"Are you sure about this Weiss? I mean, your grandfather just… and now you're making rash decisions that could affect your entire life!" Ruby argued, not for the first time as Weiss carefully packed her supplies into the large backpack she'd be carrying in the next portion of her life.
"I've wanted to leave since I got here five months ago, Ruby." Weiss sighed as she finished zipping up the last zipper and attached the sleeping roll. "I didn't even know for sure if you were still alive until yesterday, and now I'm not going to just let you go traipsing around Remnant without a partner!"
"But I told you I've been travelling with the rest of JNPR." Ruby argued. "Jaune's my partner."
"So am I, Ruby." Weiss said quietly. "I'll always be your partner, no matter what."
"Well, yeah, I mean you'll be mine too, but-"
"Ruby, I need to tell you something before we go. I just need to put it out there so we can move on, okay?" Weiss asked, as she tried to calm her nervousness by clenching her hands together.
"I-is it something I did wrong?" Ruby asked apprehensively as she approached her partner.
"Nothing like that, you dunce!" Weiss replied quickly as she took a deep breath. "It's my problem, or maybe not a problem at all, depending on how you react."
"It's okay, Weiss. I'm here for you." Ruby closed the gap and gave her partner a hug, feeling that that would be the thing Yang would do in this situation. "Whatever it is I promise I'll try to help."
"Thank you Ruby." Weiss returned the hug gently before pushing her back again. "Ruby, I know this will come as a shock to you, and trust me when I say I'm still not even sure about what this is that I'm feeling so I may be mistaken as well, but I think I might have… an attraction to you."
"Oh, okay…" Ruby nodded for a moment. "Uh… what do you mean by that?"
"You complete dolt!" Weiss huffed as she tried to conceive a better way to explain it. She looked at the time and noticed they had ten minutes before they were scheduled to leave, leaving her with few options that would truly convey her emotion. "I like you Ruby. You're my best friend, and my partner. I've been worried constantly about you for five long months and you comforted me when one of the few people I'm close with in my family died suddenly. You keep coming to my rescue and I want to spend all my time with you. I just…"
Ruby was nodding as Weiss was speaking but the heiress could tell that everything she was saying wasn't clicking in Ruby's head. Maybe her attraction was that abnormal that Ruby couldn't possibly imagine that a girl could have romantic feelings toward another girl. Regardless, she needed Ruby to know in definitive detail that she was falling in love with her, so she did the only thing left that she knew would be crossing a line that she possibly shouldn't.
Ruby's face grew larger as Weiss approached and slipped her hands around Ruby's neck to keep her head where she wanted it. She felt Ruby's arms wrap themselves around her waist as she leaned in and brushed her lips carefully past those of her partner. The moment lasted as Weiss slowly led the kiss and worked her fingers into the younger huntress's hair.
"Okay, it's definitely a bit more than simply a small attraction." Weiss breathed as she calmed her nerves that were all blazing with the intimate heat of their embrace. She rested her head on her partner's shoulder and concentrated on calming her nerves. Ruby hadn't moved from the second their lips had touched and Weiss was afraid she'd done something she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry Ruby…. I just… needed you to know."
"I-" Ruby cleared her throat as she pulled Weiss tighter into her arms for a moment. "It's okay… um… I… I don't know what I'm thinking right now. Or if I'm thinking at all."
Ruby laughed awkwardly as she continued to process everything.
"It's alright Ruby. You won't hurt me if you don't feel the same way." Weiss lied effortlessly as she kept her head pressed intimately to her partner's neck and shoulder. "I just couldn't keep this a secret from you. Eventually it would become a problem."
"R-right… um… well, thanks then. But… c-can we just talk about this later?" Ruby replied with another cough. "I… need time to think. I've… um… n-never really thought about this kind of stuff before and I don't want to… do it wrong."
"I understand." Weiss nodded slightly, realizing she'd need to let Ruby go soon. If anything she was disappointed that Ruby hadn't given her a clear reply to her affection and whether or not it was wanted. It would have been so much easier to move on if Ruby had outright rejected her, but a small spark of hope remained that there was a possibility of a good outcome from all this, an outcome she shrugged off as the bright picture of it was just too optimistic for their world.
Weiss released Ruby who let her own arms fall to her sides. She looked at Ruby's eyes, behind which she could tell the girl was still busy determining her opinion on what had just happened. Weiss sighed and turned to the clock to see that they had almost spent ten whole minutes together. How long was I kissing her?
The thought brought a blush to her face to darken the one that she held from the intimate encounter. She hid it as best she could as she returned to the pack she'd be carrying for the next period of her life as she travelled with Ruby and JNPR.
"My father will have just left to attend the funeral, we should go now to give us the best head start." Weiss said as she pulled the pack onto her back and placed Myrtenaster on her belt. It felt good to have the familiar weight of her rapier over her combat skirt, a familiarity that brought back memories of all the good times in her life.
"Weiss, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Ruby asked again. "I mean, none of us know what's going to happen to us. We might get ambushed by grimm in the night and die tomorrow, or we might get killed by Salem or Cinder or her followers that we're also hunting."
