During Izuku and Yang's fight.

"Man, Izuku's really finger-banging your sister!"

Heads shifted towards Nora and Ruby, trying to decide if they wanted to watch the brawl of the year or where this train wreck was going.

Ruby snorted and held her head high. "Yang's totally gonna end up on top. His fingers are powerful, but she can take a lot of punishment before she just pounds him."

"Oh please. Your sister is pretty cool, but with just one finger he put her on her knees. Imagine what he'd do to her with two."

Pyrrha looked from one girl to the other, cheeks slowly getting redder the more she thought about their conversation. She opened her mouth to finally interject, but was silenced as she felt Weiss' hand gently rested on her shoulder, drawing her attention to the heiress as she shook her head. "Embarrassing as this is, it would be too difficult to stop without embarrassing questions. Better to let it play out, and let it die out on its own." Her voice was practically at a whisper, but did carry a sure logic that Pyrrha couldn't argue with.

And then others decided to stoke the fire.

"I dunno about that." Tsuyu muttered just loud enough to be heard. "Yang's still holding back, like building up a furnace. If he tries that again, she'll be even more hot and bothered."

"Bothered?" Ruby tilted her head to the side. "I'm pretty sure she's enjoying herself."

"So am I, ribbit."

Blake decided to just stare into her book, cheeks turning a bright red while Iida just seemed on the cusp of realization, rubbing his chin and trying to decode this odd conversation. There was something about this he wasn't understanding yet...

"Anyway," Pyrrha finally spoke up, deciding enough was enough of this inappropriate line of conversation. "I'm just please he's gotten so much control over his semblance. Izuku's put so much hard work into it, I'm glad it's paying off." Hopefully this would derail this unpleasant train of thought.

"Yeah! He only banged Bakugo with one finger last week!"

And Nora put them back on topic with a mighty vengeance. That time, Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to object.

Even the young Rose blossomed at the thought. "Yeah, but he needed to do more than that to beat my teammate. He had to get him down on the mat and hammer him hard before he could even try and finger him!"

"Shut the hell up!" The blond bomb snarled. "Quit making it sound weird! And it's not like it was fucking impressive or anything!"

"You don't say.." Blake was immediately intrigued. "So you were hoping you'd get more than just a finger?"

"I could take his whole-" And he drew himself up short, slowly turning to the blushing woman who was only hiding a little bit behind her book. His head whipped around, his glare growing more and more heated as he saw the flushed Pyrrha, the deeply pondering Weiss, and then back to Blake who was grinning way too damn much. "Fuck you."

"Get on top of Izuku first, ribbit." Tsuyu countered, a tinge of pink on her own cheeks even as Katsuki dissolved into incoherent snarls and muttering.

This time it was Ren that tried to take their minds elsewhere. "As fascinating as this topic is beginning to be, I think we should focus on the fight."

"Awww. But Renny, this is interesting too! I almost wanna take on his fingers." This wiped the expression from Ren's face, and Nora was quick to console her best friend by putting an arm around his shoulders and reeling him in close. "But I doubt it'd be anywhere near as fun as yours are of course!" She ignored his sudden blush. "I mean, you've got those super cool ninja moves and your sneaky ninja fingers! All you need to do is go all 'hwacha' and 'hiyaa', and then you've pinned me or nail me with your sneaky ninja poking!" She hugged him tight. "Makes me just wanna nail you super hard, but that's what I like about it! Not like-like, since you know that'd be like saying we're together-together, which we're not, and hey you should totally trying taking on our fearless leader! His smash-y fingers and your sneaky fingers would be super awesome to watch!"

"I could not agree hard enough." Blake points out, which was followed by several girls nodding in quick succession.

Ren was just too confused to form a coherent response and just nodded numbly, honestly wondering how much of this Nora really understood and was just trolling the entire class. He gave her a long stare, seeing the massive grin that revealed nothing, then just sighed and began to rub at his temples to try and forget the whole thing.

Then Velvet mentioned she'd get pictures.

Ren sighed again.

"Has anyone seen Nora?"

It was a simple question, really. And yet for some reason it sent a chill down Izuku's back when Weiss asked it, and probably not for the reasons that Yang would have made a joke about. But he enough common sense not to say something like that and focused on the oddly ominous question at hand. "The last time I saw her it was with Ren. Is everything alright?"

