Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any thing that may appear in this story. Those rights belong to Monty Oum and Roosterteeth.

Wolf in the snow

The biting chill in the air had the girl in red draw her cloak around her shoulders tightly. She silently bemoaned the fact that she had decided that a black bodice and skirt would be fine when going to her uncle's house. She regretted that decision with every step that she took on the cold dirt path.

After all, how was she supposed to know that it would start to snow all of a sudden, the news did not say anything about the chance of snow, they said that it would be clear skies over Vale and the surrounding area and if there was one thing that she knew, the sky was definitely not clear! Her legs were covered in goose bumps as the cold air swept around her making her cloak next to useless against the chill. She debated going back and getting more appropriate clothing to weather the journey, but she was already so far from her house and it was only a couple miles before she made to the cabin that Qrow kept in the woods. A far distance for civilians, but for a huntress, a couple miles was nothing. For a headmaster of such a prestigious huntsman school, he was quite the hermit when he wished to be. He said that it was because he liked his space, but the red cloaked girl knew that it was because he was paranoid about everything. After several people had tried to kidnap him when he was younger, he never got over it and was especially cautious about everything that he did.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she sneezed violently and sniffled in the cold. She rubbed her arm on her cold, red nose to try and get some reprieve from the horrid weather.. Why did her father and uncle have to get into one of their inventing fits, especially around this time of year? She should be bundled around a fire with hot chocolate and strawberries instead of trudging through the forest to deliver the duo some extra dust after they blew up their supply, but apparently they were on the verge of revolutionizing science as everyone knew it and were too busy to come and get some more of the stuff… again.

Ruby sighed, it was not like they had not done this before. Her father more than Qrow though. Qrow at least had the decency to be embarrassed about his screw up and was normally more careful about that kind of thing, but Ruby's father had a special ability to make people forget how to act rationally and do things that would inevitable blow up in their face, quite literally most of the time. Blowing up all of their dust was just their latest mistake.

"Stupid old crow," Ruby muttered to herself as she kicked a rock into the forest, "He better have some hot cocoa waiting for me,"

The forest that Ruby found herself traversing was supposedly filled with all sorts of beasts, at least that was what she had heard from some of the locals that tried to convince her not to go through. Really, she did not get what the problem was. If it was grimms then her baby, Crescent Rose, would take care of the issue lickety split. They had also mentioned something about some faunus that had taken up residence in the woods. They said that they were probably up to some nefarious deeds, but Ruby believed otherwise. They were most likely trying escape some of the prejudice of Vale and felt that living as far away from the city as they could was the best way to do that. She was not too worried about them trying anything anyways. Most faunus were peaceful and just wanted some peace and quiet.

These thoughts ran through her mind absently as she rearranged the basket of dust containers that she was carrying so that she could adjust her coat without spilling her packages.

By habit, her hand went up to rub the necklace that she had worn for years. The dull gold that gleamed from underneath her cloak took the shape of a rose. Her mother had given it to her as a baby and she had been wearing it ever since she had died, it acted like a safety blanket when she was little and even year later, she did not have the heart to stop wearing it.

The girl shivered in the snow, trying to keep her cloak in between her and the biting wind, but she was fighting a losing battle with nature. Her only saving grace was the fact that she was still wearing her combat boots that had the added benefit of keeping her feet warm.

A twig snapped behind her and she heard the sound of something breathing softly. Assuming the worse, Ruby spun around, grabbing the collapsed form of her scythe and aiming it at the source of the sound.

