Chapter Text
"You're getting married?" Yang responded to Jaune and Pyrrha's news. "Wow Jaune, I didn't you had it in you to say yes."
"Hey!" Jaune protested with that incredibly high pitch his voice could somehow reach.
Everyone sitting around the bar table burst into laughter, Yang taking a victorious sip from her drink. Whether the others were laughing at the joke itself or Jaune's reaction, she always took pride in her work. Someone had to.
"As surprising as it may sound, Jaune was actually the one who proposed..." Pyrrha explained, looking fondly at the new ring on her finger. "Believe me, I was probably more shocked than any of you might be."
"You should have seen her when she realised what was happening." Jaune told them as he took Pyrrha's hand. "I could have sworn her face was trying to blend in with her hair with how red it was going."
"Well, I'm happy for you two, and I believe I speak for all of us when I say that." Weiss congratulated them.
"Damn right we're happy!" Nora agreed excitably, before her expression shifted to one less cheerful. "Although if Jaune's willing to pop the question, it clearly speaks volumes about anyone else who hasn't gotten around to it yet. Ahem."
Despite being under fire from Nora's accusatory stare, Ren continued to casually sip his drink without any noticeable reaction.
"Hey, you've never mentioned any desire to get married as far as I remember." He eventually responded.
Nora's jaw dropped. "It's been six years!"
"And I'm perfectly fine with us the way we are." He replied as he happily stroked Nora's hair, the girl helpless against smiling in response to this. "But back to the subject of the one's who are happy with getting married, when do you plan on doing it?"
"Well, we're thinking..." Jaune looked to Pyrrha for assurance.
"Within the year at least." Pyrrha answered. "About three months would be ideal, though."
"I could possibly make it happen within a month or two if I could organise it." Weiss offered. "Which I'd be happy to, by the way."
"Great! We were actually going to ask if you and Yang would be able to take part in the planning." Said Pyrrha.
"Sure, why not?" Yang raised her glass. "Me and Weiss have always been able to put a party together. You can count on us! Right, Weiss?"
"Of course." Weiss nodded happily. "Your wedding day happens only once after all!"
Yang smirked. "Yeah... until the marriage falls apart within the first half decade, and you end up going through about two other failed marriages before you ultimately die sad and lonely old sacks."
She received a stare of unamusement from all five of them.
"Just kidding, of course not all marriages crash and burn." Yang apologised. "Just... almost all of them. Kidding again! I'm sure you guys will be fine. I don't think I've ever seen a relationship as... healthy as yours. Frankly it's almost unnerving how happy you guys are."
"Thanks Yang." Said Pyrrha. "Though that does beg the question... how's your love life been lately?"
"Yeah..." Nora joined in. "Wasn't your last boyfriend like... two years ago?"
"Wait... really?" Yang thought back on her previous relationships, realising that she couldn't actually remember when her last one ended. What was her last boyfriend's name? Johnny? Joe? Did it even start with a J?
"I guess I just haven't cared too much recently." Yang explained.
"That doesn't sound like you at all." Weiss responded. "You're normally so flirtatious."
"What, are you worried that bringing someone home is going to tarnish Ruby's innocence or something?" Nora asked. "Y'know I'm pretty she's had a few boyfriends of her own."
"It's nothing like that... they just never seemed to last long. I think I just got tired of trying to find someone." Yang started sipping her drink.
"Well, I think it would be nice for you to get back out there." Pyrrha encouraged her. "Find yourself a nice boyfriend or girlfriend. It would be great for you."
Yang almost spat her drink up upon hearing the word 'girlfriend'. Instead, she ended up forcing the liquid down uncomfortably and coughing slightly.
"Girlfriend? At what point have I ever given the impression that I was into girls? Uh... not that there's anything wrong with that..."
Ren raised an eyebrow. "Wait... so you aren't openly bisexual?"
Jaune pointed to Ren in a gesture of agreement. "Yeah Yang, I won't claim to be an expert in recognising sexuality, but I am an expert at recognising when people are attracted to my Pyrrha, and there have been more than enough cases where you've taken plenty of interest in her body."
"Jaune, you know what Pyrrha's body is like. Any girl would be envious for a body like that." Yang explained.
"Uh... thank you?" Pyrrha reacted, a little embarrased.
"Yeah, except when have you ever wanted someone else's body?" Jaune continued. "You practically worship yours."
"Hey, I worked hard to achieve this perfect mix of muscles and curves." Said Yang "I can't be blamed if I want to show it off."
