Beacon Academy had a lot of funding from the kingdom itself. Training excellent hunters in order to fight off the Grimm was a priority in any kingdom of Remnant, and so combat schools normally got more funding than other such establishments, but Beacon received even more funding than other schools because the world-class status it held. Of course, there were several things about the school that you could infer to tell you this without thinking.

The huge, cloud-piercing towers which touched the heavens looked as astonishing as they were expensive. The many buildings of the main site all held different, high quality facilities. Huge, well kept green gardens were scattered throughout and students loved nothing more than to roam around before collapsing into a lovely nap underneath a tree in one of these many spaces. A certain faunus on team RWBY could often be found with a book in her lap in any of these gardens on a wonderful summer's day.

Beacon was also home to top quality sparring arenas and training rooms, where the many hunters and huntresses in training could hone and refine their skills with professional equipment. Of course, some students chose not to train in the facilities provided to them and instead would choose any old field that they saw fit within the grounds of Beacon to hold their friendly matches and conduct their training. Some people preferred feeling the soft grass underfoot support their quick movements and the soft breezes cool their hard working bodies.

While the actual training rooms were very well equipped, and provided perhaps the safest and best learning environment possible, and even though they were air conditioned, students would still choose to spar with one-another outside for just the aforementioned benefits of nature. The outside also provided for a larger workspace overall, no walls to hit and infinite blue sky above them to accommodate the hunters and huntresses who took a more vertical approach to combat. This environment was also friendlier for larger audiences of people who were not afraid to risk a cut or scrape from stray attacks, and so teams could often be found training outside all together.

Whether you were looking to take up a book and waste away the afternoon reading, or you were actively sharpening your skills as a skilled warrior to fight the creatures of darkness, the grounds of Beacon offered plenty for all the students to enjoy.

On this afternoon, the clashing of metal and the ringing of gunfire could be heard as two students fought ferociously as one needed to let off steam and the other had to sate their partner's appetite. Said students happened to be members of team RWBY, and more specifically made up the BY of the team name. One was a swift and shadow-ly warrior, who was just about to enjoy an afternoon of reading before taking a literal catnap. That was before she was interrupted by her partner, a fierce and fiery blonde brawler who had a lot of pent up steam that needed to be let loose in a proper spar.

This was why Blake and Yang were currently taking advantage of their warm and breezy afternoon by interrupting the serene quiet with the screeches of metal and the whistling of buckshot.

A quick scan of her surroundings told Blake that there were several trees which she could take advantage of, Gambol Shroud remained in her hand, and that Yang was indeed barreling towards her again with the crashes and booms one would expect of thunder. Leaping up and kicking off of the tree at her back, Blake got a headstart as Yang flew straight past her with a weighty right hook, missing her target completely. Swiveling to face her opponent, Blake launched with a series of swift strikes with Gambol Shroud's wickedly sharp sheath blade. The offensive was met with little success however, and soon Yang was quickly deflecting her strikes and quickly following with crushing punches, left right and center.

Intent on not making the fight any harder than it needed to be, Blake backflipped out of the range of her partner in a lavish yet practical style, and beckoned the brawler away from the tree that they were once fighting up against. Her partner complied with little hesitation, eager to land a proper blow on the girl. Charging forward once again, the trading of blows began once again. Blake swiped left into Yang's abdomen, who deflected the slash with her left gauntlet and followed up with a quick jab with the right gauntlet. Blake clearly knew her partner well, and realised that she could easily take advantage of the fact she had two arms which could defend and attack simultaneously.

Time to even the odds then, Blake thought. Feinting to the left, Yang took the bait but was quickly struck with a hard kick as her opponent's hands occupied themselves with unsheathing the thin blade of Gambol Shroud and its pistol handle, and then grasping with equally lethal sheath in the other, effectively allowing blade the use of two blades. This negated Yang's main advantage, and so she was forced to resort to her classic tactic of 'Overwhelm the enemy with buckshot blows until they fall'.

Every attempt that was now made at Blake was met with no result now, however, and she was quickly regaining her footing and building up her momentum against the blonde. As if the flurry of blows, nearly invisible with the speed they were delivered, weren't enough trouble, the faunus then began using her semblance of shadow clones.