Instead of it being a grimm that snuck up on her, it was just a person. This was not just any person either, it was one of the faunus that the town had warned her about. That was not what she noticed about the faunus though. The first thing that she thought when she saw her was how beautiful she was. She was almost as tall as Ruby was, which was shocking because she was still rather short, even though she drank milk. Her white hair flowed down her back in a long wave that had Ruby almost envious of how soft it looked. She also had the brightest blue eyes that she had ever seen in her life, she hardly even noticed the small scar that went across the left one. Her lips may not have been plump like some of the models in those books that her sister had, but they were no less mesmerizing. A cute button nose, red from the cold, graced her ethereal visage. Last, but not least, a set of large white ears perked up from her hair and a long snow white tail with flecks of blue slowly waved behind her. Her state of dress was what shocked her the most. For such a cold day, the girl wore very little, so little in fact that Ruby was almost embarrassed to look at her. Had it not been for the fact that it was obviously not the girl's choice that her attire was so bare, she may not have been able to look in the same direction without turning cherry red. The wolf faunus only had on a large blue t-shirt that obviously did nothing to protect her from the cold, it was so large that the neck hole of the shirt fell down one of her shoulders, and a pair of baggy white pants that had a hole torn into it for her tail, so large that they threatened to fall off her slender frame.

She caught herself staring at the gorgeous faunus and turned away with a blush creeping up her face.

"Now what is a young girl with such a fearsome weapon doing out here?" The wolf faunus said with a small smile on her face, "Shouldn't you be at home where it is warm?"

Ruby noticed that she still had her weapon drawn and quickly sheathed it back into its harness. "I am just going to drop off some things to my uncle down the road," Ruby replied, feeling no need to keep her destination a secret from the mysterious faunus. The thought of her being part of the terrorist group, White Fang, did not even cross her mind.

"Why don't I accompany you then?" She stated, "After all, these woods are dangerous and it is much safer to travel in groups rather than by ourselves.

"I don't even know you," Ruby said with wide grey eyes, "Why would you want to come with me?"

"Didn't I just say that? It is safer to travel together," The faunus replied, "Besides, my name is Weiss,"

"I'm Ruby!" The black and red haired girl stated happily before bundling her cloak around herself after a particularly bad gust of wind.

"There," Weiss said with a smile, "Now we are not strangers and i can walk with you,"

Pondering this logic for a bit, Ruby enthusiastically nodded her head. "Alright!" Ruby replied with a bright grin, "You can come along I guess,"

Weiss was beginning to regret her decision in making this girl her mark. She saw that the girl had a basket that could have been filled with anything, food would be best, but anything would have been better than nothing. If it was food then she would secret it away, where she could ration it off for the next couple of days and wouldn't have to go another day without food. If it was filled with something valuable, then she would sell it to one of the fences in the city and hopefully find some place to grab food.

It had been quite a bit of time since she had been able to eat a full meal. All of the townspeople were so racist against faunus that whenever she tried to buy some food, they were overcharge her and give her the worse of their wares. She thought that it would be better to leave Vale and try to survive outside of the city. Unfortunately the hate followed her and she was stuck living in a cave in the forest. It was still better than the constant terror that she was under in Vale though.

However, good reward or not, sometimes it was not worth the effort she went through to get what she wanted and putting up with the girls endless chatter was really starting to test her patience. The girl had not stopped talking since she had joined her on her journey down the road. If it was not freezing and she had some warm clothes, then she would have thought that girl's naïve attitude was endearing. However, it was freezing and all she had on was a giant t-shirt and pants that she had found on someone's clothesline. The only thing of value that she had on her was a small locket that her mother had given her that had a picture of her and her little sister in it and she would not sell that for the world.

"… So I hit the beowolf so hard that it went flying into the rest of the pack and knocked them all over," Ruby continued with her story before shivering violently, but that did not deter her from finishing, "Qrow even said that it was impressive and he never says that. So aren't you cold? I mean, you're not wearing that much,"

Weiss was startled by the sudden shift in topic that she was caught flat footed. She stared blankly at the grey eyes of her companion for a moment. "Not really," Weiss said, even though her teeth were mildly chattering, giving away her lie before she could even completed it.

Her sensitive ears heard a twig break in the forest and she instinctively swung to see what it was, only to recognize that it was just a small rabbit hunting for some berries. The faunus sighed in relief, she really did not want to have to try and fight a beowolf again. The last one had given her a hideous scar across her face and she barely escaped with her life and she somehow doubted that her companion had actually done all the things that she had been boasting about.