Weiss nodded and put a hand on her hip as a frown creased her lips. "She's late to our training time. She's been infuriatingly insistent on helping me with my close combat for some reason." The last words were added with a particular venom that made Izuku wince, but she was quick to continue on. "Nora's been late before, but she usually calls if something's wrong."

"I'm sure she just lost track of time." The green-haired young man got to his feet and set his pen beside his homework. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No thank you. I'll be back in a few minutes." With that, the Schnee simply spun on the ball of her foot and slipped back out the door, leaving the team leader to shrug and return to his studies. He wasn't sure how far along he had gotten when the door was suddenly thrown open, not even having the time to finish turning around before Weiss grabbed him by the shirt, hefted him to eye level, and said four words that stuck a cold fear into his very soul.

"She got a job!"

Weiss' worried words were willing to spur the rest of the team into action, or at least into trying to calm her down as she sputtered, paced, and squawked around the room like some angry bird. Further inquiry explained she hadn't actually gotten any more details from Ren and Shoto, having panicked and run off shortly after hearing the news. A quick scroll call to Ren gave no real clue as to WHAT the job was, since Nora hadn't really explained what she'd found in the paper, only that it was somewhere in downtown Vale.

They tried to call her scroll, but she wasn't answering, which beginning to worry everyone. Even Weiss was concerned, though she did her best not to admit it as she fidgeted on the train. They were nearly at the station when Pyrrha asked if they even had a plan to begin with if they couldn't find her, and thankfully Izuku had been preparing one. "When we get there I will see if I can use my scroll to find hers." he held the device for them to see. "If we find it and she isn't nearby, we'll begin with a search of the immediate area, questioning everyone we come across. From there, we'll take our clues and go from there. Sound good?" The round of nods was enough, and they made sure their weapons were ready in case of trouble. The trio stepped out of the train station with the utmost confidence, prepared to take on anything to help their teammate.

Anything except whatever was making the thunderous rumbling, which apparently was a building downtown that seemed to be collapsing. Rather slowly, if they had taken any notice.

On a hunch, Pyrrha leaned over to Izuku. "That's towards where Nora is, I assume?" They both looked down at his open scroll, saw the pink blinking dot, and just sighed. Before he could give an order of even think, a white glyph burst into existence beside them, and Weiss was moving towards the soon to be wreckage. Unsure if she was going to save Nora or throttle her, the two quickly began to chase after.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"And so I looked up at Ren and said 'Now THAT'S a katana!'."

Her new friend snorted into her tea. "You didn't!"

"I did!" Nora preened before they both broke into laughter.

"More tea?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Nora had to admit, all in all this whole thing had gone far better then she'd expected. Sure there were a lot of people running around and the dust was annoying, but she made another new friend amidst the rubble, who had the forethought of bringing enough lunch to share! This girl was almost Izuku smart! After they finished, she'd have to take her out to another lunch, and maybe message her team about how things had..."Oh nuts."

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to tell my team where I'd be today."

Her new friend understandably gasped. "That you were going to be here working?"

"And about getting a job. Like, at all. Tooooootally forgot." Her friend gasped again, then began to cough as she sucked in some errant dust. The pink bomber patted her on the back and offered a sip of the tea she'd been given. There really should be a limit to how much one can dramatically gasp within a certain time period. Too many health risks. Just one of the many reasons she preferred being a Huntswoman, where the health risks were mostly just death. Much easier. "Don't worry! I'll just call them right now, explain everything, and I'm sure our Fearless Leader will completely understand." She handed her entire cup to her new friend so she could grab her scroll, wondering if she should read what messages they apparently left for her when she heard a familiar voice.

"Nora!" It took her a moment to realize where it was coming from, and saw her friends running towards them from down the street with Weiss very much in the lead.

"Ah! Weiss!" She couldn't wait to introduce them to her new friend! Why did Izuku look so worried?

"Nora!" For some reason a chill went down her spine at Weiss' voice. And not for the funny reasons Yang would make.

"Uhh, Weiss?" Something seemed off. She looked around, to the rubble that was once a building, then to her rapidly approaching partner. She almost had it...

"NORA!" And she has her rapier out.

'...O!'

'Now I get it!'

"AHH! WEISS!"