"No fair!", Yang shouted as she now kept her head on a constant 360 degrees lookout for any vulnerable spots that the girl clad in black would decide to take advantage of. She was definitely on the defensive now - students were not accepted into Beacon for no reason, each and every one was a very good fighter.

Blake merely laughed as she dashed past the blonde with deft strikes that she was simply too slow to avoid or even block. She found herself punching a few shadow clones by mistake, too, and those false copies of Blake would prove costly to mistake for the real woman, as she would then make her appearance and deliver a terrifying blow to any opening at any time.

Though, Yang thought, surely this means she must be using Aura. She can't keep up these clones forever.

As if reading her mind, Blake was evidently beginning to use her semblance much more conservatively now, using it only to avoid any cheeky strikes that Yang would try to return to the girl. She needed a plan, and she needed one fast, or she wouldn't last much longer.

And that's when she smirked, right in the middle of a fierce strike to her abdomen.

And that's when Blake, not paying attention to the aura levels on their arm-mounted scrolls, realised her fateful mistake, and her eyes widened in worry.

The air all around the two girls literally exploded into flames and knocked Blake onto her back and into a roll to recover it. Looking up, from her current crouching position, Blake saw that Yang's eyes were now a deep red, her hair was glowing, her face had a telling smirk on it, and Blake cursed herself.

Her semblance. Her stupid semblance. The more hits she takes, the more powerful she gets. I've been pummeling her, and she's ready to let it all go -

As if on cue, Blake's only saving grace was the quick reaction times she had acquired through years of practice as a shadow clone sent her flying out of harm's way, harm in this case taking the form of a ground-shattering punch courtesy of Yang, who was already bearing down on the faunus once again. One flying right hook, one ducking Blake, one swipe of Gambol Shroud and another crash of Ember Celica. A strike to Yang's head in an attempt to subdue her had allowed the blonde to catch the girl's unsuspecting arm.

Flaring her aura and creating a shadow clone - wait, what?

Blake's terrified eyes locked onto her scroll. Her aura was nearly at zero, now. There was no way she could use her semblance without harming herself, and now her only hope was that Yang would maybe loosen her grip on the girl's arm so she could break free and make some kind of recovery.

No such thing happened, of course.

The wild brawler pounded Blake with shattering punches from each and every angle as the iron grip on her arm allowed for full control over her new punching bag. Not too long after, their scrolls beeped in unison with a high-pitched warning tone. Blake's aura was empty, the bar completely gone. Yang wasn't faring an awful lot better, being well into the red zone as the hits she took earlier definitely reduced her aura by a considerable amount. Gently letting the girl in black go, who immediately collapsed from exhaustion, Yang herself toppled onto the soft grass which had just served as the arena for their epic duel.

Plenty of deep breaths and achy limbs were shared by the girls, who both congratulated each-other on such a good sparring match. It wasn't every day you fought with your partner, and had the resulting outcome be close and perhaps comparable to a draw. There wasn't much between the two, and Blake put that down to the mistake she made of trying to whittle her partner's aura down rather than trying for more crushing blows against the blonde with the incredible semblance. Perhaps it was the early rush of adrenaline which encouraged her on, being able to finally release her own stresses herself, or perhaps it was impatience, but it was still a fair and square victory for Yang. Besides, Blake's semblance was not an easy one to fight against, and for that, she had to commend Yang's effort in battle. They now found themselves staring at the deep blue sky above.

Watching the clouds after the spar was certainly relaxing, in Blake's opinion. The random shapes of the strange formations in the sky were perplexing, and always captured her wonder. You could make out any kind of shape from the clouds, and this was something Ruby enjoyed doing, she knew. Ruby was always quick to point out any misshapen clouds, and usually ones that resembled her scythe Crescent Rose. Her affection for that weapon was unlimited, Blake decided.

Yang was now breathing softly next to her, and finally propped herself up with her hands and turned to her partner.

"Good fight, Blakey, you're almost as good as me now!", she said, wearing a massive shit-eating grin. Blake rolled her eyes at the silly comment and brushed it off before sitting up herself.

"Oh yeah, and what was that middle part? Where I was totally beating you?"

