of Beowolves but nothing I couldn't handle. There were some weird gouge marks on some of the trees though. A little too far apart to be from claws."
"Ughhhh, four scratches about hands length apart?" Blake gave a short nod causing Yang to groan and sit up, Ruby knowing exactly why. "The stupid Hellk is back."
"Hellk?"
"Just what we call it," Ruby said with a whine as Yang's movement shifted the covers and allowed cold air to rush between them. "A massive elk-like Grimm."
"Dad's been trying to kill it for years but it always retreats and comes back stronger," Yang yawned and slipped out of the bed. "Come on, Lazy, you've had your ten minutes. I'm doing breakfast."
"Has your dad never hunted it down?"
"Too much hassle," Ruby yawned due to her sister and finally sat up to stretch properly. "Plus, it's really freaking strong."
"Yeah, best not to follow that thing back to it lair," Yang confirmed and poked Blake in the stomach as she walked out of the room. "Bacon and eggs good with you?"
"Sure."
"Good. You two can sort out the backyard while I'm cooking."
"Hey! I'm the team leader!" Ruby shouted after her sister, only for Yang's head to pop around the door again.
"And I'm in charge of the house till Dad gets back," she said strictly. "Now come on. Up."
Sticking her tongue out as Yang's head disappeared from sight, Ruby heard a small chuckle from Blake and gave her a smile. Their eyes connected for a minute and a slight awkwardness filled the room, This wasn't their dorm room; it wasn't a shared space where they always saw each other, it was her actual room and she was still wearing her pyjamas. Though she knew Blake wasn't looking, she still felt a little shy at the exposed skin and the privacy of it and clearly Blake caught on and looked away with a cough.
"Sorry," She said quietly and backed out of the room. "I will leave you to get dressed."
"R-Right," Ruby said awkwardly. "I won't be long."
With a short nod, Blake walked out of view and Ruby let out a loud sigh and collapsed back into her comfortable bed. Every time she looked at Blake since the kiss at the tree she couldn't help but think back to how it had felt. It was much more heated than their first two and while Blake was still obviously trying not to go too fast, Ruby's lips still tingled as she thought of it. She knew all about the body reacting to the stimulus, but she had never expected the reaction to be so strong.
She had practically melted into the kiss, the feeling making her mind rush so much and making her want to just stay there forever. The way Blake's body pressed lightly against hers had made her whole body heat up like a furnace, her stomach to flip, and had it continued any longer Ruby knew she would have let her hand snake around Blake's back to pull her closer. Just thinking about it again made her flush.
Unfortunately, Blake was waiting and they needed to get the garden sorted before breakfast was done, so giving her head a shake in an unsuccessful attempt to rid herself of the thoughts, she let out a loud groan and reluctantly pushed herself out of bed.
A cold breeze blew past Ruby as she opened the door to the garden and stepped outside. Despite the sun being completely hidden, its light still brightened the clouds enough to sting her eyes so she quickly raised a hand to block them out. Thankfully the weather itself wasn't too bad outside of the breeze, so she had been able to do with a simple red hoodie and a pair of jeans.
Scanning the treeline, she saw Blake knelt by the scattered lawn furniture. Even from where she was, Ruby could see that it was broken beyond repair and Blake clearly realised it too as she picked up the splintered wood and turned around this a shrug. Despite the broken furniture, she couldn't help but give the girl a smile.
"I don't think we are fixing this," Blake said with a sigh and placed it into a bag.
"That's like the thousandth chair they've broken," Ruby shrugged and moved over to help pick up the remaining shrapnel, only to find one piece was scorched. "Though I'm pretty sure we are cleaning up after Yang right now."
"Aren't we always?" Blake chuckled.
Smiling at her girlfriend's words, Ruby looked up and regretted it immediately. Butterflies erupted in her stomach the moment her eyes caught Blake's amber orbs and the thoughts she had successfully cleared from her mind came rushing back. Is this how it's always going to be? She asked herself with an inward groan. It wasn't that she didn't like how Blake made her feel, because she really did, it was more of an issue because it was so debilitating. Every look, every word, every slight touch sent Ruby's mind racing and make her want to continue what had been left at the tree, and she was still struggling with calming it down.
"I do remember you saying Grimm attacks were common out here."
