"When you talk to her, it'd be best to close your eyes," Weiss was saying, dragging Blake by the hand and walking briskly through the corridors.

"Why?"

"No reason," Weiss responded. "She's just one of those people with a presence you know?"

"Weiss, you are confusing me." Blake watched Weiss' ponytail swing back and forth in rhythm to her gait.

"Yang is —"

"Weiss-y," a singsong voice called out, the melody reverberating off the walls of the hallway. "Found ya," a tall blond grinned, using a hand to swing her luscious hair back around her shoulders, turning around the corner and marching towards the couple. The blond leaned over to meet Blake eye to eye. "Is this the kitty I've been hearing about? I'm Yang, just Yang. No Lady or Mistress crap with me please." Yang announced, shooting a cheeky and disarming grin. "You know, Weiss' older and better-looking sister. I'm sure you've heard about me?"

Blake thought Yang's eyes were the most alluring shade of purple.

"Yang," Weiss snapped, stepping in between Blake and her sister. "Would you stop?"

Yang shot puppy-eyes at Weiss. "Whatever am I doing wrong, dear sister?" Yang said mockingly. "I'm simply introducing myself to this beautiful lady here," Yang shot smile at Blake.

Blake blushed involuntarily and looked away.

"Yang!" Weiss yelled, fists clenching in anger. "Stop that!" she ordered, putting a hand on Yang's shoulder and pushing her backwards.

"Weiss, inside voices please," Yang continued to tease. She then turned to Blake. "I feel for ya, kitty. I don't know how I would survive being around this princess here all day."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Weiss yelled. "Just shut up," Weiss added, her voice breaking slightly.

At that, Blake shot a worried look at Weiss. She'd never seen Weiss so worked up before. In any argument, Weiss always had control over the flow of the conversation. She was always steering the topics onto safe ground, trapping her listeners in an array of limited options that cornered their ideas and moulded their thoughts to her wishes.

But not with Yang, it seemed.

"Hey Weiss, just chill, I'm just joking around," Yang lifted a tentative hand to Weiss' shoulder — a gesture of cooperation.

Weiss shrugged it off harshly. "That's the problem with you! You're always joking around and you always take your jokes too far! It always starts out as harmless and then it blows up in all of our faces and you run away and leave me to clean up your mess!" Weiss crossed her arms, lips pursed in defiance and tiny droplets of tears just creeping out the edges of her glaring eyes. "I've had enough of it!"

Yang dropped her hands in indignant frustration. "I was just flirting! You're making a big deal out of nothing Weiss."

"Were you just flirting with Velvet too?"

Yang's demeanour changed immediately at Weiss' invocation of Velvet's name. "That was different."

"You sold her," Weiss' voice broke. "You sold my only friend because you grew tired of her!"

"Weiss, come on, I just got back. Can we not do this now?" Yang looked meaningfully at Blake.

"Whatever," Weiss responded, ice in her voice. Grabbing Blake's hand, she stalked off. "Hands off Blake though, she's taken!" Weiss yelled behind her.

Yang muttered something indecipherable even to Blake's ears.

When they were a far enough distance away and Blake was sure that Weiss had blown off some steam, the Faunus gathered up the courage to ask.

"Hey, Weiss?"

Weiss slowed her pace and looked over at Blake, smiling weakly. "Yes Blake?"

"Who's Velvet?"

Yang, what the hell? Weiss had shrieked, quickly opening the door and tugging her sister into the room. Once again, Yang was a bloody, blue and black mess. You need to stop getting into senseless fights for no reason! Weiss had lectured, but she already whisked some bandages and first aid equipment to her side.

I left her there, they still have her. Yang had exclaimed, eyes red and fanatic. Weiss, I made it worse. They'll probably kill her now. Yang cried, slumping into Weiss hold.

Stop moving around! Weiss snapped. And speak slowly, I can't understand you otherwise.

The bunny, Russel he— her ears. Oh my god, I hope they were bluffing.

Yang! Weiss had yelled at Yang, slamming her hands onto her sister's shoulders. Jeez, sometimes, Weiss couldn't tell which one of them was the older one. Calm down.

Weiss, you need to help me.

I will. Of course I will, Yang. Weiss had reassured easily. You're my sister. But I can't unless you explain properly.

Yang took a breath, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, the red had faded and transformed into a shiny purple.

Velvet. Her name is Velvet.

"Weiss? Are you okay? Why are you crying?" Blake exclaimed, tendering pulling the angel into her. "Hey, hey? Hush."

"It's nothing," Weiss murmured. "I just remembered something, that's all."

Blake pulled back and squeezed Weiss' hands. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Weiss forced a smile. "It's a long story."

Dinner was an awkward affair.