Suddenly a warm weight dropped over her shoulder and wrapped around her body like a blanket. Weiss blinked in shock as she saw the red fabric that made up the cloak that her mark had been wearing. It was surprisingly heavy, but it was also the warmest thing that she had worn in what seemed to be years. The fabric was as smooth as silk, but was heavy, like some kind of material was interwoven into it.

Her blue eyes sought Ruby and saw that the girl was grinning at her with a bright smile, her hands running up and down her arms as she fought the cold away. It allowed Weiss to see what she wore under her cloak and she was surprised. One normally wore warm clothing when walking in the cold, not this girl though. The black bodice with red strings that held the garment together and ruffled black skirt covered half of her thighs, but left the rest of her legs exposed to the elements, was all that she had on. She also noticed the gold rose that hung around her neck.

"Wha-" Weiss stammered out as she began to remove the cloak, but Ruby stepped forward and put her hands on her shoulders. Her firm grip stopping Weiss from continuing.

"You lied," Ruby pouted, "You are cold,"

"Be that as it may," Weiss said, "I do not need your charity,"

"You're my friend," Ruby said with a smile before shivering as a gust of snow blew across the pair, "There is no such thing as charity between friends. You were cold so I gave you my cloak," She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Weiss did not know how to respond to such an honest answer, she could say that she wasn't her friend, but that would remove all the trust that had been built up over the last hour and she would never get whatever was housed in the basket, but now she was feeling some guilt over trying to steal from this girl that had shown her nothing, but kindness. However kindness did not fill up an empty stomach so she kept her mouth shut.

She felt goose bumps form all over her arms where they were no longer protected by the warm cloak, but after seeing her friend's beautiful face light up in surprise and watching as she involuntarily snuggled deeper into the cloak was worth it. She was not sure why she had given the faunus such a precious possession, it had just felt right.

"Well come on," Ruby beaconed, "It is not getting any warmer and I need to get to my uncle's house soon so that I can get back home before it gets too late,"

The girl with red highlights bounced through the snow, kicking up some of the white flakes as she went, a grin came unbidden to her lips as she did so. No matter how old she had gotten, playing in the snow was just as fun as when she was a kid and rolled around in it. Maybe she would go out in it tomorrow, she did not have anything planned and signal was on break for the next two weeks. It was a shame that Yang was out of town again, but that did not mean that she could not have some fun by herself.

"What is that," Ruby looked over and saw that her new friend was pointedly looking at the gold rose that bounced off of her chest as she walked.

Her grin widened and gained a sad tinge to it as she clasped it and held it close to her heart. "My mom gave it to me when I was young," Ruby looked down at the necklace and traced the lines that she knew by heart, "I don't remember her all that well, but having this makes her feel closer to me,"

For some reason a grimace crossed Weiss's face before it settled for the neutral look that she had begun to associate with the girl. She was distracted from this when she heard metal being struck ahead of them and the sound of two men arguing, two men that she knew very well.

Ruby ran off down the road, leaving Weiss to race after her, snow being kicked up in the wake of the two running down the road. The wolf faunus yelled at Ruby to find out what was the matter, but her questions died when she saw where they had arrived.

In the clearing that they had entered, two men were loudly arguing with each other. Behind the two of them was a cabin that had a forge sticking out of the side along with an airship parked outside on a helipad. The two of them were right by the forge, the one with a navy cloak was waving around a box that had wires jutting out of it, while the other had a half collapsed blade in his hand.

"I am telling you that the dust converter will not work!" The man in a navy cloak yelled at the other. He had a month worth of stubble built up, but that did not diminish the strong features of his face. His short black hair was stylized into a military buzz cut. His face had several scars covering his features, carving patterns into his stubble and leaving dark tissue in their wake. "It will be too bulky for that kind of blade! What we need to do is make it do the same thing, but smaller!"

"And I am telling you that is impossible, Qrow!" The other man said, he bore a striking resemblance to Ruby, having both her grey eyes and soft features. However those were tempered with the fire in his eyes and strong jaw. "The blade would overheat under those kinds of conditions! We would just have a lump metal rather than a sword, it would need to be cooled with some blue dust to come close to working!"

