The Lines We Draw
Chapter 4
Even though they had separated, they hadn't exactly untangled themselves from each other entirely. Yang found herself on her back, with Weiss taking up residence nearby, a hand splayed across Yang's exposed belly. It wasn't exactly covert of them, but since they were in their own room, Weiss permitted the act. They'd known from the start, sharing such a close proximity would prove embarrassing when someone walked in on them, but neither one of them had accounted for it being so soon.
"Oh my god…" Blake muttered as she grasped the doorknob in her hand. "Please tell me you didn't!" She wasn't sure if she should slam the door shut and go back to the library, or to beat the crap out of her roommates for indecent exposure.
Yang shot up, the covers falling from around her. "Does it look like we did anything?" She asked in mild outrage. Even though her jacket had been left forgotten, she was a far cry from naked.
Blake shook her head and averted her gaze. "With the way you were under the covers, who could tell, really…"
Weiss clung to her blankets though, slight panic etching against her usual controlled logic. "E-even if we did, what business would it be of yours?!"
"Business I don't want to be privy to it." Blake shuttered, disgust leaking into her voice. Even thinking about her roommates getting frisky made her flesh crawl. She had it on good authority already that they hadn't just been cuddling. Blake's nose didn't lie.
"As if you would be." Weiss fired back.
"Some of us are hyper aware of what goes on around them." Blake almost hissed, pointing at her ears, as if that was enough of an indication. She wasn't stupid either. "And Yang can't keep her hands to herself platonically. Never mind when she's interested in someone."
Blinking, Weiss took a breath. "Oh…right." When she tried to stand, she was met with resistance. Yang yanked her into a cuddled position, the blonde against the wall, with Weiss pressed into her. "Y-yang?" Weiss squeaked.
"Mine." Yang said then with a playful little grin.
"Yang…" Weiss murmured embarrassedly into the tantalizing bosom presented to her. "Please, let me go."
"Nope, not until you say you're mine…"
This time, the breath of air that Blake released really did sound like a hiss. Composing herself, Blake cleared her throat. "Just agree with her Weiss, or she'll keep trying to torture us with her overt displays of affection."
"Who says I'll stop even when Weiss agrees?"
"Because if you don't stop, then I know you'll only be doing it to drive me crazy." Then, the cat-eared resident began to take her leave. "Get in the shower before you guys go anywhere with a lot of people. You reek of foreplay." Blake warned them before slamming the door behind her.
Yang and Weiss both looked at each other, but it was the blonde who sniffed at Weiss. "She's joking! I don't smell anything…I mean, she is just joking, right?"
Weiss didn't utter a peep, even as her cheeks tinged a deep rosy red.
"You okay there, cutie?" Yang asked, nonplused until she realized that Weiss was thoroughly bothered by something. Then, her voice got quiet, her words delicate and completely gentle. "Weiss…" Yang's attitude flipped on a dime, her fingers coming up to tangle in the perfectly white tresses of the girl she loved. "Talk...tell me what's happening in that head of yours."
Frankly, there were no thoughts, at least none that were truly clear to her. All that played over and over was the threat Blake issued, and the impending reality that being in a closet relationship might not be an option after all. "Nothing." Weiss finally forced out with unsteadiness. "Never mind."
Yang didn't believe that, but she let it go. Instead, she buried herself in the warmth of the woman in her arms. There was something to be said for losing oneself in the moment, and Yang just wanted to melt into that embrace. Her breath became shallow with content, but she couldn't say the same for the still rigid lover in her arms. Weiss refused to relax so Yang quickly devised a plan.
"Come with me." She said with a grin.
"Go where now?"
"Date." Yang chirped, her thousand watt smile brilliant as she mentally scurried through all of the places she intended to take the girl. Dinner, movies, the works. It would be entirely sappy, completely predictable, and that would be the whole point…at least, by the time she was done.
…
Across the campus, romance came no easier. Unfortunately for Ruby, she had no idea how best to convey her thoughts, and Nora seemed not to take notice of them at all.
"So, you really don't know what it's like then...to have a family...I mean?"
"Hmm, nope." Nora said as plain as day. "Can't exactly say I remember, it's been so long."
