A/N: Hey, just some timeline to erase any confusion. The college started September 1 and I'm skipping forward to mid-November.

"Miss Schnee, snap out of it!"

Weiss jumped a bit, startled.

"I said demi-plié, not grand plié!"

"Yes, Miss Garland. It won't happen again, I promise."

"We've been doing this routine for weeks now, you've had it memorized. What happened?"

Weiss looked at the floor. "I am very sorry, I haven't slept well." Plus the taekwondo lessons are frantic, not like you want to hear that.

"Well, next time get more proper rest. I need you to be on your best possible level since our groups are performing three weeks from now."

"T-Three weeks?"

Weiss completely forgot that. The teacher looked at her and rolled her eyes. "Yes, three weeks. Remember, the Four Colleges Festival that our college is hosting this year? That's exactly why we've been training extra hard for the last month."

"I will be better, Miss. I swear. I'll practice the whole time until I get the routine memorized again."

"Well, then," the teacher said with a sigh. "Our time is up for today. Go on."

Weiss bowed automatically. The lessons made her completely rethink the way she acted.

"Why are you bowing to me?"

"Oh, i-it's nothing, really. It's just that I've been taking taekwondo lessons and it's more of a show of respect."

"I see. Well, as long as it doesn't interfere with your ballet, it's fine. You're dismissed."

"Thank you, Miss."

Finally, I can leave. It wasn't that she didn't want to practice ballet, but Ruby said she'd introduce her to her girlfriend that day. And later we are having taekwondo club practice, she remembered happily. Ruby managed to convince the headmaster that the club was a good idea and it was a huge success. Such success, in fact, that the headmaster had already revealed that the next year they'd introduce a couple other martial arts. The headmaster came to watch one of the lessons and later said that they'd be battling the Preston-Lowell College taekwondo club at the Four College Festival. Weiss could see that this made Ruby extremely proud and since then, they started training tournament-style fighting. And Ruby is such an amazing teacher and she is even getting paid for it. A freshman paying for college by working there must be some kind of a first. Weiss loved the practice because it helped her feel strong and more confident, but also because she could watch Ruby perform complicated techniques without as much as breaking a sweat. The way she moved looked so simple, but when Weiss tried to mimic her, she'd lose balance and fall every single time. Ruby would then pick her up with a smile on her face. The beautiful smile that I never want to fade from her cheeks. But she was improving.

Weiss couldn't wait to see Ruby's girlfriend. Somehow from what Ruby told her, she was fun to be around and an all round nice person. On the way to the dorm the white-haired aristocrat hummed a melody to herself. She came to the dorm unopposed, but when she approached her room, she remembered Ruby might be nasty with her girlfriend, so she reminded herself to knock on the door as a blush crept up her face at the thought of Ruby naked and enjoying the time with her girlfriend. Unwillingly, Weiss imagined herself in the position of Ruby's girlfriend. She shook those thoughts away and rapped gently on the door.

"Come in," a sad voice came from inside almost immediately. Weiss was befuddled. What's wrong with Ruby?

She entered the room reluctantly and found Ruby alone, sitting on her bed and looking at the floor. Weiss jumped to her roommate and held her face in her hands. She noticed her eyes were red, as if she was crying.

"Ruby, what is wrong?"

The dark-haired girl tried to wave it off. "Oh, it's nothing, she had to leave and I haven't seen her for so long and I really wanted her to meet you because I know you'd be great friends and…"

Weiss stopped her. "This is not it."

"It is. I'm upset because she was only here for a few hours and I haven't seen her for like three months."

Weiss decided she wouldn't continue prodding and simply offered Ruby a hug, which the other girl gladly accepted.

The time for the practice came soon and Ruby rose from her bed, determination renewed in her eyes and tears long gone. "Come on, snowflake. It's time to go."

Weiss was on her feet in an instant, ready to go.

The lesson started as usual, with Ruby dictating the stretching exercises before assigning everyone their sparring partners. In the two months the students knew enough techniques that they didn't need to spar individually under Ruby's gaze, so she usually just sat down, watching the pupils and mentioning the mistakes she observed.

That day it was different, though. Ruby was nervously pacing the room and for every mistake she was much snappier than she normally was. Weiss also noticed that she is making them work faster and harder than usual. While other students might have thought it was normal to speed up after a while, Weiss noticed something was off. She wasn't telling me the whole truth back in the dorm. The moment of carelessness and Weiss felt a leg smack the side of her headgear and she fell to the ground.

