A/N: thanks for all the love in the first chapter to this. I hope the second chapter is just as well received. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 2

What were you thinking? It's a rhetorical question because you know the answer; you simply weren't, and now you're body is paying the price.

You haven't even opened your eyes yet but you can feel every muscle within your body, not in a good way. They throb in tune with your erratic heartbeats. Breaths come in shallow pants as your body wars with itself over the needed oxygen versus the pain the small movements elicit. As you try to adjust the angle of your right leg to prevent the cramp you can feel forming your quad screams in protest. Air is sucked in sharply and flames burst through your core, your abs tense at the unpleasant feeling split seconds before the muscles suddenly cramp up. You struggle to sit up but the clenched muscles pinch tighter and you can't breath, and breathing is important. Your body pitches sideways, fighting your half useless limbs, and you land on all fours on the floor. Wheezy, shallow gasps escape you as you struggle to your feet with only the use of your shaky arms on the mattress. Standing straight stretching and willing the muscles at your core to release takes forced concentration you shouldn't have to use in your current condition. It's only when the pain subsides as the muscles finally stop trying to kill you that you become aware of the ringing in your ears. The ringing morphs into a stabbing pain in your skull. It blots out your eyesight with dark blotches that become more defined with every throb of your head. Again it's in tune with your heart and all you want right now is to force your heart to stop, even if you know it will kill you, at least the pain would leave you alone.

Making it to the kitchen is your current goal because you remember being told once that water helps, you know water helps with cramps and you desperately want to prevent more of those. The pinching echoes at your core with every breath you take. Through your partial vision you're able to see Weiss taking up the other half of Ruby's bed you've fallen out of. She's still sound asleep and that's a miracle considering how light of a sleeper she usually is. You don't have the strength to empathize or even to pity her knowing she'll be in the same shape as you when she opens her eyes. Everything just hurts too much to care about anything or anyone else. You shuffle forward on unsteady legs and end up stubbing your toe on one of the bed's thick wooden posts. As if you weren't in enough pain already. Cursing under your breath you hobble sideways. A wave of nausea overtakes you, stomach lurching, at your sudden movements, and you cover your mouth with the back of your hand and squeeze your eyes shut so tight they start to water. No, no, no, you will not throw up. Slow, deep breaths in through your nose help and after a minute the nausea subsides. At least that's one positive thing to happen so far. You realize you've been awake maybe two minutes, so counting one good in probably twelve things wrong already isn't boding well for the rest of the day.

Finally trusting yourself to move you hobble to the bathroom across the hall. The cold water from the taps feels good on your heated skin, and you sigh holding your wrists under its stream. Cupping your hands under the flow you splash your face and as you're dabbing it dry with the hand towel you find your reflection in the mirror above the sink. You look, quite plainly, like shit. There are dark, sunken circles under both your eyes and your skin holds an unhealthy pasty hue. Your once lustrous hair is now dulled and hangs in a matted mess in different directions.

You are never drinking again.

Grabbing a brush your determined to fix the mess but the first pull at your scalp has your head throbbing so much your knees almost buckle. If you hadn't grabbed the porcelain of the sink you're sure you'd be on the ground. You toss the brush back on the shelf where you found it. Looking around you find a hair band wrapped around the doorknob behind you. You steal it and gently brush your fingers through your hair to pull it up into a semi neat mess at the back of your head. The results, well better than the alternative of leaving it down, and it keeps the mess off of your neck, which is helping stamp down the nausea. Bonus.

You sigh, and for the first time pinpoint the acrid smell that's not left your nose since you woke; it's your own breath. Your toothbrush is in Ruby's room with your overnight bag but you don't want to make that trip again. Reaching for the mouthwash on the windowsill beside the mirror you take a healthy mouthful. It slightly awakens your gag reflex but you force yourself not to think of it, and repeat the process once more before the deathly smell is completely washed away and spearmint takes its place. It's much more pleasant.

Next on your list is to find some aspirin, you're disappointed when you find none. Who doesn't keep painkillers in their medicine cabinet? It has medicine right in its name.

Leaving the bathroom you turn to make your way to the kitchen, still needing more water, and you don't want to wake Weiss by crawling back into bed. Not that you care for her comfort, but her high pitched whining voice will cancel out any comfort you'd find in laying down again.

The house is silent so you suppose everyone is still sleeping, though not surprising considering the hour you'd stayed up to. You're careful on the stairs, overly so. Falling down might knock you out, which would be preferable to the pain you're in, but you'd definitely wake people up, and you don't need that kind of embarrassment. She'd definitely make the most of it and never let you live it down as long as you lived She seems to have enough ammo at her disposal against you already and you don't want to be responsible for giving her more if you can help it.

