Ruby

"Ruby!" Weiss hissed in my ear, shaking my shoulder. I looked around, confused. Everyone was looking at me; Cardin was standing in the crowd sniggering at me with his team. I blushed slightly, then my blush deepened when I realised Weiss' hand was still on my shoulder. Weiss jerked her hand away an instant later. She crossed her arms and looked away, tapping her foot impatiently. My breath caught, was she mad at me again?

"It's your turn, you dunce." she said. I hurried off to the starting point, grabbing Crescent Rose off the weapons rack on the way. My mind was reeling, what had just happened? Why was I freaking out over her touching me? Why was she mad at me again?

I glanced back at Weiss as I reached the starting line, expecting to see her glaring at me like she had yesterday. Instead, she was offering me an encouraging smile. When our eyes met, her smile widened slightly and she showed me a thumbs-up. I grinned at her, my doubts gone. I turned to face my next opponent, the obstacle course.

I focused my attention and my aura, pushing all thoughts of Weiss out of my mind. At the sound of the whistle I took off from the line, firing Crescent Rose for some rapid acceleration. I held Crescent Rose out behind me as I wove my way through the first obstacle, a long forest of vertical wooden poles. I jumped off the side one of the poles, gathering enough height to hang in the air above the rest. I flipped around in the air, swinging Crescent Rose above me. I landed lightly on top of the poles and began running across the top of them, using my speed to its fullest extent.

As I reached the end of the first obstacle, I leapt over the lake of mud that followed, using the speed I already had to clear the gap. I fired a couple of times as I sailed through the air, using the recoil to clear the huge wall I'd seen Blake climbing. I sailed over the wall, missing it by mere inches.

I landed on the ground with a loud thump, and began sprinting at the next obstacle: a low tunnel, the roof of which was maybe half a metre off the ground. I didn't hesitate, running at it at full-speed. As I approached the tunnel I dropped to the ground, using the momentum I already had to slide into the barely-big-enough opening. I folded Crescent Rose as my feet slid into the hole, holding its retracted form straight out behind my head, parallel with my body and the ground. I fired once as I slid into darkness, using that added momentum to slide the length of the tunnel.

As I emerged into the light I lifted my feet up, turning my forward momentum into a backflip, and landed on my feet before taking off running once more. The next obstacle looked more intimidating, two vertical walls about four metres apart that jutted out of a wooden tower. I needed to use those walls somehow to get to the top of the tower, ten metres off the ground. Without slowing I leapt at the left wall, running horizontally along it before leaping at the opposite wall, re-extending Crescent Rose. I fired downwards, gaining more upwards momentum, and jumped off the wall as I struck it, gaining more height. I landed on top of the wall on the left hand side, and used another shot from Crescent Rose to launch myself onto the tower.

From there, all that was left was to make my way back down to the ground and ring the bell at the finish line. I leapt from the top of the tower, firing once to launch myself higher. I glided through the air, sailing towards the finish line. As I began to fall, I flipped through the air, aiming Crescent Rose in front of me, firing a couple of times to slow my descent and landed safely on the finish line. I yanked on the bell rope next to my head, stopping the clock and ending my run.

A round of applause broke out as I straightened, holstering Crescent Rose at my waist. I looked back at the group of students watching and saw almost all of them clapping enthusiastically, Yang was whistling loudly. I grinned as I approached them. I put Crescent Rose back on the weapons rack before making my way into the crowd of students back to my team. I smiled my thanks at the people clapping me on the back as I passed; I blushed slightly at the amazed words of praise. When I found my team Yang grinned widely before encircling me in one of her bear hugs. I hit her on the back as I struggled to breathe, seeing black spots swimming in my vision. I gasped for breath as she let me go, somehow finding it in me to smile back at her grin. Blake nodded and smiled at me in congratulations, I grinned back before turning to Weiss.