"Which is exactly the point we're making." Said Ren. "Face it Yang, you find Pyrrha attractive, as well as a bunch of other girls too numerous to name. Anyone else agree?"
Everyone at the table excluding Yang raised their hand, and Yang herself looked back on the thoughts she had on other women. Now that she really thought about it, she didn't really see much of a difference between guys and girls. Perhaps she had been mistaking her own attraction towards people of the same gender as simply having a lot of respect for them?
"Okay, so maybe I am Bi." Yang admitted. "But like I said, I'm not interested in getting into any relationships right now."
"Suit yourself..." Said Nora. "But don't think we don't notice how lonely you look sometimes."
"I suppose it is your choice. We're not trying to force you into anything." Said Weiss. "But enough about who's single. We have an engagement to celebrate. Drinks are on me and my really deep wallet!"
Everyone gave a short cheer except for Yang, who thought that now was a good moment to check her phone, which not only told her that it was surprisingly late but also that she had received a message from Ruby.
Closing up now. Make sure you dont stay up too late. Remember to lock up when you get in. Goodnight.
Despite being the younger sister, somehow Ruby managed to sound more like a mom at times, which was especially strange considering how long it had been since their actual mother had died.
"Sorry guys, but I think that's it for me." Yang apologised to her friends.
"Right, you have to open in the morning..." Weiss figured. "I suppose you'd better go then. Don't worry about your drinks though, I've got you covered."
"You sure?" Yang felt that she'd feel bad if Weiss paid for her drinks despite her early departure.
"It's fine." Weiss insisted.
"Thanks, Weiss." Yang replied gratefully as she slipped on her jacket and handbag, before turning to Jaune and Pyrrha. "Congratulations again you two. Goodnight everyone."
They all bid Yang a good night as she departed from the table. Within a moment she had passed through the bar and out the door, into the mercy of the dry but cold night air.
Yang turned and headed in the direction towards home, which wouldn't take much more than half an hour to reach.
The sky above was completely blank, not a cloud in sight but no sign of any stars either thanks to the urban lights. Not that Yang was complaining, since she considered the absence of stars to be a necessary sacrifice for the convenience of the streets being easy to navigate at night. Besides, she had already seen plenty of stars in her life during her travels.
All her life people had referred to Yang as the adventurous type, and she had always held that opinion herself. Whenever her parents took her and Ruby somewhere new, she always spent most of her time exploring the new environment. Even in her more restrictive life in the city, her childhood was filled with increasingly stupid and dangerous but fun stunts to counteract her boring surroundings. And when she was finally old enough she made it her own priority to travel the world, experiencing new countries and cities and the thrills she could feel in them. Sure it drained her savings like the donuts at a party (And someone always got the one she wanted!), but she practically lived for it.
While she didn't mention it to her friends, this was one of the major reasons she wasn't interested in getting into any relationships. Commitment just tied her down, and she didn't intend on getting tied down anytime soon.
Yang was swiftly thrown out of her train of thought when she felt a sudden tiny but cold force collide with her head. As she quickly comprehended what had just happened, she felt another one hit her on the shoulder, followed by another one on her back.
'Rain?!' Yang thought to herself, looking to the sky for confirmation, and discovering that the heavens were indeed covered in dark clouds.
This didn't make any sense. Just a moment ago the sky was completely empty, now Yang could feel the rain falling on her in rapidly increasing amounts. How could the weather change so quickly like that? Was this a global warming thing?
Yang increased her walking pace, wanting to get out of the suddenly appearing rain as quickly as possible. She felt annoyed with herself that she hadn't brought an umbrella or something, but at the same time, she didn't think she could blame herself considering the fact that there was no indication in the news or in general weather signs that it was going to rain at all within the next few days.
She quickly considered taking off her jacket and lifting it over her head, because if there was one rule she had in this life, it was that no one, not even God, was going to mess with her hair.
That was when she noticed something. Stopping dead in her track, she looked around and came to a quick realisation.
The streets were completely empty.
Now the city itself didn't seem to be completely devoid of life, as she could see and hear the lights and sounds coming from the various buildings, as well as the people behind the windows of said buildings, but she was seemingly the only person outside. While it made sense that people might have wanted to get out of the rain, the streets couldn't have possibly emptied out that quickly. Especially with how suddenly the rain had come.
Yang was left baffled by everything that had happened in the past few seconds, but was quickly brought out of this state when she discovered that she wasn't actually alone on the streets upon seeing someone quickly walk past from behind her, seemingly out of nowhere.