Despite the panicked cries of her instincts, Nora had enough had enough wherewithal to throw herself backward into a roll, on her feet in a flash with her hands out to try and stave off the Scheevalanche. "N-Now Weiss. This isn't what it looks like."

Thankfully it slowed her potential aggressor from an angry bull-like charge to an aggravated bull-like stomp. "It looks like you destroyed a building!" The rapier pointed at the very visible evidence, then back towards Nora as its owner drew closer and closer. Every now and again she'd swear she saw some odd aura around the weapon as it started to point everywhere but at her, but Weiss would guide it back to her with a snarl.

"...okay, so it's exactly what it looks like. But I swear had a good reason to do that!" Thankfully she was too worried about being stabbed to warn Weiss her face would stick if she left it like that. She realized knew what she had to do, attempting a distraction by grabbing the girl beside her and not-holding her in front of herself like a not-shield. "And I made a friend. Say hi, Boss!" Despite her friendly tone, she was still holding the brown-haired girl and moving her slightly when she saw Weiss' rapier move.

But Nora wasn't watching it nearly with the same focus as the girl in front of her. "I-It's actually Ochaco. Ochaco Uraraka." She waved feebly, as that was the best she could do with Nora holding her biceps with the grip strength of an industrial vice. "N-Nice to meet you?"

After an incredibly tense moment of silence, Weiss sighed and finally sheathed her blade. Even her rancor couldn't stand against the face of good manners and this much palpable fear. "Hello. My name is Weiss Schnee. Nice to make your acquaintance." The pleasantries were enough of a distraction for Izuku and Pyrrha to finally close the gap, though it didn't stop the return of Weiss' icy eyes to the source of her ire. "Now then, please explain why you had to demolish a building." Everyone considered it a positive that she wasn't gritting her teeth when she said it.

"Well, I'll have to start at the beginning."

Weiss braced herself.

"It started yesterday when me, Ren, and Shoto went to Vale to celebrate being Junior Detectives. Guess who we ran into?" She looked around, hoping one of them would actually guess. Izuku looked confused, Pyrrha looked tired, Weiss looked like she'd bitten into a super sour lemon, and Ochaco just shrugged. "It was Melanie and Miltia, the Malachite sisters!" From the startled gasps, followed by coughing from the dust, it seemed only Pyrrha and Izuku were able to recall them. It certainly made sense since Pyrrha met them at the club when she helped burn it down, and Izuku met them at high velocity when she threw them at him. Ahh, good times. "Yeah! The twins from the club." She clarified for everyone else. "Anyway, we told them about our successful adventure, and Melanie says 'Have you considered work where you break things on purpose?'. And I'm like 'They have those?!'. So she gives these want ads, and points me to this."

"What's this?"

"Demolition!"

"...that makes too much sense."

"I think that's actually quite clever."

"What made you want to try and get a job again, Nora?"

The aforementioned redhead was actually beaming until her team leader's question, gently putting Ochaco on the ground and scratching the back of her head. "Because it's a part time job where they only call when they need me to smash stuff, and I wouldn't mind some lien for..stuff." She coughed into her fist, hoping to avoid further interrogation when her new friend/hostage looked at her and just smiled in an encouraging way. Now that just wasn't fair! This was the third person she'd ever met with adorable eyes like that, the other two obviously being Izuku and Ren. She pouted and tried to resist, but seeing her Fearless Leader's big squishy eyes looking all curious finally broke her! "Fine! I was doing it so I can get people presents, okay?" She crossed her arms and pouted harder. "I'm a pretty good at sewing, but good material is expensive, and I wanna make nice things for my friends."

While she had done her best to look at everyone else, she had missed the Weiss Queen crossing the gap and gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "Nora, that's very sweet of you." Oh my gosh! She was actually smiling! And she couldn't even get her scroll to take a picture. "I suppose that's a cause worth the effort, as long as it isn't too dangerous."

A million-watt grin curled Nora's lips. "It isn't really that dangerous at all! Ochaco's family know their stuff about explosions, and it's fun to talk shop!"

"Oh?"

"Yep. Hey Boss, I'll introduce you to our Fearless Leader!" Ochaco managed out a soft 'eh?' before Nora picked her up and threw her at Izuku. The 'dramatic catch her before she falls' didn't really happen as expected, and she instead collided with him like a sack of potatoes and sent them both to the ground. At least this time his head wasn't somewhere in her skirt, since she was wearing pants. Melanie should have considered pants. Ah well.

