Author's Note:

Hello dear readers and welcome to another chapter.

Not much to say, but ... the full band is here!

Now, expect a lot of delays between chapters due to school and other stories happening at the same time.

Anyways, enjoy and please review, as always.

I truly do read all of the reviews, I haven't been replying to them, cause I'm an idiot and forget sometimes. man, math can take a lot out of you.

Oh! I forgot to thank the people who review, thank you!

Kudos goes to:

DV330

RomanceDagger

Guest Review going by treja

Now! Enough delays, on with the show!

- Lor

Chapter 5: Friends

After Weiss left to go to her room I hastily put on a black jacket. Picking up one of my trumpets, and a brief case filled with music, I headed out of the door. I looked around; the place seemed to be empty even though I knew that the servants were probably around somewhere. The lights that were on the ceiling lit up the surroundings casting an orange glow over the front foyer, I made my way out with my trumpet in hand. I headed out the front door, thankfully nobody noticed me leave. I smiled as I headed out the front door, making sure to close it behind me. Nobody found out …

Or so I thought.

The White haired heiress was sitting in her room at a desk; her room was orderly and neat. She'd heard one of the rooms open and close. Usually this didn't pique her interest but this from upstairs, and nobody would be upstairs besides Joseph or her father. She already knew that her father was gone to deal with work; the dinner today was one of the few occasions that her father was home. She was mostly left in the house alone as her father had business at the Schnee Company.

So who's that?

She decided to take a step out and look around; she was still dressed in her white dress from the dinner. As she looked down the hall she saw Joseph pass by, he didn't see her, he was holding two large cases, and both of them were black. One of them was a regular brief case while the other was large and rectangular. He seemed to be going off to somewhere in a hurry.

Where's he going? Weiss wondered, raising an eyebrow.

She decided to follow him; after he passed around the corner she began to pursue him. He'd left out the door in a hurry, and so did Weiss. When she made it out to the front door it was too late, he was already gone. The dark night time surroundings cloaked him.

"Tch," Weiss scowled to herself.

Where would he go? Weiss wondered, she pondered this question throughout the night and into her sleep. She decided that she would ask him tomorrow as she returned back to her desk, attempting to attain focus on her studies.

I took the bus into Vale; the trip took about an hour. Arriving at Neo's apartment I buzzed her number. Since it was night time I could see the glow from the lights shine on the exterior of the building. The buzzer was under the rain covering. I could see inside that there was an attendant desk to the right and an elevator to the left, there was also a long carpeted hallway down the center.

"H-Hello?" I heard the buzzer respond with Neo's voice.

"Hey, Neo, it's me, ready to go?" I greeted.

"O-Oh, Joey, I-I'm not ready yet, you can come in though. I-I'll leave the door unlocked so that y-you can come in," She replied.

"Alright, sure," I answered.

I heard the door buzz, unlocking it so that I could come in. The door closed behind me, the front foyer was plain, with a few small plastic trees for decoration in the corners. I headed for the elevator and pushed for floor 7. The place was empty as almost everyone was in their rooms.

The entire floor was carpeted so my feet made no sound at all. There were three hallways, two on the left and the right and one straight in front. I headed down the hallway in the front and stopped somewhere along the middle.

The door was a simple green wooden door; there was a peep hole above the number tag which read 714. The handle was a cylinder like shape with an embroidered attachment. I opened the door and found that it was unlocked, like Neo said.

Her place was quite simple, yet it still had a homey feel to it. There was a hallway leading down to her bedroom and washroom to the right. I could hear the shower running, oh, I guess that she wanted to take a shower before leaving. There was also a kitchen next to the hallway separated by a wall. There was a brown leather couch along the left hall; it was facing a white coffee table, though why white I have no idea, and a brown wooden TV cabinet.

I decided to sit down and wait for Neo to walk out of the shower and get changed. I heard her get out of the shower after about five minutes, "I-I'll be there in a m-minute!" Neo hollered before going into her room and closing it behind her.

She came back out in a beautiful white dress shirt. There was a pink flower embroidered on the left side of the shirt. It was a simple elegant shirt but it was beautiful nonetheless. She was also wearing a pair of brown pants along with a black belt.

I seemed to be looking at her for quite a while, I probably had a face of something between awe and amazement.

"Well, I-I'm ready," Neo told me.

"Sorry, it's just, wow, you look very nice in those," I complimented.

Neo blushed in return, "T-Thanks," She stuttered.