"It's been a long time since my mom died but..." Ruby trailed off with a shrug.
"See, and I think that's it." Nora pointed out with a casual little shrug, pupping blueberries into her mouth merrily. "You have other people who actually remember your mom. So, you get to remember her too. You've got a home, and all of that to go back to...and that place is filled with all of those little things." Another blueberry later, and Nora continued on. "I don't have anything like that."
"Sorry..."
"Why are you sorry?" Nora asked, as she finished with her share of the very surprise picnic. "It's not your fault, Ruby."
"That's true..." ruby nodded. "But...I mean, shouldn't you...want that?"
Nora made a small little hum of contemplation, playfully tapping the tips of her toes together. When she had been greeted by the youngest member of Beacon to currently attend, she had found Ruby to be rather uneasy. The conversation topics had been rather deep this sunny afternoon. While Nora truly didn't mind, she did grow a tiny bit concerned for Ruby's sake.
"Ruby..."
"Yeah, Nora?"
"What's up?"
"The sky?"
"No...well, I mean it is, technically..." Nora turned to regard the girl then. "Ruby, I mean, what's really up?"
It wasn't uncommon for the younger students to take a liking to older ones. Following them around, or idolizing them was a normal thing. It was one of the perks of being older. With more hunts under their belts, being noticed came with the territory. Considering this, Nora wasn't exactly surprised when Ruby had affixed herself to Nora's side like glue, acting like the awe-inspired younger girl that Ruby truly was.
Even though they were in the same year, the prodigy was still slightly out of her element, and Nora knew that.
"Oh...um...well..."
"Ruby..."
"Just been thinking a whole big bunch. That's all."
"Hmm. What about?"
"Oh, you know...this and that..."
Nora grinned at that. "Uh-huh..."
In fact, those small few years that separated them meant a world of difference for hunters during training. Ruby had skipped a few years, and as a result, many fundamental hunts. Ruby had even skipped basic team formation drills. The girl was a fast leaner that department though, so it hadn't slowed her down. Even so, Ruby was a tiny fish in a very large, dangerous, and competitive pond.
"Nora..."
"Yeah?"
Teammates were also rivals, vying for respect from their betters. Given the nature of their schooling, and their future lives, admiration from their peers came equally as important to many aspiring to greatness.
To add insult to injury, Nora also didn't think anything of the fact that Ruby saw the need to cling to her.
In many ways, that was simply Ruby's way. She was fun to be with anyway, and Nora never considered that it would be a problem. Over time, however, she did begin to notice the eyes of those around her. Her team, and Ruby's team for that matter. They kept sending her odd looks, and Nora picked up on the slowly burning animosity stemming from Yang. At first, she considered it jealousy, and then thought it might simply be confusion.
Even at that, Nora brushed everything aside.
"There has been something, actually." Ruby began slowly. "Something that I kind of...really needed to talk to you about..."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, but it's kind of, hard to explain."
"Well, whenever I find something hard to say, I just blurt it out there, and let everyone sort of deal with it however they can." Nora suggested simply. "It's easier that way."
"Well...I don't know." Ruby hesitated.
There was nothing wrong with a younger girl finding a mentor, or at least, that's what Nora thought.
The older girl had plenty of them in the past, and, even at Beacon, Nora wasn't opposed to finding her own muse once more. She just hadn't found one yet. Sooner or later though, she probably would. Learning new tactics, and sparring against them to become stronger...it was par for the course. It was just, at that moment, she was too busy dealing with Ruby. Too busy enjoying the fact that the girl found her worthy of such admiration.
"Just do it Ruby..." Nora said with a big grin. "What have you got to lose?"
"Well, Have you liked anyone?" Ruby finally asked, her voice just a pitch higher than a squeak.
The question finally brought Nora back to earth. Back to the reality that Ruby was, in fact, still too young to be a high school student.
"Have I ever liked anyone?" Nora parroted. "You mean, as more than a friend?"
"Yeah…" Ruby said nervously while touching her fingers together over and over. Her usual fidgeting worse by nature of the topic. "Liked someone…like that."
Under the tree in which they sat, Nora contemplated this with the same easygoing response she took to all of those types of questions. "Nah." She laughed before she continued. "It would be nice to have someone, maybe. I've got other goals to deal with first, so I don't have time to think about that."
