In The Name Of Love (ch3)

2-DAY EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!!

I'm so glad everyone was happy to see this fic come back! I'll be updating every week or every other week!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Chapter 3. Strawberry Swirl

About ten minutes after Yang had walked out, Blake and Weiss finished their shift and began their walk home. They were both still kind of wrapped up in a dumbfounded silence, and it wasn't until they exited the café and started walking through town that they each finally realized this was reality.

Blake kept her eyes on just about every passerby within her line of sight, seeking out Yang in particular. Or rather, seeking out the person who had been with Yang.

Blake still wasn't about to let herself believe it. But if it was true…

/Oh my gosh, what if it's true?/

She got a little lightheaded just thinking about it. What if Ruby Rose had been there today, standing outside the café she works at, just a few yards away from her?

Blake shook her head as she continued walking, feeling a sudden urge to break the silence.

"So," she began. "That Yang girl-"

"What about her?" Weiss asked sharply, cutting her off mid-sentence.

A shade of pink had already raced up her neck and cheeks, and Blake couldn't help but chuckle a little at the sight.

"It's okay, Weiss. I'm pretty sure everyone in the café found her attractive."

"What are you going on about?"

"Hey, you should at least let your best friend know when you have a crush. You're terrible at hiding it anyway. And if you ask me, I think she kind of liked you too."

Weiss fell silent for a moment, suddenly finding an apparent interest in her shoes.

"I… may have found her… somewhat attractive… But there is no way she likes me, she was just being polite!" The last part came out in a rush and she had to take a breath to steady herself.

"People don't wink and smile like that when they're 'just being polite.' She was flirting with you." Blake stopped herself before she could say more; Weiss looked like she was near her limit and she didn't want to push her too far.

"I... I highly doubt she meant anything by that. Some people just like to put on a show."

Blake just smiled, mumbling an agreement. It was nice to know they were sort of in the same boat. Not that it really helped their chances.

/Even if Ruby came in, it's not like she would suddenly talk to me. She doesn't even know me. She let out a groan. I wonder what I should say if she comes in. Could I even start a conversation?/

Despite her nerves, she couldn't help but feel a desperate need to find out who Yang really was. Maybe if she knew about her she could find out about Ruby, too.

"So…" Weiss murmured. "Do you like that Ruby Rose girl? You've been fawning over her all day." Her voice was light, but she was watching her friend intently.

"W-What?" Blake couldn't help but stutter at the question. "Fawning? What do you mean?"

"Oh, please. How many times did you check your phone today, hoping to see if she noticed what you said online? Not to mention you're practically stalking the girl… Didn't you just say you should at least tell your best friend?"

Blake bit her lip.

"I… I think I might like her. I hadn't really thought about it until now."

"No, you probably haven't," Weiss said with a grin. "But you've been acting like it for a while."

It was Blake's turn to blush, and she couldn't help but try to cover it with her hands. "I guess I earned that, didn't I?"

Weiss let out a laugh. "Yes, so that makes us even."

They walked in relative silence, bursting into several bouts of spontaneous giggles before splitting up a few blocks from Blake's house. She practically ran the rest of the way, eager to begin her research on whether or not Yang was really Ruby Rose's sister.

Blake hurried up the stairs, nearly tripping over her feet in the process, and then scrambled into her room. Her parents didn't chase after her, and she was grateful they only called up a greeting.

She curled up on her bed and started clicking on her laptop.

It didn't take long to find what she was looking for.

Last night, Blake had mainly been focused on researching Ruby herself, but had paid little attention to any mention of her family.

But now as Blake was looking over Ruby's "Personal Life" section, she read a brief passage:

"Ruby Rose has one older half-sister, Yang Xiao Long."

And that was all Blake really needed.

She felt a wave of bittersweet emotions come over her, and she slumped back against her headboard to stare at the wall.

"That means… she was there today… Ruby Rose was at my café…"

Blake wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved that she hadn't actually gotten to see and meet Ruby for herself. On one hand, she would have been ecstatic, but on the other, she knew she would've been too nervous to even say anything to her face-to-face. Whatever she might've managed would've been mindless babble.

/Maybe it's for the better. At least I didn't have to embarrass myself in front of her./

But there was still a little bit of sadness lingering in her chest. How lucky would she have been to meet her new idol the day after her show had premiered?