Weiss' growl brought her back to reality. "Noraaaa..."

"Ah! Weiss!"

"Oh my."

Blake stood under the shower, enjoying the water's warmth enveloping her, surrounding her almost like some second layer of aura would. After years of living on the move with the White Fang, when smoke from a fire could easily alert enemy attention and fire Dust was simply too much of a treasured resource to waste on something trivial like that, being able to shower with hot water never failed to put her at ease. She stretched and released that pose to relax her muscles while the warmth was slowly sinking in her body.

Pure bliss.

Honestly, it was one of the best things about her new life at Beacon Academia. Well, that and all the additional reading time.

"Never realized I was that shallow. Some basic appliances and I'm happy and satisfied. Pretty low maintenance for a sort-of Faunus princess.", the young girl thought with a pang of guilt.

She crinkled her nose and felt her ears twitch reflexively, responding to her emotions.

Scratch all that, hot water was nice, but getting that stupid ribbon off her ears and not having to keep her ears' natural movements in check might have been the real treat she was enjoying most.

Keeping that kind of concentration around others did take a toll on her, since she could almost never truly relax due to that. She always feared some unexpected slip-up exposing her, especially after that cursed yarn incident with Izuku.

It was honestly one of the reasons she regularly kept going off alone, leaving her friends...

"Friends?", she thought, her shoulders stiffening. "Do I even deserve to call them that, considering I'm hiding so much from them? Aren't I just some actress giving a performance here at Beacon, all for my own personal benefit? Would they even want to be my friends if they actually knew about me, what I am, who I am and... all the things I did?"

She let her mind wander, musing about that thought.

Tenya Iida... her partner. He would probably damn her.

Not that he lacked compassion. While he was part of a long tradition of Huntsmen, that compassion was his actual drive to better himself in order to be able to help people in a bigger capability. He felt an urge to help others. Sure, he wasn't the best with people considering how tight-stringed he was, but he really was a good person.

This wasn't on him, but on her and the crimes she committed. Regardless, his blatant belief in following the rules to a ridiculous degree... would be enough for him to damn her. Not that he wouldn't try to help her in some way afterwards, if only out of a feeling of responsibility due to being her team leader and sort-of friend.

But it would be after he followed the rules and brought her in, to face the proper authorities. And would he really be wrong about that stance? Unlike her, he had probably never seen the corrupted side of that system and the current order in place in the four kingdoms. He didn't regard it as insufficient and deeply flawed. He reveled in it instead, following the simple belief that it worked.

And maybe it would, if more people were as thorough and proper as Tenya Iida was. But he was naive. The world wasn't that simple and neither were its inhabitants. People would always be people, whether they were Human or Faunus. That was the real flaw in all those systems, there would always be a black sheep ruining things for everyone else involved, only caring to further their own goals or agendas at the cost of everyone else.

She raised the temperature of the water stream, freezing a little at that bitter trail of thought.

Tsuyu Asui. Her fellow Faunus.

Not that this fact would breed anything but more contempt on her side. It was the main reason she kept most of Tsuyu's attempts at bonding somewhat at bay, though she wasn't sure the girl had noticed that yet. No-one should suspect the truth yet and she mostly evaded any topics that could lead to discussing anything remotely leaning towards those directions. Barring that one incident with Izuku.

Tsuyu's emotions were hard to read due to her frog nature, so she didn't knew if the girl took offense by now or not. Blake hardly regarded herself as a good judge of character to begin with. No, definitely not.

Even here at Beacon she had properly misjudged Izuku Midoriya from the start for one thing. If only she hadn't run her mouth during that yarn incident, because apart from that he really seemed like a good person. And awkward as he was around people he probably wouldn't have pushed enough to find out the truth. It could have been a really nice friendship, with her not having to fear what he might ask her about her past, since one look would keep him at bay. But no!, she had to go and ruin that, nip it in the bud due to some stupid yarn triggering her paranoia. And now she was stalking him to balance the slates. Though by now she was really considering stopping that behavior. That threat probably only existed in her head to begin with. Honestly, the main reason she kept it up by now was that Ren was shadowing him too and she wasn't entirely sure why yet. Though maybe his reason was just as petty as her own, if it was about Nora Valkyrie.