"Well, let's go," I said.

"O-Okay," She replied.

I picked up my cases and headed out of the door, "Do you have any bus tickets?" I asked.

She paused before stammering out her answer, "No, sorry!"

"That's fine, come on," I replied.

"I'll pay you back," She told me.

"No, you don't have to," I replied.

We headed out to the bus stop, the bus was mostly empty. We sat near the front of the bus. The ride was quite quiet; Neo was wearing a white jacket and was leaning rather close to me. I didn't pay any attention; after all, she's always been like this. I believed that it was because she was so shy around people and this just generally applied to her behaviour.

I looked beside her and smiled, she smiled back reassuringly. We arrived at our stop and got out; we were all supposed to meet at Yang's house since the two sisters had the largest basement for practical space.

The street was empty as the orange street lights shined spots along the sidewalk. As we walked down I heard a stumbling sound, Neo instinctively grabbed my arm. "Gah!" She exclaimed.

"Neo, it's okay, it's just a cat," I assured her. We both heard a meow come from where the sound came from. "See?" She nodded to me in return, still shaking her hands slightly. "Neo, you can let go now."

"Oh, sorry," She stammered, embarrassed and letting go of my arm.

"It's just a few minutes of a walk from here," I told her.

We arrived at the place, the front door was open for us to walk in, walking in I closed and locked the door. The entry way was a thin narrow hallway with the staircase leading to the basement at the side. The narrow hallway led to the living room. Taking off my socks I headed for the living room and found the couch along the back wall. Blake was already here as I could see her jacket on the couch.

Neo followed me and took off her white jacket. We then both headed downstairs into the basement. The basement acted as a recreational area. When we got down the stairs there was a hallway leading down to the main basement area. The first room to the left was for the laundry room, there was another down the hall which was closer to the main area, that room was the bathroom.

I could hear tons of moving around, which meant that they were setting up. I walked forward and into the main area. The room was large and was about the size of a two car garage. The floor was carpeted with a greyish colour. There was a tiled area to the right which held a mini fridge and the band supplies.

There was a large wooden carpeted board in the center, Ruby was off fiddling with one of the amps, Yang was carrying another large amp with a keyboard under her arms. She turned around when she noticed me and Neo.

Yang was wearing a brown jacket with a pair of black shorts; she was also wearing yellow socks since we would be practicing on a wooden board. Yang also had a pair of large half circle sunglasses on her forehead. Her hair was long, flowing and wavy.

"Oh helloo!" Yang greeted enthusiastically. "Oh, lookie here, you've brought a girl!"

"H-Hello," Neo answered shyly.

"Well, nice to meet you, my name's Yang," Yang took a step forward and held her left hand out to shake it.

"Hi, m-my name's Neo," Neo replied, shaking Yang's hand.

Blake who was coming back in from upstairs noticed the conversation; she had a soft drink in her hand. "Blake," She said from behind us.

Neo jumped and turned around, I put my hand on her shoulder and she calmed down. "That's Blake."

"Hello," Blake calmly greeted.

She was wearing a black zip up sweater with white pockets. This matched her black hair and her amber eyes. She was wearing black jeans along with it; she was wearing a pair of black slippers with a black kitty sewn onto it. She also decided to wear a black bow on her head, as usual.

"H-Hello," Neo replied.

We turned around and were instantly met with Ruby; she was wearing a red long sleeved shirt along with a pair of black pants. Her hair was short, neatly combed and was a dark shade of crimson, her silver eyes were wide opened as she looked at Neo, "Oh my god, is that pink and brown hair?" Ruby asked.

At this Neo became scared, "Y-Y-Yes," She replied quietly.

"EEE! That's so cute!" Ruby exclaimed all too enthusiastically, while bouncing up and down.

"Oh, now that you mention it she does," Yang commented.

"Indeed," Blake added.

"R-Really?" Neo asked.

"Totally!" Ruby answered. "And, oh my god, is one of your eyes pink?! That's so cool!"

"Y-You don't think that it's weird?" Neo asked still concerned.

"No, of course not, I mean, I have silver eyes, and crimson hair," Ruby stated.

"O-Oh, that's nice," Neo said.

"Eee! You're so cute!" Ruby exclaimed, gripping Neo in a tight hug. At this Neo blushed, I assumed that this was out of embarrassment.

Yang pulled her sister off by the neck of her shirt, "Urk!" Ruby coughed out.