Weiss was staring at me, with her mouth hanging slightly open, a flush of pink in her cheeks. She shook her head as if to clear it and held out her hand.
"Excellent job Ruby," she said. I grinned as I shook her hand. "That was an excellent time." I looked around, realising I still didn't know what my time actually was. Mr Boarbatusk was standing apart from the crowd, holding his stopwatch, staring at the display. He turned to me as everyone quietened down.

"I… Uh…" He seemed lost for words as he looked from me to the watch face and back. "Well done Miss Rose, you completed the course in fifteen seconds; a new Academy record." I looked at him in shock. Fifteen seconds? "The previous record, held for all of five minutes by Miss Belladonna was twenty. That was an excellent display Miss Rose, simply excellent." I turned to look at Blake, expecting some hint of jealousy from her, wanting to find a way to make it up to her. But she smiled, showing no hint jealousy or anger, simply congratulating me.

Doing your best, Ruby; giving your team someone to follow. My chest swelled with pride. I can do this! The crowd was turning back to face the obstacle course and I realised that Weiss was making her way towards the starting line. I edged my way to the front of the crowd, eager to watch her turn at the course.

She stood on the line in her fencing pose, with Myrtenaster held out in front of her. When the whistle blew, she swung her rapier around, gliding down the course at high speed. As she reached the vertical poles she swung Myrtenaster once more, creating two rows of vertical glyphs, one on either side of the poles. She began ricocheting between the glyphs, weaving through the poles with apparent ease.

She summoned another glyph on the ground at the base of the wall, which launched her up, twisting through the air and arcing over the top of the wall. She fell to the ground on the other side with all the grace and beauty of a falling snowflake before taking off towards the tunnel.

From what I could see, it looked like Weiss created a line of glyphs along the ground in the tunnel, using those to slide through the gap, coming out the other side with not even a dirt stain on her skirt. She created a glyph on either of the vertical walls, using one to launch up to the other and using that to launch into the air above them. She flipped in the air to orient herself before casting another glyph at her feet to send of sailing onto the roof of the tower.

She twisted in the air like a dancer, flying over the tower, bypassing it completely and continuing to fall straight to the ground, slowing herself down with her glyphs. She rolled forwards with her remaining momentum, ringing the bell rope with her right hand as she assumed her fencer's pose once more. As she turned towards us, sheathing Myrtenaster, another round of applause broke out. I just gaped at her, stunned. I'd never realised that Weiss could move with such grace and poise, it was beautiful.

She accepted congratulations from the others, smiling at Yang and Blake before she stood before me. I shook my head to clear before clapping a hand to her shoulder.
"That was amazing Weiss," I said. "If I could move with half the finesse that you do…" I trailed off, not knowing how to finish. She blushed and thanked me for my kind words before turning hurriedly away to hear her time.

Why does she always turn away from me so suddenly? I knew she wasn't mad at me, but she still seemed to act like it. It was very confusing. I realised the class was all facing Mr Boarbatusk, looking at him expectantly.
"Miss Schnee, your time was a very impressive eighteen seconds," he announced. "You can be very proud of that." I was speechless; I could have sworn she had moved faster than me. There was no way I had outpaced her. Weiss turned back to the group, a small smile on her face. When she stood in her previous place, next to me, I tried to say something to her, worried that she was mad at me again.

"Weiss, I-"
"Stop." she interjected, as if she knew what I was trying to do. "It's fine." She smiled at me to show her sincerity. I inspected her face, searching for a trace of anger, and not finding any.
"Okay," I said, nodding, a grin breaking out on my face. "You looked very impressive out there."
"Thank you," she replied, smiling back at me. "You weren't too bad yourself."

I laughed, joy filling me. It seemed that we really were past our fight from yesterday. It seemed like Team RWBY was finally coming together, things were looking up for us.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry if you didn't, but I promise that if you stick with me, you'll be in for a hell of a ride. I have things planned, and chapters to come, that will be much more exciting. Enough character development, shall we get into some plot?