"Oh…"
Ruffling the dark hair atop ruby's head, Nora offered her a carefree glance. "You okay, Ruby?"
"I…uh…yeah, I'm okay."
One hand reached out to stop the continuous wiggling of fingers, and Ruby fully met Nora's gaze. In that single moment, Nora bit down hard on her own tongue. She wasn't completely oblivious, and for as much fun as she liked to have, she wasn't entirely stupid either. Offering a self-deprecating smile, Nora cleared her throat. "Ruby…how many hunts have you been on?"
"Thirty six or so…" Ruby murmured.
"Not practice ones in a school sanctioned forest." Nora clarified. "Ones out on assignment, with a chaperone or not."
"Oh…" After some quick math, Ruby spoke again. "Two."
"Over a hundred." Nora told her. "Those start at the entry level feeder schools before you graduate."
"My uncle took me out though, unofficially."
Nora sighed, with a little shake of her head. Wistful, and bemused. "He would have had to. You're too good of a fighter not to have undergone some pretty hard training." Nora could respect that, and even found it partially amazing that Ruby could keep up. "How many teams have you been assigned?"
"One."
"Eight." Nora said again, pointing out further the divide between them. "I've always had Ren by my side, of course. It's just that teams change a lot...and not always under the best circumstances." Then, while looking up to the sky, Nora's next question was very soft. "How many school friends have you lost to fighting?"
"Like, disagreements?"
"No…" Nora, slung an arm around the girl. "Like…gone…gone-gone, Ruby."
Ruby blinked a few times, the implication finally coming to her. "Family…but, not friends. Not even one."
Nora sighed. "You're lucky, Ruby. Very, very lucky." Sooner or later, Nora knew that too would change for the girl. It always did.
Nora lost count of how many friends, and family for that matter, that she had lost over the years. Nora strived to be as up-beat as possible. To force a smile, and to laugh as much as she could. To build memories as vast and as grand as she could perceive possible. If she could do that, she could live with the hard times. She could push through them.
That's exactly what Nora planned to do in this case too, because being awkward about it just wouldn't do her any good…and what was done…was done.
With a tiny smirk, arm still slung around Ruby's shoulders, pulling her close, she went back to gazing at the field ahead of them. "Trust me, there are better people than me out there for you. People who are ready to commit themselves to more than just being a huntress. I'm not like that, though. My goal is graduating from this school in one piece, and that's not going to be as easy as I make it sound."
"Nora, I…" A thumb shushed her.
"Enjoy what we have, for what we have." Nora murmured, tapping Ruby's nose and pulling the younger girl across her lap. "We don't have to be 'together-together' to do things like this…we just can't go beyond things like this…does that make sense?"
Ruby nodded, but the tears were already at the edges of her eyes.
Nora, undaunted by even that, only gave a little shake of her head. She hugged Ruby closer, letting the tears fall to dampen her shoulder. It was the least she could do for breaking the girls' heart, because Ruby was the sweetest thing. There was nothing more she could say. She just had to hope that her actions spoke for her, as they usually did.
A few hours later, when she finally deposited a still distraught Ruby in front of the RWBY dorm room, she did so with even measure kindness and firmness in the matter, because that's what a mentor was supposed to do. It's what her mentors would do for her…what her good friends would have done….and what she had to do for Ruby.
The whole ordeal left her feeling unsettled though, as she entered into her own room across the hall, closed the door, and all but jumped into the first occupied bed. Pyrrha looked down from her book. Nora buried her face into the gladiator's lap.
"Nora?"
"I'm an idiot." The girl murmured, muffled by the skirt Pyrrha chose to wear. "I'm a huge, blithering, colossal idiot!"
Setting the reading material aside immediately if not sooner, Pyrrha gave a gentle tug to Nora's unruly tresses. "What happened?"
"I hurt Ruby." Nora replied as she looked up with puppy-dog eyes. "I honest to dust hurt her. Oh, she was crying, Pyrrha. I could hardly take it, but I couldn't let her think that I could be with her. Yang's going to kill me, and all of her team will probably hate me, not that it matters because I'll be dead, but still!" She buried her face into her second favorite spot. "Oh, where's Ren when I need him!"
