The sun slowly lowered itself in the late afternoon sky, disappearing more and more as it washed Beacon Academy's courtyard in pink and orange. Blake Belladonna sat beneath a tree, cradling her book and taking in the wisdom and wonder nestled on the page. The warm breeze rippled through the tree branches above her, gentle shushing noises filling her ears and brushing away the worries of the outside world. She sank deeper into the story that sat in her lap. A small yawn escaped her throat. Even as the story grew more beautiful by the page, her eyelids drooped and the words became blurry. She knew she ought to head inside rather than let herself drift off; her teammates would be heading to dinner about now, and they often felt slighted when she didn't come along.

But everything was so warm and peaceful. A nap wouldn't hurt...

A rustling noise from above interrupted the tree's whispering lullaby. Blake's inky black bow nearly unraveled as her furry ears twitched and swiveled inside, coaxing her awake. Craning her neck upward, Blake's sharp yellow eyes bored into the leaves, capturing a flurry of movement twisting itself through the branches. The snapping and scratching gave way to a loud, raspy voice calling out, and a mess of sandy blonde hair burst from the emerald leaves, spinning and bobbing wildly. Sun Wukong hung upside-down from a branch, held by his tail and waving around a neon pink Frischnee disk.

"See? Got it, Neptune! I told you I could find it, you dumb..." Sun's wild gray eyes locking on Blake's amber ones. "Oh, Blake!"

Blake took him in as he shook the leaves and dirt off the toy, twitching and fidgeting as he dangled from the tree. His yellowy locks and frenzied movements reminded her of a beehive, about to drop from the branch and split open, spraying noise and annoyance all over her pleasant afternoon. She sucked in a breath as Sun tossed the Frischnee into the distance, sending his teammate running after it, complaining. With a gleeful grin, Sun's tail released the branch and he thumped onto the ground next to her, planting himself eagerly into the grass like a seedling.

"Hello, Sun," Blake sighed, noting the page number of her book and slowly closing it as Sun sat down and scooted himself nearer. Before she could shut the book, Sun's nose was jammed inside, his nimble hands prying open the pages and making them crinkle and call out to Blake for help.

"What ya reading?" he asked, almost sniffing at the pages as he held them taut. Blake wrenched the book away before more damage could be done. She'd forgotten the page number and it was his fault.

"Violet's Garden," she snapped.

Blake quickly began to stand up, shutting the book on her finger where she thought might be close to where she'd left off. She'd track down her place after dinner and far away from-

"No way, I love that one!" Sun called up before she could stride away. Blake narrowed her eyes and sat back down.

"You've read it?" she asked, opening the book and shuffling through the pages, looking for her place. Sun's large hand fell on top of hers as she flipped page after page, steering her to turn a few more, then tapping lightly on the crisp lettering.

Right where she'd left off.

Blake turned to Sun, whose face cracked into a smile. She pursed her lips and they both sat back against the tree. Her gaze slowly eased back down to the book, and Sun leaned his head far back against the tree trunk. The swishing noises began again as the breezes wound themselves back between the leaves. Sun's eyes rolled around, looking at nothing in particular before settling on Blake's lap as she reached the end of a page.

"That's a good part," Sun commented, looking down at the book and then up at Blake's stern face. "That author's good at scenes where nothing big is happening."

Blake's bow twitched. "Nothing big? Hugh's confessing to Violet what he did to get the garden back," she said coolly.

"Yeah, but all they're doing is talking. It's boring..." Sun stretches and yawns. "But I mean, if you can make boring fun to read, go for it. It's how she got me to read it."

"Who's she? The author?"

"The author, and my mom," Sun put his hands behind his head. "It was all she could do to get me to sit still awhile."

"I usually did my reading...on the go when I was little," Blake mumbled, flipping the page. Sun looked at it again and smiled.

"I was always on the go. My parents couldn't figure out how to get me to STOP going. I didn't listen to a word anyone said. There wasn't a shelf high enough that I couldn't reach it."

