Follow-up monthly P-a-t-r-e-o-n reward for s22132! This is a direct continuation from their last reward fic, aka ch1! Remember Cinder and her team are just normal students in this storyline!

If you would like reward fics and other benefits like this, consider supporting me on P-a-t-r-e-o-n as Kiria Alice!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Chapter 2. Moving In For The Kill

Cinder thought about that peculiar, rather charming girl from the hallway all evening.

After she and her team had found the rooms where they'd be staying, Cinder toiled away a few hours sitting in bed and doing work on her scroll.

Normally, she would look for video recordings of the opponent schools and their students, so she could study how each person fought and calculate how she should fight in response if she was ever to face that person in the tournament.

But after a while, she got unknowingly sidetracked.

Soon, she was looking less and less for a variety of students and more specifically for one girl in particular.

There wasn't much on Ruby Rose, being she was only a freshman, but Cinder managed to find one quick video of Ruby and her team during a mock battle on school property.

But Cinder didn't study their fighting techniques or teamwork tactics. Rather, she only studied Ruby Rose, and perhaps not in the most appropriate of ways.

She admired how the girl looked in action, even if the picture was painted on a small, pixelated screen.

Just from watching that brief clip, Cinder could tell the girl was an exceptional leader and a quick thinker, which meant she could work well as part of a team or independently.

And most importantly, she could think for herself. That was perhaps her most appealing quality to Cinder.

Aside from being admittedly cute, this girl was proud and confident in her abilities and herself, things Cinder had been looking for in another girl for a long time now.

But Ruby Rose was interested in fighting battles and seeking justice. Was she interested in dating?

Cinder pondered and mulled through her own thoughts for hours that night. While the rest of her team was getting ready for bed, Cinder remained her usual taciturn self, absorbed in re-watching that single clip. Her three teammates faced one another from the edges of their beds and conversed in private.

"She's whipped," Emerald smirked.

"It's kinda creepy," Mercury added. "But also kinda...sweet? Like, in a weird way?"

How much do you wanna bet she's going to be looking for that girl again all day tomorrow? Neo wondered.

But just then, their leader's voice shot out across the room.

"What are you three doing? We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Stop gossiping and get to bed."

Emerald leaned back to taunt her lovestruck leader.

"Says the girl who hasn't even changed out of her uniform~"

Cinder glowered at her.

"I've been doing research," she snapped.

Yeah, Neo signed to the other two. Research of that Ruby girl's figure.

"What was that, Neo dear?" Cinder demanded.

"Nothin', jeez!" Mercury sighed. "Mind your own 'research' business, 'kay?"

Cinder stood from her bed and sauntered across the room to stand over the three of them.

"If we weren't on foreign soil, I'd ensure that the three of you would wake up tomorrow morning upside-down."

With that, she whipped around, grabbed her long, red nightgown, and stormed into the bathroom.

The others had to try their best to hide their laughter.

"Man," Emerald chuckled. "She's a lot less intimidating when we know she's fibbing, but she's even less intimidating when she's red-faced and starry-eyed."

"I can not wait to see how tomorrow goes," her partner agreed.

Let's hope we bump into Miss Red again. For Cinder's sake.

The others agreed, and as soon as their leader emerged from the bathroom, they all dispersed and hurried to their beds. Cinder eyed them all warily.

"Fleeing like roaches in the light. You three had better watch yourselves."

With that grunt, she sat down in her own bed and turned off the remaining lamp, leaving the room in darkness for the night.

The next morning, after their team had dressed and eaten, the four of them were back outside at the fairgrounds.

There were no matches until later this evening, so for the morning and early afternoon hours, students were able to roam freely.

Cinder had already seen all she'd needed to see yesterday, so she walked the fairgrounds with an unimpressed expression. However, her fiery eyes were intent to find one thing in particular.

Her teammates helped her search for it, for almost an hour, until they had success.

Neo was the one to spot Ruby Rose, seated at a food stand with girls who were presumably the rest of her team. She stopped walking dead in her tracks, causing Mercury to slam right into her.