You down a full glass standing at the sink before filling it again and moving to fall into a stool at the island bar behind you. The cool of the marble top feels nice against your cheek and you think you doze off because there's no way anyone should be able to sneak up on you when you're awake. You jump as a glass is set heavily on the island in front of you. Cowering from the noise you pin your ears and glare at the offending object.

"Yeah, kill it with your stare, that'll show it."

Realizing the glass didn't get there on its own, you eyes glance sideways following her husky, early morning voice. Yang is sitting on the stool beside you, twisting side to side on it's rotating top. You get a little motion sick watching her so you close your eyes. When you open them again she's stopped her movement. She's wearing a pair of black short sleeping shorts and a yellow tank top that's so tight you're sure it can't be comfortable to sleep in. But somehow her outfit has you self conscious, thinking your longer shorts and baggy sweater make you look fat and ridiculous, because she looks radiant.

"How can you not be dead right now?" You ask in a groan. "You drank more than any of us last night."

Her laughter is poison for two reasons, first is it causes your head to take up it's throbbing again, and secondly, it draws your eyes to her mouth.

Her eyes find yours and there's that teasing glint in them, they flash before her mouth pulls up into a different smirk. She has so many different smiles it baffles you, and each one means something else. It's like she has split personalities. You're still trying to figure all them out, when you're not avoiding her that is.

"I'm more seasoned than you guys are." She replies.

"Yeah, you're just super old." You mumble because anything louder you know will split your skull.

"Ouch, Kitten has some bite."

"Don't call me that." You seeth and glare at her dangerously, but by the amused look she throws you, you're not as intimidating as you think you are. "You know I hate it."

"Yeah, but I like it."

"You're horrible." You say laying your cheek back down on the countertop. "Leave me alone."

"You should really drink that." Is all she says. You look up at the glass she's placed in front of you then to her. She has the same amber substance in her own glass. Yang brings it to her mouth and takes a sip. Masochistically you watch as she licks an escaped drop making its way down her bottom lip.

"What is it?" Tentatively you reach for it and take a sniff. The glass is thrown halfway across the counter before you realize what you're doing. The nausea you've stamped down threatens to surface at the memories the substance brings to mind. "No way, I'm never drinking again."

"Suite yourself Kitten, but it helps." Yang turns and hops off her stool. She tosses the rest of the liquid into her mouth and you watch her throat undulate as she swallows. It sucks how you have to grab the fabric of your sweater to stop from reaching out to touch her neck. Yang throws the glass back on the island and you wince as it spins along the top, the noise grating on your already hackled nerves. Her hand is snaking through your hair and fingers scratching at the base of your one ear before you get your reflexes in order. You twist and swat at her hand. She sidesteps your attempts and laughs at you again before she makes her way up the stairs. Glaring at the glass in front of you, you hear her move around her room above your head. Her door opens and you listen as she disappears further down the hall, the shower starts up a minute later.

The pain wins out over you stubbornly not wanting to take her advice and you quickly tip the glass' contents into your mouth and swallow before you can taste it. Throat constricting at the burn, your lungs surge in your chest and you cough. Your body has no mercy for your poor head. The countertop is a godsend and you wonder why you didn't just sleep here last night, you relax into it as your ears twitch at every sound in the house. If you want to examine it further you'd have to admit they twitch at every sound she makes, but you tell yourself it's only because she's the only other one up in the house. You're surprised when you can hear a soft melody accompanying the patter of water hitting the floor of the shower. Yang is singing. You can't make out the words, or even the melody, but she's definitely singing.

She's fucking crazy. She's called you Kitten fifteen times in the past two days, you've counted. You think she's going for a record and you hate her for it. You hate her more as your nausea disappears completely and headache dissipates to a thrumming instead of a pounding.

You hate that she was right. You hate that she thinks she's so perfect. You hate that you might think the same. If only she wasn't such a jerk.

—-

It always seems like you're up extra early on mission days. Maybe it's true, maybe you just notice the time more when you have somewhere you need to be. It's not going to be a difficult contract, you take another look at the details on your scroll, still refusing to leave your bed. A group of Beowolves are being tracked, and they're getting pretty close to a few settlements in the Emerald Forests outer edges. There's a rough estimate of fifteen members of the pack. Nothing to really even break a sweat over, but for the amount of work, it pays alright. And fifteen Grimm might not be a huge deal for you, but they could definitely do some damage to someone not trained.