Ruby was there in an instant. "Weiss? What in the world were you thinking, looking away from your partner? You must never do that!"

"S-Sorry, Ruby."

"Apology not accepted. In a real fight this could mean a severe concussion, a simple apology wouldn't do!"

Weiss's eyes started watering. "I will be more careful next time."

"You'd better!"

Ruby walked away, furiously. Weiss looked at her in disbelief, tears silently streaming down her cheeks. Her partner came to her and wiped the tears from her eyes. What is wrong, Ruby? You know you can tell me. It pains me to see you so upset.

"Weiss, are you okay? Did I hit to hard?", her partner, Velvet, a sophomore from abroad asked with concern.

"I'm f-fine," Weiss sobbed, still sitting on the floor, looking at Ruby, who still nervously paced around, lashing out at someone else who forgot to put his arms in a correct position.

"I-I just have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a moment, Velvet."

The girl nodded and Weiss scurried for the toilet where she splashed ice cold water on her face, trying to calm down. Then she took a few deep breaths before wiping her face and looking at her reflection in the mirror. She knew Ruby didn't mean to be so snappy back in the gym, but somehow it still hurt Weiss that she spoke to her in such a manner. Though I really shouldn't be looking around when I was supposed to be sparring.

She rejoined the practice and continued sparring with Velvet whose legs were long and easily able to hit way above Weiss's head and the aristocrat had quite a lot of problems blocking her quick and accurate kicks.

The remainder of the practice went by fast. Ruby regained some composure as she bid the students goodbye and soon after the whole gym was empty, save for Weiss and Ruby. Ruby struggled to look at Weiss.

"Weiss, I… I'm sorry for before. I shouldn't have lashed out the way I did."

"Don't be sorry, Ruby. Just tell me what is bothering you. You can tell me anything, you know that."

"It's stupid," Ruby dismissed her worry. "I need some practice myself, would you hold the punching bag for me?"

"Sure, Ruby."

They went in another room where there was a punching bag suspended from the ceiling. The girls positioned themselves on the opposite sides of the bag, Weiss pushing all her weight into the bag so it wouldn't move too much when Ruby's kicks would connect. They did this often, but this time Ruby's kicks were so fierce Weiss barely managed to hold the bag relatively still. The girl clad in red released a barrage after barrage of kicks and Weiss knew she wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.

The kicks suddenly stopped and in their place, Weiss heard muffled sobs from Ruby. Weiss looked from behind the bag and saw Ruby sitting on the floor, her knees brought to her chest, her hands on her knees and her face in her hands, crying her eyes out. Weiss had never seen her crying before, let alone this much. She ran to her and embraced her from behind, pressing Ruby's head into her chest gently. What is wrong with you, Ruby?

"Can you please tell me what's wrong?", Weiss asked concernedly, not really believing she'd get an answer, but she thought it was worth a try.

Ruby continued to sob for a few seconds before stuttering silently. "S-She d-dumped m-me."

Weiss couldn't quite hear her. "What did you say?"

"She dumped me," Ruby repeated, this time louder.

"What? W-Why?" Weiss didn't understand how someone could do such a thing.

"She came in and I hugged her and we were being all lovey-dovey for a while, as we always were. Then we went out for lunch and she insisted that she'd pay and then when it was all done, she said that we should go our separate ways. She said that this long distance thing doesn't work. While I'm inclined to agree, it still shattered me because I really wasn't prepared for it."

Weiss pulled the two of them to their feet and led them to a nearby bench. She then pulled Ruby closer to her, nuzzling Ruby's shoulder into her neck where she could cry her heart out.

After calming down, Ruby breathed in the white-haired girl's perfume, mixed with sweat the both of them accrued in the practice. The smell of Weiss's perfume was still a very distinct mint, though. She pulled away and looked down at the floor.

"I still loved her, you know. I could barely wait to see her again and then she does something like that… Seemingly out of the blue. I admit that I was checking other girls out, but I remained faithful to her even when the urge got me bad. And I know she was checking other girls out too. We even did it together sometimes."

"I'm still here for you Ruby. Whenever you need me."

"Thanks a lot for that, snowflake."

The two girls then sat there in silence for a moment. "Well, now that I'm single again, at least I don't have to worry about how my partner is feeling, so it's not all bad, I guess."

Weiss chuckled slightly. She then stood up, extending a hand to Ruby. "Come on, it's getting dark and it'll start raining soon. Let's go so we don't get soaked on the way home and catch a cold or worse." Ruby took the offered hand and then followed her roommate.