Blake fidgeted, her ears twitching at the slightest sound. The sounds that were normally white noise in the background of conversation and chatter were now amplified in the silence. The scrapping of a knife against a plate. The clang of a cup being placed back onto the table.

It would have been better if Pyrrha could have stayed. Then at least Weiss would have been talking business or another with Pyrrha instead of glaring at Yang every two minutes. If Blake was someone more outspoken, she may have tried to start a neutral conversation about something… the weather for example. That was a pretty safe topic. But as it were, Blake only felt comfortable talking with Weiss. Even then, she preferred simply responding to something Weiss said, or did.

Like the kiss.

It was odd. Blake had been mentally preparing herself for when Weiss would ask that of her since the very beginning. As the days past though, Blake had slowly forgotten about it and the commitment she had made to herself.

If she gives the command, Blake would comply, no questions, no protestations.

If this was the one thing Weiss wanted of her, Blake would gladly be her girlfriend.

It wasn't even that unpleasant.

Blake blushed. She was blushing a lot as of late. Everything Weiss said or did seemed to have that effect.

"Um…"

Blake looked up from her plate, her ears perking up at Neptune's voice.

"Weiss? Could I speak to you?"

Weiss set down her silverware and dabbed at her lips with a serviette. "Yes, what is it?"

"Privately…?" Neptune added, gesturing out the door of the dinning hall.

Weiss shot a glance at Blake, looked to Yang, then returned to Blake. The Faunus thought she detected a flicker of worry before Weiss stood up and crossed the hall, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

No sooner had the door clicked shut did Yang speak up, "Man, you'd think they didn't trust us or something, hey Blake-y?" Yang grinned, taking a bite of spaghetti.

Blake shot Yang a look. Then concentrated on the conversation outside. Blake smirked to herself, after all this time, Weiss still hadn't learned just how much sharper Blake's hearing was.

"…boy. Not that big a loss but…" that was Neptune's voice, speaking in hushed concerned tones.

"How long have you been here for? What's your story?" Yang asked, her voice overpowering the quieter ones.

"…war… meet with you face to face…" Neptune again. Blake must have missed everything Weiss had responded with.

"Blake-y?" Yang waved her hands in front of the Faunus' face. "Can you hear me?"

At that, Blake shot Yang a smouldering look.

"Oh, wait! Are you eavesdropping? Oh my god, you totally are!" Yang clapped excitedly. "Forgot how intense Faunus senses are," Yang commented to no one in particular. "What are they saying?"

"Maybe, if someone with an incredibly loud voice would stop talking so much, I would actually be able to, you know, hear them?" Blake said finally, surprised by the bite in her own voice. Weiss' hostility towards Yang must have rubbed off onto her. She wasn't supposed to like people her girlfriend didn't like. That was how it worked, right?

"Oh yeah, right, yeah, totally, go ahead." Yang replied, quieting.

Blake shut her eyes and concentrated. Neptune and Weiss must have moved away from the door because their voices were more muffled than before. Blake tuned in just in time to hear Weiss reply.

"Whatever you do, don't tell Blake."

Blake's eyes shot open. Wait, what?

"Are… smart idea?" Neptune, his voice raising with concern.

"She—"

The rest of Weiss' response was cut off by Yang.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Yang asked, snapping her fingers to get the Faunus' attention.

Blake blinked at Yang.

"Your expression just completely fell there," Yang explained. "Did you find something out?"

Blake paused. She realized her hands were shaking then consciously covered them in attempt to stop the trembling.

"Hey, look. Take it from me on this one," Yang swaggered, taking a sip of her juice. "If you are sad about what I think you're sad about, don't be."

Blake glared at Yang. "And what exactly do you think I'm upset about?"

"You probably heard something along the lines of 'Whatever you do, don't tell Blake', am I right or am I right?"

Yang was exactly right and Blake's expression confirmed it.

"Look, it's probably for your own good. It's not that they don't trust you or whatever. They just probably don't want to burden you or upset you with things you can't do anything about." Yang explained wisely, taking a sip from her glass. "Weiss especially, she does that kind of thing all the time… shouldering the burden all by herself— she gets misunderstood pretty often because of that." Yang smiled sadly. "She's a sweetheart on the inside. I hope you know that."

Blake looked at Yang, suddenly seeing a depth behind those lilac eyes that wasn't there before. Yang was actually thoughtful, if she put her mind to it, Blake gathered. "So you actually are her older sister," Blake teased, in spite of herself.

"Oh yeah," Yang confirmed, grinning devilishly. "Like I said, taller, better-looking, smarter, better at fighting, just all around generally cooler person," Yang boasted, winking at Blake in a practiced gesture that probably caused thousands of maidens to swoon at Yang's feet. "So if you ever need to hide from Weiss, I'm your person."

Blake's eyes narrowed at Yang, but the smile was still on her face.

"I'll keep that in mind."