Chapter Two - Crystal Hearts

Hey, guys, welcome back! I had to make up a lot of stuff up to make writing these chapters a little easier, but hopefully it doesn't bother anyone too much. I also need your guys' voice on a couple of things, and you'll see those after reading the chapter. Anywho, I like where things are going, and as always, I hope you enjoy!

Again, we were on break. Yang finally decided to stay with her dad, and Weiss was busy showing her sister around Vale, so, for the most part, Ruby and I had the dorm to ourselves.

The day we found Yang in the forest, when she clocked Ruby in the face, Yang called her dad to tell that she'd be spending the break with him, and then she left.

For a while I cuddled with Ruby, "I love you…" I was on top of the smaller girl, kissing her relentlessly.

Ruby put her arms around my neck and pulled me down into a deep, passionate kiss. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Our tongues danced, over and over again, "I love you, too, Blake…" she pulled me down, biting on my ear and fondling my cat ears, making me purr. I closed my eyes and let it happen, this girl knows what she's doing… it felt good, and I didn't want it to stop…

Eventually, we had to, though. We couldn't very well stay like that forever, no matter how much we wanted to.

And after that, we laid there for a moment before getting up. "I think we should go on a date," Ruby suggested while we cuddled.

"Well, we're gonna tell the team soon enough, and after that I think everyone else will find out… I guess it doesn't matter if we're seen holding hands in public."

Ruby squealed in joy, "Yay! What should we do, where should we go?"

"Well, for starters, we can go shopping for a bit. A little girly, but I think it can be fun. After that maybe we can get something to eat. Something fancy, maybe?"

Ruby smiled widely, "Amazing."

Ruby and I were both still in our regular clothes, and felt dressing up for the occasion wasn't worth the time.

Though we did clean ourselves up a bit.

I put up my bow again, and walked out with Ruby, making sure the door was locked. We decided to take our time, and made our way slowly to the docks from the academy. We hailed a smaller airship, one meant for city travel service and scanned our scrolls for the ride.

"I guess we're lucky we're students and they cover this sorta stuff for us, huh?" Ruby noted while we were in the back of the airship holding hands, "They even give us a small allowance."

"Well, we are training to be huntresses, and hunters are a crucial part of the kingdoms, keeping them safe and such. I guess it's because of that. Plus, hunters are like celebrities in the kingdoms. They protect the world from Grimm on a daily basis, and risk their lives doing so."

"Yeah, when you put it like that it makes sense." We sat there in silence for a moment, and I started rubbing her palm with my thumb.

"You know… it still feels like a dream…" I gave Ruby a questioning look, "We're huntresses in training… in four years we'll be out there slaying Grimm as our job…" She looked around for a moment. "I remember my mom always warned me about the dangers of being a huntress… she didn't want me becoming one… she always told me I was her little baby, and she wanted me stay safe…" I saw Ruby started crying. I put my arm around her neck and pulled her into my embrace.

"Oh, Ruby…" Hearing her talk about her mom… I could understand in a certain way. I never knew my real parents, and I was practically raised by the White Fang, but I was always told my mother couldn't raise me herself so she gave me to them…

I softly stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. "It's alright… it's alright…" I put my lips on her forehead, "Let's just enjoy ourselves today, okay?" I didn't really know how to console her, and I felt awful for it…

She smiled a little bit and wiped the tears off her face, "Sorry, Blake…" She quickly pulled away, putting her hands around my neck in a reassuring manner, "It's just… well, I didn't deal with it very well… it still hurts sometimes…"

"Well, I'm here Ruby." With that we went back to silently holding hands until our ride was over. Pretty soon we were stopped and in one of the smaller shopping districts of Vale. Ruby choose this place because when she was still attending Signal, her uncle brought her after her training sessions with him.

"He didn't really spoil me, but he liked rewarding me for my dedication to it."

The first thing that caught my eye was the small bookstore in between the anime merch shop Ruby was eyeing, and an icecream shop that wasn't getting too much business. Obviously I felt it right to do what Ruby wanted to first, so I gave a small nudge to the merch shop. "C'mon, I know you want to." She gave me a slightly embarrassed smile and hurried on over, our locked hands guiding me with her. We toured the extensive shop for the better part of an hour, Ruby grabbing a couple of figurines, posters, and a few light novels. Ruby said they were surprisingly high quality for being so cheap and was also one of the reasons she loved this place. Before long we checked out her items and were moving on to the bookstore.

