Wow, I've been working on Converging Paths so much that I've been neglected this little baby of mine. I honestly had little idea of what I wanted to do with this topic, so I sorta went with what I had originally planned and added more as I went along. I'll admit, it's not super shippy but it has its moments.

10. With Animal Ears

"Say, Ruby? A question."

"Yeah, Weiss?" The addressed girl responded, crinkling her nose.

"Let's see, how could I put this delicately…? WHY ON REMNANT DO YOU HAVE WOLF EARS?!"

It was a good question. Unfortunately for Ruby, it was a question that she had a rather bad answer to. The two girls were in their room alone, the redhead sitting on her bed with a certain alabaster-haired girl staring her down with contempt. Ruby squirmed in fear of what her girlfriend would do, but she ultimately decided to tell the truth.

"Um, well you see, I uh… I accidentally knocked over one of your Dust bottles from your latest shipment. So I tried to clean it up and well," She gestured to her changed physical appearance. "Haha, funny story actually. You see, I was getting back from class and I saw the box in front of our door so I brought it in and put it on your desk. I think I tripped on something-"

"That's enough, Ruby." Weiss interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose, but softened her expression after seeing the shame apparent on Ruby. "I'm not mad. I was trying to get rid of the stuff anyway."

"And besides," Weiss cooed with a tone that she normally only ever used with Zwei. "I have got to say you're just about the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on."

Ruby blushed. It was not an uncommon event that Weiss complimented her, but this felt… different. She felt happy beyond compare. As if it were habit, Ruby cuddled against Weiss's legs, who had just sat down on the bed.

So this was why Zwei loved snuggling up against her and Yang all the time. This felt like heaven. Just her relaxing against Weiss. Man, dogs seriously had it easy. They didn't have to face grades, finances, or weapon malfunctions. All they had to deal with was eating, playing, and finding comfortable places to lie on. Ruby certainly found her comfort zone.

But little did Ruby know that everything was just getting started.

It started when Weiss did the thing.

With her well-manicured nails, Weiss firmly stroked Ruby's newly acquired ears, sending the girl into a state of previously unknown euphoria. Her mind went blank, only feeling the ecstasy of being serviced behind the ears.

"Ahhh~" Ruby moaned. "Riiiiiight there, Weiss. Thaaaaaat's the spot." Ruby panted in excitement as shook the bed with her sporadic leg movements. Weiss couldn't help but giggle at the sight, seeing her beloved girlfriend quite literally as adorable as a puppy.

"You like that, Ruby?" Weiss teased. "Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl~?"

"I am! Oh god, Weiss! That feels so good! Harder!" Ruby demanded, clutching onto Weiss's shirt and furiously hastened the shaking of the bed with her legs.

"Well, if you insist." Weiss smirked.

"What. The. Hell."

Both girls froze, the realization that the door was indeed not soundproof finally dawning on them both. Turning their gaze to the doorway, Ruby and Weiss manage to catch a shell-shocked Yang with an equally surprised Blake.

"You know, when I said 'I'm watching you, Schnee', this is certainly not what I had in mind."

"Y-Yang! Blake! W-We can explain!" Weiss said, jumbling her speech. Sure, her teammates had seen her true actions as opposed to any potential lewder outcomes, but it had not made the situation any less awkward.

"First, start with why my sister has dog ears."

"Well, you see…" Ruby went through her explanation again, mentioning the Dust and how she managed to knock it over, causing her transformation. However, with each word, Blake had grown more and more irritated.

"Ruby..." she growled, clearly upset. "I need to talk to you. Alone. Now."

Ruby gulped and shook with fear. She was afraid of this. She, being human, had no understanding of Faunus other than the basics. They had specific animal traits and most had night vision. That was about it. If Doctor Oobleck said anything else, she must've fallen asleep.

However, this meant she didn't know how kindly a Faunus would take to a human impersonating one.

Before Ruby could ask Weiss and Yang to leave the room, she was interrupted.

"If you have something to say to her, you can say it to me too."

Weiss had come to her rescue. The playful blue eyes that had just recently straddled her converted to an icy cold nightmare as they glared down Blake's amber eyes. Despite her shorter stature, Weiss knew how to be utterly intimidating.

"Weiss, please." Blake raised her hands, attempting to reason with the heiress. "I'll talk to you later about the Dust. Let me speak with Ruby."

"I don't see why I should." Weiss began to raise her voice. Yang, who could feel the thick tension that she could probably use it to butter her toast, backed away. Ruby, trapped on the bed, shrank into her cloak. Luckily, there was no one else in the house.

