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Four nights in a row it happened. Blake had been keeping track of how many times Yang had slipped out under cover of night. Blake wasn't sure what had made her notice that first night and in all honesty, she wasn't sure it was. To outside observers, it seemed as if nothing had happened, but in actuality, quite a bit had happened over those four nights and each day between them. By morning on day number five, both Yang and Blake were showing signs of lack of sleep.
Team RWBY was eating breakfast together when their young leader finally caught on to something being slightly askew within her teams dynamics. It was easy for Blake to deflect any concern her teammates might have had about her noticeable signs of fatigue. A lighthearted comment about how she had been caught up in a good book or a few too many late night study sessions dispelled any suspicion they may have had. What she couldn't shake was how Yang's attention quickly piqued whenever Blake's name was said. This was just another one of Yang's habits Blake had recently noticed and wasn't sure just how long it had been going on. What she did know, was ever since that first night she had heard Yang slipping from their dorm room, she too had a hyper awareness of Yang.
It became most apparent later that first day, during Oobleck's class. Blake had every intention of pairing up with Yang when Oobleck had announced that they would be working in pairs to complete their in class assignment, but Ruby with her speed beat Blake to it. Much to Weiss' displeasure, Jaune managed to pair up with her before anyone else could. This left Blake to pair with Pyrrha, who shot her a look that clearly said 'you too huh?' before smiling warmly. It was only in hindsight that Blake understood exactly what she meant. It was a scene that, had Blake not actually witnessed it, she would have believed it could only have been torn straight from a cheesy piece of fan fiction. Pyrrha was sneaking glances at Jaune, Weiss was sneaking glances at Ruby, and Yang was sneaking glances at Blake. All of this would have gone unnoticed, except Ruby's signature whine of Yang's name every time her older sister wasn't paying attention caused Blake to whip her head around and investigate what was wrong with Yang. This trend of her particular fixation on Yang continued through to that night. She was trying to figure out just what had caused this and why, when her thoughts were interrupted by an unmistakable sound of feet hitting floor from a hight of about one bunk up.
Blake was fond of her partner and there had always been a particular draw to Yang that she never could quite figure out. This particular realization of what and why, was of course most Earth shattering of many realizations that occurred. It hit her, like a ton of bricks, while attempting to throw herself into school work in a secluded library corner. Her eyes sliding across line after line of text, her brain failing to register a single word of it. With a frustrated huff, she re-started, but soon after realized she didn't even know what book she was reading. All she wondered about was where Yang was. What was Yang doing? How nice it would be if Yang was here. Deciding that maybe school work wasn't going to be enough to reign in her thoughts, she set off to find a new novel to lose herself in. She chose a book at random and turned it over to read it's summary, but once again, only thoughts of Yang crossed her mind. Especially how nice it would be to rest her head in Yangs lap while said Yang scratched behind her faunus ears as she read and how long had she been standing there purring softly? "Oh!" Every whirling cog in her brain stopped. Comprehension dawning so suddenly that she dropped whatever work of fiction she had picked out. Instantly blushing, she crouched to retrieve that damned book, scanning her surroundings to make sure nobody had seen her. Or worse, heard her purring.