Hmm… Ninjas of Love will always be my favorite… but I need something new… I hope they have something here…

I examined the rows of books. They all seemed to be nominally organized, by author's name. Though, I looked at the last row and found that that one was the "adult fiction" isle. I was pretty sure they didn't track our spending, so for the most part I thought I'd be fine so I browsed the aisle a bit, distracting Ruby by saying they had free cookies at the counter. I finally settled on one, a fantasy based story that took place in a fictional country called Japan. It sounded interesting enough. Plus, having another "special" book was always a good thing in my opinion.

I didn't want to spend too much so I only bought one other book, again a fantasy. I brought them to the counter, the clerk giving me a questioning look for my taste in fiction. I saw Ruby was still looking for the cookies at the other register (in a separate place next to the one I was at), and answered the woman quietly, "I'm seventeen, I'm old enough to buy it." I scanned my scroll, bringing my ID up, proving my age and paying for them at the same time. The clerk just nodded, not saying anything and put them in a small bag.

I walked up to Ruby, slightly flustered because she couldn't find the cookies. I wasn't lying, I saw they had some on a tray when we came in.

"Over there, Ruby," I put my hand on her shoulder, getting her attention, and pointed to a small concessions table with a coffee machine, and cookies, with two tables for reading besides it.

Ruby saw and hurried over to the table, picking up three cookies and coming back to me. What is with this girl and her cookies..? I grinned at the thought. Oh, well, it doesn't matter. When Ruby came back to me I took her empty hand, and led her out of the shop. I looked around a little bit. I wanted to get something to eat, not something too fancy, but something decent. There were a lot of places to eat. The ice cream shop I mentioned earlier, an oriental place a little down the path, a professional (I had to suppress tree laugh at this one) burger restraunt, and a small buffet across from us. I looked to Ruby, and relayed the choices I saw.

"Well… there's a small bakery shop I like going to, though we can't see it from here. If we walk for a bit we'll get to it."

"A bakery?"

"Well, they have stuff like sandwiches."

"Mmm, you might wanna try something different. Maybe the buffet?" The younger girl just shrugged.

"I guess we can. It'll be nice, I think." I saw the gears in her head turning as she smiled, tipping me off that she liked the idea the more she thought about it. I guess she's just open minded, but likes familiarity.

"Good, now c'mon." We walked across the slow river of shoppers, and headed into the buffet. Again, like most of these places, it wasn't too busy, but considering the multitude of empty shops, this place could be looked at as bustling. It was slightly larger though. It did feel a little weird that they'd put a buffet in a shopping district, but it sounded kinda smart. There are a lot more people around willing to toss Lien at things they could probably live without. The first impression I got from the place was variety. They had rows and rows of different foods, some looking familiar, foreign, and some that seemed more like someone would make it outside the kingdoms. Though those last ones weren't very accurate.

We went up to the counter and paid for the service. It wasn't too expensive, but it was still a little pricey. I could tell Ruby was happy with the choice, though. She looked at the rows of food and she was trying not to drool. I nudged her with my elbow, "Better than school food?"

"Way better." With that Ruby hurried on to fill up her plate, eat, and fill it back up again. Contrary to my oh, so classy girlfriend, I tried taking my time. God, this girl's got an appetite. I laughed at the simple thought.

I thought this'd be a good chance to try food I hadn't before, so I filled my plate with the more foreign looking food. Ruby and I decided on an empty table with a large window next to it. I sat down, and slowly worked my way through my plate, trying to not to choke myself. Ruby on the other hand was already scarfing down her third plate by the time I was finished with my first (again, so classy). Other than my fair lady getting the both of us looks, it was a nice date. Not something to make a love sonnet out of, but more than decent.

After Ruby and I ate our fill, we decided to go touring different places around Vale. The first place we decided on was the aquarium. I hailed another city travel airship, and told the driver where we were headed. "Well, it'll take a while. With all the flying laws, there's gonna be a rush soon. You okay with that?"

I looked to Ruby, "Yeah, it's fine. I'll just take a nap." I mumbled in agreement.

I patted my thighs, offering my "love pillows", as Yang called them, which she gladly accepted.