Though their clothes were quite obscuring, Yang could quickly see that it appeared to be a man in his thirties to fifties. Said obscuring clothing consisted of black trousers and shoes mostly covered by a large black trenchcoat, and on his head, Yang could vaguely make out white hair under his black fedora. The only thing that didn't match this guy's consistent theme of black was what looked like a moss green scarf of some kind.
Although Yang felt some mild relief upon discovering that she wasn't the only one currently outside, it wasn't exactly comforting how much the man looked like he was on his way to a Mafia hit. At the very least his presence indicated that the empty streets were clearly a coincidence, even if just two people wasn't much stranger than one.
Suddenly, Yang spotted a small, unidentifiable object fall from inside the man's coat, splashing against the increasingly wet ground without him noticing. He continued on walking, clearly oblivious to what just happened.
Yang walked towards the object, discovering that it appeared to be his wallet. Crouching down, she picked it up from the partial puddle that it had landed in.
"Excuse me, sir, you seem to have dropped your..." When Yang looked up she barely spotted the man headed into an alleyway in front of her.
Yang ran towards the alleyway to catch him, feeling the pace of the rain increase with her own.
Said alleyway was about as much as a welcoming sight as you'd expect at this time. It looked dark and grimy, a factor that wasn't helped by the weather. Rainwater ran down the walls like tears falling down the faces of the buildings, a constant rapid tapping noise echoing across the narrow space as raindrops burst upon the surfaces of the outside bins. The closed doors on the sides of the buildings, Yang assumed fire-exits, looked like they could open at any time, revealing some horror ready to devour her, either metaphorically or literally.
But the most unnerving thing was the complete absence of the man that Yang had been trying to catch up with. That shouldn't have been possible. The Alleyway was way too long for him to have made it around one of the corners at the other end before she made it to this one, even if he had been running at full speed for whatever reason.
Yang started to feel nervous. Was he hiding behind one of the bins or doors? Was he trying to lure her into the alleyway for some reason? Yang considered the suddenly very real possibility that she may be dealing with a mugger, rapist, or even murderer. After all, who just drops their wallet like that? Any sensible person would probably keep it in their pockets, and things don't normally just fall out of pockets.
She took a look at the object she was holding, and her eyes widened as she realised she wasn't holding a wallet anymore. Between her fingers was now a small piece of paper. How was that possible? She hadn't felt anything other than the wallet's thin leathery surface, and she could have sworn she could still feel it right before she looked at her hands.
Staring at the paper, she noticed that there was something written on it. One word written in large black letters.
Blake
Yang stared at the word in confusion. But upon blinking, she found that it and the paper had suddenly vanished.
While outside Yang was simply frozen in bewilderment, inside she was freaking out completely. What the hell was going on?! The empty street, the weather, the man, the note. She surely hadn't had that much to drink. Was this even supposed to happen when you were drunk?! Nothing like this had happened before! Had someone put something in one of her drinks? Why would they do that?
She realised that now probably wasn't a good time to panic, and figured that the safest option was to just go home. A good sleep might fix whatever was happening to her. Maybe she was just tired.
But as she started to turn around, she jumped slightly upon hearing a sudden sound.
Meeeeeeeoooooooooow
Nervously looking back in the direction that the sound had come from, she swiftly understood that it had come from a nearby bin. Though it's lid was wide open, leaning against the wall, at her distance and angle Yang was unable to see what was inside it, more importantly what had made that sound. She slowly approached it with a mix of curiosity and caution. Though she had no reason to still be here, if anything she should have been leaving as fast as possible considering everything that had just happened, there was an element of distress in that sound that she couldn't ignore, and there was only one thing in the world that made that noise...
The bin was mostly empty, full of enough wet garbage to obscure the bottom of it's interior but clearly filling up only a fraction of its maximum capacity. However, the garbage wasn't the only thing lying in there, as a small black figure stared back at Yang with wide Amber eyes.
The cat didn't look much older than a kitten, but it definitely didn't look too young either. Yang didn't know that much about cat years, but she figured that the cat must have been around two years old. However, it was possible that it could have looked older considering the state it was in, its ebony fur dripping wet as well as covered in filth.
'Meow...' It cried quietly, evidently distressed.
Yang couldn't tell if it was scared of her or essentially begging for help, but it was clear that she couldn't just leave it out here in the rain. There was no collar on it or anything like that, so if it had an owner they probably wouldn't be finding it anytime soon.
