SOME A/N NOTES FIRST:

Hello there. Before you consider reading this fanfiction, I need to warn you. Firstly, my native language is not English, which means you'll probably encouter a lot of mistakes throughout the chapters (feel free to tell me where, that will help me improve). Secondly, this is my first RWBY fanfiction, so I apologize for the lack of interesting plot, as I decided not to do anything too complicated or too long for a first time. I need to test the waters. So this is just a short White Rose (RubyxWeiss) fluff, I am basically throwing cuteness at my computer.


A Warm Winter

Chapter 1 : What you ignore

Winter had claimed its reign on Vale City. Snow was falling upon Beacon Academy, and students took an habit of rubbing their hands together, as they were looking for any kind of heat.

Inside Team RWBY dorms, Weiss Schnee was sitting by her desk, reading through some notes she had taken during the previous courses, with the help of a hot cup of coffee. She was alone. This was strangely not unusual, as she spent less and less time with her teammates, afraid their recklessness would rub on her. It was about five in the afternoon, and she just assumed they were hanging around.

Geez, how can they be so carefree? If our team gets badly ranked because of their ignorance, I swear they will never see the end of their punishment.

Just as she was wondering what sort of ruthless torture she could inflict them, she heard the sound of the door opening, followed by the sound of an overly excited 15-year-old leader. Weiss saw the red hooded girl followed by a laughing brawler and a rather calm Faunus.

Why so loud? Weiss thought, desperate. Farewell, dear quietness.

She exchanged a brief look with Blake. A compassionate, sorry look, that could only say "I'm so sorry we ended up with these clowns". As hard it was for Weiss to accept her teammate's Faunus heritage, she still had to admit the raven haired girl was the easiest to be around. At least she was not constantly making horrible jokes, or stuffing her mouth up with some unhealthy junk food.

"Oh, Weiss, we were looking for you" Ruby said, with a surprising calm voice. Probably as quiet as Ruby could.

"Where else would I be?" Weiss answered with a sharp tone.

"Ah, mh, that's true..."

Ruby started staring directly at her feet, as a slight brush tainted her face. She never knew how to react to Weiss's harsh comments, and she surely could not face them. After all, she was still a little girl, who obviously had a lot of issues dealing with other people. The heiress noticed her discomfort, but decided to brush it off, as she would never apologize to anyone for her behavior.

"So, why were you looking for me?" she asked.

"Oh, right, well, um... do you know that small music school on the Valley district?"

Weiss nodded, but she had no idea where her leader was getting at. She had a very low interest in music, and would never picture the hyperactive kid anywhere near it.

"Would you like to go to a small concert there? Next friday?" Ruby finally asked. "You won't have to pay though, don't worry about that", she quickly added.

"Why would I want to see a concert I know nothing about?"

"Well, I will be singing, so... I thought... maybe you would come... there won't be much people... it's a... private concert, I guess? but there will be coffee and... you know..."

It took a little time for Weiss to connect the dots. "Wait, you take singing lessons? Since when?"

"Uh, about a year or two, I guess? You didn't know?"

Weiss decided to ignore this futile question. She could see the disappointment in Ruby's eyes. So far, the white haired girl had only been supporting Ruby with her fighting skills and her studies, but she never had bothered hanging out with her partner, as she had no interests for anything beside grades.

"So... will you come?" Yang asked when she noticed how uneasy Ruby felt.

She sighed. "I guess I have no choice. I will attend this... event."

Ruby suddenly came back to her over excited self, she squealed and jumped to hug Weiss, but the latter stepped back, hands over her chest in a "you're definitely too close" way. She was not really acquinted with these sort of signs of affection, and felt terribly uncomfortable touching someone else, let alone when someone was touching her.

She already regretted accepting.

Friday seemed to come faster than it should. The team headed to the dorms right after class, which felt rather unusual for Weiss. She could barely see her leader shaking, from the corner of her eye. Even though the icy girl would never dare show some compassion to someone, she actually felt a little nervous for the red little hooded girl. Yang was trying to get Ruby to relax, with the unstoppable power of her ridiculous jokes. Blake just gave her a smile, and let her hand lay on her should.

The room was only filled with Yang's voice. Out of the blue, she stood up, clapped her hands.

"A'right gals, it's time to go! Don't worry baby sis, I'm sure everything will go smoothly", she yelled, emphasizing on the last word.

The music school was not far from Beacon Academy, but every step forward felt like an enormous effort for Ruby. Both her anxiety and the freezing cold outside were almost paralyzing her, but she kept walking, alongside Weiss, while Yang and Blake were just behind, following them.

"Stop biting your lip", Weiss said suddenly.

"But I'm so nervous..." she answered, breathing in her hands, as she tried to fill her lungs with some warm air.

The heiress could only deduct it was her first time singing in front of others, so it would be only natural for her to be this nervous.

"There is no reason to be nervous", Weiss tried. "Well, if you rehearsed enough" she added, as she did not really appreciate the idea Ruby wasted her time to learn a song instead of studying.