"Sparring match." Pyrrha had stated the obvious, but frowned when she felt fingers bunching at the red material she donned. "You didn't try to hurt her feelings, did you?"
"Who would want to hurt Ruby?" Nora asked as she sprang up from her position. "Pyrrha, that's just crazy. Wanting to hurt that girl is like…is like…trying to drown a kitten. It's just not something anyone would want to do!" Nora flailed, color draining from her face at the thought.
"Nora?"
"Oh god, and I did that!"
"Nora…"
"I drowned the kitten."
Fingers at her temples, Pyrrha worked through a long suffering sigh. This was the problem with Nora. She took things to heart too much, even if she didn't look like it. "Nora!" Pyrrha barked when gentleness failed. This got the girl's attention, and Nora went back to doing what she did best in time like these.
"I'm a horrible, terrible person." Clinging onto whoever might allow her that small little smidgen of comfort.
"You are not...and you haven't drown any kittens." Pyrrha said soothingly. "Or Ruby for that matter…"
Just as Nora was about to start up on another tirade of guilt and remorse, Ren opened the door. She had never launched herself at him so fast in her life, all but bowling him over, as Pyrrha released a small sigh of relief.
…
Blake's ears picked up Nora's entire rant. Not that she had been trying to be quiet by any means, but even so, Blake was aggravated.
Sighing in a way that only Blake could. Exasperated, and ready to rip the first thing that touched her twitching ears in half. She mentally berated Nora over, and over, and over again. There were so many things she wanted to say, and yet she couldn't say any of them. Blake really couldn't fault Nora, and that was the worst of it. Still, Yang was off campus, and Weiss likely with her.
Blake had decided to deal with the matter herself, which led to her current predicament.
Ruby, curled in her bed, sobbing into her shoulder, a quaking and distraught bundle of sadness. Blake liked her space, and though she often pressed that she was exactly feline, she couldn't help but take note of how her tendencies bordered on feral. She most certainly didn't want Ruby cuddling into her, holding onto her, sobbing on her shoulder, or falling asleep that way…
...which is exactly what happened...
The ears atop her head flicked in annoyance once again as this appalling day came to a close. The door finally opening to a very love struck Yang. If that wasn't icing on the cake, the fact that Yang was holding a blushing Weiss bridal style certainly was. As they both burst through the door, Yang ignored the constant orders from Weiss to be put down.
In fact, Yang looked like she was in her prime.
"And that would be full-dust-fucking-circle." Blake grumbled, as she shot Yang a glare that could kill. "Where the hell were you two?"
"We were out." Yang sobered immediately as she gently let Weiss down. "What happened?"
"What do you think happened?" Blake growled as both girls came to get a closer look at Ruby. "Nora let her down as easy as she could, but it wasn't easy enough I guess."
"So you're the rebound?" Yang asked with an upraised eyebrow. "Careful with her Blake, she's still a virgin."
"Shut up!" Blake ordered with horror. That hadn't even crossed her mind, and she never planned on viewing the situation in that way. "Get her out of my bed."
"Ruby clings in her sleep." Weiss noted, having been the victim of a few times when Ruby had sleepily found her way to the bottom of the bunk beds late at night.
Yang only shook her head with a sad little smile. "All's fair in love and war." And that was true too, because Nora was genuinely a good person. Yang knew that, which was why she stayed out of to begin with…but now she could finally step in, and she did, pulling Ruby effortlessly into her arms. She meandered over to the other side of the room, putting her down on Weiss's bed instead.
"And just where am I going to sleep?" Weiss asked haughtily as she viewed this new development.
"I already told you." Yang said as she pulled Weiss into another possessive hug. "Mine."
"Oh Jesus." Blake tossed the blankets over her eyes, and mushed down her ears. "No rutting while I'm here, or I swear I'll kill you both."
"I don't want to do that Blake." Yang said, all humor finally dead in her voice. Replaced with something completely tense. "Honestly...I just want to sleep..." Flicking her gaze back to Ruby, she sighed deeply again. "Tomorrow is going to suck...and the day after...and maybe even the day after that too." Frowning darkly, she let out a rush of breath that carried the weight of her words. "Shit..."