"Hey! Neo, what the- guh!" She silenced him with a jab to the elbow, then grabbed his collar and yanked him down. She released him only to sign.

Target sighted.

As he moaned and rubbed his gut, he followed the nod of her head and realized what she meant.

"Oh. I see." From there, he ran ahead to catch Emerald by the arm. "Hey. We found the little twerp."

His partner turned around, a smirk already creeping across her lips.

"Really, now?"

Mercury turned her around to face the right direction. Emerald snickered.

"Well, I'll be damned. Good job, guys. I'll get Cinder." With that, she jogged to catch up to her leader, slowing her pace as she got beside her. "Say, Cinder. Neo, Merc, and I found an attraction here we think you might enjoy."

Cinder didn't even spare her a glance.

"Oh? Surprise me."

Emerald hummed.

"Hmmm, well... it's little and red and cute aaalll over."

The way Cinder halted like a malfunctioning conveyer belt nearly had Emerald laughing out loud, but she swallowed it down. Cinder glanced down at her past the cover of her ashen hair. She wasn't even embarrassed with how blatantly she made her order.

"Show me."

"You got it, chief."

Emerald invited her to turn around, then brought her back a few paces so she could see the concession stand. Cinder honed in on Ruby like an owl honing in on a mouse. She bit her lip, then licked it a little.

"Good work, you three. Now just get rid of her teammates for me."

"Yes, ma'am."

I call Tall, Blonde, and Busty! Neo claimed.

"Book girl for me," Mercury put in.

"Aw, come on!" Emerald whined. "Why do I have to get the heiress?"

"Oh, c'mon, Em. She's totally your type," he joked.

With a groan and a roll of her eyes, Emerald shot a heated look back to her leader.

"You owe us."

Cinder scoffed.

"We'll see."

With that, her three teammates took off to go distract Ruby's teammates respectively. Cinder held back for a moment, watching as they all started to get the three girls' attention, striking up casual conversations and asking about Beacon, the festival, and other common things.

Only when she was certain Ruby had nothing else to occupy her attention did Cinder move in for the kill.

She paused right behind the girl where she was seated at the counter in her elevated stool. Cinder cleared her throat pointedly, then tapped her shoulder twice.

"Excuse me," she drawled. "Could you... spare a moment?"

A dire contrast to Cinder's slow, calculated motions and low tone, Ruby Rose spun around in her stool, grinning so brightly and talking so loudly, Cinder almost recoiled.

"Sure thing! Oh! Hey, you're the girl I crashed into yesterday! Um... You're not mad, are you?" The smile died away into a nervous frown. Cinder didn't like it.

"Not at all. I'd simply recognized you and wanted to talk."

Her words drew the smile back onto Ruby's lips.

"Oh! That's great! Sure, I'd love to talk! What about?"

"Well... let's see..." Cinder was always living with her seductive charm activated, but for now, she turned it up tenfold. She leaned in close to the girl suggestively, eyes partially and mysteriously hidden by her hair, breath sultry and perfume enticing. "I was hoping you might be able to... show me around? Just the two of us. I'm a bit lost." She made sure to breathe a little extra heavily on the last word.

Cinder closed her eyes and waited for the dazed, affirmative reply.

But it never came.

"Oh, you don't need me to be your tour guide. They have maps here, you know! See? There's one riiiight over there!" Ruby grinned and pointed to the food stand next to this one, where a large piece of laminated paper was hanging on the wall.

Cinder stared blankly at the map, then back at Ruby. The girl just kept smiling.

"That should do the trick! Glad I could help!" With that, she turned around to her unfinished ramen bowl.

Cinder couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.

This girl had just... not only resisted her charms and advances, but she hadn't even done it intentionally.

Cinder shook her head, a slight growl in her voice as she tried again. If Cinder had to spell this out for her, she would. She wanted this girl at any cost, even the cost of her own pride.

"Oh, no..." she rasped. "I don't think you understand." Cinder ran her fingers up the girl's arm and slipped them around to her cheek, coaxing her to turn her head and gaze up into her eyes. Like a snake hypnotizing its prey, Cinder lured her in a second time. "I want you to show me."

