Hell Hath No Fury

Part 1:
Ruby Rose prided herself in many things.

At the tender age of fifteen, she became the youngest student ever to receive acceptance into Vale's most prestigious combat school - Beacon Academy; skipping a whole two years ahead of the program at Signal. Accompanying her acceptance was the assignment of leadership over her own team, aptly named Team RWBY, and although she often doubted her own capabilities, she took great pleasure in the knowledge that - despite being the youngest - it was her responsibility to ensure the safety and wellbeing of her teammates.

As a Huntress-in-training, she was also well versed in the art of combat; and with her beloved 'Crescent Rose' by her side, she was relatively comparable to a 'one man army'. With speed unmatched by any human, Faunas, or Grimm alike, in addition to a deadly arsenal of blades and ammunition, she was dauntless as a fighter. With reckless abandon she would charge into any battle, risking life and limb in service to the people, as well as to protect those that valiantly stood beside her.

There was also the matter of being the Vytal Festival's 'Cookie Eating Champion' three years running… but she wasn't really one to brag.

Yes, Ruby Rose was a quality girl with many talents; courageous under fire and a skilled combatant, she did not like to think of herself as being a coward...

"Ruuuuuuuuuubbbbbyyy!"

At least, not in the instances where a certain Schnee heiress were involved…

"Get back here this instant, you insufferable little troll! I can't believe you… you… agh!"

… Because in any scenario including a furious Weiss, there was never any shame in running.

At least, that was what she liked to tell herself.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, tearing down the school hallways as the enraged fencer raced after her. There was an unexpected tingle at the base of her skull, her aura's natural way of telling her that danger was imminent, and she yelped in surprise as an icy projectile whizzed by. "Weiss, please! I said I'm sorry! I didn't mean to spill chocolate milk on your essay! It was an accident, I swear!"

"Do you know how long it took me to write that? How many hours of research I had to spend in the library, perfecting every last detail? That essay is worth fifteen percent of this semester's final grade, you bumbling buffoon! Fifteen percent!" Weiss seethed, preparing her rapier once more. "If it really was an accident, then why are you running? The innocent never run, Rose!'

"Y'know, you're being excessively scary..."

"Does it look like I care!"

Ruby whimpered pitifully as yet another icy blast sailed by, chilling the air that surrounded her as it missed by mere centimeters. Deciding that drastic measures were needed in order to ensure her survival, she continued to duck and weave her way down the narrow hallways before she finally found what she was looking for.

"Excuse me, pardon me, out of the way!" she called breathlessly, shoving past a group of third years. Unlatching the locks, Ruby flung the large window open; giving one last terrified glance behind her, she unsheathed her weapon and leapt head first off the fourth floor corridor.

For a brief moment, Weiss felt her heart stop beating. It was almost an 'out of body' experience; their eyes locked, the world around them slowing to a near halt, and she felt her lips part in a silent scream as she could do nothing but watch as Ruby fell. She could feel the blood drain from her features, her already pale complexion turning as white as a sheet… what had she done?

She should have never gotten angry in the first place… it was only an essay, after all, and she still had her notes. It really had been an accident, and partially her fault to begin with. Knowing that Ruby was prone to clumsiness, she should have kept her papers at a safer distance, or encouraged the girl to place the lid back on her milk bottle. But no… the drink had been spilt, she had let her infamous temper get the better of her, and in the end, she had essentially terrified the girl into diving to her death…

'Yang will be devastated...'

At that moment, a light wind blew in through the window, bringing with it a wave of rose petals and the scent of flowers… and then she remembered it all; Ruby was a hunter trainee and more than capable of surviving such high falls. For god's sake, she had leapt from the back of a flying Nevermore not even a full day into the academy! Suddenly, the world returned to normal as her heart continued its' rhythmic beat, and all the anger she'd felt returned in full force.

"Holy shi-...! Did that girl just…!?" gasped one of the students, as he and his companions rushed forward to gaze out over the edge.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone jump off a building so enthusiastically…" his friend commented, fighting to look over their heads from his spot in the back.

'That stupid girl!' Weiss took several strides forward, shoving the boys out of her way; placing her hands against the framing, she leant forward as far she could go. Spotting a flash of red running along the rooftops, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she called out, "This isn't over, Ruby! This isn't over for a second! Just you wait, you will pay for this! Hell hath no fury like a Schnee scorned… hell hath no fury!"