"She's my girlfriend and partner and I have every right to know why you're upset with her. In addition to that, she's our team leader. If she does something wrong, it's a team discussion. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Blake tried to stand her ground, but she knew she had to back down. Even if she was mad, she knew that she was in the wrong for blaming Ruby from something that was clearly an accident.

"Ruby, you know this sort of thing is a sensitive subject to Faunus, right? We don't particularly enjoy humans wearing faux animal traits for fun, whether it's intentionally offensive or done in jest."

Ruby looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Blake. I didn't mean to, honest I didn't. But, at least I can use this as future reference. I found these cute kitty ears but I didn't know what to do with them. If you're so against them, I wouldn't mind throwing them out."

Blake's expression softened and she firmly gripped Ruby's shoulder in agreement. "Thank you, Ruby. For understanding. I'm sorry I was so harsh with you."

Ruby shot Blake a wide grin, coming back quickly from her previous slump. "Don't sweat it. As team leader, I should consider my teammates above myself. I'm willing to learn everything about you, if that's what it takes!"

"Erm… Perhaps 'everything' would be too strong a term…" Blake laughed nervously.

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Oh… Ahaha, nothing…" The Faunus blushed, making a mental note to keep extra care of her more raunchy novels and out of the hands of her younger leader.

"And what about you?" Yang asked Weiss. "Why do you have this sort of Dust here in the first place?"

With all eyes now on the heiress, she explained. "Well, I'm fully aware of offensive appropriations of Faunus traits and I noticed that a division of the SDC produced this particular type of Dust and cater it towards partiers who tend to desire these traits as one-time events."

Looking at Blake, she continued. "I thought that if I wanted to build an alliance or at least break down the animosity between the SDC and the Faunus, I should start by liquidating the division. I'm taking all of their resources and supplies and allocating them to research facilities to develop more practical uses for them."

"I suppose that's a better alternative." Blake said thoughtfully. "Thank you, Weiss. That means a lot."

"Of course."

"So, about Ruby." Yang cleared her throat to call for everyone's attention. "How long will this last?"

"Considering she only used one bottle, the effects should wear off in a couple hours." Weiss began to frown after a realization came to her. "Though, in case she inherited anymore canine traits, we should probably avoid giving her any cookies. Especially chocolate chip."

"Wh-What?! Weiss, how could you?!"

"Good idea." Yang grinned, clasping her hands together and shooting her sister a rather sly look that just screamed "you're so whipped". Blake, in turn, gave her leader a look of sympathy.

"Yang?! You too?!"

"It's for your own good, baby sister."

With that, Yang and Blake left the room to hide any and all cookie jars they could find into places Ruby's short stature would not allow her to reach. Meanwhile, Ruby and Weiss stayed, Ruby pouting with arms crossed and Weiss comforting her with a small hint of pride that she actually managed to control her hyperactive girlfriend for once.

"I can't believe you."

"Oh, come on, Ruby. It's not that bad." Weiss pulled Ruby in and laid the redhead on her lap. She giggled at the sight of her girlfriend still pouting while lying down. "It's just for the rest of the day. You can survive that long, can't you?"

Ruby huffed. "Fine. Whatever."

Pleased with her answer, Weiss smiled and scratched Ruby's still apparent wolf ears. "That's a good girl."

Ruby, unable to keep up with her adorable pouting, finally relented and allowed herself to enjoy the waves of joy each stroke provided and nuzzled into Weiss's lap.

And Weiss was loving every second of it.

Yang, however, was not so amused.

"Look, I don't know what you two do under the sheets, so please spare me the details."

"OUT OF THIS ROOM, XIAO LONG."

I'll admit, it really hurt making Blake look like the bad guy here, but the topic really got me wondering if faux animal ears would be considered offensive to a culture where Faunus are the minority. That topic came to my head and I just rolled with it. Plus, I wanted it to be of decent length. An entire chapter of Weiss rubbing Ruby's head didn't exactly sound interesting.

But anyway, I hate to say it, but White Like Roses is gonna have even less frequent updates since I've been occupied with Converging Paths. I will not stop as far as I know, but I thought I'd put it out there. White Like Roses was initially a practice run on whether or not I want to come back to fanfiction even if it's for a little bit and, quite frankly, I enjoy writing now. Not to say that me posting more works will be a normal thing, but it is a thing I do to get away from real life, even if it's for a little bit.

Alright, alright. Enough of that. Next chapter, our little White Rose couple will be... wearing kigugurumis! Oh boy...