"Young lady, if you're quite finished making a general fool of yourself, you can introduce yourself to the rest of the class, and then take a seat," an authoritative voice spoke up, causing Yang to instantly drop her hand, and look up into stern green eyes.

"Uh, yes ma'am," Yang answered meekly, as Ruby giggled softly behind her.

The older woman standing before them eyed Yang and Ruby for a few more nerve-wracking seconds, before she turned her attention back towards the young Faunus girl, who was still standing before the class.

"Thank you, Miss Belladonna. You may take that empty seat beside Miss Schnee. And for all you late comers, I'll reintroduce myself. My name is Miss Goodwitch, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year," the blond, bespectacled woman standing before them intoned.

Blake's golden eyes had immediately tracked over to where her homeroom teacher had pointed out for her to sit, and she eyed the young white-haired girl beside her seat warily. Every Faunus knew of the Schnee family. The Schnee Corporation was the largest supplier of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies...as well as the largest suppliers of military equipment and weapons. It was a fairly large incongruity...on the one side of the coin, they provided the equipment and means for recovery and peace, while on the other side they also provided weapons of destruction and war. And the Faunus were unfortunately caught up right in the middle of all it; providing in most cases unwilling labour to source, cultivate, make, and ship out all the supplies needed for both war and peace.

Blake herself wasn't immune from the touch of the Schnee company, and it was with more than a little trepidation that she slowly approached the empty seat beside Weiss Schnee.

Weiss for her part made sure to keep her eyes held straight forward, as she absolutely refused to look over at the 'creature' her Father was always telling her were "vile animals that were only good for hard labour." Though from what Weiss had seen thus far of Blake, and she'd had no choice but to look at the young girl with the pointy ears atop her head, as she'd had to stand before the class for her introduction...Weiss honestly couldn't see just how Blake was a 'vile or filthy creature or animal'. In fact to Weiss's cool, blue eyes Blake was actually kind of...cute...

But her Father was always right about everything, so Weiss quickly pushed such traitorous thoughts of Blake's kitty ears being actually kind of adorable, out of her head and made sure to keep her attention focused forward, as Blake quietly sat in the seat next to her.

"Alright, now that Miss Belladonna has introduced herself, it's your turn now. Step forward and introduce yourselves, my latecomers," Goodwitch stated firmly, as she pushed up lightly on the middle of her glasses, while giving both Yang and Ruby a stern look.

This lady so needs to take a chill pill, Yang thought to herself as she stepped up to the front of the class, thus putting herself into even closer proximity to her new scary teacher.

Goodwitch continued looking down her nose and over her glasses at Yang, as she waited for the young girl to speak. Yang let out a small, nervous laugh before she turned to fully face the class, and opened her mouth to speak. "Hey everyone. S'up. My name is Yang Xiao Long, and this is my baby sister Ruby Rose, who's really smart and skipped two grades to be here with me!" With that enthusiastic introduction, Yang reached over and wrapped her arm around Ruby's neck, quickly pulling her little sister firmly against her side.

"I'm not a baby," Ruby muttered loudly, as she basically allowed her big sister to manhandle her before the class.

"Alright, you may both take your seats now. There are two empty ones still available. The ones behind Miss Schnee, and Miss Belladonna. Now please hurry up and sit down, so that we may finally begin the lessons all your late arrivals delayed," Goodwitch said with that pointed look down her nose and glasses, that Yang just knew she was going to be the recipient of for the rest of the school year.

"Yes, Miss Goodwitch!" both Yang and Ruby exclaimed, as they quickly moved to claim the empty seats behind Blake and Weiss.

Blake watched out of the corner of her golden eyes, as Yang took the seat behind her, and the younger girl named Ruby took the seat behind the Schnee heiress. And just as she had feared, a soft whisper reached her ear and a light tap came to her shoulder, as the blond behind her attempted to make contact.

"Hey Blake, sorry again I almost ran you over earlier, and I'm really happy we're in the same class together," Yang whispered into Blake's ear, as she leaned a bit forward in her seat so Blake could hear her...obviously not realizing that Blake could have heard her even if she'd barely made a sound. Her Faunus hearing was rather exceptional after all...even among other Faunus.

"Miss Xiao Long, do I have to send you out into the hallway already, as punishment for disrupting the class and disturbing fellow students?" Goodwitch asked sternly with that pointy-nose-glasses-look, causing Yang to quickly snap to attention, and lean fully back into her seat.

"No ma'am!" Yang answered, and she didn't miss her sister's light groan, or the Schnee girl's smirk at her expense. Yang couldn't see what Blake's facial expression was to the teacher bringing attention their way, but she could see Blake's small shoulders stiffen, and the cat Faunus seeming to pull herself a bit forward in her seat...almost as if to put as much distance between herself and Yang as she possibly could.

Yang let out a long, deep sigh and slouched down in her seat, as Goodwitch began droning on about something or other.

She could already tell it was going to be a very long day.

