Across The Field And Back (ch1)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS! THANK YOU!

For White Rose Week 2018! I'm so glad I got the time to jot down a few drabbles and be able to participate in this fun event again, as I missed it last year. Chapters will be short and adhere to the daily themes as decided by the official White Rose Week tumblr blog (white-rose-week,tumblr,com).

Introducing a new little AU of mine, Soccer AU!

Day 1: Teamwork/Partnership

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Across The Field And Back

															Chapter 1.

A cool breeze swept across the soccer field as Ruby scurried onto the soft grass, leaving her sister father and dog behind in the parking lot. She was wearing her red jersey with the number 5 on the back, and black shorts, socks and cleats with the length of her short brown hair pulled back into a tiny ponytail.

There were already a dozen players in the same red jerseys here, her own teammates, along with their Coach Oobleck who kept blowing his whistle and darting around to give commands to his players about the formation they'd be taking on during today's match.

Ruby bounded over and waved hello to some of her teammates like Jaune Nora and Sun. They greeted her with grins and thumbs-up.

"Hey, Ruby!" Jaune said. "You ready for today's match?"

"Eeeeven though it's gonna be against you-know-who?" Nora drawled in amusement.

"Hey," Sun said. "She could say the same thing back to you, y'know. Isn't Ren on that team?"

"Yep!" Nora affirmed. "And so are Pyrrha and Neptune, right?"

"Yeah," Jaune said rather airily. "It kinda stinks we didn't end up on the same team together, but I just consider myself lucky I get to play with her at all."

"Same here," Sun agreed. "But Neptune's pretty bad so we don't have much to worry about there."

Ruby managed to sneak into the conversation there.

"I'm soooo ready for today!" She made a fist as she cast her gaze across the field to where the opposing team was stretching and chatting amongst themselves.

Their color was a light icy blue. She spotted her friends' friends; Pyrrha and Ren and Neptune were chatting together and laughing, probably talking about their companions on the opposite side of the field as well.

But the player who stood out the most to Ruby was at the back of the crowd.

Her back was to Ruby. She wore the same black cleats, but her socks and shorts were white, her blue jersey sporting the number 8; the perfect number, even, appealing, symmetrical no matter how you sliced it. Ironic judging by the way she always tied her ponytail off to one side, askew and unbalanced at the back of her head, unlike the centered version Pyrrha preferred.

The white-haired heiress wasn't too keen about sitting in the muddy grass to stretch out like the rest of her teammates were, so instead she stretched herself while standing. When she'd finished she went to her coach, Coach Port, to discuss the coming game's formation.

She held herself with prestige and poise as always, back straight and hands folded neatly either in front or behind herself, or else they'd take up residence on her hips.

Ruby had known her ever since they were little. They'd both started playing soccer in elementary school, then continued all through middle school, and now they were in high school and still playing.

And even though they came from the same town and district and went to the same school, they always wound up on opposing teams.

All of their friends often switched teams every season; sometimes Ruby ended up with Ren and Sun and Nora and Pyrrha and Coco, or sometimes she would end up with Jaune and Velvet and Pyrrha and Neptune, or any combination of them.

But she never once in all these years had ended up on her team.

She was Weiss Schnee, a wealthy heiress set to one day inherit her father's big-business jewelry company. She had a haughty way about her, a better-than-thou attitude that had earned her a reputation early on in her school years.

And she looked up from her conversation with Coach Port now to realize Ruby was gawking at her from across the field. Weiss rolled her eyes and began storming her way over.

Ruby had taken a seat on the ground to stretch and touch her toes but now she froze, hands hovering barely as far down as her knees.

Weiss stalked over looking annoyed, irritated - looking absolutely Weiss-like. This was Ruby's competition, her main adversary, her number one rival-

"Ruby Rose, do you call that a stretch?"

-and her best friend.

"Gawk!"

Ruby yelped as Weiss reached her and crouched down to slam an arm across her back, forcing Ruby to hunch forward until her face hit her kneecaps and her hands smacked her cleats. Everyone else chuckled at the display but kept their distance. Weiss glared them all away as she continued leaning her weight against the twitching brunette's back.

"Honestly," she snapped. "You clearly haven't been stretching all summer. Did you intend to come back to the field and play a good offense when you can barely touch your own ankles?"

"W-Weiss... my back's gonna break-"

"Good. Maybe you'd be faster in a wheelchair."

But despite the jibe Weiss let her up. She didn't mean it either. Everyone knew Ruby Rose was famous for her speed on the field. She'd always been quick and light on her feet, so much so that she was made to be a forward offensive player every season.

But she was only successful in short (though nearly manic, and almost literal) bursts of effort. She couldn't maintain her speed for longer than a few minutes, but oftentimes that's all she needed in order to make a goal.

More than once, Weiss hated to admit, she'd let Ruby slip past her otherwise-impenetrable defense and score on them.

But not this season. After all the practicing she'd done in closing the gaps in her defense, Weiss was confident Ruby would never get past her.

Ruby was still groaning about her back a little when Coach Port blew his whistle and called for a round-up of his players. Weiss got to her feet and dusted off her shorts, though they hadn't even touched so much as a blade of grass yet.

"Looks like we're about to begin. Have you warmed up enough?" Weiss looked down at her old friend with a playful challenge, one Ruby had seen many many times. She smirked back up in return.

"Oh, I'm warmed up all right. You could even say I'm fired up!"

"Ruby please. Don't steal your sister's catch phrase."

"Heehee, don't tell her!" Ruby glanced over at the bleachers where Yang and their father were waving with Zwei on his leash playing in the grass. Ruby waved back and gave a thumbs-up from her seat on the ground when a pointed grunt drew her attention back to Weiss. She'd turned up her chin and offered her hand.

"I hardly think I need to remind you," she said. "But let's do our best out on the field this evening."

Ruby grinned and accepted her hand.

"Yeah!"

Weiss pulled her up and fussed over Ruby's ruffled hair a bit, muttering about how unkempt she was even before the game had begun. Ruby chuckled.

Coach Port blew his whistle again and Weiss turned to dash off. But before she could go, Ruby grabbed hold of her wrist.

"Hold on, partner!"

Weiss turned back to her, puzzled at first, but then remembered.

"Right. How careless of me to nearly forget."

Ruby made a fist and Weiss bumped it with her own. Then it was a turn of their knuckles, and a brushing of the thumbs, then a lacing of the index fingers, then the middles, the rings, and finally the pinkies. They spoke their vow in unison.

"No mercy!"

And they pulled their pinkies apart and smiled.

It was a handshake and a promise they'd made many years ago, during their first ever match as friends-turned-rivals. And they'd done it before every game, in every season as they'd remained on opposing teams.

They finished it with a tight hug. Weiss ruffled Ruby's hair again before turning her around and giving a light push to her back.

"No go, you dolt! They're waiting for you!"

"You too! And don't forget to drink something!"

Weiss rolled her eyes.

"That was one time..."

But she turned nonetheless to jog back across the field to her teammates.

And so the two rivals and best friends would begin their first game of the season.

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A/N: Unfortunately this isn't going to be a fully-developed story and AU, just the main bits and pieces. I'll give you the most vital of information in the coming days!

Hope you liked Chapter 1!