"Oh god… oh god!" came Ruby's distinctive squeal. "She's going to kill me!" It was the last thing Weiss heard before she disappeared, leaving nothing more than a swirling vortex of rose petals in her wake.

All throughout lunch, the hot topic of the day was about a girl cloaked in red seen scaling the signal tower, her terrified whimpers of 'flee the devil woman' - or something along those lines - being heard even from all the way on the ground. As a first year student, Ruby was not yet that well known, so speculation on her identity left plenty of room for the imagination.

Some students were privy to the idea that she had been possessed by phantom Grimm, while others entertained the notion that she was an escaped patient from the mental ward across the lake. Others even went so far as to say that she was a ghost; a past student that had died in some gruesome training accident, who appeared every so often as an omen of bad times. No matter which theory you subscribed to, the cafeteria was abuzz with activity and gossip… much to the displeasure of one Weiss Schnee.

Stabbing her fork into her salad, the snowy haired girl plopped a small cherry tomato into her mouth and chewed furiously, gnashing her teeth as she was forced to - yet again - listen to another random idiot ramble on and on about Ruby's rooftop escapades. Several hours had passed since the encounter and neither hide, nor hair, had been seen of the girl since.

"That stupid, irresponsible… such a child!... still can't believe she's our leader…" she muttered, incoherently to the ones around her. Clenching the fork, her knuckles bleached with the strength of her grip, her arm trembling from the force of her anger. So focused on the object of her ire, Weiss unwittingly began to glow, her aura unconsciously manifesting itself around her body. An abnormal chill settled upon the cafeteria, and the temperature of the room almost seemed to plummet.

The other students were now on high alert. It was common knowledge that an angry Weiss was a scary Weiss - or at the very least, more scary than usual - and many of her classmates began to clear out, while a few of the braver ones remained; though they wisely chose to move to further tables. The only two people who seemed to be unaffected by her cold rage chose that very moment to appear, Yang sliding onto the bench across from her while Blake took the spot next to her partner.

"What's up, princess? You seem awfully tense."

"Bite me," she scowled, sarcastically.

Yang tilted her head thoughtfully, as if actually contemplating the remark, before replying, "Hmm… no, thanks. I'm not really into popsicles."

Weiss felt her eye twitch and she shot the other girl a seething glare. "What the hell does that even-..."

"So what's this I hear about you scaring my little sister into jumping off a building?" she interjected, not even bothering to wait for Weiss to finish. Although she and the heiress had never really seen eye to eye, she had given her respect out of loyalty to the team and most importantly, for Ruby's sake. For reasons she would never understand, her sister seemed hellbent on getting Weiss's approval, and thus she had laid off her usual taunts and teases - for the most part, anyway.

The blonde considered herself a fun-loving, laid-back sort of person… but when her younger sibling's safety came into play - regardless of the fact that a four-story drop was the least dangerous thing Ruby had experienced this week - the gloves came off and mama bear reared her ugly head. Even if her sister had leapt from the window of her own accord, the fact that Weiss was involved did not sit well with her.

'C'mon, princess. Just give me one good reason to let Ember Celica come out and play today,' she mused, locking eyes with the wealthy teen.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what happened with Ruby or not?" she pressed, having yet to receive an answer.

"You mean that dimwitted child we call our leader?" Weiss sneered.

"Watch what you say in front of me, Schnee," Yang growled, her eyes flashing red for just a second. "She is my sister, after all."

Relatively unimpressed with the brawler's less than subtle threat, Weiss rolled her eyes and replied, "Well that sister of yours is one of the clumsiest, most uncoordinated persons I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. She spilled chocolate milk all over my essay for Professor Port's class… and its due the day after tomorrow. That's not nearly enough time to rewrite it with the same quality as I did the first!"

Yang blinked, momentarily taken aback by what she had said. "Wait, what? Didn't you get the-..."

"You do realize that we were given a week-long extension on that assignment, right?" a new voice interrupted.

Both Yang and Weiss jumped a little, startled out of their seats as Blake suddenly inserted herself into the conversation. She had yet to say anything up until that point, and added to the fact that she was often hidden behind the cover of a book, they had almost forgotten that she was there. Almost being the keyword. Because they would never actually forget a teammate… right?

"A… a week long extension?" Weiss repeated, barely able to believe her luck. "Are you sure? When did this happen?"

"The message went out this morning by scroll," the Faunas claimed, licking her thumb and turning the page of her latest novel. "Apparently too many students were having trouble finding enough resource material because everyone was checking out the same books from the library at one time. So he extended the deadline to next Thursday."