There was no question about her intentions now. Even the man working at the stand was keeping his distance and making sure not to intrude on their little mating dance.

Or, an attempt at one, on Cinder's part.

She was maxing out her seductive charms, but the brunette seemed to be immune.

"Uhh, I'm sorry. But I'm gonna stay with my team today! Maybe some other time!"

Cinder wouldn't show it, but she was dumbfounded almost to the point of outrage. How could this girl be so... so dense?

She took a step closer, but it was less the move of a threatening predator and more the move of a panicked prey animal.

"Oh? And how do you suppose we'll find one another again?" It was the closest to fretting she'd ever get.

Ruby put a hand to her chin and thought for a minute.

"Hmm... well just in case we don't find each other again, how about this!" She dug into her uniform's pocket and pulled out her scroll, then opened it. "Let's exchange numbers! That way, if you wanna meet up again sometime, I can show you around!"

Cinder didn't move for a moment. She wasn't able to comprehend this girl's words just yet. After all the effort she'd put in – seeking this girl out specifically, studying her, then doing her utmost to flirt with her – and none of it had worked.

But in only three short seconds, all Ruby Rose had to do was ask for an exchange of numbers and it worked like a charm? It hardly seemed fair.

But that didn't mean Cinder was going to refuse.

In fact, she scrambled to pull her own scroll out rather quickly, to the point where she almost dropped it due to how flustered she was. She swiftly straightened up and cleared her throat, willing Ruby to forget what she'd just seen.

"Very well. Let's exchange." Cinder said this as though it had been her intention all along and that she hadn't just been completely blindsided by this development.

Ruby happily tapped her number into Cinder's scroll and added her name to go along with it. Cinder did the same. With a smile, Ruby read over her information and then closed her scroll.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Cinder! I'll see you around sometime!"

With that, she tapped her nearest teammate, the Schnee heiress, and told her it was time to go. The message was passed down the line to the other two, and with polite goodbyes all around, team RWBY took their leave.

Cinder's group was left staring after them, most of them amused by the conversations they'd held. Then, Cinder's teammates all turned back to glimpse her.

She looked like a statue, clutching her scroll, unmoving, unblinking. She only broke out of her trance when she felt three pairs of annoyingly amused eyes upon her.

"You three-"

"Hooooly shit," Emerald snickered. "Lost your touch there, huh, chief?"

"'Just the two of us~'" Mercury mocked. "'I'm a bit lost~'"

'I don't think you u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d~' Neo dragged out.

Cinder was seething, and she told herself it was due to fury, not embarrassment.

"I can promise you three that you'll end up at the bottom of these cliffs if you don't shut your insolent little mouths. And hands."

The other three clammed up, but still couldn't wipe the smug smiles away. Cinder prowled around them all like a tigress among hyenas.

"Now then," she snarled. "If you're all quite finished, maybe you'll take a look at this."

Cinder turned her scroll around and showed them Ruby Rose's number.

They all seemed pleasantly surprised, and genuinely happy for her.

"Hey, boss," Mercury said. "That's great."

"Congratulations," Emerald added on. "You deserve this."

Go get her, Neo encouraged.

Cinder gave a sharp nod, then quickly tucked her scroll away, turning her face as an excuse to hide her blush. Emerald and Neo shared a smile, then moved in to hug their leader. Mercury patted her shoulder.

"We're happy for you, boss."

Cinder snorted, but didn't refuse any of them.

She waited a moment for Neo and Emerald to pull back, then straightened herself up again.

"Now, then. We should get a seat at the stadium before the matches begin."

Right.

"You got it, boss."

"Right behind you, chief."

As her teammates fell into step beside her, Cinder led the way, a girlish smile on her lips.

A/N: So Cinder got the girl (sort of, haha). I'll say it again that I enjoy writing them as normal students! I like the idea of Cinder still being in command and they're all nasty to each other sometimes, but in the end, they care about each other. And her teammates addressing Cinder in different ways was fun to think of, too~

If you would like reward fics and other benefits like this, consider supporting me on P-a-t-r-e-o-n as Kiria Alice!

Please review!