They probably had all pegged her as a shy loner by now. Not that it was entirely wrong, she wasn't all that social a person to begin with and she needed her time alone. Just... not all the time! Maybe it was for the best to keep her secret. But even in the White Fang she had friends. Companions even. She missed that feeling more than she would have ever suspected...

Which brought her back to Tsuyu. She wouldn't be one. Not a friend anymore, if she knew the truth. Back in Professor Oobleck's history lesson the frog Faunus had made her stance abundantly clear.

The White Fang, at least today's iteration, was wrong and morally bankrupt and had thus become a liability to the Faunus cause, a weight chaining them down. And by extension that meant Blake too. It had been pretty eye-opening for her to hear it laid out like that in no uncertain terms. No sugarcoating, just the cold cruel truth. Felt like some band-aid ripped off a fresh wound. Only that band-aid had been on her soul and after it was gone in that brutal fashion, the box was open to release all her doubts and guilt she had worked so hard to bottle up down there before.

While she had been a member of the White Fang since early childhood, the fact she stayed around even when her parents...

...no she really didn't want to think about them right now.

...when the White Fang started deteriorating and selling its ideals for faster perceived progress, always tainted in blood, someone else's or their own members'... or worse, that of innocents...

No, Tsuyu would lump her with the current White Fang and Blake couldn't deny that with a straight face.

She had stayed around for far too long to have any right to distance herself from them and their actions. It was a constant source of regret for the young cat Faunus just how long it had taken her and how much had to happen until she had finally decided to cut ties with the White Fang for good. Or rather run away.

And honestly, she knew herself, if it hadn't been a sudden decision forced on her due to her shock at Adam's utter disregard of lives and lack of any kind of moral decency during the train incident...

Who knew if she wouldn't have faltered again, rationalized their actions, found some justification to stay around some longer and hope things would change somehow.

Blake had stood at the edge of that abyss far too often to trust herself that she would have come to the same decision if left to simmer on it. While leaving had been on her mind for years, it had been a spur of the moment impulse that ultimately gave her the courage to mess up Adam's plans and leave.

She was a coward at heart, always hiding or running from her problems. But running from the White Fang... was the one time that impulse would have been the right one from the start. Figures it was the one case that took her years to actually follow her go-to reaction.

The look in Adam's eyes had been easy to read for her, despite that mask. His body language too. They hadn't been partners for nothing. He had been in utter shock or he would have outright attacked her then and there for the betrayal. But Blake feared for whoever else would try to leave the White Fang after she did. Adam would take it out on them that he couldn't stop her. She prayed none of her friends in the White Fang ever spoke up for her sake. No, better let them damn her too, at least they'd be safe that way. She really hoped they were safe...

She stood under the water, arms cradled around herself, eyes burning. Damn shampoo.

A knock on the door shook her out of her daze.

"Hello? Who's in there? Tenya?"

Blake recognized Yang's voice and swallowed down the lump in her throat she hadn't really noticed forming.

"Wh-What is it? I'm taking a shower right now! I won't take long."

"Blake? Oh hell yes, thanks that it's you. You decent? Comin'in!"

"Wait, what?", the cat Faunus thought, as the door opened and the blonde rushed in.

"Err, Yang, some privacy perhaps?"

"Oh come`on, I knocked, didn't I? I got some motor oil all over my shirt and smack in my face and hair when I was giving poor Bumblebee some much-needed attention. I really neglected the poor thing's usual maintenance lately, with all those plans on upgrading her. And if I don't get it out right now, it's gonna be a real pain to get out at all. And I can't risk that. Messing up such glorious hair would be a crime against nature!"

"Give me five more minutes and you can have the damn shower!"

"Oh hell no, I know how much you enjoy your showers."

"Wait, she did? Huh.", Blake was taken aback a bit at hearing that.

"I'm fine with the sink, just pass me the shampoo bottle and I won't bother you. Promise, you don't have anything I haven't seen already. Besides, we're both girls, so what's the big deal? No need to be embarrassed. I was afraid it was Tenya in here, so I'm really happy it's you instead. Though teasing our leader would have been funny, he'd probably punish me for it later on or put some lock on the door.", Yang mumbled, pulling off her top as they talked. She looked at the shower cabin and Blake's form obscured behind the foggy glass.

"Now don't be a grumpy cat and pass the shampoo, please?"

