Author's Note: Okay, before we begin, let me clear something up regarding chronology – I know that I touched on this last time, but this time I'm settled on it. This story begins – way back in chapter one, briefly following the end of volume one, and since the amount of time elapsed is kind of vague, I'm gonna go ahead and say that we're about on pace with the start of season 2 – and seeing as this is an OC story that kind of leans heavily on certain AU elements, I'm prepared to take that license. That said, I have made modest adjustments to chapter one to accommodate this fact, but there may be other passages I've missed which contradict this time setting, in which case I would be happy to hear from anyone who notices something to that effect that I have overlooked, so don't hesitate to message me if you find any such inconsistency; I always aim to improve.

"I'm tellin' you Mina – you should've been there! I mean, we totally won even without you but damn was it fun!"

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, "Yang was like BAM! And then Nora totally went WHAM! And then Pyrrha-!"

"Yes Ruby, Pyrrha knocked me around…" Blake griped, "That was some really stale bread…"

Mina broke out in giggles, "Truly Dearest? A food fight?" She shot a disbelieving look in Weiss' direction, "And you were part of this Weiss?"

The Heiress looked away, embarrassed, "It was a matter of pride…"

"And it wasn't just a fight!" Yang asserted, "It was a food war! Bet your ass we brought the pain!"

"Easy there tiger…" Weiss rolled her eyes, "I'm just glad that Nora's melon-hammer didn't leave bruises…"

"Such a pity that I couldn't be there," Mina lamented good-naturedly, "I had a shift unfortunately,"

"No biggie," Yang shrugged, "Rubes totally creamed em for us,"

"Although I do thing that you took it a little over the top Ruby," Weiss lectured.

"Killjoy…"

"Hey! I can be fun!"

"Right…"

"Yo Mina!"

The Girls of Team RWBY were halted in their progress back to their dorm at the sound of a familiar voice. Standing a short distance behind them waving one hand overhead in greeting, whilst carrying what appeared to be a fair-sized box on a handle with the other was Clara, who began to follow after them now that she had Mina's attention. Clara had been to Beacon before, so her presence was not a complete surprise, but then again, people who weren't students or staff didn't visit Beacon often, so several Huntresses in training were a touch confused.

"Um… Hi Clara…" Ruby offered, head cocked in puzzlement.

"Whatcha doin' here Hotstu-,"

Blake elbowed her partner, "What Yang means is that we weren't expecting to see you here Clara…" she sighed, "Please forgive her… persistence…"

"Hey there! You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to track you guys down!" Clara spoke as she got closer, and then shot Yang a suspicious look, but continued nonetheless, "I dropped by the visitor office to ask where I could find you guys, and they told me you were all in 'Grimm Studies' or something like that at the moment in the lecture hall, but nobody bothered to tell me where the lecture hall was, so I kinda had to do a little 'hunting' of my own…"

"It occurs to me that security is a little lax at this school…" Blake muttered.

Yang shrugged, "Why bother; all the students and teachers are armed to the teeth,"

"Fair enough…"

"Not that I want to sound rude…" Weiss prefaced, "But… why are you here?"

"Ah, I can answer that," Mina spoke up, approaching Clara now and relieving her of the box by the handle, "Clara was just dropping off some precious cargo…"

"Huh?" Her teammates asked in baffled unison.

"My boyfriend finally finished a piece that he was working on," Clara elaborated, "So to celebrate, we're taking a little… trip… Unfortunately, our hotel doesn't allow pets…"

"So I have agreed to watch her kittens for the week," Mina concluded, "I do hope that is alright…"

After a few surprised blinks, Yang was first to recover, giving Blake a fond clap on the shoulder, "Eh, I don't see why not; I think it's safe to say that none of us are allergic,"

"Hey!"

"Are we allowed to keep pets in the dorms?" Weiss asked skeptically.
"They let us keep highly unstable Dust… I don't think cats are gonna hurt anyone…" Ruby commented.