You shoot a quick message to Ruby, to remind her you'll be on a mission that afternoon. Your fingers pause over the exit button on your message before typing a quick 'wanna meet for coffee after?' and you send that before you change your mind. As much as you enjoyed the amount you were able to read the past two days, you know you're in danger of becoming overly antisocial again. And team RWBI were the only ones able to actually get you excited enough to enjoy group activities. Your chest tightens as you realize you miss Indigo, she was always there when Ruby and Weiss where busy with couple things, but you're also mad because you blame her for your eviction. If she hadn't moved to Atlas to be with her boyfriend, or fiancé, than you'd all still be living together. Ruby and Weiss only got the idea of living alone when Indigo packed up and left.

You can also blame Weiss, you like that more, Indigo hasn't ever angered you before, it's so much easier to blame the heiress, who constantly gets on your nerves. Besides, it was Weiss that introduced them, which was the start of all this shit in the first place.

You lift your scroll off your belly as it beeps.

'Sure, let us know when you're on your way back. The usual place?'

You type a quick affirmative response before reluctantly rolling out of bed. Grabbing your towel on your way out you head for the bathroom. As the rainfall shower head sprays onto your bare shoulders you're surprised at how comfortable everything in the apartment is. The couches, your mattress that's like sleeping on a cloud in heaven, to the bath and even the shower. You usually hate showers but you find yourself lingering a few moments longer after rinsing off to feel the water massage against your back calmingly.

Your combat gear feels welcoming after nearly a week without wearing it. It's comforting and familiar, not that you lounging around the apartment clothes haven't been great, but adjusting your black cropped halter over your chest and tightening your belt around your waist makes you feel whole again. Making sure your boots are buckled properly and the ammo pouches on your belt are in order and refilled you grab your weapon and take it with you, making your way to the kitchen. You start the kettle to make yourself a calming cup of tea before you start disassembling Gambol Shroud for cleaning.

"What are you doing up so early?" You hear her whine before you look up seeing her emerge from her room and shuffle towards you.

"It's almost noon."

"Exactly!" She says as if you just proved her point. You shake your head.

She watches intently as you meticulously clean and check every angle of Gambol Shroud. You click it together with practiced ease and test its speed as it switches from blade to gun. It's almost instant and you approve. You grab the clip of ammunition from the counter and slam it into the end of the stock; it clips in with an echoing snap.

Yang flinching catches your attention as she retreats from the noise. It's the least composed you've ever seen her and that includes the night before when she fell through the doorway onto your feet. Her hair is a mess and her eyes are sunken into her skull. You've looked much worse after a night out but it's obvious she was definitely feeling every mistake from the night before.

"So where have you been the whole weekend?" You work on sharpening the blades of both your katana and its sheath.

"Out."

"Well I noticed you weren't in." You scoff.

"Oh, you'd notice if I was in, I guarantee it." Your hand slips and you nearly slice through your palm. Yang's eyes widen, concerned, before she throws her head back and laughs. The sound is cut short as she brings a hand to rub her temple and you take satisfaction in her pain. It serves her right.

Embarrassed that you almost cut yourself with your own weapon you quickly sheath it and lay it down on the counter a safe distance away from you. You grab two glasses from the cupboard behind you and quickly fill them, turning you setting the glasses down on the counter in front of Yang. Her amethyst eyes meet yours and for once there's no teasing glint or smirk on her face, she's just grateful. She takes a few sips of water from the one glass then knocks the contents of the second back in one go. Her face scrunches at the taste but she holds it down and doesn't even cough. She's definitely done this before.

"You're not going to tell me what you've been up to are you?"

"You're weapon's pretty cool." She says opening her eyes to look at it. She's deliberately avoiding your question.

"Thanks." You say because you don't know what other response she expects.

"I always thought you could use it more in a team atmosphere than you guys did."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, like use it to fling a teammate around?"

"And do what?" you scoff. "Go in for a punch?"

"Yeah."

"That would only work if we had a heavy hitter on our team," you argue, "the closest we have is Ruby and with her semblance she wouldn't need my weapon flinging her anywhere."

"I suppose, but you could use it to surprise the enemy. You could have used it more in your fights anyway. It's a shame you don't use it to its full potential."

You definitely take offence to that, it is your weapon after all.

"When have you ever seen me in a fight?" You catch yourself. "Us. You've never seen us fight." You're positive she's lying because you haven't seen Yang in years, since she moved out of her dad's and into her own apartment.

"I watched the Vytal Festival the two years you were in it." Yang shrugs. "I'd never hear the end of it from Ruby if I didn't at least watch her matches."

You hum in response, it made sense. You hate it when she proves you wrong.