"W-What's her p-problem?" Neo asked.

"Yeah, about Ruby, she's er, how should I put it," I began to say.

Yang placed Ruby on a chair before turning back to us, "Gay," She simply stated.

"W-What?!" Neo questioned.

"Yeah, not the best word to put it at," I commented. "I would've said homosexual."

"R-Really?" Neo replied, her cheeks became a deep shade of red. "T-Then," She began to say.

"Yeah, that was probably my sis squeezing you all too lovingly," Yang stated, her voice trailing off.

"A-Are y-you?" Neo asked, agitatedly.

"Gay? Nope, me and Blake are straight, or at least I know I am for sure," Yang stated. "Only my sis here is gay as far as I know."

"Yang!" Ruby whined.

"What? I'm just telling them the truth," Yang replied. Ruby pulled Yang away and pushed her from us, "Oh come on," Yang complained.

After Yang was pushed off Ruby returned to us, "S-So is it true?" Neo asked.

"Yes, I am, and please don't use the term homosexual," Ruby said. "It makes me feel weird, gay is fine. And, well, I'm sorry, for before."

"O-Okay, i-it's fine, i-it's good to k-know," Neo replied, still a bit shaken up.

I took a deep breath, "Great, now that that's taken care of who's ready to get to practicing?"

"Great!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hey Ruby, I, I brought Neo here to play the piano for us," I told Ruby.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes, you can play another instrument right?" I asked.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Ruby asked, pulling out a pair of red crimson sticks. "I've got the drum parts down!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"So drums then," I said.

"Yup!" She said enthusiastically.

"Welp, the music's right here," I said handing her the briefcase.

"Oh, here's the piano parts Neo," Ruby said, handing her several sheets of music from the piano stand.

"T-Thanks," Neo said.

"Welp, everything's set up, let's jam!" Yang exclaimed.

"Great," I said taking out my trumpet.

Yang took out a large saxophone and took her place in front with a tenor saxophone in hand. Blake was sitting on top of an amp with a black bass to the left. Ruby was standing near the back of the stage, me and Neo hoped on. Neo went over to the piano; she was standing close to Ruby's right side. I had in my hand a clean and lustrous golden trumpet; I played with the valves for a second to make sure that they were smooth. They were nice and smooth from the last time that I oiled them.

I could hear Blake tuning up her electric bass, her fourth string was a tad bit sharp, "Your fourth is a tad sharp Blake."

"Thanks," She nodded and went to change it just a bit.

I went to Yang's right, "Ready?" I asked.

"Yup," Yang answered, nodding.

"Alright, let's start with Cantaloupe Island; you've got the solo up right Yang?" I asked.

"Yup, I've got it down," Yang answered.

I turned around to Neo, "I know that this is your first time reading it, but try your best okay?" I told her. "You know what straight rhythm and swing is right?"

"Yes," Neo answered.

"Great, just do your best," I told her. I then focussed my attention to the group. "Ruby, would you do the honours of counting us in?"

"Oh, I'm honoured," Ruby jested; she raised her drum sticks and tapped them together six times, the first two setting up the halves of the bar while the last four set up the quarters, thus setting the metronome up.

The bass, piano and drums entered first creating the overall laid back rhythmic rift; this was then followed by my entrance on the trumpet to set the main theme. The theme was moved to the tenor sax, while I was given the accompaniment. It then hit the solos in the piece; I played my own improvised solo for a while before switching off to Yang. Yang played a beautiful laid back solo; she decided to pair up parts of a sample solo with her own original innovations.

I applauded for her lightly and she looked at me with what looked like a mixture of gratitude and a big smirk as she had the instrument in her hands still. We finished by pulling the two main parts into parallel unisons and ended with the tenor saxophone.

After we finished Ruby was applauding, "That was so cool!"

"Uh, Ruby, you always say that," Yang pointed out.

"Well, it does sound more complete with the drums," I commented.

"Neo, you were so cool, going all like da da da da and da da," Ruby continued, singing the piano rift.

"T-Thanks," Neo replied, embarrassed.

"There are a few spots that I'd like to touch up on, specifically syncing up the bass, drums and piano," I said.

"Alright," Blake replied.

"Sure thing Joey!" Ruby answered enthusiastically.

"O-Okay," Neo responded.

"Alright, let's get to specifics," I said.