"For us, yeah," Ruby nodded and moved to pick up another piece of wood, glad of an excuse to look away. "They tend to avoid the main town due to the defences, but since we're on the outskirts…"
"I see," the raven-haired Faunus replied with a hum. "Your dad never thought to get some defenses here?"
"Nah, it would be a waste of money," Ruby said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "He's a pro huntsman, so is my uncle who visits regularly, and both me and Yang are in training. The odd Beowolf or Ursa were just good practice. Even Zwei fights Grimm."
"That is a very good point," Blake laughed and picked up the towel that usually hung over the now destroyed furniture, though Ruby noticed one of the cat ears twitch.
"You hear something?" she asked curiously and held open the bag for Blake.
"I think a twig snapped north-west, might be mistaken though."
"Hmm. Zwei!" At her call, the Corgi bounced from the house, his tongue lolling the side, and Ruby pointed to the direction Blake had said. "Go check."
Without hesitation, the small hound ran off towards the forest with a small yip. Ruby remembered how the sight of watching Zwei bound into the woods to hunt Grimm would terrify her as a child, how she would always fear he would never return and her precious puppy would be gone forever. However, as the years went on, she'd learned that he always returned. While he was perfectly fine fighting Grimm, he would never do it unless he had a human at his side. So knowing it would take a couple of minutes for him to return, she continued to clear up the yard with Blake.
"There's likely gonna be a couple days of fighting them off," Ruby said, fully expecting to hear a loud bark from the woods at any moment. "They always try to take over the area when we leave for more than a day."
"Well I'm sure we can handle them," Blake smiled kindly.
The smile went unnoticed however as Ruby had just spotted something else that was broken and quickly made her way towards it. Dropping to her knees, she let out a small sigh and lifted the small ceramic shard gently off the ground. Like the furniture, the ceramic wall was cracked in numerous places and would take a lot of effort to fix, as would the rosebush that was now crushed to death. A slight sadness washed over Ruby as she looked of the messed up flower bed.
"Everything okay?" Blake asked, a hand landing comfortingly on her shoulder.
"This was my mom's," Ruby said sadly and tried to place the shard back where it came from, only for another piece to fall away. "It's never been broke before."
"Oh."
The hand on her shoulder squeezed reassuringly before leaving it as Blake walked away. Hearing a rustle behind her, she was about to look behind her when Blake reappears and crouched down beside her with the towel they had thrown away. Quickly placing it on the floor, she began piling the broken shards onto the fabric and recognising what she was doing, Ruby placed the pieces in her hand onto the towel. With all the stray pieces collected, Blake carefully folded the towel and placed it aside.
"Ceramic doesn't shatter like glass, so it's not too bad," Blake said quietly.
"I know," Ruby said with a sad nod. "The rose bush will need replanting though. This little part always felt sacred, no matter how many Grimm came, it never got damaged. Like Mom was protecting it."
"I'm sorry," the Faunus sighed and gave her a small hug. "I'm sure Yang will happily remake it wi…"
BARK! BARK!
Blake was cut off as Zwei's loud bark echoed around the area and Ruby span to see the corgi running full speed out of the forest, almost immediately followed by a large Mantid. The grotesque black Grimm skittered across the ground on its six legs as it dragged it's large peapod body behind it. At the top of its thin body were a pair of razor sharp, serrated, white claws that could cut through flesh as if there were no resistance; and from the mouth, set below two bulbous red eyes, dripped a green liquid that Ruby knew was acid strong enough to melt bone on contact.
Acting before Blake could even stand up, Ruby pulled her sniper scythe from behind her back and quickly fired a shot at its head. The brown bullet exploded as it impacted on the white skull to cover the entire head in a hard stone; wasting no time, Ruby unfolded her Scythe and activated her semblance to zoom towards the creature. It may not have been the one to destroy the flower bed, may not have even been in the vicinity; but by the gods was it going to pay for what its kind had done.
Raalm's Notes
Sooo, first two parter :P A little short, but hopefully you enjoyed it. The coming arc is going to deal with a lot of the feelings expressed here, so please let us know it feels. But I supposed that its for me, not really much I can say until next week. I will say though that this story has grown far more than we thought it would, so thank you everyone for reading.
Toxic's Note
Hey guys, so I know its really really short I'll try to convince Raalm to post the next one in half the normal schedule, if you don't see it in 6-7 days I failed and I'm probably locked back in the editing dungeon.