"Anyway, I always thought you and your weapon were used in an underrated manner, you could have won matches way faster if Ruby utilized you more. And you lost the first year's tournament because you sent…" Yang pauses, her eyes close trying to think of your other teammates name.

"Indigo," you decide to help her.

"Yeah, Indigo." She smiles at you, the first real smile you can remember ever receiving from her. You don't dislike it. "You lost because she was sent into the final round instead of you."

"I don't know." You hadn't ever thought the choices your team made at the time were wrong. "We might have just lost because there were better fighters there."

"Nope, you chose the best all around fighter on your team, Indigo, being from Vacuo had fighting experience you guys didn't, and you were in your first year so makes sense you'd choose her to go to the finals." Yang's voice cracks and she pauses to take another sip of her water. "But all the remaining teams only had choices of heavy hitters, a few more skilled hand to hand ones but neither would have been an issue for your fighting style. Indigo was a sitting duck, poor girl."

"Why do you say I'd have had any more luck than her?"

Yang laughs, and you notice it pains her less this time to do so. "You're a huntress and still can't see how best to take down an opponent?"

You arch one of your brows. "I just want to hear your opinion."

Yang smirks at you knowing full well you can look back and see your teams mistakes as plainly as she'd done while you were making them.

"Indigo was good all around, but she's small, and a single good hit from one of the bigger contestants would be a complete knock out. And although she was decent in hand to hand or close combat, she wasn't the best and had no chance against the fighters of the other teams." You nod in agreement, smiling to encourage her to continue. "But you," her eyes trace down your body, they stop at the counter that blocks your hips and legs from view. "Are made for speed." It makes you blush, thinking of her even noticing your...assets. You know she sees the colour in your cheeks. She always notices and you roll your eyes as the corner of her mouth pulls up showing pearly white teeth.

"Speed beats strength?" You ask trying to get her to stop staring at you like that.

"If you know how to use it." Yang deadpans.

"So you're saying I could beat you in a fight?" You like the surprised stutter that escapes her lips as you send grin of your own her way.

"Pfft, doubt it, I'm fast too, and I don't wear down the same as other fighters." Yang ponders the question, playing out an imaginary fight inside her head. "I'd only need to catch you once and it would be over. It might take awhile, but I'm relentless." She's silent but her eyes are sparkling again and it worries you. "You should know that Kitten."

"I hate you." You grit your teeth and glare at her. It only pulls a chuckle from her, just like it used to when you spent summers at Ruby's house.

"Anyway, Indigo's weapons are more effective at close range, your weapon being able to be used as ranged, without you losing grip of it completely..." she looks down and touches the soft cord wrapped around its hilt, the part usually wrapped around your forearm. "You could use both speed and ranged attacks to wear the bulky fighters down, and the hand to hand contestants? Well," she looks back up at you. "They'd have to catch you first, right?"

"True, looking back now you're right, we might have been able to win that first year as well. But we still won the second tournament."

"Not saying your team didn't get better, just that you flew under the radar." Yang chuckles. "I always expected you to suddenly show up and take them all out while they weren't looking at you."

"I took out my share of combatants." You defend.

She hums as she looks at you. "But you could have been team RWBI's secret weapon if they would have utilized your strengths more. No offence to my sister, but she overlooked you many times, and unfortunately you're the one to suffer."

"What do you mean by that?" You think it's an insult.

Yang shrugs. "Same as with any muscle, if you don't push it to it's limits it never gets stronger. Ruby never pushed you."

It was definitely an insult. You can see it in her eyes that she knows she's gotten to you.

She stands, holds up the empty glass that held the whisky you'd poured her.

"Thanks, kind of a reverse déjà vu huh?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." You know exactly what she's talking about.

"Oh come on, Ruby's sixteenth birthday. You were a mess!"

"We all were."

"Some more than most, Kitten."

You look at her, seeing her anticipation, but your usual anger at the nickname doesn't flare up, the coolness of the counter beneath your fingers disappears and you can no longer feel the heat blowing the back of your calves from the register beneath the kitchen counter. For the first time in five years you feel yourself slipping back into your old mask. The indifferent one you walked into Beacon with, the one your team spent six months breaking through. It feels colder than you remember and you'd be surprised that you were able to spend so much of your past like this if you were capable of feeling anything at the moment. Everything seems far away, muffled, even the tile beneath your feet feels soft.

You stare at Yang blankly. She blinks, opens her mouth then closes it.

"Glad to see you learned something from me though." Yang indicates the empty glass once more.

You don't react, you couldn't even if you wanted to. As much as you should hate her for pushing you to retreat this far into yourself, you don't have the strength, you think you'd enjoy the flabbergasted look on her face if you did though. She's never seen this side of you.