Her mind was made up. She'd probably feel like a terrible person if she didn't take this thing home.
"Hey there..." She said softly as she extended her arms inside the bin. "Need some help?"
As her open hands approached the cat, it quickly backed away, struggling to move backwards through the trash. Moving into a crouching position, it began to glare at her as it hummed a menacing purr. It looked like it was going to be violently insistent on taking its chances with its current accommodation than with some stranger.
"Come on, I won't bite." She promised. "And uh... hopefully you won't either. Do we have a deal?"
For a moment it continued to stare at her suspiciously, the direction of its gaze alternating between towards her face and her inviting arms. It then suddenly lunged forward, causing her to flich slightly, but she was quickly relieved to find that it had lept into her grasp rather than attacking her.
Picking the cat out of the trash, Yang guessed that it had to have been domesticated, at least at one point in its life. It may have been a lot more violent otherwise. Or maybe it was just an exceptionally friendly stray cat.
"It's okay..." Yang whispered as she stroked the creature in her arms. "I've got you little guy... or, um... girl?"
She lifted the confused cat in curiosity, inspecting the space between its legs.
"Yep, definately a girl."
***
After a few more minutes of walking, or more accurately, running through the rain, the two of them eventually reached Yang and Ruby's home.
The Summer Rose Bakery was obviously one of the older buildings around the block, and probably the city overall. It had been over thirty years since their mom had bought the place, and Yang had no idea how long it had been around before that. It certainly looked like it could have been built decades before the other buildings, with its more traditional brick, wood, and tile structure as opposed to the more modern concrete and steel style of the surrounding architecture. But despite its clear age, it had never exactly looked run down or anything like that throughout her life. Her family had always put in the effort to make sure that it was kept in an appealing condition, and it was probably this old but fresh feel the place had that was responsible for the Bakery's surprising success throughout the years. That, and her mom's killer recipes and techniques.
Taking her keys out, Yang quickly unlocked the door, finally relieving her and the cat of the rain as they made it inside. The relentless rattling of the chilling downpour became simple muffled taps as Yang shut and relocked the door, both her and the small creature doing their best to shake the water off their hair.
Unlike the Bakery's old-timey exterior, the interior was much more modern. Not that the furniture really screamed 21st century aesthetic or anything (if there was any such specific aesthetic to be called that), it just looked too well manufactured to come from an older time. The plastering and painting on the walls as well as the clean tiles on the floor also helped to hide the age of the building.
Yang didn't bother turning on any lights, instead making her way over to one of the two doors behind the large display counter full of baked goods. While the door directly behind said counter lead to the kitchen where the goods were made, the one she opened was located on the wall perpendicular to the counter, and behind it was the stairway leading to the first floor, also known as the floor where the two sisters had lived their whole lives.
She could feel the cat squirming in her hands as they went up the stairs. The tight, dark space probably wasn't the most appealing place for an oblivious animal to suddenly find herself in. She was quickly calmed as Yang reached the top of the stairs, switching on the lights to reveal a much less discomforting scene. Beyond the top of the stairs was a small hallway that existed to connect the various room. The largest of these rooms was the combined kitchen, dining room, and living room to the left. To the right were two doors, each one leading to one of the two bedrooms, which were currently occupied by the two sisters. And directly in front of the stairs was the bathroom. The Hallway itself was decorated with the usual kinds of hallway decorations like family pictures as well as a single small cupboard topped with a vase full of roses and sunflowers. A bizarre combination of flora, but one the two sisters enjoyed seeing everyday.
While it would have been nice for Ruby to have conveniently been awake to help her deal with their new guest, her visual absence and closed bedroom door told Yang that her sister was fast asleep. That was unfortunate, since Ruby was quite fond of animals, while Yang generally knew nothing about cats. Her experience with pets was pretty much zero aside from their dog Zwei, who was currently living with their dad in his much more pet appropriate house.
Yang moved into the living room, shrugging her bag onto the sofa before placing the cat on a dining chair. The cat looked up in confusion at Yang, who figured that after being on the streets for an unknown amount of time, the feline was probably hungry. Quickly moving over to the fridge, she inspected what her guest could eat. Unfortunately her knowledge of a cat's diet was limited. The first thing that popped up in her head was of course catfood, but they were naturally lacking in that since they didn't actually have a cat. She did, however, find two cans of tuna. Cats ate tuna right?