Blake grabbed her phone, a mix of anxiousness and excitement overcoming whatever disappointment she still had. She had to text Weiss about her findings.

Weiss didn't take long to respond, and Blake couldn't help but groan when she saw it.

//Do I really want to know what your stalker habits dug up?//

Blake rolled her eyes as she reached over to her laptop, clicking on Yang's personal page. She was – of course – a model. She scrolled through a few of the pictures, some of which were really striking.

//I'm not stalking. It's all on her public profile. Do you want to know more about that Yang girl or not?//

Blake didn't even have time to put her phone down before it vibrated again.

//Fine.//

Blake found the link on her phone and sent it to Weiss.

//Turns out she really is Ruby's sister.//

//Interesting... So Ruby might've really been there today.//

//Maybe...//

It wasn't long before Blake's browsing ultimately brought her back to Ruby's account. She clicked on the 'liked' posts and saw her own sitting there near the top. Blake stared at it for a long time, lost in thought...

What eventually pulled her from the revere was when a new post was made on Ruby's page. A photo popped up at the top of her page.

And it was...

A photo of the Strawberry Swirl Blake had made for her.

Her jaw nearly hit the floor and her heart leapt into her throat.

She couldn't believe she was seeing this. Ruby Rose had taken a picture of the drink Blake herself had handed to her sister only twenty minutes earlier.

Blake had personally prepared the exact drink that Ruby Rose's hand was now holding in this photo.

Before Blake could forget to stop breathing, her eyes traveled to the caption:

"Strawberry Swirl Summer Special from the local cafe! It's called #CFVY Shoppe and it's totally awesome! Everyone should come try it! #Strawberries4Life #Vale #Yummy."

Blake was at an absolute loss. She couldn't believe she was actually seeing this. Ruby had likely taken the photo twenty minutes ago right after Blake had handed it off to Yang and was only uploading now. But just to think that Blake had touched an object Ruby Rose had held, and made a drink she'd enjoyed enough to post about online…

She almost felt like crying – in a good way.

She quickly screenshot the post and called Weiss, because she knew this was too much for texting. Blake gushed for at least twenty minutes as Weiss juggled between teasing her and congratulating her.

The rest of Blake's evening felt surreal as she ate dinner, watched some TV with her parents, and then re-read some Ninjas Of Love before bed.

When she was finally calm enough about everything to lie herself down in bed, she closed her eyes with a long sigh.

/I wonder if they'll still be in town tomorrow…/

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Blake nearly jumped out of bed the next morning and got herself ready as quickly as possible.

Being a Monday, both of her parents were already at work, so Blake made herself a quick breakfast and then was out the door to go collect Weiss and head to work.

Neither of them could avoid talking about the pair of sisters now, and all throughout their shift they kept perking up whenever the bells rang, curious to see if anyone who walked in was model or actress material.

But neither Ruby nor Yang stopped by today, which was a little disheartening. Blake feared Weiss' assumption that they had only been passing through town yesterday might've been correct. Thinking about that was a little depressing.

/That means I missed my one and only chance… But I guess it's better to have even had that chance at all, right?/

And besides, at the very least Blake could walk away with her screenshots of Ruby Rose's posts, and the knowledge that Blake had prepared her new favorite drink for her. That would always be a personal victory for her no matter what.

By the time they were clocking out and making their way home, Blake was beginning to feel a little worn out from her constant look-out for the pair. She didn't have long to relax though, because her mother texted and asked her to pick up some food on her way home.

Thankfully the local grocery was only a few minute walk from the café, so Blake didn't mind making the trip. She had nothing else to do tonight anyway, just lounge around and maybe do some reading.

When she got to the store, she picked up a basket and began going over her mother's shopping list, absently scanning the aisles' contents. She couldn't help it - doing something so monotonous let her mind wander, and her thoughts soon strayed back to Ruby.

/I wonder if she buys her food at a regular grocery store, too. Or does their family have its own chef or something? How does she have time to go to school in between all the acting work? Her page said she's only 15…/

Blake was musing to herself so much that she wasn't paying attention to reality. As she was going to the next aisle she bumped into a display table full of small dessert boxes, and had to quickly scramble to grab a few before they fell.