Yang scoffed and shouted, "No! That was part of my plan! I totally planned to lure you into a false sense of security, and then BAM, use my semblance and sweep the carpet of victory from right under your feet!"

Blake giggled, knowing that this was not the case at all. "Mhm. Sure you did."

"I did!", Yang argued with extravagant gestures. "Any way you look at it, I won and you lost, so guess who gets to be the little spoon!"

Things between Yang and Blake were very… close. Obviously, they didn't quite share the same bond that she and her sister did, but as partners they were very good friends and comfortable around each-other. Hugging like spoons, or 'spooning' as Yang called it, was something that had actually started by accident and had become a thing when Yang confided in Blake with the story of her relentless search for her mother, and the two hugged. It now often happened when the two were simply relaxing, or trying to keep warm, or just felt bored really. It wasn't a romantic thing, of course, they were just really good friends.

This made Blake annoyed. She much preferred being the little spoon, as it was incredibly comfortable and made her feel fuzzy and warm. Being the big spoon was nice… but the little spoon was better. It wasn't as if Blake minded snuggling Yang, because the blonde certainly wasn't unattractive.

"Grr… Fine. That was the bet, and you won, so sure. Be the little spoon. Just know," Blake said with a dead monotone voice, "that I will not be losing to you again. Ever." The menacing look and the glare of seriousness was sort of ruined by the black hair that was plastered to her forehead with sweat. And the clothes that were plastered to her body with sweat. And the terrible smell the sweat produced. She needed to shower.

"Right, you keep telling yourself that," Yang giggled in her typical cheerful tone. She then turned her attention to picking at the grass, then picking at Blake's bow before having her hand batted away, and then was picking at her own clothes.

So energetic and unsettled. Does Ruby get it from her?

"Eugh!" Her face shrivelled up in disgust. "I'm all hot and sweaty! And I smell disgusting! Man, fighting is really fun when you're doing it, but it sucks afterwards, with all the sweat and stuff…"

Yang continued to complain about the warm weather which was making the two girls sweat after their intense spar, until a certain leader of team RWBY found them.

"Hey guys!"

Blake's head snapped towards the new voice, which in this case seemed to be Ruby bouncing along in her normal black and red combat skirt, with a quick wave and a short leap onto the ground near her teammates. She then said, "So what's going on with you two?"

"Well, we just finished our spar," Yang said, "and -"

"There you are! Dust, do you know how long we were looking for you two?"

Weiss had arrived, Blake knew that annoyed voice and demeanour couldn't belong to anyone else.

"Uh.."

"Yeah - uh, we were kind of looking for you for like half an hour. Man, you would have thought that two sparring huntresses-in-training would be easier to find, right? It was only half an hour though, Weiss."

"Half an hour too long…" the heiress grumbled.

"Well," Yang started again, "we just finished our spar and we're super sweaty and stinky, so we're going to need to go in the shower. Eugh, this is disgusting…"

Yang's rant about the abhorrent creation known as sweat was soon cut off by the sound of two very loud dust powered jet engines. Looking towards the sky, the four girls saw a Bullhead flying at considerable speeds over the Beacon site, but was beginning to slow down as it flew overhead, pulling the engines so they faced downwards and prepared to land. Weiss caught the mark on the side of the Bullhead; a big, white snowflake, emblem of the Schnee family. Oh dear, she thought, they're here already? This is not good.

"Woooow...", Ruby said, a little bit dreamily. She was staring at the Bullhead with a renewed fascination, and probably not because of the occupants. Weiss doubted the redhead even had sharp vision like she did, sharp enough to spot the snowflake symbol. This was proven true when Ruby suddenly jumped up and shouted, "You know what's so cool about Bullheads?! You can attach all different sorts of guns to them!"

"That's uh... That's great, Ruby," Blake said, trying not to sound disinterested like she was.

"You bet it is! Crescent Rose fires a shot caliber that's about twenty millimetres wide, and they can be fired about once every second if I'm quick on the bolt, but those cannons they attach to the bullheads can spin and fire two guns with three barrels each at one hundred rounds every second! That's like super-duper speed! And we haven't even mentioned the thirty millimetre armour piercing dust rounds yet…"

Ruby babbled off in a daydream about all the different kinds of heavy aircraft weaponry used by military forces around Remnant, while the rest of their team were more focused on the actual Bullhead itself. It seemed that while Ruby missed the snowflake emblem, a certain keen-eyed partner of Yang's didn't.