I wasn't ready for this, I really wasn't. I know it shouldn't shock me as much as it did, but I can't help it.

The two girls arrived at the dorm and took a shower, Ruby going in first as she'd only take a few minutes while Weiss usually occupied the bathroom for at least half an hour. Ruby came out of the bathroom wearing her usual sleeping outfit: a black tank top with a white heart on it and white pants decorated with roses. She crashed on her bed and in that moment the rain started pouring like it was judgment day.

Weiss got out of the bathroom a while later, looking slightly scared. Ruby's keen eyes noticed that immediately.

"What's wrong, snowflake?"

"I… Umm…"

"Come here, tell me."

Weiss got over to Ruby's bed, her light blue sleeping gown fluttering as she did so. She sat down on Ruby's bed and Ruby noticed that Weiss was looking at her in a weird way.

"Weiss?"

"I'm… A little ashamed of this, and I know it's a weird time for you and all… But I was wondering…" Her voice trailed off.

"What, Weiss?"

Ruby could see Weiss mustering up her courage to say something. She patiently waited for the white-haired girl to tell what pained her.

"W-Would you mind if I slept in your bed tonight?", she finally said with a blush.

Ruby's eyes widened at the question. "Sure, you can sleep in my bed, but why exactly?"

"I'm a…" Weiss said something that Ruby couldn't hear.

"I couldn't hear you, Weiss."

"I'm kind of sort of scared of thunderstorms." As if to test her phobia, a loud thunder boomed at that same second, which made Weiss jump at Ruby, the taller girl barely managing to catch her before she fell over the other side of the bed.

"Woah, snowflake, calm down," Ruby said, holding Weiss by the waist. "I see you're telling the truth. Come." Ruby let go and lifted the bed cover so Weiss could snuggle into Ruby.

Ruby took the position of the big spoon while lying on her left side, gently caressing Weiss's right arm with her own right hand. Ruby then lifted herself so that she could kiss the other girl's cheek. "Good night, snowflake."

"Good night, Ruby."

Ruby nuzzled her head into Weiss's long hair and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of mint that emanated from it.

Another thunder roared and Weiss shivered, but Ruby whispered a soft "shh" into her ear and caressed her arm again.

I could definitely get used to this delicate girl sharing my bed, Ruby thought with a hint of a smile as she fell asleep.

Weiss woke up, feeling an arm around her midsection and a whole body on her back, which startled her for a moment until she remembered she made up a fear of thunder as an excuse to get in bed with Ruby, something she wanted to do for a while now but couldn't as she didn't want to get Ruby away from her now ex-girlfriend.

Weiss pressed backwards a little more, just to get that extra square inch or two of Ruby's body pressing on her own.

She loved everything about the girl currently hugging her. Her eyes, her voice, her hair, her face, her smell, her body, how badass she looked while teaching taekwondo, her confidence and charisma and much more. She wanted to shower her with kisses all over but she knew she shouldn't push it as she seemed pretty upset the day before at the loss of her girlfriend. I can still fantasize about it, like last night when I closed my eyes and we were kissing passionately again, on this very bed, her mouth gently exploring my neck and collar and… Hold it right there, Weiss.

Weiss felt Ruby stirring so she turned around to face her when she woke up. Her eyelids fluttered and showed the wonderfully mesmerizing grey eyes to Weiss. She saw the pupils dilate for a moment as Ruby felt surprise at the scene that presented itself before her, but that quickly turned into eyes that radiated happiness, to which Ruby's grin was like a proof. Ruby leant in to kiss Weiss on her cheek. I could just turn my head a bit and she'd kiss me on the lips, it'd be so easy and undoubtedly sweet… No, Weiss, she's still fragile from what happened yesterday!

The kiss was over as soon as it began and Weiss had to hold back a sigh of slight disappointment.

"Morning, snowflake," Ruby said with her sleepy voice. "Did you sleep well?"

Weiss nodded and blushed slightly. "I have to tell you something…"

"You're not really afraid of thunder? I know that."

Weiss looked at Ruby with a surprised expression and then blushed intensely. "Then why did you…"

"I thought it'd be nice to share a bed with someone after quite a long time. And I wasn't wrong," she added with a grin that threatened to split her head in two. Weiss blushed even harder. At least she sounds like she's back to normal. Maybe that means I should kiss her… No, it most certainly doesn't!

"Umm, actually it was something else I wanted to tell you, but eventually I was planning to tell you that I lied about my phobia."

