Cinder Falls... For Ruby Rose (ch6)

EARLY RELEASE FOR HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Back again with these two for s22132! I'm still trying to keep the theme of "hunting" titles for the chapters for a bit of humor. This one is basically "date preparation."

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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														Chapter 6. Sharpening Nails

Naturally, the entire room was stunned into shocked silence.

Ruby stood in the doorway, eyes squeezed shut, fists clenched on her skirt, and blushing madly.

Cinder stared down at her incredulously, lips slightly ajar, but her voice soundless. Behind her, Emerald had frozen in her way over to Mercury in an effort to silence him should he start to say something stupid. But even he was shocked so much he was speechless and behaving for once. Neo simply crossed her legs from her perch on her bed, and brought a hand up to her mouth to hide a devilish smirk of amusement.

For a long moment, no one spoke, moved, or even breathed. Ruby only dared to crack open an eye and peek up at Cinder once the silence had dragged on for so long it was starting to become unbearable.

Cinder's teammates snapped out of it long before Cinder herself did. She needed to give a verbal answer before Ruby interpreted her silence the wrong way. Emerald stayed put, but she cleared her throat obnoxiously loud, and it was noticeable enough for Cinder to hear from it across the room.

The older girl was finally pulled out of her trance and forced to face reality – and it was nervous, red-faced, and adorable.

She made eye contact with Ruby, and both of them swallowed. Ruby couldn't take the silence any longer, however. She started to fidget and stutter.

"U-Um... i-if you don't want to-"

"Yes."

Cinder's response caused everyone to freeze all over again. Emerald could sense Mercury was about to whistle or something idiotic of that nature, so she quickly smacked a hand to his mouth.

Ruby perked up slowly, her eyes widening.

"Y-Yes?" she parroted. "S-So does that mean-?"

"I will come with you," Cinder reiterated. "On a date."

Another beat of silence. Then-

"R-Really?!" Ruby squeaked. "Th-Thank you so much! I-I'll text you the info in a little while, i-is that okay?"

Cinder nodded. Ruby jumped up and down in her spot.

"That's great! Thank you, Cinder! I-I'll see you soon, then!"

With that, Ruby twirled around and positively skipped off down the hallway, giggling and humming.

It took Cinder a moment to close the door and turn to face her teammates. She was wafting a presence that warned them to behave. Emerald had to keep her palm pinned over Mercury's mouth as she presented her leader with a smile.

"H-Hey! Chief, that's great! Seems that girl really likes you!"

/Congratulations,/ Neo signed.

They watched as Cinder made her way to her drawers, wordlessly drawing out a change of clothes for the night. It was clear that she didn't want to discuss it with them right away, or, more likely, she was too flustered and embarrassed to talk so soon.

So they let her disappear into the bathroom and enjoy her shower for as long as she pleased. Meanwhile, the rest of them gossiped in hushed voices.

"I wonder what they're gonna do?" Emerald wondered.

"Hopefully something better than playing games on the fairgrounds," Mercury noted.

/It will be interesting to see what the Little Rose has planned./

Cinder spent nearly an hour in the bathroom, likely in a daze from what had just happened. By the time she stepped out dressed in her nightgown, the others had managed to act normally.

Neo took her turn in the shower, smugly reminding them she had a date of her own tomorrow. Cinder went to bed without another word or glance to any of them.

And only half an hour later, once the others were asleep and the lights were off, did she pull out the little panther plushie from beneath her mattress and kiss its nose before closing her eyes.

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The next morning, Cinder received a text message from Ruby giving details about a date proposal:

//I know students from Haven are going to have to leave in a few more days. So I thought maybe you'd like to have a look around Vale! I know this really nice restaurant we could go to for dinner if you'd want! Lemme know what you think!//

The girl's message reminded Cinder of the inevitable; that they would, in fact, have to start packing up soon and head back to Haven with the rest of their school once the Tournament was officially over. They were all being granted just a few extra days to stay at Beacon, but thier time here was limited now.

Nonetheless, Cinder was determined to make the most out of this newfound relationship she now had with Ruby Rose. So she messaged her back promptly:

//That would be to my liking.//

She received Ruby's exited response a moment later, and from there, they decided on a time. Ultimately, Ruby would come to pick Cinder up, since she already knew where her dorm room was. From there, they'd go to Vale together for supper, and their first official date.

Part of Cinder still had trouble believing it. After all the people she'd dated and all the disappointments she'd suffered through, she'd never thought she would be dating again. Especially not a hyperactive girl in a red cloak.

But here she was.

That day, she and her team got to packing up their things in preparation for their eventual departure. Emerald did well to keep Mercury in check and from out of Cinder's personal business, while Neo was acting a little extra twirly today. She would be meeting Yang around the same time as Ruby would be meeting Cinder. But the sisters had evidently arranged things so that they would be an airship ride apart, so the four of them wouldn't have to end up on the same ship, as it could turn out to be a bit awkward.

They didn't really have much to pack, however, as they'd only brought a few changes of clothes to Beacon with them.

Cinder had lucked out in bringing along a striking black dress, just in case there would be a special event that called for formal attire. She'd assumed there might be a dance or banquet. But as things were now, she planned to wear that dress on her date with Ruby tonight.

The hardest part of packing was trying to stuff her little panther into her suitcase without any of the others seeing. She waited meticulously for a time when all three of them weren't at risk of seeing her do so before she carefully wrapped the plushie in one of her shirts and tucked it away in secrecy.