"I saw the snowflake," Blake said, turning to Weiss, "and I guess it's safe to assume that the bullhead which just flew over belonged to your family?"

Weiss stood a little straighter and spoke in a more careful and calculated voice, saying "Yes. The Schnee family owns a small fleet of Bullheads for personal transport - about four of them, in fact. One of them has machine guns on it in cas-"

"What kind Weiss?!", Ruby barged into the conversation, "what kind of machine guns are they? Were they the thirty millimetre cannons? Were they the long range high-explosive forty millimetre cannons, or… OH MY GOSH WEISS, DID IT HAVE A ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE MILLIMETRE ARTILLERY-ow!"

Yang began to drag off her little sister by her cloak. "Come on you little weapons nerd," she said, "We need to get back to our dorms and make ourselves look decent."

After being let go, and putting her hood back down, Ruby looked up and asked Yang "Why? It's the weekend, nobody will care about how we look."

Yang rolled her eyes before asking "Ruby. Did you catch any part of that conversation, that didn't involve Bullheads or their ridiculous guns?"

Ruby seemed to stop for a minute and find it odd that Weiss and Blake would be talking about Bullheads. It didn't take her long to piece together the fact that they were probably talking about something else, and that certain something else was- "Weiss' family has arrived, and we don't want to look like a bunch of scruffs, right?"

"Ooh."

She then jumped up onto a nearby rock, stood with her arms at her waist and shouted, "All right team RWBY, it's time for operation Ice Queen's Visitors!"

"Hey!"

"We need to go and clean everything up, including ourselves," Yang and Blake received a look of disgust from Ruby, "and meet Weiss' family and introduce ourselves, and all that good stuff!"

"Yeah. Right," Weiss said, "could you perhaps be just a little bit less excitable for once? That'd really help, Ruby. Not that I don't like it… I just don't think my family would."

Ruby assured herself that she definitely did NOT just blush at Weiss' words like they meant anything more than friendship. Nope, not at all. They'd never find her secret. She most definitely did not look at Weiss differently than before the last few days.

"Well, come on, chop chop Blake, we don't have any more time to waste," said Weiss in the same calculated tone. Blake had a guess that she was probably practising her more refined tone in order to impress her family, or something like that. She wasn't sure, but Weiss was walking off to the dorm in a fashion that was very much posh, even for her. If this was Weiss raising the bar for herself, then it obviously meant that her family were even more uptight and condescending, perhaps, than she was (or at that point, used to be). This thought alone, coupled with Blake's past, made for an unsettling feeling in her stomach.

It wasn't long before all four members of team RWBY have returned to their dorm, Ruby and Yang slightly ahead of the Monochrome duo. This meant that Yang was in the shower first, and as per her normal routine, would take literally forever washing her hair and drying it after. She was the reason that all the girls got up before her, as she took by far the longest in the bathroom, and to get caught behind her was a death sentence. This left Blake to bask in her own sweat, gained from the hard work she went through, sparring with Yang. Weiss, after brushing her own hair into her classic off-centre pony tail, then set about tidying up Ruby's own messy mop.

"No."

Weiss groaned. "Don't be such a child, Ruby. You can't have hair like that if my family is visiting."

"I said no! I like my hair the way it is, and there's no way you're making me do anything to it!"

Blake was rather enjoying this silly spectacle of the two partners arguing. Ruby didn't really pay much attention to how she looked, as she didn't care for much beyond killing Grimm with her Crescent Rose, and eating cookies. This led to the young girl having quite easily the messiest hair on the team, and an adorable bedhead which she vehemently denied even existed. Not minding that, Blake set about tidying up the room, like the others should have started earlier, but evidently didn't get round to doing.

Picking up a box she found on the floor, containing a certain erotic novel about ninjas, she quickly put it under her bed and made sure to hide it well behind the boring old fairy tale books she also owned that she was sure nobody else would pick up. She then set her sights on the messy desks, covered in papers, and listened in on the two girl's conversation - only a little bit, she swore - to provide herself some entertainment whilst performing the menial tasks.