Perhaps Blake's most convincing piece of evidence that Yang also had more than platonic feelings for her came to pass on day three. Team RWBY had met up with team JNPR in Vale for an afternoon of shopping and fun. Somewhere between shopping and fun, they were joined by Sun and Neptune, who incidentally had plans of food and fun. This, however, led to a sudden departure of Yang and Jaune and even more mysteriously, no one was able to contact them. Ren matter-of-factly announced that this had been happening ever since Beacon's dance, and in spite of such calmly spoken words, it effected Blake like someone had just smacked her. Yang had worked so hard with Weiss to make sure it was a night of frivolity and pushed Blake harder than anybody else for her to go. Sure, Yang had asked for a dance, but Sun had actually asked her to go with him. All that work, time, and effort Yang had put in for Blake to show up with Sun. It was no wonder after Sun had taken over dancing with her that Yang had retreated far to a second floor balcony with Ruby. She wasn't sure if Ren was also referring to Yang when he pointed out what was now painfully obvious. Upon returning to Beacon and reaching their dormitory, they found a heavily bandaged Yang. Their eyes met only for a brief second but Blake caught sight of a slightly shameful look on Yangs face before Ruby rushed to her sister demanding to know what had happened. After numerous protests that it was nothing and that she was fine did Yang finally confess to having let her semblance run a little too hot, destroying an entire section of training rooms. Goodwitch was furious when she came to clean up, but seemed more worried than anything when Yang woke up in an infirmary bed. Now that her Aura was back up to full strength, she unwrapped several bandages to reveal perfectly unblemished skin. Unblemished skin that Blake couldn't help but gaze over every inch of.
Blake knew it was unwise to jump to conclusions, but this particular conclusion now had five days of supporting evidence behind it, circumstantial evidence anyway. Blake had promised herself that if she heard Yang leave again that night, that she would follow her, find out where it was she was sneaking off to. Blake was undeniably most stealthy of them, but when she needed to be, Yang could also be particularly covert. For this reason, it was always Blake's faunus ears that detected Yangs departure from team RWBY's dorm. It wasn't long after Ruby's quiet snores and Weiss' soft even breaths began that Blake's faunus ears twitched, picking up a muffled but definitive thud. There was no doubt that it could only be Yang now softly pattering and disappearing with a barely audible click. Blake's days of stitching together bits and pieces of evidence began replaying in her mind as she made her way from window to roof in one swift jump. These past few days, Yang had woken up in her usual training clothes instead of pajamas, her Ember Celia suspiciously and haphazardly left on Ruby's desk just inside their shared room door, and at least once she had woken up with her hands wrapped as she usually did for training when she most certainly had not gone to bed as such. Based of these particular clues, Blake had speculated that Yang had been sneaking out to train. While Yang sought peace of mind through physical exercise, Blake sought peace of mind through mental exercise, this was a known fact. However, what was causing Yang to sneak out at midnight seeking peace of mind, Blake could only guess, but she was fairly certain it was similar to why she herself had been trying to lose herself in books.
Due to her accidental demolition of several training spaces, Goodwitch had rebuilt that particular section to be what she called "Yang-proof" so it wouldn't happen again. Now that she had what she referred to as a "temple of Yang" to completely cut loose in, Blake was sure that was exactly where she would find her quarry. Sure enough, as she took up a scouting position on an opposite roof, a blazing golden light ignited inside. Her "temple" may have been able to withstand and contain her fiery outbursts, but no walls could ever contain that pure energy Blake had become so in tuned with. With a spry leap, Blake landed squarely on her feet, smirking as phrases like 'I guess cats do always land on their feet' running through her head. This moment was brief, there was serious business to attend to and this night could either end impossibly well or leave her with more questions. A thought that seemed detrimental to occur now that she had come this far stopped Blake in her tracks. What if she's upset that I followed her? What seemed like several hours of indecision were only a few short minutes before a blood chilling war cry followed by sounds of shotgun blasts and great crashing caused Blake to blindly charge into unknown territory.