"Thank you for understanding!" Clara enthusiastically offered her gratitude, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this – but I couldn't just leave our babies by themselves, y'know? Their names are Johan, Ludwig, Hector, and Wolfgang – Wolfgang's the really fluffy one," She then unslung a tote bag from over her shoulder and passed it to Blake – Mina was already holding the travel cage full of sleeping kittens, "Here's all you'll need for the week – food, cat litter, the works -,"

"Easy Clara; I promise to take good care of them, alright?" Mina spoke with a smile, shooting Blake a meaningful look, "I love kittens…"

Clara took Mina's free hand in both of hers, "Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver and you have no idea how much this means to me!"

"Someone sounds desperate…" Yang joked.

"Shut up Blonde!" Clara snapped, "You are the last person I wanna hear that from!"

"I'm a flirt! What do you want from me?" Yang defended indignantly.

"Ladies, let's be civil," Weiss stepped between the two, holding them each at arm's length, "Yang, let's face it, you can be a pain in the neck-,"

"Hey!"

"And Clara…" Weiss turned to Mina's co-worker with a smile, "Have a nice trip; we'll all take good care of your cats," she turned back to her teammates, "Right?" All four nodded in unison, "Good. You see? Nothing to worry about,"

Clara nodded in her reassurance, "Right… Oh, and Mina?"

"Yes?" the Bat Faunus responded, distracted from her attempt to count the kittens in the box with her Semblance.

"That girl came by the café again – you know, that blonde who asked for you last week? Well anyway, she asked for you again. I told her it wasn't your shift, so she left this… I mean, I know you can't exactly read, but I wasn't sure if you wanted that getting around, so I told her I'd pass it along anyway," With that, Clara extended a folded piece of paper, which Mina accepted with a raised eyebrow.

"I see…"

"You think she's gonna be a problem customer?" Clara asked.

Mina just shrugged though, "If she is, she picked the wrong waitress; I'll be fine Clara, rest assured,"

"Oh my God! They're so cute!" Ruby squealed when they returned to the dorm and Mina opened the travel box, waking the kittens.

"They are adorable, aren't they?' Weiss agreed, nestling little Ludwig in the palm of one hand and stroking him with the other.

"Mmmm," Mina nodded, "Although Clara loves to talk about them at work, this is my first opportunity to hold one…"

A slightly amused grin on her face, Blake looked on over the top of a book as her teammates fawned over the box full of kittens. Ruby and Weiss each had one and had seated themselves on the Heiress' bed, Yang and Mina sat in the desk chairs with Johan and Wolfgang respectively while Blake had stretched out on her bed with a book. At first Blake had been equally enamored with the fluffy little creatures, taking turns holding one of them after the next, but her interest faded rather more swiftly than the others – perhaps somewhat ironically so, but it couldn't be helped. After a fair amount of time had passed, she'd simply settled into pretending to read while she watched Mina dote on fluffy little Wolfgang; if she didn't know better, Blake would have thought Mina was perfectly normal.

As the afternoon wore on though, and the other kittens got put back in the box to sleep while Ruby, Weiss, and Yang departed the room to get other things done, Blake couldn't help but notice that Wolfgang remained very attached to Mina…. For the most part he simply huddled to Mina's chest from his perch on her arm, purring contentedly as she ran her fingers down his back, but every once in a while, the grey kitten would open his eyes and look Blake's way with what she could have sworn was a self-satisfied smirk…

Oh don't be ridiculous Blake! He's a cat, for pity's sake!

Much as she told herself that she had nothing to worry about though, Blake couldn't help it. Absurd as it was, she felt little pangs of jealousy watching Mina caressing this kitten, There is absolutely no rational reason that I should be jealous of a stupid cat! But…

"Dearest?"

"H-huh?" Blake blinked a few times as she was roused from her internal gripes.

"You seem…" Mina lifted the kitten ad placed him on her shoulder, where he stared unblinkingly at Blake, "Down… Do you not like Clara's kittens?"

Blake blinked again, "N-no! They're fine…" Most of them… "Where would you get that idea?"

"I can sense that your ears are drooping…"

"No, it's… it's not that," She lied, holding up her book, "This is just a depressing read…"

"Oh?" Mina cocked her head, nestling up against the snarky little cat, "What is it called?"