By the time she was finished packing, there were still a few hours before Ruby was scheduled to come pick her up, and Cinder was far too antsy to sit around doing nothing. So she showered again, taking her time and using the solitude to gather her bearings.

She tried to plan out ahead of time what she'd order to eat, and what kind of things she'd talk to Ruby about.

But as she wrapped herself in her towel and began blow-drying her hair, Cinder stopped herself. She remembered what her teammates had said about planning out her dates with Ruby.

/Perhaps I should... just let things happen naturally. Let her take the lead as she's done previously./

After all, the last time she and Ruby had gone out, when Cinder had left things up to fate, everything had gone rather well indeed.

Cinder took her time preparing herself and putting on the black dress. She was opting to dress up in her best available clothes, not only because they were going out to eat at a supposedly-fancy restaurant, but also too, because this might be the last time Cinder saw Ruby before she had to go back to Haven. If anything, she wanted to show Ruby her most attractive side, both physically and emotionally, to give her something to remember her by.

The black dress was long, falling down to her ankles where she stepped into high-heeled shoes with straps all about them. She already had a few inches of height on Ruby, but these were Cinder's only shoes she'd brought along other than her usual boots.

A slit ran up along the right side of her dress to her knee, and so to contrast that, Cinder curled her hair and positioned it over her left shoulder. The dress had short sleeves, but due to the heat of her semblance, she opted not to bother with a jacket or shawl (also, because either of those would take away from the appeal of the dress itself).

Naturally, when she emerged from the bathroom, she was bombarded with compliments from her teammates.

"Wow!" Emerald marveled. "You look amazing!"

"Damn," Mercury whistled. "Wonder if Little Red is gonna be able to handle seeing you in that."

/It'll certainly match the atmosphere!/ Neo assured her.

Cinder merely nodded and accepted their compliments before picking up a small purse from her bed. She put her scroll inside and slung it over her shoulder.

"I'll be going now," she said.

The others whined.

"Huh? I thought she was gonna come here to pick you up?"

"Hah. I bet she doesn't want us to see Little Red all dressed up," Mercury guessed. "Wants to keep that image all for herself."

Cinder shot him a glare that told them all he was right, but she didn't go after him this time because it might ruin her outfit. As she turned away they, Cinder found Neo scampering around in front of her to sign to her.

/Best of luck tonight!/

Cinder let a small smile curl her lips briefly. She reached out to pat Neo on the head.

"Be sure to give that sister of hers a run for her money."

/Yes, ma'am!/

With that, Neo hurried off to prepare her own outfit for tonight. Emerald and Mercury called out well wishes for Cinder as she opened the door.

"Good luck! Take things one at a time!"

"Knock her dead, boss!"

Cinder merely lifted her hand in a dismissive kind of wave, then stepped out into the hallway. She closed the door behind herself and walked a few paces away before leaning back against the wall.

She tried to remind herself not to start planning things out, as was her habit on dates. She tried not to anticipate how the evening might end, or anything else in between, lest she start imposing things that weren't actually there.

As she mentally coached and prepared herself, it wasn't long before she heard the sound of someone making their way down the hallway. Cinder took a step away from the wall and straightened herself up to meet her.

The second she saw Ruby, Cinder's face heated up without her consent.

Ruby was wearing a red party dress with a black sash and black leggings, with 1-inch heels to match. Her hair was down and had a small rose hair clip off to one side. She was focusing mainly on her feet, grumbling to herself about her teammates who had dolled her up too much when she looked up and noticed her date standing in front of her.

"Cinder!" she squealed.

Ruby tried to rush forward a few feet to reach her, but ended up tripping on her shoes. Thankfully, Cinder reacted quickly and caught her by the shoulders.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah! I mean yes! I'm totally fine! I'm just not used to these shoes..." Ruby shook her head and then presented her with a beaming white smile. "You look super pretty, Cinder!"

Her cheeks were round and pink, and her eyes were shimmering silver. Cinder made sure her nails didn't inadvertently curl into Ruby's shoulders as she let her go.

"That dress is rather becoming on you as well."

"Really? I'm so glad you think so! I'm not really used to dressing up like this, so I'm glad you like it!" With that, Ruby bounded forward and looped her arm through Cinder's elbow. "Come on! Our air ship will be leaving soon, so we gotta go catch it!"

With that, she began walking with Cinder down the hallway.

Despite Ruby's slight struggle with walking in heels, she seemed to be enjoying herself immensely already.

And of course, Cinder didn't mind Ruby's leaning on her for support and balance every few steps.

Eventually, they made it to the exit doors of the building, where Cinder paused and held the door for her. Ruby blushed and thanked her before they continued walking.

The cobblestone paths outside made Ruby shakier than before, and she clung tighter to Cinder's arm. Cinder did her best to keep looking straight ahead, because she knew if she looked at Ruby now, stumbling and blushing at her side, Cinder herself would start to melt.

They made their way to where the air ships land to find one waiting for them with the doors still open. Ruby perked up and gave a little squeak.

"There it is! Let's go!"

From there, she slipped her hand into Cinder's and began tugging her alone.

Cinder took in a deep breath and started to follow.

It was going to be an interesting night.

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A/N: Sorry to cut it off here, but I wanted to give them an entire chapter for their date!