Of many ways that this confrontation had played out in her mind, Blake had never in a million years imagined how it actually ended up happening. With her semblance running at full blast, Yang's natural reaction to an unexpected event such as someone bursting into her gym at this hour was to attack. Which led in turn to Blake's natural reaction to being suddenly attacked. Leaving a shadow image of herself in place and dodging, she was a fraction of a second too late in her jump. A great explosion rocketing her forward in a high arc. There was only one thought that occurred to Blake after literal and figurative smoke had settled. Warm. An all encompassing warmth had completely surrounded her, and as she began to make sense of what was going on, she realized she had not landed on her feet. In fact she had not landed on any kind of ground at all. Whether she had landed in Yang's arms or if Yang had caught her didn't particularly matter in that moment. What mattered was how unbelievably warm Yang was. She had been embraced by her partner before, even while her usual lilac eyes had burned red with emotion, and she was warm then, but nothing compared to what heat was now radiating from her. It was no secret that Yang was literally warm, and that her semblance literally burned, but Blake was not prepared for all of this. Being in Yang's arms was like an entire afternoon spent basking in warm summer sun crammed into a single moment and Blake reflexively nuzzled under Yang's chin. It took Yang a moment to catch her breath and realize what was happening. "Blake! What are you doing here? Did you follow me? Are...are you purring?" She asked, a look of mingled shock and guilt slowly being replaced by a massive smile dawning across her face as her eyes slowly faded from red back to purple. Blake's eyes flew open and she jumped back to her feet.
"You tell anybody about that and I'll-wah!?" Blake had gone to poke Yang's shoulder to emphasize her point, but Yang had quickly grabbed Blake's outstretched hand, pulling Blake back against her chest. Once again, her feline reflexes kicked into overdrive when presented with Yang's comforting heat, but this time it was much more. Being consciously aware that it was Yang that this heat radiated from, that it was Yang's arms she was now wrapped in made it even harder to stop that steady soft purring emanating from within Blake. She had to (reluctantly) push away from Yang to keep every sense she had from being overwhelmed by that giggling brawler. "What are you doing here?" Yang had been putting on a good front, but Blake could see through it in a heartbeat. It was a mask she herself knew all too well.
"Just blowing off some steam." Yang lifted her hands as she shrugged. They were actually steaming and she smirked at her own joke.
Blake narrowed her eyes, but she supposed it wouldn't be Yang if there wasn't a joke involved. "It's been days."
"Oh. So you've noticed," Yang nervously fluffed her mane of golden hair, shifting her weight from side to side. "I just…it's nothing. Don't worry about me." She folded her arms across her chest as she turned away.
"Don't do that!" Blake roughly shoved Yang, a slight twinge of deja vu setting in. "If you want me to talk to you guys more then you have to talk to me. I'm your partner Yang."
"Exactly!" Yangs semblance flared as she wheeled around, but Blake didn't even flinch. "You're my partner. I just..." Everything about Yang deflated in that moment. "I just don't want to ruin that."
"Ugh, you're going to use that tired trope? Keeping this up is going to destroy us long before a break up. Besides, we're perfect for each other." Blake resumed her spot nuzzled under Yang's chin, basking once again in that radiating heat. Yang's laughing echoed in her chest causing Blake to start purring again.
"Now look who's being cliche." Yang tilted Blake's chin up, but once again that night, violently opened doors interrupted whatever was happening inside. Blake heard it before Yang could, Weiss' unmistakable tone when yelling at Ruby.
"No you dunce! That's exactly how I feel about us!" Followed by Weiss and Ruby crashing inside, locked in a very passionate kiss. It was fortunate on Weiss' behalf that Blake, recognizing imminent danger, closed what little distance remained between herself and what would have been an angry older sister before Yang could process what was happening. Blake was seeing stars behind her lidded eyes and it was several moments, or several days, before they broke apart, prompted by an exaggerated clearing of Weiss' throat. "Not that this hasn't been an enlightening evening, but can you two finally get some sleep now?"
Truth be told, sleep was not exactly what Blake had in mind for when they eventually made it back to their beds, but it was probably most important. Before she finally made it into bed, Yang turned to Weiss, who froze as she pulled Ruby close in their now shared bottom bunk.
"Don't think we're not going to talk about this."
"YANG!" Both Ruby and Blake shouted together, but it was Blake who pulled Yang into bed that saved Weiss a second time that night.
"What?! That's my sister she's kissing!" Blake effectively silenced any other protest with some kissing of their own. Five nights of sleep deprivation and a few minutes of satisfied purring was enough to knock them both out for some much needed sleep.