It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and Weiss couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. However, all breathe was knocked from her lungs as Yang reached across the table and 'playfully' punched her shoulder.

"Praise the lord, hallelujah," she grinned, though there still remained a menacing gleam in her lavender eyes. "Looks like your little mishap with Ruby was all for nothing! Which is good, because then that means you don't have to kill her… and I don't have to kill you."

Weiss grunted, rolling her shoulder to check that it not had inadvertently been dislocated, all the while watching Yang with a weary eye. "Outstanding..." she sighed.

Part 2:
"Are you sure the book you're looking for is in this section?"

"For the nth time, yes. I listed the exact book code and its' location when I wrote these down in my notes, so that I could easily go back and retrieve it if I ever needed to. Now help me find it!"

...

"I think someone may have already checked it out…"

"You didn't even look!"

Ruby released an exasperated huff, squeezing her way past Weiss through the cramped stack of bookshelves as she continued to search for 'A Howling Good Time'. It was the autobiography of a famous Beowolf hunter who had supposedly become the 'Alpha' of his own pack, and was one of the main topics in Weiss's essay. The scythe wielder had spent all of yesterday hiding out in some forsaken tower on the school's roof, and the last thing she wanted to do was to spend today stuck in the library… but it was her fault Weiss needed to rewrite, and it was only fair that she offer her assistance in finding the required material to do so.

'That might just be the understatement of the century,' she thought, as what had really happened was that Weiss had awoken her at the crack of dawn and practically dragged - actually, she did drag - her out of bed before rushing them off to the library. 'She's surprisingly strong for one so petite… but darn it! She didn't even let me eat breakfast first! Wahh~! I'm so hungry...'

As Ruby continued to silently bemoan her fate, Weiss kept up the search, cool blue eyes scanning the rows of books. Chewing at her lip, she skimmed through the citation notes that she had neatly scrawled onto her paper, wondering to herself where it had gone to. She had been sure to check the library's computer database before starting her search - not wanting to waste time if the book had already been borrowed - but it had shown that it was still available. The text should have been right here, and yet it wasn't…

'If not here, then where?' she pondered, deciding to extend her sights. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she spotted a familiar brown binding trimmed with gold… all the way at the top of the bookcase.

"Of course," she murmured, exhaling sharply to show her annoyance. "The last idiot to use the book decided it'd be okay to just return it to whatever random spot he or she pleased. Just my luck!"

"Everything alright?" asked Ruby, having heard her rant. Truthfully, it was almost impossible to not hear her rant.

"Everything is just peachy!" Weiss retorted, setting her notebook to the floor. Smoothing out her skirt, she placed a tentative foot onto the edge of the first shelf while reaching up to grab at the one above her. 'Please don't tip over, please don't tip over...' was the mantra that ran through her mind as she climbed.

"Uhh… what are you doooing?" her partner inquired curiously, a nervous hint to her voice. "That doesn't look very safe…"

"Says the girl who flung herself off the fourth floor window!" Weiss countered.

"Aha~, yeah… okay, you got me…" was Ruby's sheepish response. "But still… shouldn't you maybe just ask the librarian for a step ladder? I'm sure they have one."

"I'm fine!" she growled, putting her weight onto the leg and lifting herself up. When she did not come crashing down, she released a shaky breath and placed her other leg onto the shelf above it. Pushing up once more, she balanced herself on the edge and looked up. 'If I just stand on my tip-toes, I can definitely reach it...'

An anxious Ruby watched on with trepidation as Weiss slowly flexed her calves and began lifting herself higher onto her toes. "This is not going to end well," she breathed quietly - or at least, she assumed had been quietly.

"What was that?" her partner snapped, shifting her focus from the book to Ruby.

"Nothing!" she yelped, slapping two hands over her mouth and shaking her head furiously.

"That's what I thought… now be quiet while I get this." Sliding her feet closer together, she pushed herself just a bit higher and stretched her arm to its full extension. She could feel the tips of her fingers just barely brush the rough leather binding, and deciding that it was now or never, she jumped forcefully and made a mad grab for it. She had just secured the book in her hand when she lost balance and her footing slipped…

'Oh, no...' she blanched, scrambling to regain a proper hold on the shelf. When that plan failed to pull through, she simply closed her eyes and resigned herself to the fall. 'Its going down… I'm yellin' timber~! Ugh, no. I need to stop letting Yang play her music in the dorm…'

"I told you this was a bad idea," came Ruby's calm voice. "And you can open your eyes now, I've got you."