"So what is it?" Ruby looked at her expectantly.

"Well, you told me I should tell you when my ballet class will be performing. We're performing in three weeks in the school's theatre. You know, for the festival. Somehow it slipped my mind."

"I'll be in the first row," Ruby said without missing a beat, running her hand down Weiss's side slowly, the fabric of her sleeping gown making the touch smooth. This made Weiss take a long breath as she felt a tingling sensation between her legs.

"Annnnd I'm fully awake," Weiss suddenly said and jumped upwards to disappear in the bathroom, leaving behind a befuddled but smiling Ruby.

She's so cute when she's turned on.

God damn it, Ruby, you just got dumped yesterday, are you serious? Ruby mentally hit herself for acting like a thirteen-year-old boy. Yet she couldn't help but to snake her left hand down her flat belly and under the fabric of her pants, going just a little lower to feel the moist spot right at the centre where her legs joined together and she sighed quietly at the feeling her fingers left at the touch. It has been too long, she decided and continued to rub the spot through her underwear, each rub eliciting a short breath from her mouth as she closed her eyes, imagining that the hand was actually Weiss's and that she was kissing one of her breasts as well. Her right hand went up to caress one of them as if on cue. Soon enough she was in ecstasy, adding speed to her rubbing, now imagining Weiss's undoubtedly soft and warm tongue at the spot her left hand was servicing, Ruby's breaths starting to become more and more erratic, a quiet moan escaping her lips from time to time.

The release hit the girl hard as her whole body started shaking from pleasure, her mouth open wide but no sound coming from it. When she finally got back to her senses, she nervously checked the room to see if Weiss was there for some reason, but was relieved when she saw the empty room and that the other girl was still in the bathroom, water running in the sink as the innocent girl probably brushed her teeth. I don't feel bad because of it, though. I needed this almost as much as I need food and water.

Her breathing returned to normal as Weiss finally got out of the bathroom, dressed in a white aristocrat jacket with a light blue cravat, radiant and ready to face the day. Ruby took some clothing and replaced Weiss in the bathroom, sending a small wink to the other girl before entering and smiling proudly as she saw the white-haired girl blush at the wink.

Brushing her teeth, Ruby found herself thinking about Weiss. Do I really want to date her or do I just want to get her out of her clothes?

Yes.

That's not helping.

But it's the truth.

I know, that's why it isn't helping. I'm not sure which one is more true.

Ruby, you know exactly what you want to do. Stop acting like you don't.

Should I wait, though? Would she think of me as a slut if I asked her right now? It did only happen yesterday, after all.

The inner debate didn't lead to definite conclusions, so Ruby dropped it, instead filling her thoughts with fantasies of the way Weiss's body felt against her own, how her perfume invaded her senses and calmed her down, how cute she was when she was blushing and similar stuff.

Ruby then realized that she's been brushing her teeth for at least five minutes. She washed the toothpaste foam out of her mouth and put on her clothing for the day, a red t-shirt with golden print saying "Never forget what you are" and a pair of simple black sweatpants. She also put a black sweater with red patterns over the t-shirt as it was starting to get quite cold lately. Luckily for her, it was Saturday so she didn't have anything that needed to be done.

When she got out of the bathroom, she suddenly remembered to ask something.

"Hey, Weiss, I forgot to ask you before. Why were you lying about being afraid of thunder?"

Weiss blushed before taking her eyes off the notebook she was currently writing something in. "I-I… I guess I just… Wanted to cheer you up some. And to thank you for being as good a friend as you were up to now."

Ruby laughed. "Well, you succeeded in that regard. So, it's Saturday. Do you have any plans?"

"I'll have to go practicing ballet. I somehow forgot how exactly the routine was supposed to go."

"I wouldn't want you to forget something as important as that. Well then, I'll be studying here. Call me when you want to grab lunch or something."

"I will. See you later, then!"

Ruby returned the goodbye with a smile.

Weiss walked towards the school building, taking in the cold late November morning, avoiding the small puddles of water the rain left behind. She had a school bag over her shoulder with practice clothes. There was a mist that made it hard to see clearly, but Weiss managed to get to the school without bumping into anyone. It helped that it was Saturday and most of the people were still sleeping, though.

As soon as she walked into the school and towards the stairs, a familiar voice demanded her attention. Weiss sighed in frustration.

"Hi there, sweet cheeks. What are you doing here so early in the morning, on a Saturday, no less?"

"I could ask you the same question, Cardin."