"I did..."

It was as much as Weiss could offer, but it was enough to calm Ruby down. At least until they arrived.

It was indeed a very small, modest place. A few doors could be seen, and Weiss just assumed they led to rooms where they could teach different musical intruments. The hall was probably the largest room, but seemed smaller than it actually was, due to the numbers of chairs scattered all around. A few instruments laid in the back, with a tiny free space, presumed to be meant for the singers. The place was getting a bit more cramped by the minute, as people kept getting inside. Weiss noticed a coffee machine not so far. Ah, yes, she did mention coffees. She went to have some, while she could still overhear Blake talking to Ruby.

"It will be alright", she said. "Just don't forget your lines, and you should be fine."

Ruby seemed panicked, and quickly grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket. She read it about three times before nodding. "I know them."

Weiss walked back to them, holding a hot cup of coffee in her hand. "What are you going to sing?"

"Oh... you don't know it. It's a song that I wrote", Ruby answered nervously.

"You write and sing?" the heiress asked, surprised at Ruby's interest for artistic activities. Though she still needed to see what it was worth.

"Well, Blake helped me a lot", she specified, as Blake nodded. "I really don't have much to sing, though..."

"Then don't feel so nervous. It will be over soon."

"But I'm so scared I will screw it up!"

"I thought you were a fearless leader."

For the first time in a while, a faint smile appeared on Weiss's lips. She quickly erased it as she saw Ruby staring in shock.

"You should smile more, you know."

"What in the world are you-"

"Ruby, you're up", a teenage boy said, interrupting.

She nodded and walked away. People suddenly stopped talking as they noticed the little commotion in the back of the room, where Ruby was standing, next to the same teenage boy that appeared earlier and another unknown girl, the three of them holding a microphone. People decided to sit, facing them.

"C'mon, let's try to find a good place", Yang told the rest of the team.

They sat in the second row, since the first one was already full. They stared at their leader, as if they were trying to give her some confidence through their gazes. Ruby seemed to notice, as she suddenly started talking.

"Um, hello, everyone. The name's Ruby Rose, leader of the mighty team RWBY", a few people laughed while her team smiled. "This is my first time singing here so... I hope it won't be too bad!" she paused. "Oh and thank you all for coming all the way here!" she added, glancing at Weiss.

The other two singers also made a little introducing speech, before they backed away, looked right at the musicians who nodded. The room grew silent. And the song started.

Ruby's voice was only accompanying the other singers, but Yang still seemed overexcited and proud, as she was probably the only one who had heard her sister's voice. Blake was nodding mysteriously, as if she was making sure none of the singer made a mistake on the song she partially wrote. Weiss was at loss, she could not distinguish Ruby's voice from the other girl's. She absolutely had no idea what was happening, and just as she tried to focus on the lyrics, a guitar solo came in the middle of the song. Even though Weiss thought it was way too loud for her ears to handle, she surprisingly enjoyed it.

Ruby was standing awkwardly, since she had no idea what to do with her body while her mouth remained shut. She glanced at her partner a second time, but ended up staring at her, looking for some kind of approval. Weiss felt her heart cringe. Her leader, who usually was so confident, too confident, was now staring at her, trying to detect any form of opinion in her facial expression. Weiss had no idea what to do, she did not pay that much attention to the lyrics, she did not know weither or not Ruby made a mistake, and she could not even hear her voice well. Her knowledge on the matter seemed so small next to Blake's or Yang's and she...

"There's a moment that changes a life when we do something than no one else can."

A voice reached her ears, one she had not heard yet. She only realized now that her mind had ran away for a few seconds. She only realized now that the guitar solo had ended, and the song just kept going. She only realized now that the voice she heard belonged to Ruby.

"There's a moment we make a decision not to cower and crash on the ground."

And just as she cursed herself for not paying much attention to Ruby's singing, the young leader kept going, and Weiss could now fully hear her voice. It sounded more mature than Weiss could had ever expected, and the words she sang were worthy of a great writer.

"I may fall, but not like this, it won't be by your hand."

She could feel ambition, obstinacy, pugnacity in Ruby's melody. She had never felt anything while listening to the few songs her mother made her listen to.

"I may fall, not this place, not today."

Ruby was giving it her all, her previous nervousness flying away along with her singing words.

"I may fall, bring it all it's not enough to take me down."

Some sort of strenght ran through the heiress's veins, she felt the urge to stand up and yell, just yell, something, anything. But she was used to contain her needs and desires.

"I may fall."

She surprised herself as she heard her own voice singing alone these three small words. She quickly turned around and sighed in relief when she noticed Yang and Blake applausing, too busy feeling proud of their leader to hear Weiss. She stood up as well and started clapping.

The emotions she had just experiencied, for the first time, on this precise evening, were worth any walk under the freezing snow, any quarrel with her dim-witted leader, and any missed sessions of study.