Blinking in surprise, Weiss obeyed and allowed her eyes to open; hands clutching tightly to the book, she was startled to find herself nestled into the other girl's unexpectedly strong arms. She was warm and smelled distinctly of fresh cut flowers, and Weiss was baffled by her sudden desire to stay there, where feelings of warmth and safety radiated off the younger girl in waves. And then… Ruby had to ruin it by opening her mouth and actually speaking.

"By the way… were you singing when you fell? I could have sworn I heard you-..."

"Shut up and unhand me!" she demanded, attempting to hide the unexpected blush that came along with her earlier thoughts.

"Okay, okay! Yeesh… I was only trying to help!" She was quick to disentangle herself from the fencer, lest her temper come into play. "So… you found your book. What next?"

"We go and find the other ones on my list," Weiss replied, bending down to scoop her notebook off of the floor.

Ruby paled. "There's more?"

"Of course there's more," the Schnee rebuked, turning to glance at her curiously. "How many resources did you use?"

"Uhh… I dunno? Maybe two or three?" Rubbing her chin, Ruby began to mentally check off the different books she had used to write her own essay, counting them off with her fingers. "Yeah, three!"

"Three? Three? That's it!?" Weiss cried, incredulously. She stared, utterly flabbergasted by the notion that someone could write a proper and thorough research paper with only three sources. Shaking her head, she lunged forward, attempting to grab at Ruby's hand.

Ruby instinctively stepped back, giving her an odd look.

Her brows furrowed, a steely glint reflecting in her narrowed eyes as she made another grab for the girl's hand.

Ruby took another step back. "Seriously, what are you doing?" she asked, hesitantly. "I don't like that look on your face…" It was eerily reminiscent of the one she had the previous day, right before she went chasing her around the school like a mad women…

"You idiot, stand still! Forget my essay, we need to work on yours!" she growled, once more failing to snatch her arm. "I will not have my partner turn in some half-assed paper and expect it to be okay! If you get a bad grade, do you know who that's going to reflect upon?"

"Erm… me?" Ruby said, quietly.

"No, you idiot! ME! Who cares if I get a perfect score… if my partner fails, then the professors are going to think I'm lazy and unhelpful!" she argued, placing her hands on her hips in a disapproving manner. "And I will not stand for it!"

"Weiss, its okay!" the dark haired girl replied, holding up her hands defensively. "Yang already helped me!"

"Oh, then you really need to work on it," she rebuked with a scowl. And then she lunged… again.

"Look! I… really… appreciate… the concern," said Ruby, in between dodging Weiss's wild swipes, "Really... but its already done! Agh, would you… stop…!" This was seriously getting out of hand. She needed to think of a distraction, and she needed to think of one fast…

'Ahh, this one always works in Blake's novels! Let's just hope she doesn't kill me for it later...'

"No, I will not stop! Your gra-...mmphh!" Weiss's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as Ruby cupped her cheeks and roughly pressed their lips together, eliciting a mixture of angry growls and a hesitant - very hesitant - moan of approval. Before her brain could officially process what was happening, it was already over, Ruby grinning apologetically as she pulled away.

'Oh my god, it actually worked! She's speechless! Actually… wow… she's being just a little too quiet now. Oh no! Did… did I break her! Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! I broke Weiss!'

'What… just… happened!?' Weiss wondered, dazed and confused as her befuddled mind continued to try and wrap itself around what had just taken place. 'Did Ruby just… did she actually...'

Realizing that she was wasting precious time, Ruby waved a hand in front of the other girl's face. "Hehe… uh, sorry? I'm gonna go hide now… please don't kill me!" And then she was gone with the wind, a flurry of rose petals the only testament to her having ever been there.

It took Weiss several seconds to register what Ruby had said, but by the time she had finally realized it, the girl was already long gone. Feeling a sudden chill in the air, she hurried past the long rows of shelves and out into the open study area. As expected, a window had been pulled open, allowing the cool morning breeze to waft in through the rectangular gap. Shaking her head, Weiss walked over and looked outside, instantly spotting Ruby's red cloak fluttering behind her as she ran.

"This isn't over you dolt," she said, though her words would never reach the other girl. Unable to resist herself, she touched her fingers to her lips, still reeling from the unexpected kiss. Suddenly, she smirked and her hands began to form the familiar signs as a glowing white glyph began to take shape. Checking to see that no one was watching, she leapt out the window and catapulted herself after the fleeing reaper.

'This is far, far from over.'