One quick Google search on her phone later, and it turned out that cats did indeed eat Tuna. It wasn't exactly recommended that they eat a lot of it, but it wouldn't make them sick or anything. It definitely made for an easier option than heading to the shop to get some food. Opening the cans and putting the contents into a bowl, Yang placed the Tuna before the cat, who was quick to respond by jumping lightly off the chair and inspecting the presentation.
She looked up from the bowl towards Yang, who couldn't tell whether her eyes said she was suspicious or hopeful about the offering. Either way, the response was still the same.
"Go on." Yang said, nudging the bowl toward her. "Eat it."
She couldn't to look at the woman and the bowel multiple times, but eventually gave in and began happily gorging herself.
Next was dealing with thirst, which was a lot simpler. While there was a stereotype that cats love milk, apparently it was actually pretty bad for them. Water, on the other hand, was good for any creature. And a few seconds of fetching another bowl and filling it with some good old H2O from the kitchen's water cooler later, it was good for the cat too.
Now that the cat had all the food and water it needed, Yang couldn't think of anything else it might require. At least, nothing she could deal with tonight. She could feel herself tiring very quickly, and she need to open up in the morning, cat or no cat.
She crouched down near the feline, who was taking some thick licks at the water. Upon stroking her black fur, she was looked up at with suspicious amber eyes.
"So... what can I call you?" Yang asked.
She figured that she was either going to be giving her back to her owners if she managed to find them or maybe give her to some animal shelter, if one existed in town. But she was also starting to think that it might be nice to keep her. That was, of course, something she'd have to discuss with her sister. But in the meantime, she felt like she needed something to call her, especially if it did end up staying.
Her mind drifted back to when she found the cat just less than an hour ago. How, before that, she had followed that mysterious guy into an alleyway before he just vanished. She wasn't sure what on earth had happened then, but she remembered what that note had said before it seemingly vanished as well.
Blake, a word that apparently originated as a term used for dark haired people as she had heard as a random fact from one of her teachers. Either English or History, she couldn't remember. That she remembered this seemingly pointless random fact was weird, but she was pretty good at remembering random pointless fact. It made her fun at parties.
The word Blake did seem to match the black haired cat quite well, and at the same time it sounded like a pretty good name for a girl.
"I think I'm going to call you Blake." Yang declared as she lifted the now seemingly satisfied at. "How does that sound?"
The cat stared at her, and now that she was fed as well as sheltered from the rain, Yang got her first real good look at her face. Maybe it was just how all cats looked, but she seemed to look at her with almost complete introversion. It was almost like she was trying to hide her emotions, aside from the obvious signs of distress, suspicion, and curiosity that was present before. It was more likely that Yang was just bad at reading animals. Regardless, the cat seemed completely indifferent to the sound of the proposed name.
"Blake it is then." Yang concluded, putting her back down.
A yawn escaped from Yang's mouth, and she understood that she had better get herself to bed soon. The newly named Blake would also need somewhere to sleep, but Yang thought that she could just deal with that once she was done dealing with herself.
After a quick trip to her room to fetch her pyjamas, Yang locked herself in the bathroom, where she spent a few minutes showering and drying herself before brushing her teeth. After leaving the bathroom, she went back to her own room to find that Blake was now lying on her bed.
The feline was firmly curled up on top of the sheets, looking like she had no intention of moving. Yang was initially ready to protest, but quickly recognised that her room was probably the best place to keep her in, since she could keep an eye on her as well as make sure she didn't damage any part of the house. While she had been surprisingly well behaved for a cat that was just found on the street, Yang was still unsure of what could happen if she was left alone. She didn't want to wake up to find the place all scratched up with everything knocked over.
After turning off all other lights in the house, Yang returned to the bedroom, prepared to turn in. Thankfully, Blake was lying in a spot on the left side of the bed that left plenty of room for her. Tucking herself into the sheets, she stretched out to the bedside table and switched off the lamp illuminating the room, leaving them in darkness.
"Goodnight Blake."
After all of the weird, surprising, and downright confusing things that had happened to her in the past evening, the feeling of wrapping herself up in a warm bed with the sound of raindrops falling beyond her window could only be described as blissful, and she felt herself swiftly drifting off to sleep. But before she did, she felt a disruption on the bed as Blake moved over to a spot right next to her, so close that they were almost snuggling. Unable to resist, Yang lifted her hand onto the cat's head, feeling her fur brush past her palm and her ears run through her fingers as she stroked it.
Despite the fact that they had met barely an hour ago, Blake didn't have any apparent objection to Yang's blatant affection.
They were already off to a great start.