*Foreword**Hello people, what's up? I take it some of you may have missed me? If not, stop reading this immediately. Nah, just kidding. Haters are always welcome too. Just keep the comments constructive. Anyhow, as you may have read in my last "Authors' Note", I just got finished with Navy bootcamp, and am able to start writing again. Now, bear in mind these will likely start coming out slower than the previous chapters had. Sorry. I know a lot of you liked my fast paced 'new chapter each day' posting speed, but now I am actually going to be busy. I'll try to keep the chapters coming at a good pace while maintaining the quality you all enjoy.*

*Now, just a little something to think about. Volume One of RQBY ended a couple of months ago, but Volume Two is on its way. I don't intend to be pretentious enough to compare my fic to RWBY itself, but I'd like to consider these new chapters as my own "Volume Two", for Love is a Knight-mare. For those of you romantics out there, there will be more focus on the relationship from now on. No way I am going to leave you all hanging on the main subject of the story. I'm also going to get creative with characters and their personalities. I'm also going to add the newer characters, i.e. Sun and Penny. Just so you know, I am going overboard with Penny. No complaints allowed there. Anyhow, without further ado, I bring you Chapter 22!*

It's cold again. So cold. This forest never changes. The trees are dead. The moon is in the beginning of its shattering phase. The wind is trying to bite me. I'll never understand why people say that it's cold. The wind doesn't bother me, it just messes up my cloak. And the scenery remains the same. It's always the same. The red spots around me. Irregular. And they smell of rust. The white snow beneath my boots. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Those black and dead trees. Swaying. At the winds mercy. The yellow stars up high. Light. Ever precious light.

Yeah, it's always the same. Except now, there's more yellow. A young man. He's been appearing here more and more lately. I expect horror whenever I come to this forest. But seeing him grants me peace, not anxiety. And as he had begun to, he grabs my hand. He simply grabs it. Not roughly. Not hastily. He picks it up, and holds in it his own. His hand is large. Warm. Comfortable. I feel at ease when he has my hand. I feel so peaceful. But this peace cannot last, it never does.

They're here. The Pack. Like clockwork, they arrive and surround me and the boy. Snarling. Howling. Hungering. But unlike before, I am no longer nervous. No. I'm now angry. Pissed off. How dare they ruin my moment of peace? How dare they? I'll show them my anger. My wrath. I'll destroy every last one of them. Like I always do. No. We will. We will destroy them. The boy, he had grabbed his own weapon. A sword, and a shield. Both of simple design and make. As he faces the Pack, he turns to me. His blue eyes boring into my own. Growing. Ever larger. He's leaning in. His mouth about to touch mine. Eight inches. Five inches. Two inches. An inch. And then…

"Ruuuuuby! Ruby Ruby Ruby! How are ya baby sis?"

Agggh, what the hell Yang? Ruby Rose. The petite and young huntress had just been sleeping comfortably in her hospital room. She had confined here for the past two weeks while her leg had healed from a freak incident where her beloved Crescent Rose, the bastardization of a sniper rifle and a massive scythe, had somehow backfired on her and imploded, leaving her with minor dust burns over a small portion of her body, especially her hands, and impaling the blade into her thigh. Her inability to properly hold a pencil or her tools had left Ruby about to go insane. Despite all that, she was cleared to go home today, and had planned on getting some sleep. "Planned."

"Yang, why are you here so early?"

Yang, Ruby's older half-sister. The two had the same father, but different mothers. Yes, this should be obvious, but it still warranted being noted. Unlike Ruby, Yang was very outgoing and very boisterous. She was often seen playing sports with the males for an extra challenge, and would whoop them on a regular basis. And everyone loved her. Some of the guys too much so for their own good. On the other hand, Ruby was more dexterous and skilled with crafts and other such skills. Unlike Yang, she was capable of cooking, drawing, and weapon repair/maintenance/crafting. And her combat skills suffered nothing in turn. Her speed, exotic weapon, and mastery over her weapon and semblance had made her a formidable fighter. Much so that all the freshmen of Beacon Academy tended to go out of their way to avoid sparring with the two sister, as both had reputations of being unbeaten.

"What do you mean? I came to pick you up."

"Yang."

"Yes Ruby?"

"It's 5:30 in the morning. The hospital isn't even open yet. And on that particular subject, how did you even get in here?!"

As though it were some kind of sick joke, the rest of her team and their friends in Team NNWB just arrived out of nowhere. And leading the small group with the dark haired girl from NNWB, Blake. Damnit Blake. Blake and Ruby had hit it off after the two had bumped into each other in the Literary Club's first meeting. From their conversations, Ruby had learned Blake had several talents including sewing, gardening… and lock picking. Asked and answered, huh? Why in all of Remnant did I have to become friends with a lock picking girl who doesn't mind following another person's crazy scheme?

As she pondered this, Ruby looked over her group of friends, searching for one in particular. And her eyes had found him.

Jaune Arc. 17 years old. Blonde hair, electric blue eyes, and a little on the skinny side. But Ruby loved him. And she was sure that Jaune loved her. She had met the awkward older boy when he had unceremoniously vomited all over her boots. Not exactly the best introduction. But they still hit it off, and now they were dating. Much to Yang's ire, the two had been spending a lot of time together while Ruby was stuck in the hospital. More than once, Ren and the members of NNWB had to physically restrain Yang and prevent her from turning Jaune into a fine powder similar to what Schnee used to fuel her magic. But she had become a little more cool about it. Just so long as she didn't see the two of them trying to kiss. Yang still felt very violently protective of her sister. And she never hesitated to let Jaune know it.

As it were, it was sometime just before 6 am. At this point, Ruby was starting to lose her cool. Her friends had ruined her nice and peaceful rest, and her sister was likely about to commit an offense and try to kidnap her before the hospital released her officially. Trying to keep her mind off of such possibilities, Ruby engaged her friends, sister, and boyfriend in what amounted to a pretty sad conversation about Professor Port's latest story on how he captured a rampaging cow and named it Edgar or something like that. The story was kind of sad, as it involved mudhuts, blocks, and a lot of mining. Who knew that Port could mine? After about 30 minutes or so or this, Ruby started to rush them out of the room. The nurse would be making her rounds soon to check on Ruby, and she didn't want the others getting in trouble.

As they all filed out, they each turned back to say good bye to Ruby once more. The last to leave, Jaune, lingered an extra minute.

"Ruby?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"When you get better, would you like to accompany me to the Midwinter Ball? Goodwitch says that all students who don't show up get extra homework." Saying all this with a sheepish grin on his face, he simply looked at Ruby with a tenderness that made their now-onlooking friends embarrassed to be watching. Except Yang, who was desperately holding back her anger.

"Sure Jaune. But remember to lock your shield beforehand. We don't want a repeat of the classroom incident."

"Hey, that was an isolated incident!"

And simply looking at each other, laughing, the two simply felt that all was right with the world.

*Epilogue*

"Excuse me, but who let you all in here?"

Looking behind themselves in a panic, the group who were eavesdropping on the two love-struck teen hunters turned around quickly and saw the nurse standing behind them. And the one who finally broke the silence, Yang, said exactly what was on their minds.

"Oh shi-."

*Authors' Note*

So, guess who's back? Not me! Nah, just kidding. So, who missed me? Nah, you don't have to say it, I know you all did. So, this chapter basically was a small side story prior to Ruby's release from the hospital. I figured with how much Yang messes around, she would somehow find a way to pull this off. Well, that's about all for now. Watch out for Ninjas of Love in the next chapter. Hooyah Ninjas of Love!*