Chapter 20

"I was thinking about sushi, but Blake would be able to smell it on us when we get back, then give us a hard time for not bringing any back, so that's out of the question."

Neo cocked her head at that.

"She has a special affinity for seafood given, well, you know…"

Neo covered her giggle behind a hand; she was amused that someone as rebellious as Blake seemed to be would gleefully reinforce a stereotype about feline Faunus and fish. It was a bit silly, but endearing and amusing nonetheless. She bumped into Weiss to prod the girl for more.

"Since seafood is out, I was thinking maybe you could choose: noodles, if you want to go lighter, or steakhouse if you want a more substantial meal."

Neo puckered her lips together and scrunched them off to the side as she pondered her options while she wondered what Weiss would have in mind for the rest of the night. Is Weiss going to adjust the plan with each decision? A kind of romantic choose your own adventure? Well, a steakhouse would probably be fancier. That would be more appropriate for these dresses. Noodles would be too casual. Can only class them up so much.

Weiss stepped in front of Neo and extended her right hand first, she said "Noodles" and as she extended her left, said "Steak".

Neo took Weiss's left hand and waited for the white-haired beauty in front of her to lead them away.

Weiss chuckled and good naturedly said "Considering what a ravenous little beast you are, how am I not surprised you'd go with the more, ahem, substantial option?"

Neo grinned sheepishly as she shoulder bumped Weiss and pushed the girl's left arm behind her back. Lifing it slightly, Weiss reacted as expected "OW! Don't twist my arm like that and try to lead me away like a cop leading a criminal!"

She eased the pressure and released Weiss's hand before placing her hand on the small of her back and giving a gentle push.

"Yeesh, you're in a hurry tonight! Hungry or something?"

Noncommittally, she tilted her head from side to side as she hoped the heiress would guess her actual reason for wanting to get past the slower part of the evening.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Weiss started in her characteristically sarcastic tone, "Is it too much for you to look at how stunning I am in this dress? Are you just aching to get back to the dorm and try to do something that ends up with our clothes in a pile on the floor?"

Neo nodded enthusiastically at her words with a seductive look and wink.

"I mean I don't blame you or anything, just look at me!" Weiss continued as she eyed Neo up and down, "Or, look at you, for that matter. Surprisingly, you're not too hard on the eyes either when we get you a little cleaned up."

Neo faked a gasp with eyes wide open as she brought her hand to her chest in a hurt manner; she let Weiss know exactly what she thought.

"Oh, now I'm a fiend for offending you so?"

Neo nodded energetically before she teasingly blew a kiss towards Weiss.

Weiss laughed at the small woman as she wrapped an arm around her to pull her tight, "You're a little goofball." Then, more to herself, "My adorable girlfriend is a little goofball." before she sniggered at the thought of 'my girlfriend'.

With her arm protectively around Neo, Weiss decided to take the scenic route along the canals and take their time. It was close to the dinner rush and she would rather be out walking around than standing in an overly crowded waiting area, as time drags on, waiting for a table to free up. Of course, being who she was, she could always just offer a little financial incentive to move to the head of the line. That was definitely more Father's game than hers though.

Neo contentedly enjoyed the warmth she felt from Weiss as the girl held her. She always thought that being held like that would feel more claustrophobic. But Weiss made it feel right. For some reason, she really does care about me. Being in her arms doesn't feel constrictive. It's strangely supportive. No wonder how I fell so fast. She leaned in and kissed Weiss's cheek as they continued towards the canals.

Weiss was slowly warming up to Neo's frequent displays of affection. Sure, two girls could easily walk the streets of Vale while holding hands or holding each other as 'just friends', but the kisses – those were definitely more than 'just friends' material! At the beginning of last semester, even something as innocent as the handholding would not have flown with Weiss. But, Ruby… Weiss rolled her eyes and looked off across the road. If it wasn't for that hyperactive little dolt, I don't think I could ever let Neo hold my hand, and kiss me, and be as cuddly as we have been with each other. All the time she spent with Ruby helped Weiss realize how much she had missed out on by having a family that wasn't particularly warm and fuzzy. She didn't really want a relationship with Winter where they were as close as Ruby and Yang were, but it made her wonder how differently she would approach life if she had friends before coming to Beacon. People that were affectionate and warm; not as cold and 'politely detached' as her family.

Neo realized that Weiss was slowing down, but she didn't want to distract her from whatever private thoughts she was having, so she guided the girl towards the fence. Maybe if she acted like she wanted to take in the sights and lean against the fence, Weiss would come back from her thoughts and share the moment with her. She started to move to her left and hoped that Weiss's arm around her was holding tightly enough to just follow without breaking away. Fortunately, her plan worked, and within a couple dozen steps, they stood at the canal's fence, looking towards Beacon from the city. The sun, low in the sky to the west, cast a warm glow on the stone towers of their home.

"Hmm?"

Neo slowly pointed towards Beacon.

"Wow… I never stopped to look at it in this light. It's, it's really beautiful, isn't it?"

Neo nodded her assent and looked at Weiss as she tried to figure out where the girl was in her head. Not immediately getting anything, she looked towards Beacon again and tried to wrap her head around how, in a short week, this bastion of her former enemy became a warm, welcoming home. A home filled with friendship. Kindness. Goodness.

Weiss saw what looked like hopefulness in Neo's expression as she looked towards Beacon. It had only been a week, but the woman was adapting so well, Weiss suddenly feared that it was too good to be true.

"It wasn't because of anything you did."

Weiss's sudden words caught Neo off guard. Her confusion at the statement obviously showed.

"You were going to kill my teammate if I didn't step in."

Neo's head fell. The blonde brawler was trying her best to kill me as well! She would have deserved her fate from facing off in combat.

"Killing Grimm is part of what we train to do. I can't even begin to count how many I've killed, but I've never killed another human or Faunus, and I wasn't about to start. Part of what I told Goodwitch was true: I thought you were a good fighter, but I had no idea if you had any sense of honor or if you only dropped your weapon as a last ditch effort to keep me from killing you, thinking I would just turn you over to the police. I still don't know why I did and I still worry that I might have made a mistake. You haven't given me a reason to distrust you, and I don't, but I admit that I'm terrified of you turning on me. Hurting me. Or worse, that I've hurt Ruby in the process of trusting someone that's only using me as a pawn to some larger endgame."

Neo was shocked at Weiss's revelation. There was nothing that she could do to assuage the girl's fears. Those fears were actually far more well-founded than Neo wanted to admit to herself. Without question, she was absolutely going to kill the girl she now knew as Yang. She placed her hand on top of Weiss's hand that rested on the fence. She held her hand as she tried to understand why Weiss was hung up on not being able to kill someone else. It's just one of those things that happens in battle. Neo paused to think about those she killed in the past and put her body count at around ten. What kind of monster would Weiss think I am? It would absolutely crush her if she hurt Weiss, especially after how close the heiress let her get to her.

Weiss really wasn't sure what to do or say next as she stared at the small hand on top of hers. Ruby must have rubbed off on her; she wanted to believe that the former criminal at her side really was a 'former criminal' and that she is in the process of changing. But this isn't one of the young girl's fairy tales. This is the real world, a world where the criminals that would associate with Torchwick were bad people. And they did bad things. Weiss started to worry about how fast and how easily she opened up to Neopolitan. Sure, she seems genuine, but it still could be an act or ploy…