"Or a girls' dormitory windowsill?" Another page finished.

"Hey, I addressed that!" Sun cried. Blake just nodded, not looking up. "Anyway," Sun continued, "One day, I decided it was time to run away and climb to the top of the highest house I could find in the neighborhood. Everyone spent hours looking for me. Thought I got lost in one of the big bazaars in Vacuo."

"Why did you run?" Blake asked, turning and raising an eyebrow.

"I was bored," he said flatly. Blake furrowed her brow into a glare. Sun held up his hands.

"I know, I know, horrible. When my mom found me, she grabbed my tail and dragged me all the way home. Then she grabbed this big, dumb, old book and told me if I didn't sit with her and read it then I'd be in even bigger trouble."

Blake snorted softly as she finished another page.

"It was so boring that I thought she was punishing me for something she found out I did on top of running away."

Blake looked at Sun blankly. "Reading isn't torture, Sun."

Sun fidgeted in the grass and plucked a few stalks, twisting them in his fingers. "I thought it was, and I moaned for my mom to let my tail go so I could play, but she told me I had to keep listening because it was important."

"What was so important about it?"

Sun's blonde, furry tail snaked out from behind him, bending and dipping to flip Violet's Garden a few pages back. "It was that part right there," Sun's tail tapped the page. "With Violet teaching Hugh how to garden. I got all mad because I knew it would take forever for anything to grow at home in Vacuo, but my mom told me that was the point. I had to put in my effort, and let things grow." Sun's tail flipped back to Blake's spot effortlessly, and Sun started to braid his grass slowly, cupping his hands around it so that Blake could hardly make out what he was doing. His tail tapped again. "That part's important too."

"Hugh not wanting to let Violet give up the garden?"

"It's boring, but you can see what's going on, right?"

Blake rubbed at the rough paper with her thumb, feeling the worn page scratch and chirp like a cricket. Back on the coldest nights, when she had to warm herself with the same lamp she read by, the older members of the protestor communes would see her trembling and nearly tearing the pages as she tried to turn them. In the faint, frigid light she would frantically turn two or three pages at a time with her clumsy little fingers and lose her place. She would sniffle and go back and read it over, trying to be careful not to rip anything or get lost again. Finally, one of the quietest members of the crowd laid himself behind her and reached around her for the book. Blake had flinched, thinking he was going to take it from her. Instead, he pinched the corner of the pages between his fingers and rubbed them back and forth. A tiny chirping noise broke the cold, mute night as the parchments rubbed together and then separated. Blake laughed, thinking of a warm summer, even if it was far away.

"See?" the big Faunus with the hairy arms said. "Just remember your cricket rub, and be gentle."

"Violet's telling Hugh to share," Blake answered, focusing back on Sun's eyes. Sun's wide mouth broke into a grin as he nodded crazily.

"After we got to that part, Mom let go of my tail. But I didn't run off. I kept reading with her."

"What about being bored?"

"I wasn't bored anymore," Sun said plainly. "I sat with her the whole night, until we finished it. I put in my effort."

"And then what?"

"I grabbed the book out of her hands and ran to find someone to show it to." Sun opened his hands. He'd twisted the blades of grass together into a small spiral with two blades sticking out at the top. He tossed into the air, and Blake watched as it twirled slowly down into the grass, purple now that the sun was almost completely gone. "I put my effort in, and then I wanted to share it with someone."

"Did you find them?"

"Oh yeah, a whole bunch!"

Blake actually laughed.

It was almost completely dark now. The crickets were getting louder. Sun hopped up, flashed Blake a smile, and began to leave before feeling a faint tugging from behind. He turned to see yellow eyes glowing in the night and felt a hand gently clutching his tail, pulling him back. Sun sat down against the tree next to Blake. It was almost pitch dark, but she didn't seem to mind. He felt a head lean on his chest, and heard a page turn.

"Let me finish this chapter."