"Well, to answer your question, I'm an early riser and I hate having nothing to do."

"Good for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go."

"You don't have classes, it's Saturday! Come on, let's go and grab some coffee."

"Cardin, leave me alone."

As if he didn't hear her, he got closer to her, trying to grab her hand. Weiss could smell the cigarette he undoubtedly just finished smoking and held her breath, trying not to inhale the foul smell. Apparently Cardin took that as a sign of fear.

"Not so brave without your little girlfriend, huh, sweet cheeks?"

"She's not my girlfriend and I said leave me alone!", Weiss yelled, yanked away from him and positioned herself into a combat stance.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. You too? Don't make me laugh. I just want to grab a cup of coffee with you."

"Cardin, I'm not interested in you, and frankly, I don't like you. So just leave me alone and I'll ask nothing else of you." Weiss could feel her blood boiling with every passing second she spent looking at his dumb, smug face.

"So that's it? You're a fucking dyke too?"

That was too much. "Oh, so now I'm a dyke just because I don't offer myself to every boy that passes me, no matter how disgusting he might be?" She clenched her fists even harder. "And to answer your question, yes, yes, I am gay. And I can get prettier girls than you dream of."

"That's it. You're going down and then I'm going in. Dry."

He charged towards Weiss. Ruby was right, he doesn't have any idea what he's doing. Weiss easily dodged him. The force with which Cardin propelled himself forward was too much to stop him before he hit the wall behind Weiss. He picked himself up, fuming at the fact that he got so easily tricked.

"Okay, sweet cheeks. If you want to dance, then let's dance."

He started throwing punches, Weiss somehow struggling to block or dodge the hits as she wasn't really used to deflecting punches. She tried to watch for openings as she deflected a flurry after flurry of punches, occasionally hitting his midsection with a well-aimed kick. But the hits didn't seem to faze the bully.

She got hit a few times, but luckily the punches were deflected just enough that she wasn't hit squarely in the face or with full strength. Then one blow got her in the chest and she had to make a few steps backwards, trying to catch her breath. Cardin looked at her with a smug smile on her face.

"It's been fun while it lasted, but you'd better start getting wet, sweet cheeks. You wouldn't want it to hurt, would you?"

His overconfidence made Weiss see that he wasn't defending himself, thinking she was done. She used his momentary lapse of judgment to extend her left leg and hit him square in the chest and before he could realize what happened, she pulled the leg back and extended again, this time hitting his nose. Cardin fell on the ground, holding his nose and screaming in pain while still trying to calm his breathing from the hit he received in the chest. Weiss went over to him.

"You disgust me. Never come close to me again or I'll knock you out cold." With those words Weiss started walking up the stairs, feeling good about herself, mentally thanking Ruby for coming up with the idea of teaching her to defend herself. Actually, I should tell her right now. She took out her phone, sparing one last look at Cardin, who was lying on the floor, clutching his nose while blood ran down the side of his face.

"Heya, snowflake. What's up?"

"Hey, Ruby. Just wanted to tell you that your lessons are helping."

"Weiss, what happened? Who dared to touch my snowflake? Are you okay?", Ruby's concerned voice came from the other end. "I'll come there and kill…"

"Slow down, Ruby. I'm perfectly fine. Cardin was trying some stuff again and he got to smell the sole of my shoe for his troubles." The time I spent with her these past few months really hit my vocabulary.

"He did what?"

"He tried to get in my pants again, so I told him to stop, and he didn't, and now he's lying down in the middle of the lobby, clenching his broken nose with his hands. You might even hear him scream if you listen carefully," she said with a smile.

Weiss took the phone away from her ear and hoped that Ruby could hear the screams of agony coming from below. After a long moment, she put the phone back to her ear.

"You heard that?"

"Yup. I'm so proud of you, snowflake."

"Thank you, Ruby. See you later for lunch."

Weiss ended the call. She said I'm her snowflake, she thought to herself happily.

Does it look like I really, really dislike Cardin? Completely not intentional. (*whistles*)

Also, for those that will say I spent two chapters building up Ruby's relationship just to annul it now, Ruby's now ex-girlfriend has not left the story yet.

Good news! I'm very close to finishing chapter 9, which is the final chapter of this story. This means updates will become more frequent, namely Wednesdays and Saturdays. This brings the finale on Valentine's Day, if my calculations are correct. So, um, yeah. Not intentional at all.

Anyway, thanks for reading and an even bigger thanks to the followers and favouriters! You're all welcome to review and tell me what you think. Until next time.