Ninjas o Love, book five… But instead, she fibbed, "The Thief and the Butcher…"

Mina raised an eyebrow, "I don't believe you've ever read me that one before…"

"I uh… just got it…"

"Now I know that you're lying to me…" Mina stated with a sardonic little smirk, "So what is it really? Ninjas of Love, Wizards of Romance, or Secret Attraction?"

Blake blushed furiously, "Well I haven't actually been reading it… But if I said it was Ninjas of Love, could I maybe get a little attention…?"

Mina glanced, momentarily perplexed, between Blake and the cat on her own shoulder, "Dearest, you aren't saying that…?"

Blake felt her face turn totally crimson now, "Maybe a little…"

Mina chuckled, pulling an uncooperative kitten down from her shoulder, "It isn't like you to be this petty Dearest…"

"I know…" Blake admitted guiltily, reaching out to take the little grey kitten, only to be scratched and hissed at before Wolfgang bolted back up Mina's arm to nuzzled up to her cheek again.

Mina cracked up, covering her mouth with her free hand to stifle her giggles, "I don't believe it! Are you two fighting over me?"

Blake's ears completely flattened against the top of her head in shame, "It's stupid, I know…"

"I think it is cute," Mina disagreed as she put the objecting kitten back in the box with his brothers, "Although you have nothing to worry about Dearest; Wolfgang triggers more of a maternal affection than anything else – and he's not even mine; rest assured, he'll be gone in a week's time,"

"Yeah, alright…" Blake accepted as Mina sat down beside her, "God I feel stupid… What do I seriously have to be jealous of a kitten?"

"Well, he is fluffier…"

"Hey-!"

Blake's good natured protest was interrupted however, when Mina laid down on the bed and pulled her close, "But you are right, Dearest; we could do for a little cuddle-time ourselves…"

Initially somewhat surprised, Blake soon let her eyes shut and just rested her head on Mina's chest, letting Mina run fingers through her hair and down her back, "Mmmm… This is nice…" Then she remembered the folded note that Clara had also passed to Mina, and who it was supposedly from, "But what about that girl who keeps asking for you at the Summer Blossom, huh? I bet she's… interesting…"

Mina sighed, propping herself up on an elbow, "Dearest, I thought that we were past this…"

"I know…" Blake allowed, but that note Clara brought reminded me - speaking of which…" Blake reluctantly sat up again, "Where is it? I'll read it for you,"

Mina hesitated, but eventually complied, drawing the folded piece of paper from her pocket, "Here it is…"

"Mina?' Blake's eyes narrowed with concern, "Is there something that you want to tell me?"

"Read it to me first…"

With mounting worry, Blake took the piece of paper and began unfolding. It wasn't an old sheet of paper or anything – a little crumpled perhaps as a result of careless handling, but it wasn't stained or torn, the scrawl on the inside of the folds likewise reflected haste, as it was barely legible, causing Blake to wince.

"Whoever she is, she could use a few lessons in penmanship…"

"Just read it,"

Slightly perturbed by the uncharacteristic note of command that crept into Mina's voice, Blake nonetheless did as she was bid, "Mina Carfax…" Blake raised an eyebrow – Mina's actual last name was red flag number one, "So you think that you can hide from he huh?" Blake looked up worriedly, "Mina… Is this girl stalking you?"

"In a manner of speaking," Mina allowed, "Keep reading; I imagine the rest of the message is more important,"

Blake's eyes returned to the hastily folded paper, "Well that's fine. Hide. You'll get yours – count on it…" Blake felt her heart rate pick up, "There's only one punishment for traitors- Oh God Mina, why didn't you tell me that they found-?"

"They didn't," Mina shook her head, "Just one – and nobody who matters either,"

"I don't care Mina! If she's with the White Fang, sooner or later they're going to knock down the door-,"

"She doesn't know what she's gotten herself into," Mina shook her head, "A foolish girl with something to prove – nothing more. She wants to 'deal with me' herself to prove she can be useful to 'the cause…"

Blake was silent for a moment, thinking long and hard about what to do, "Alright fine, but why didn't you tell me? This is the sort of thing that I need to know!"