"You're warm, y'know that?" I smiled at Ruby's comment.

"Go to sleep, okay? I'll wake you up when we get there." I heard the smaller girl yawn a response, followed by relaxed breathing.

I looked out the window for most of the trip, looking down every so often to relish my girlfriend. Girlfriend, huh? I never thought of myself as the romantic type, and I never expected Ruby, my team's leader, to ask me out. I never expected I'd like her so much either. Though… when I thought about it. Maybe I harbored similar feelings for the whole team… Is that… wrong? Weiss. Well, she might be the definition of racist, but she can move past that. And after that, she's very trusting of those she's close to, and even adores them. Yang is a bundle of fun, put simply. She's always so positive, and even though her puns are absolutely horrid, we still get a laugh out of them. And, Ruby… she tries her hardest to be the best team leader she can. She messes around in class, but studies so hard and late at night to make up for it. And she's an amazing fighter. There's almost a sense grace to it. But, I do love her. I'm not lying when I say it. So… it's not wrong of me to have feelings for others, as long as I don't act on them, right? It didn't feel like me to be so unsure…

"We're here." The driver's words startled me. I must've been lost in my thoughts. I push it all out of my mind, still trying to keep the "let's enjoy ourselves" mentality, and shook Ruby lightly, "Hey, baby, wake up."

She opened her eyes slowly and rubbed them, "Baby, huh?" She pulled herself up and sat back on her seat. "That's a new one."

"Do you not like it..?" She leaned in for a soft kiss, "I don't like it… I love it." She smiled at her somewhat corny line, and opened her door, signaling me to do the same.

I walk out, giving a small wave to the driver as a small thanks, and walk around to Ruby, and took her hand in mine. "C'mon, we still got a few hours left until nightfall." I remember the clock saying 1:34, which wasn't bad. We'd started at noon so we still had a lot of time left. Ruby and went up to the doors and and waited in the line.

Ruby pulled out her scroll which was ringing. "Weiss? Hmm." I heard the small tone, "Hey, Weiss."

{«¥»}

"Ruby have you seen my sister?"

"Uhm… no? I'm sorry Weiss, did something happen?"

Well… we did get into a fight… my thought comes into mind and I hesitate,

"Weiss… what's wrong?"

I let out a small sigh, "We got into an argument while we were out and she stormed off without a second word. I'm not worried about her, I just don't want her going back home mad at me…"

"Where do you think she'd be?"

I paused, "I'm not sure…"

"Well, Blake what do you think?" I heard another person in the background start speaking

"I'm sure it's not that bad of a fight. We should wait at the school for, and hopefully by tomorrow she'll be back."

Blake… was actually right… She wouldn't be that mad, right? I sighed in defeat, "Okay…"

I hung up the call and started heading back to the school. I obviously could've gotten a ride to the school, but I decided to walk. Sure it was gonna take me a while, but maybe the time could help get my mind off things.

Nothing exciting happened on my walk back to the school. It took almost three hours for me to get there though.

I walked through the almost empty corridors back to the dorm. The hallways were vacant excepting students coming to and from studying and training. I opened the door to the dorm, and was taken aback by the sight that awaited me. Blake and Ruby were sitting in a bunk kissing, almost manically. I immediately shut the door and rushed off.

I… I loved Blake… but she loved someone else… I found an empty classroom and hid under a desk, letting the tears that had been welling up out…

The thing my sister and I got in a fight over was Blake… she said she liked Blake, and I told I did too and we fought over it…

I never thought Blake'd be with anyone, much less Ruby…

I started crying even harder. I didn't want this. Nothing's going my way… I snickered softly through my sobs. Even if it normally always does… The laughter didn't last long though. For a long time I just sat there under the desk sobbing, and eventually I fell asleep.

Well, then. Things are getting a little heavier plot wise. Anywho, I've kept these last two chapters at a similar word count, and I want your guys' opinion. Should I make them longer, shorter, or keep them the same. (And for those who want details, chapter one was 2,900 and this one is 2,600).

And, maybe just maybe, I'll make this a light harem with my main ships still in main effect, that'll only happen if you guys want it though. And considering I started out a smut writer, I wanna try it too.

Anywho, constructive criticism, opinions, and requests are always welcome. I'll see you guys next time!