There was a little cry of shock from someone on the other side and they jumped forward, catching the last box before it crashed onto the hard tile. Blake let out a little breath, quickly rearranging the boxes as best she could before sheepishly walking around to the other side to apologize.

"I-I'm so sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention…"

She looked the other person over to find it was another girl, probably about Blake's own age. Her head and hair were covered by the hood of a black sweatshirt, and from what Blake could gather, her overfall form was a bit small.

She was holding a basket on her arm, full of various sweets and desserts. The box she'd just saved from certain doom - they were cookies, Blake realized - was resting on top of the small mountain.

The girl shook her head and stood up, revealing her face-

Her very, very familiar face.

And Blake felt her breath hitch in her throat.

"It's okay!" the girl beamed. "None of the cookies were damaged, and you actually gave me exactly the ones I needed!"

Her voice was much higher-pitched than Blake had heard it before a few nights ago. Her rosy cheeks were round like apples and her smile was bright and wide.

And her eyes…

Her eyes were unmistakably silver.

Blake was frozen on the spot there, in the little back corner of the grocery store's bakery. Her jaw unhinged and hung open like a broken doll's, her mind blank like the screen of a television that's been disconnected.

She knew exactly who she was looking at. Despite the change in clothes and attempts to conceal her face, Blake recognized her voice if not her eyes.

She'd only really watched episode 1 with Weiss as it was airing, but after that she'd stared at multiple gif sets and re-watched certain clips…

Blake just couldn't believe it.

Ruby Rose…

After twenty or so seconds of stunned, embarrassing, dumbfounded silence, Blake realized the other girl's smile had faded and now she was giving her a concerned look.

"Uh, Miss? Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself when you ran into the table?"

Blake could hardly comprehend the fact that Ruby Rose was standing right here in front of her and now she was addressing her specifically. She had to snap herself out of her trance and act like an actual human being. Blinking a few times, Blake worked her jaw and tried to make her voice come out.

"I-I'm… Y-You're…"

It was like she'd forgotten how to speak. She'd had a million questions to ask Ruby and a million more things just to say to her in general. But now that she was standing right in front of her, Blake's thoughts were completely erased.

But despite her unintelligent babble, Ruby seemed to understand everything right away. She looked around to make sure there was no one within earshot, then grinned and cupped a hand to the side of her mouth, her voice a whisper.

"I can't believe you know who I am. That's great! I'm so glad someone from this town recognizes me! I just moved to Vale, so I'm sure I'll see you around. But try to act a little more natural next time…" With an impish wink and a quick smirk, Ruby Rose scurried away and disappeared behind the many food aisles.

Blake was left standing and staring at the cookies in front of her. There were so many emotions coursing through her right now, so many that it felt like they all clashed together and canceled each other out. She was feeling everything and nothing.

Ruby Rose.

Ruby Rose was just…

/She… She was just here. In front of me. Talking to me and looking at me…/

She felt as though she was going to sway and fall over, probably knock over the entire display table this time. She didn't know what to do-

A sudden buzzing in her pocket nearly made her fall over for real. Blake fished out her phone and scrambled to swipe it and read the screen. It was her mother asking what was taking her so long. Blake shakily replied that she'd be back soon and wobbled her way to the registers.

She checked all over the store as she walked, but saw no more signs of Ruby Rose. She'd disappeared as unexpectedly as she'd come, truly like a ninja.

Blake stuttered through a casual conversation with the cashier before taking her bags and staggering out the doors.

Only when she was outside did she being to run, sprinting off her excitement and embarrassment as she rushed all the way home. She burst through the front door, dropped the bags of food and called out to her parents that she was going to Weiss' house, and then was off and running through the neighborhood again.

Blake didn't even send Weiss a warning text. She just ended up on her porch, rang the doorbell and waited anxiously.

She considered herself lucky that it was Weiss who answered, not Whitley or Winter or their father, because the second that door was open Blake threw herself at Weiss with a cry of distress and excitement.

Weiss only just barely managed to catch her.

"B-Blake? What in the world-"

"W-Weiss! You're… You're not gonna believe this!"

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A/N: A lucky development for lovestruck Blake! When will she be able to meet Ruby again? And will she ever get closer to her than just being a fan?