We played up until around 11: 30, at that time Ruby was starting to feel tired. We'd managed to fix up the off bass part and moved on to other songs. We were packed up for the night, I collected my brief case and my trumpet. I then began to help the others disassemble the equipment. "We're gonna rock it a month from now at that café," Ruby stated.

"You mean, jazz it," Yang commented, making some kind of joke.

Ruby chuckled, "Yeah, jazz it."

Neo immediately snapped up, "A month?!"

"Yeah, I got us a deal to play at this jazz café, it's pretty popular. Why? Is something the matter Neo?" I asked.

"N=No, it's just, sudden," Her voice trailed off. "I, I don't think I'm ready!" She interjected.

"Really? I mean, you played perfectly, with the vibes, emotion and everything," I told her. "You were great!"

"Yeah, you were!" Ruby said appearing beside Neo.

"Y-You really think so?" Neo asked.

"Yup! You're the best!" Ruby said, tackling Neo into a hug.

Neo didn't fall but she was shaken a bit, I could also see her cheeks redden from embarrassment.

Blake came around with her bass tucked on her back and in its clothed casing, "You did great," She stated before leaving to get her jacket.

"You were awesome!" Yang complimented while she was setting the amps and keyboard aside.

At this I could see a small smile form on Neo's face, this was a new one. "T-Thanks, you don't know h-how much that means to m-me."

Ruby let go of Neo and faced her, "Well, that's what you do right? You cheer on your friends."

"F-Friends?" Neo asked.

"Yeah, of course we're friends," Ruby stated. "Why?"

"I-It's just, I've never had any friends besides Joseph," Neo replied with a smile.

"Well, you've got us now!" Ruby replied.

"That must've been lonely," Blake stated.

"W-Well, not really, J-Joseph and me t-talk all the time," Neo said.

"Heh, looks like somebody already has a girlfriend, and you told us you didn't have one," Yang teased.

Neo's cheeks reddened, "Oh no, that's not what's happening," she denied shaking her head while waving her right hand.

"No, we're not," I denied calmly.

Yang examined my facial expression, "I see …"

Blake came back with her jacket and clothing on, "Well, I'll see you guys later."

"See ya Blakey," Yang said, moving for a moment to look at Blake before refocusing back on me.

"So?" I questioned.

"Nothing, well, see you guys later then," Yang said brushing it off.

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yup, I've seen all I need," Yang replied.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave now," I said.

Neo followed me as did Ruby; Neo put on her jacket and put her hood on it up. Ruby seemed to be heavily admiring Neo, she was probably thinking along the lines of; she's so cute! Neo looked back at Ruby and smiled faintly, at this Ruby blushed in return. Neo then grabbed my hand and proceeded to lead me to the front.

Blake was at the front, she was wearing her dark light jacket, "Heading home?" I asked.

"Yes, I am," Blake stated.

"Mind if we accompany you?" I asked.

"Nope," She replied.

We proceeded to walk together until it came to the intersection leading to the two parts of the neighbourhood, one leading to the main street and the other leading deeper into the suburbs. We parted ways, Blake heading deeper into the suburbs.

"Bye B-Blake," Neo said.

Blake waved with two fingers as her back was turned; we proceeded to head down to the main street. When the bus arrived we got on, it was empty say for a few passengers, thank goodness there was 24 hour bus service. We sat at the front; Neo began to yawn, "Tired?" I asked.

"A bit," Neo replied, leaning a bit closer.

I let her lean closer, "So, was it fun?"

"Yeah," She replied with a happier tone, albeit tired.

She leaned her head on my shoulder, I let her and she began to sleep, it was a rather long bus ride, the orange lights passing through the windows. When we arrived at her stop I shook her awake, she stretched her arms before getting up. "Thanks for i-inviting me," Neo told me.

"No problem," I told her with a smile, now awaited the trip back to the mansion. The trip was rather quiet as I kept to myself mostly. When I did get off and walked back to the mansion I was smiling, remembering the fun practice that we had. Complete with Ruby squealing at Neo and Yang's teasing. Even Blake was quite memorable, despite her being quiet.

When I arrived the mansion had its lights from the front foyer on still, this wasn't much of a surprise to me, but it did glare in my face. I opened up the door, I expected no one to be around and for everybody to be sleeping.

I was wrong, Weiss was standing right in front, "Where were you?!"

Post Story Note:

So does Neo like Joseph? I'll let you decide.

Make of it what you want, but there will be no ships in this fic as far as I'm concerned.