~o~o~o~

"Yes! It's lunchtime baby! Let's eat!" Yang exclaimed with glee, as she and Ruby entered the huge cafeteria, and looked around for someplace to sit. There were a number of empty seats available, but Yang being the outgoing and sometimes overly-friendly person she was, immediately began looking for a table with people who looked cool for her to ask to sit with.

Her lavender eyes quickly scanned the large room, while Ruby fidgeted quietly by her side. She already knew what her big sister was up to, as she'd done the same thing at their old school, and so she just quietly waited for Yang to find them a new group of friends to hang out with. Personally Ruby would have been quite fine, and in fact quite happy to just find an empty table for herself and Yang to sit at, but she knew Yang wasn't going to have any of that. So, with a resigned sigh Ruby just waited for Yang to make her choice of where and with whom they were going to sit with.

"Hmm, definitely not with those guys," Yang muttered out loud, as she watched a young boy with orange-brown hair and cruel blue eyes, stick his foot out to trip a young girl...who had Faunus bunny ears! While Yang was quite honestly amazed to have the opportunity to see two Faunus in one day, her pleased amazement quickly turned to burning anger, when she saw what that bully had just done to the innocent Faunus girl.

"Oh heck no," Yang muttered under her breath, as she pushed up the sleeves of her school uniform, and began making her way over to the bully, who was now laughing uproariously with his friends over the treatment of the Faunus girl.

"Yang!" Ruby cried out, as she desperately latched onto her big sister's arm to try to halt her movement, and was pulled along easily in her sister's quickly-moving wake. Even at her young age Yang was a formidable martial artist, having studied with their father since she was three-years-old. Even though her young muscles were only just beginning to show, Yang was whipcord strong, and Ruby knew she could flatten the bully like a pancake if she wanted to...and if by the fury she could see beginning to burn in her sister's eyes was any indication, Yang really wanted to flatten the still-laughing boy. And while Ruby totally agreed with the sentiment...after all, that boy and his friends were total jerks for picking on an innocent Faunus girl like that...she did not want Yang to get into a fight on their very first day of school. Their father would be so very disappointed in them for getting into trouble, and she wanted to save Yang feeling crushed at disappointing their father, no matter the reason for picking the fight.

Somehow the Universe must have been looking out for Ruby, because something quite literally got in the way of Yang further approaching the bully...or rather someone got into her way.

Oof

"Ow!"

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

"My bad! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I should have been looking where I was going!"

"Honestly Jaune, you move like you have two left feet."

"Aww, that's kinda mean Ren. I wish I could move as awesomely cool and graceful as you."

"Jaune, are you alright!"

"Hehe, I'm fine Pyrrha. Just lost my balance a little...as usual."

"Pancakes!"

By the time Yang roused herself and climbed back to her feet after being unceremoniously bowled over, the bully and his friends had already gotten up from their seats and left the cafeteria.

Yang made a small sound of annoyance and disgust, that the boy she'd planned to teach a hearty lesson to had gotten away, but she figured she'd have another chance to deal with him later. Right now she was left dealing with an interesting situation...namely the small blond cannonball that had bowled her over, and what looked like his company of friends. Never one to waste an opportunity...especially one that had quite literally landed squarely in her lap...Yang let a bright, sunny smile cross her lips.

"Hi! My name is Yang, and this is my baby sister Ruby! What's you guys names?"

"I'm not a baby..."

~o~o~o~

Blake let out a long, deep sigh of relief. Her first day of school was officially over. It had started off a bit unusually...and admittedly a little scarily, when she thought her young life was about to come to an end, at the hand of bright yellow handle bars. And then finding out she was in the same class as the Schnee heiress. That had been a bit of a surprise. Beacon Academy was an exceptional school, but Blake still kind of expected the heir to the Schnee dynasty to have private schooling lessons. She wondered idly to herself, as she walked slowly down the sidewalk leading away from the school, what the story there was.

The evening sun was already hanging low in the sky, by the time Blake made it to the corner where she'd almost been run over at the start of the day by Yang. A small, almost involuntary smile touched the corners of her lips, as she thought of the exuberant blond, and her much quieter sister. They seemed like total night and day...complete opposites on the outside...but even Blake could see that they shared a strong sisterly bond. It made her feel...sad...and definitely alone as she continued to trudge slowly towards the foster home she stayed at.

It must be nice to have family who cared about you as strongly as those two sisters obviously cared about each other, Blake thought sadly to herself as she turned another corner onto an empty street...and then ran headlong into someone's chest.

Blake stepped back with a deep frown, with her nose stinging a bit from the unexpected contact. She looked up to tell the person before her to please move out of her way, but the words slowly died on her lips as she looked up into cruel, blue eyes.

"Hello little kitty-cat. Would you like to play?"

AN - I could never understand how absolutely no one got up to help or defend Velvet from Cardin in the series. My Yang here wasn't gonna have any of that nonsense! XD

Hope you all enjoyed this chap! Please review~ :D