"I know Ruby, but I'd rather die with you than be forced to live here a single day longer." Weiss smiled sadly at her partner. "I'd rather be happy for a day than simply alive for a year. It's something I learned at Beacon, but I didn't realize it until my grandfather helped me realize it. If nothing else, you're my best friend, Ruby. I know I want more, but even if you don't feel the same way, I'll be happy to just be your best friend and teammate."
"Alright Weiss. As long as you're sure." Ruby said hesitantly. "But wouldn't you rather go to his funeral first?"
"We've gone over this Ruby. Father won't let me leave if he knows that's what I intend to do. He has all the money he needs to keep me locked in my room with a small army as guards." Weiss said quickly. "If I'm going to leave, it has to be when he doesn't expect it, and when he won't be looking into my whereabouts for as long as possible."
Weiss led Ruby from her room and hung the do not disturb sign from her handle. She led Ruby down the hall, knowing that all the servants were to attend the funeral service, so the manor was empty save the two huntresses.
"But are you sure you don't want to say goodbye?" Ruby asked quietly as they approached the front door. Weiss's hand froze on the knob as she realized why Ruby would ask her that question.
"Ruby, he knew he was dying. The night before, he said goodbye to me as if he knew he wouldn't survive the night." Weiss shuddered as she repressed her tears. "He told me once that funerals were for the living because the dead go to a place to watch over us. Whether or not he's right, he'd understand why I can't go. Why I don't want to go. I just want to remember him when he was alive, not when he's lying in a box. He's not there anyway. He's gone, only his body is left. There's nothing left for me here."
"Okay." Ruby pulled Weiss into a brief but warm hug. "Then let's go."
"Yes, lets." Weiss opened the door and the two started their long trek to the outskirts of Atlas where they'd agreed to meet with the rest of their teammates. Weiss noticed how the sun peeked out from behind the dark winter clouds, sending a beam of light over the city. The sparkling sight of the light on snow was one of the most beautiful sights Weiss had ever seen, even if it disappeared a moment later as the clouds plunged the mid-morning into a darkness like that of night. Beside her, Ruby walked with purpose. The girl's thoughts obviously still settling as the silence stretched. Weiss wasn't sorry for causing Ruby this problem, but she knew that the girl was only trying to be fair and give her an honest answer of her own feelings. Weiss knew she'd had much more time to consider this prospect and knew how hard it had been for her to accept it and admit, even to herself, what it was she was feeling.
"Team White Rose off on another whirlwind adventure, right?" Weiss asked while bumping Ruby's shoulder. Ruby jumped as she snapped back to the real world and smiled at Weiss in a way that pulled at her heartstrings because it was Ruby smiling at her.
"Ha, yeah!" Ruby cheered as she realized something. "We're going to have a hard time finding a new name now though…"
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked curiously at the return of Ruby's chipper self.
"Well, with me replacing Pyrrha, we were team RNJR like ranger. But now… w or s…" Ruby thought. "OH! How about SRNJR? It's like we're the mysterious stranger that shows up to kick the bad guys' butts!"
"Ruby, wouldn't it be simpler to just change it to RNJRS? You know, because there are a bunch of us acting like those frontier rangers?" Weiss asked with concern.
"No way! SRNJR is way cooler!" Ruby argued and Weiss laughed as she returned the argument playfully. She knew that it didn't matter one way or another, but it was always fun to simply talk about nothing to avoid the worries of the road ahead. "RNJRS sounds like we're all multiple people."
"And SRNJR doesn't have a T, so it'll look more like something you inject yourself with!" Weiss laughed as Ruby cringed.
"Fine you win, RNJRS it is."
"Actually, I was starting to get fond of SRNJR…" Weiss teased causing Ruby to disappear in a flurry of petals as she scooped a ball of snow from the roadside. Weiss wasn't prepared as the ball exploded on her face, sending the cold yet soft snow all over her face and hair. "Oh, you're going to get it!"
"Gotta catch me first!" Ruby giggled before she disappeared part way down the road. Weiss smiled as she hefted her pack higher on her back. She brushed the snow off and started moving faster as she caught her unobservant partner in a glyph.
"No fair!" Ruby complained as she resigned herself to her fate.
"Today you learn why you don't start a snowball fight with someone who grew up in Atlas!" Weiss spoke, keeping the humour from her words with great difficulty.
"No… please not that!" Ruby objected as she watched Weiss scoop a loose handful of snow off the bank next to her. "Anything but that!"
"Just know that this will hurt me just as much as it hurts you." Weiss teased as she dumped the snow down the back of Ruby's cloak causing a cry of shock and a large shiver as Ruby desperately fought to get most of it to fall out before it melted. "Now come on, we have to put some ground between us and this city."
Ruby simply nodded as she caught up to the heiress, the two falling back into silence as they walked. This time it was comfortable. There was still plenty to say and learn from each other but right now everything could wait for them both to be ready.