Not wanting to hear any more insults from her you grab your overcoat and slip your arms through it. You return your weapon to its proper place on your shoulder and walk out the door.

You hear her swear before the door closes behind you.

—

Just as you thought, the Grimm were not a problem for you.

You don't notice you're still hiding until Ruby approaches you at your favorite coffee shop.

"What happened?" She asks bringing you in for a tight hug. Even Weiss stands from her seat, looking at you in concern.

"Nothing," your response is automatic.

"Bullshit," Weiss speaks up and hearing her actually swear jumpstarts your body.

"Watch it princess, Daddy wouldn't approve of your potty mouth." Your voice lacks its usual bite but you make your way to the table as Ruby releases you. You're exhausted and just want to sit and order your favourite tea. Weiss steps forward and you think she's got a comeback for your remark. Daddy jokes are usually off limits for reasons you all know too well, most predominantly because he doesn't approve of his daughters choice in significant others. But instead of reprimanding you, she engulfs you in her arms in a genuine hug. You return it with a smile before pushing her away "Are you high?"

She rolls her eyes and sits across from you, Ruby quickly taking the chair to Weiss' right. There's a tea already on the table in front of you and you shoot them a grateful look.

"So what happened?" Ruby asks again.

"For real." Weiss speaks up before you can dismiss the question again.

"Yang just got to me this morning." You reply pinching the bridge of your nose.

"How so," Weiss asks, seeing the concern in Ruby's eyes. It was Ruby that suggested you take the spare room in the first place.

"She was calling me that name again." You sigh, wondering how much to tell them. Yang made some comments that threw her sister's leadership into question and although you have no qualms about throwing the blonde under the bus you don't want to do it if it's going to hurt Ruby. "And she commented on how I don't use Gambol Shroud to its full potential." Lifting your shoulders in a dismissive shrug. "It pissed me off."

"Your weapon can be used in so many different ways though," Ruby gushes. "All Yang's do is block and shoot. You already do more with yours than she does." Ruby's soft voice was encouraging.

"But you can't deny she uses her weapons in every conceivable way. She's a master at them and anyone that watches her fight can see that." Ruby shoots her girlfriend a look but Weiss just shrugs and continues. "It's how she got the scores on her huntress examinations that she did. She's truly an exceptional fighter." Weiss turns her attention back to you. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"With what?" You aren't sure what she's asking.

"That Yang knows the full capability of her weapons and uses them to their limits when she fights."

"I- well I've never seen Yang fight before."

"What?" Ruby exclaims. "Sure you have, we went to a few of her matches during a couple summers."

"I never went, I always stayed back to read."

"That's right." Ruby slumps in her chair.

"Didn't you ever watch the Vytal Festival when she was in it?" Ruby perks up at Weiss' logic.

"I was in the White Fang then." You throw up your hands before wrapping them back around the warmth of the mug on the table in front of you. Your hands feel extra cold today. "I was probably robbing a Schnee freighter at the time everyone was watching the fights."

"Hey!"

"Oh, you're over it, don't pretend you're not."

Weiss says something under her breath, leaning into the back of her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. Ruby reaches out and pulls at her arm to get her to stop. Apparently that's her new challenge. Ruby picks a new one every couple of weeks. The last one was limiting her girlfriend to only allowing one eye roll a day. That was a rough few weeks; they'd had many arguments.

"So you've really never watched Yang fight?"

"Nope."

"You're missing out." Weiss' voice is so sincere, and coming from the perfectionist, you almost feel sad you'd been too stubborn to go see Yang fight during their summer vacations.

Instead you shrug, feigning indifference.

"Do I need to speak to her about backing off?" Ruby asks you, referring to her sister. "I don't want you to be miserable."

"No I'll be fine." You can't help but want to alleviate Ruby's worry. "I'm sure we're still just getting used to sharing the same space."

"You sure?"

"Yup."

Ruby smiles, and jumps right into the four different options they've come up with to do with her old room. You nod and smile feigning interest but your mind is elsewhere.

You wonder if Yang will be home when you return.

There's a small part of you that wants to rub it in her face that the Grimm you took down today weren't a problem for you. She did basically tell you you're weak just because Ruby didn't push you, but there's a stronger part of you that just wants to ignore it. It would be too much effort to confront her. You pushed yourself, and your whole team performed exceptionally at Beacon all four years. Who did she think she was telling you you weren't using your weapon to its full potential and you were at a disadvantage for any reason? No matter how 'exceptional' of a fighter she was, it was uncalled for and very rude.

She didn't know you. She was just making assumptions about you from the few fights she'd seen on the television. She was just trying to get under your skin, and you had let her.