Ch: 9

It's been a little over a year now. Fanfiction deleted my first draft of this so that's a bummer, and apparently I stopped writing these in duplicates at some point, so yeah. That sucks.

Anyways, I'm sorry I haven't updated this in a while. A little over a month ago, I decided to come back and continue what I started, so that's exactly what I'll be doing. Also, don't count on me to update very often. I'm in my third year of college and so the workload is kind of heavy.

Oh, last, last thing. I've gotten so much better at writing so my style might be a little different than before.

"Speaking"

'Personal Thoughts'

Telepathy

*actions next to quotes*

Disclaimer: Don't own RWBY.

Ruby's P.O.V.

It has been a week since we got back from our trip to the gem cave, and since that day, my body has been hurting way too much. I think whatever happened has caused me to grow. Hell, my bras are two sizes too small now. And what's worse is Sentaro keeps getting me jewelry. I thought he said I was too young for him. Well, at least he has good taste in this stuff.

*I look at myself in the mirror, looking over my now womanly figure. I smile faintly, happy that I haven't grown so much that I'd need to fully restock my wardrobe.*

Looking closely at myself, one would notice a pair of clip-on earrings, each with a small ruby gem embedded into them. But looking to my neck, they'd find a simple necklace. Hanging from the necklace is a gilded rose. Overall, very fitting attire, but still inciting the most confusing feelings. Weiss is the first to finish getting ready. She is now almost a full inch shorter than me.

'So weird, anyways, 3 and a half hours of social anxiety here I come.' *With that, Weiss and I begin to head over to the school dance.*

Sentaro's P.O.V.

It's been an hour and so far, none of my team members have even bothered to show up to this useless dance. Not even Chara, who'd normally be jumping at the idea of showing off her dress to me, decided to come. With the rest of my team being a no show, I decided to seclude myself to the second floor, contenting myself with the ongoings of the rest of the party-goers. At some point, the two sisters began to converse with each other only feet beside me. I tuned them out for the most part as I watched Neptune go up to Weiss. I knew of his lack of rhythm from watching videos of his fights, so it was enjoyable to see him gather the courage to talk to the girl. She had been crushing on him pretty hard after all. Soon though, my eyes bore witness to the strangest thing I'd ever seen. Team JNPR's choreographed dance routine while better than what you'd expect, was made all the more laughable seeing as jaune was wearing a prom dress.

It was only another half hour later that I got a message from Ozpin that the CCT had been hacked and that I needed to pick up Ruby. Just as I, along with most of her team, having also received the message, aside from Blake who didn't bring her scroll, I saw her dancing with a silver haired lad. Knowing that her presence here was not of a good omen, I decided to rattle her the best way I could, by walking directly past her, muttering under my breath so only she and her comrade could hear:

"Hello my little Zero."

And with that, I left the building, quickly moving to the CCT and ignoring her look of shock and fear. I got up to the top floor minutes before Yang and Weiss, so I had time to speak to General Ironwood. Once the other girls did arrive though, the General had excused himself. It was only when the rest of us had left the building did I move to block them from heading back to their dorm.

"Ruby, do you mind if we share a few words before the end of the night?"

With her following behind me, I led her to the courtyard where I would train her and her friends. Moving to a nearby bench, I sat down before motioning for her to join me. We sat there in silence for several minutes before I spoke.

"Ruby, I'm not here to speak to you about what happened earlier tonight." *I could see her visibly relax at that* "Instead, I mean to speak with you about your wish. I can only assume you and Weiss have spoken about it." *I turn my head to see her nod* "And you would know that despite asking Weiss what she wished for, I never asked you. I wish to relieve you of any questions you may have regarding that. First of all, the pathways I opened were ones that would not open until you reached your peak potential age. This is the age where, if you had no training for your entire life, this would be your strongest age. For me, it is 19. That is why I have remained at this age. For Weiss, it is 18, and because she is less than a year from naturally awakening her own pathways, I saw no need to help her along. You on the other hand were a little over three years off from awakening your pathways. As such, when I opened your pathways, I boosted your cellular growth by three years, allowing you to quickly reach the age at which the rest of your pathways would naturally open. This is also the main reason behind the jewelry I have given you thus far. In other words Ruby, happy birthday. Your body is currently 18 years old." *I stop for a few seconds to let the revelation sink in for her.* " Now, that's not to say that I did this without considering your own interests. I have spent the last few weeks discerning what you would want most, as a way to compensate you for forcefully aging you. And over the weeks, I saw a few things at the forefront of your mind. At the top of the list are cookies, a dog, and your team. It is what I found when I delved into your psyche that had me stupefied. You have an insecurity regarding your age. Apparently, most arguments against your standing here are due to your younger age. As such, I had gone through with aging you, knowing that this was the quickest way to help with involving the school counselor."

Ruby had begun to visibly shrink when I began to talk about her insecurities, but an arm around her shoulders helped to calm her down. Once I was done speaking, I waited for her to finally speak, fully expecting her to shout or yell at me for peering into her mind without permission or for visibly aging her 3 years in the span of a week. What I didn't expect was the question she asked. "So, if I'm 18 now, does that mean I'm, as you said, allowed your jaw?"

I look at her visibly surprised that that is what she is focused on, though I am quick to regain my composure. As such, my mouth slips into a smirk before pulling her closer and claiming her lips with my own. She lets out an eep, as her attempt at teasing was so thoroughly turned against her, before she began to melt into my hold. This kiss was different from before. Our last embrace was without emotion. There was no feeling. This time there is a fiery passion, this kiss conveyed an emotion of longing and desire. After a few seconds, I broke the exchange and simply held her against me, her head resting on my chest as her breathing began to steady.

"Does that answer your question?" *She just nodded, her face as red as her name.*

We stayed like that for another half hour before separating when her sister finally came looking for her. I took pleasure in silently teasing Ruby as I escorted them back to their dormitory for the night.

Tomorrow, team RWBY would go on their first mission, one I personally planned to shadow seeing as the rest of my team has decided to fully ditch me, saying something about being gone for a week in the note they left in our room.