"I-I-I'm totally not a...!", Blake uttered after her brain restarted itself after a slight pause of panic, opening the shower cabin wide enough to hand out the shampoo bottle to the blonde, then shutting it again without ending her sentence.

Yang started washing her hair in the sink with utter concentration while Blake tried to hide the fact just how much the blonde had startled her with that joke. No moment of peace around here. Was it really so much to ask for a happy place for a few damn minutes?

Yang Xiao Long. What did Blake think about her ?

Beyond the warranted annoyance she felt right now of course, due to the girl just barging in. Though the young Faunus had to admit Yang's hair was glorious.

Well, for one thing Yang was a little crass and overly loud. And had a terrible taste of humor. What with those god-awful puns, half of them cat-themed. Honestly the girl was a constant source of headaches for Blake.

Admittedly Blake got some good chuckles out of it when the blonde's teasing wasn't aimed at herself.

Seeing their leader getting flustered was a constant source of amusement and took some edge out of Tenya's business-like approach to team-leading. And she couldn't deny feeling a sort of vindictive satisfaction whenever Yang targeted Izuku, due to the worries he caused her since that yarn incident. Seeing him "squirm like a church mouse", like Yang called it, resonated with some primal cat-part deep inside of her. Or maybe Blake was just the type to hold a grudge. The result was the same - happiness.

But leaving all that aside, the blonde had a good heart. The way she stood up to help out Tsuyu against Cardin had made Blake so proud of her. She had to hold back so much during that scene to not intervene, knowing her cover didn't really allow for it. So Yang standing up for their Faunus partner had filled Blake with utter relief at that moment.

Heck, surprisingly even Weiss Schnee had looked full of approval. For a moment Blake felt a tinge of regret how she had essentially pushed the girl's outstretched hand away at that day. Though honestly, Yang's action had been a highlight of the day for Blake and she really didn't want to risk anyone spoiling her mood right then and there.

Because a conversation between a former-White Fang member in hiding and the heir of the Schnee family wasn't exactly something destined to stay nice and peaceful, even with one side not aware of the fact. Still, the mere fact Weiss had that reaction in the first place and made that offer had made her somewhat happy in hindsight once the sheer surprise about it had passed.

Not that the girl wouldn't have her tarred and feathered if she knew she was a former White Fang.

The thought made Blake sigh under her breath. "Form a damn line, everyone."

"Hey Blake?", Yang disrupted her musings. Dang, just when she had almost forgotten she had to tolerate the blonde intruding her happy place.

"Yeah?"

"I meant to ask you for a while now. Seeing as it's just us in here... Was there anything bothering you lately?"

"..."

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. But you looked kind of down."

"I'm not."

"Well, maybe down is not the right word. But something's on your mind and is weighing you down. I don't mean to intrude, but..."

"Well, you kinda do intrude right now. Only way of doing more so would be you kicking that door in or joining me in here."

"C'mon, don't be that way. And don't give me ideas I might have to take you up on either. Just thought it's a good circumstance to ask, you're less likely to teleport away like usual right now."

"So what, is you rushing in here some kind of plot to make sure I satisfy your curiousness?", Blake spat out. Instantly regretting it afterwards, when she noticed the blonde's hands stopped moving through her hair for a moment.

"Blake. It doesn't have to be me you talk to. Just... someone! Tsuyu for instance. Did you know she had a bunch of siblings to care for? Guess you do, she told us when we were cooking together, though you were busy stealing shrimps at that time. Or Tenya, he'd probably give you a triple-signed warrant of secrecy without you even asking for one. But Blake... anything you'd tell me would stay strictly between us, whatever it might be. I won't deny I'm a tease and enjoy a bit of gossip here and there, sure, but I'm an older sister. Why do you think Ruby still tells me everything after all those years? Because she trusts me to respect her secrecy."

"..."

Yang took the silence as an invitation to keep talking.

"Find someone you can trust, Blake. It doesn't have to be me or even a team member. Maybe Izuku? He's been a good friend to me and he... tends to give a unique perspective. Really helped me out of a dark spot that had left me disheartened some weeks before it could really get to me."

"Hah!", Blake couldn't keep herself from uttering that, considering Izuku might know her secret already. Worst person ever to turn to, at least in her situation.