With a sneaky grin, missed by Blake, Weiss said "Well. If you allow me to brush your hair and tidy it up so it doesn't look like a complete mess, then maybe I'll consider allowing you to snuggle with me and a cup of hot chocolate tonight." Blake could hear the smirk from where she was stood.

"A - er..." Any retort that Ruby had instantly died in her throat, and instead was reincarnated as a series of confused squeaks and an adorable deep red blush. Dust, Ruby, pull yourself together! It doesn't mean anything!

Even if she expected a reaction similar to this, Weiss felt a small blush creeping up her face too. She just couldn't deny it: Ruby was a grade A adorable dolt. Snuggle. Yeah. That'll be nice. Just a trust building exercise with my adorable partner. She began to consider how far you could go whilst still being able to call it 'snuggling'. With Yang around, probably not very far.

Weiss started softly brushing Ruby's hair and thought about her feelings for Ruby. She was sure it was more than friendship, but being from an aristocratic family, she never really had any friends with which to share the friendship and therefore didn't exactly know how it felt. There was also something else to their friendship, however unlikely it seemed at first. They were partners and had to learn working in unison. Also, Weiss kept thinking, why did I smack her backside that day? Sure, she looked adorable to me, and I knew I had to do it for some strange reason. And her reaction made me feel all fuzzy inside. I don't think it was just partnership. Is… Is this how it feels like? Falling for someone?

She must have stopped brushing Ruby's hair in the middle of her thoughts, because Ruby was looking at her from the side with curiosity in her eyes.

"Um, Weiss? Why'd you stop? Is something wrong?"

Weiss then realized she was simply staring at the younger girl's hair with dreamy eyes. As she noticed her partner's silver gaze, she snapped out of it.

"Uhh, I was just… Thinking about whether I should let you snuggle with me tonight," Weiss said, which wasn't a complete lie, it was somewhat relevant.

"Weiss! You said I'd be allowed to snuggle with you if I let you do my hair!"

"I distinctly remember something else too. Unless you only want to snuggle?"

Ruby thought back. What was it she said? Something about something sweet. Cookies? Cream? Chocolate?

"Umm…" Ruby was trying to remember, but nothing of importance seemed to be registering with her. "I… I mean, snuggle is nice. We used to do that with Yang a lot when we were younger. B-But I also want that other thing, what was it…" Ruby went through her mind again. "Hot chocolate!"

"Ruby…" Weiss said with a faint blush. "You remember. You listen to me." Weiss was genuinely heartwarmed that the girl had listened to her and remembered the little details she said.

"Of course I do!" There was a hint of hurt in Ruby's voice. "I'm supposed to listen to you, am I not? You're my partner and I have to listen to you."

"Uhh… I guess you're right. Well, let me finish your hair."

Ruby nodded and turned back around to let Weiss do her business. When she was done, Weiss went to Ruby's side and cupped her face in one hand, turning it towards her.

"I'll let you have hot chocolate."

Ruby waited for her to continue for a moment, but when Weiss remained silent, she let out a small whimper. "W-What about s-snuggling?"

Oh my gosh. She whimpered. I don't think I've ever seen her do something as cute as that.

Weiss' mouth widened into a smile before she gently flicked Ruby's forehead with her index finger. "You dolt. Sure, you can snuggle with me tonight."

Ruby had a huge grin on her face as Blake looked away from the couple, smiling slightly to herself. They do make a cute couple, if I'm honest, Blake thought to herself while finishing the polishing of her Gambol Shroud. Now if only Yang would come out of the shower soon…

Just as if on cue, Yang busted into the room, wearing her trademark grin. "All right, Blakey, you can go in now. Hope I didn't make you wait for too long." Blake swore she could still see drops of water on the blonde's badly rinsed skin, making her top slightly stick on her body and in turn making Blake just a little uncomfortable.

Blake gave a short nod, picked up some of her clothes and left the room. Should I tell her about her sister? Probably not, one of them should do it.

And this is chapter two! The fight scene (and pretty much this whole chapter) written by the incredible JackThePegasus! If you haven't checked him out, do, you won't regret it.

Reviews are welcome! See you next time, when we'll meet the Schnees!