"Because, Dearest," Mina maintained a calm tone of voice as she leaned in to gently cup Blake's cheek, "I can handle this; one angry girl with a knife and more 'ideals' than sense is no threat to me. I don't want you to worry yourself,"

Blake sighed, pulling Mina into a hug despite her frustration, "Mina… I… I get what you were trying to do – and I do appreciate that – But I need to know when you're in danger like this…"

"I am not in danger," Mina assured, but returned the hug nonetheless, "But… I understand… and I am sorry…"

"Promise to call me next time you see this girl?"

"Fair enough… although I doubt I'd ever be making that call, such being the case…" Mina smirked.

"Wha-?" Blake facepalmed, "Next time she shows up, okay?"

Mina smiled, "Alright… But calm down' your upsetting the kittens…"

"Come on you dumb Animals! Get a move on!"

Roman Torchwick could be seen directing groups of White Fang rank and file outside the warehouse. Word had come down from the witch that it was time to move, and months upon months of stealing and stockpiling Dust meant that doing so was a major operation. He was drawing plenty of gripes, but the smug bastard was in charge here, he knew it, and Nadia hated him for it. Technically she was supposed to be inventorying cases of Dust crystals and rounds before they got packed onto a Bullhead, but this was more important, and besides, she had some leverage.

The witch pulling all the strings was rather tight-lipped about what exactly was going on – everyone was just supposed to do as they were told and trust that her scheme would work out and that her plans were in fact for the White Fang's benefit – but even so, rumors got around. One of those rumors was that the witch had laid it on Torchwick's shoulders to off any deserters, and more importantly, that he wasn't exactly on that particular ball. Greedy thieving bastard probably only bothered with the heists so he could skim off the haul to line his pockets.

"Torchwick," At first, the Crime Lord didn't even acknowledge her presence, continuing to gesture with his cane at Nadia's White Fang brothers impatiently, but Nadia persisted, a little more heat in her voice now, "Hey! Torchwick!"

That got his attention, and he turned around, "Eh-? Wait… Who the hell are you?"

"None of your business, you racist pig-,"

"Guilty as charged!" Roman cut her off with a roll of the eyes, "Lemme guess…" his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her, "I don't see any extra ears… You some kinda tree frog?"

Nadia growled, "Shut up! I wanna talk business!"

Torchwick guffawed, adjusting his hat, "Really? Don't you have boxes to pack Blondie?"

"No," Nadia snapped, "But you have loose ends to tie up,"

Torchwick raised a suspicious eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"Word is you haven't been going after any deserters," Nadia clarified, allowing herself a smug grin, "I wanna help you with one of em…"

Resting both hands on his cane, Roman Torchwick leaned in and spoke more quietly, "I suggest that you keep in mind who you're talking to Blondie; wouldn't want to give the wrong impression, would we?"

"Yeah, whatever; posture however you like. I want to help you deal with Mina Carfax,"

The thief's eyes narrowed, "I think that's a little over your head there Blondie… How do you even know about that?"

"Does it matter?" Nadia snorted.

"Maybe not…" Torchwick paused for a moment, "But the way I hear it, Blue Eyes is too big a fish for some random punk-,"

"You let me worry about that, pig. All I need from you is some Dust…"

Roman looked her over more carefully this time, "Dust ain't some toy, Blondie…"

"I've spent years packing Dust into explosives and infusing it into bullets; I can handle it. Just give me the Dust and we can pretend like this was your idea," Nadia demanded, "Or maybe I need to go ask the witch instead?"

Despite her threat, Roman laughed, "You got guts kid, I'll give you that; I just hope it doesn't bite you in the ass… But tell me something: Why should I trust a job like this to some teenager I don't know? You're no threat to me girl, you're nobody,"

"Then what's it matter to you? It's no skin off your back if I get myself killed,"

The Crime Lord pursed his lips, not looking particularly convinced – but that was fine; Nadia didn't care what this damned pig thought – but not having another good reason to deny her, Torchwick eventually acquiesced "Alright fine, but since you're not gonna tell me your name, when you screw this up, I've never heard of you,"

"That's just fine,"

Author's Note: Hello all, and I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter; the fluffier bit at the front end comes as a prompt from ScarletWolfX, so thanks for that, and I figured I'd ratchet up the plot a little bit anyway despite the fluff. As always, I do love feedback, so feel free to leave reviews and suggestions. Until next time, have a good one.