"Hey, what's so funny? I'm kind of opening up my heart to you here too! Or... wait! I didn't believe it, but is there maybe something to that rumor about you falling for Izuku without telling him, so it's funny I just told you to talk to him about it when you try your best for him not to notice?"

"Hell no! Don't even start with that stupid rumor!"

"He's not a bad guy, so I surely wouldn`t judge you for it. Hidden depths in spades and all that and built like a..."

"Yang, just... stop! Please! I'm tired of hearing people whisper that around me, as if I were deaf and couldn't hear them. It's just... really not the case. I wouldn´t mind befriending him, but at this point that would just feed those rumors and the moment he'd hear about those he'd be way too awkward to even talk to anymore."

"I believe you. Though honestly, don't let that stop you from befriending him, you'd miss out."

The next minute was spent in glorious silence. Alas, Blake knew it wouldn't last.

3.

2.

1.

"But back to you, Blake. You can't really deny something else is weighing you down. I'm not that bad a judge of character. And something needs to be done about it. I'm likely not the only one worried about you by now. And I think we've all given you ample time for you to try and sort it out by yourself. Sometimes... you ought to just take an outstretched hand, Blake.", Yang said, while finishing up washing her hair, starting to dry-towel it.

Blake couldn't help thinking of Weiss Schnee and how she had just lamented wasting such an offer. Maybe she had a point. Not that she could tell them the truth, but maybe tell them... something?

To ease the burden on her shoulders and conscience just a little? Or would that just make her more of a liar, since she'd just spin things?

"I... can't promise anything. But I'll consider it, Yang."

Now it was the blonde girl's turn to sigh.

"Not exactly what I hoped for, but some progress I guess. Though I honestly didn't take you for such a scaredy cat."

Blake couldn't help herself and opened the door a little to throw a body lotion bottle at the back of Yang's head.

"Oww."

"You deserved that and you know it. Just because Tsuyu isn't around doesn't mean you're scot-free. Neither can you tell me that you want to help me, then do something you know I dislike."

"Huh. I guess you're right. I apologize, I swear it wasn't even on purpose, it just came naturally."

"Fix your screwed up sense of humor then.", Blake hissed a little.

"Cute. Kinda like you are, actually.", the blonde added while putting on a new shirt.

"Err, pardon?", Blake answered. "Oh please, don't tell me she... Is that why she asked about me falling for Izuku..."

"Just, well... it is kinda really cute how you're showering with that ribbon on. Like, it must be so important to you that you're so afraid you could lose it you're not risking taking it off for even a second. Like a family memento or some lover's gift. Scratch that, I won't intrude. But it's still endearing. I promise I won't tell anyone or tease you about it though. Consider that me proving to you that I can actually keep a secret."

With that she went through the door, leaving the young cat Faunus to her thoughts. Or rather the absence of any coherent ones. Blake stepped out of the shower shortly after and approached the neat pile of clothes.

"Oh, no"

Crowned by the cat-ear shaped ribbon sitting right on top of it, as if a proud reminder of her true nature as a cat Faunus.

"Just, no!"

And more-so as a reminder of her utter idiocy.

"She saw me standing in the shower cabin, ears in sight, for her, ribbon in sight. If she saw that pile of clothes with the ribbon on top and counts those facts together..."

Blake, still stark-naked, ran towards the sink in panic, standing right where Yang had stood. Fighting the sudden urge to just scream her lungs out, let all the frustration and panic she felt out in some primal cathartic yell. But even that was denied to her.

Fearful she turned her head to the shower cabin. The pile of clothes...

...was out of sight.

"Wait, did Yang move from that spot, could she maybe have seen it anyway, what if she... No, she didn't. But how damn close had this been? This is what I get for leaving my guard down. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Blake sank to her knees, shivering all over, her hands still holding onto the sink as if it were some anchor.

"What the hell am I even doing...", she muttered under her breath, tears falling on the floor.

Whatever warmth she had felt from that shower had all but left Blake, only leaving coldness behind.

E/N: Don't you just love it when I end things on a happy note? Anyway we've got Phrasing and Deconstruction by Preventer Squall, and Happy Place by Vandalgyon.

Also in case anyone actually noticed the slight break From the 'normal' TOB chapter followed by five regular chapter's routine we had going on. That obviously had to be scrapped otherwise Blake's bit here woulda been missing some context.

-Shovern

Construction should take a back seat to story consistency when needed.

-Wind-Waker