"Maybe!" Qrow yelled back, "But did you think about what would happen when the two dusts would mix!"

"Of course I did, you buffoon!" Ruby's father yelled back, "Only an idiot wouldn't! That is what the revolving design is used for, it would keep the two separate!"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Qrow continued to yell, "Come my friend, we must test this!"

The two of them came together in a hug that looked to be painful before they began to make their way back into the forge, apparently coming out to yell in the relative quiet night and away from the forge. They both spun and headed for the forge and they would have made it back into the forge had it not been for Ruby bounding up to them and stamping her foot.

"I brought you your dust," She said, slightly pouting at being ignored by the two large men. "You better have some hot chocolate for me and my friend or I will tell Yang that you blew up more dust," If there could be anything said about Ruby, it was that she had her priorities straight, no matter how skewed they were.

Ruby's father looked at her in amusement, but then upon seeing that she was serious, started to sweat while Qrow ignored the threat to look past Ruby at Weiss, who was hanging back, not quite knowing what to do in this situation.

"Who is she?" Qrow asked suspiciously, "I haven't seen her around here before,"

"Oh no, uncle Qrow!" Ruby said, grey eyes flashing, "Hot cocoa now! Questions later," It was hard to take such a small girl seriously, but they fell to the cute pout that was on Ruby's face like their spines were made of putty.

"Yes darling," Ruby's father said with Qrow nodding along.

Ruby grinned brightly and spun to grab Weiss. "Come on, it's cold out here,"

"B-b-b-but," Weiss stuttered as she was dragged away by the excited girl.

"But nothing," Ruby stated bluntly, "Hot chocolate now! They better not skip out on the marshmallows either!"

She dragged the faunus into Qrow's house, where the man was trying to start the stove. However, no matter how many times that he clicked the starter or twisted the knobs, nothing would happen.

"Why isn't this working," Qrow asked the other man.

"Well my first guess would be that you are incompetent," Was the reply he got back, a prompt swat to the head was given in return, "But if you want the answer, it would be because we took out the starter along with some of the wiring about five hours ago,"

"Was that where you got those wires?" Qrow said incredulously at his best friend, "I thought you said that they were just lying around,"

Ruby's father shrugged at him, "They were… after I unhooked them from the stove,"

"How am I going to heat up some water?" Qrow growled, "You know how Yang gets when we waste stuff, don't you remember last time," Both of them zoned out and shivered in fear.

"My magazines…" Ruby's father moaned out, "Why did she have to burn all of them?"

"Wait, I have an idea!" Qrow said and punched his friend in the face. Then when the man swung around with fire blazing across his skin, Qrow placed the tea kettle on him. "There, you get us into this mess, you can get us out of it,"

"You will pay for this," He replied as he kept the fire going across his skin, "I will make sure of it,"

While this was going on, the two teenage girls were staring at the duo, Ruby with practiced apathy and Weiss with wide eyed wonder.

"Does this happen often?" Weiss asked slowly as the duo went back and forth at each other. She was honestly surprised that no blood had been spilt yet.

"All the time," Ruby replied, "Daddy and uncle Qrow are just like that with each other. Normally uncle is very serious all the time and dad is less… grounded than he is now, but the two of them are a lot better when they are around each other," The maturity of the answer surprised Weiss, she had taken the girl for a naïve child, but it seemed like she was a bit wrong about that. Hopefully that did not mean that she knew her true motives though. For some reason, having Ruby know that she was a thief made her chest tighten.

After several minutes of bickering, the tea kettle whistled and Ruby's father took it off of his face, "There, it is done," He stated as he handed the burning hot kettle to Qrow, "Happy now?"

"Marginally," Qrow said slyly. "Now grab the marshmallows, they should be in the pantry," Qrow bustled off into the rest of the kitchen and grabbed some powder along with cups to put said powder in. A minute later and the two girls had steaming cups of hot chocolate in front of them with a large marshmallow sitting on top of the frothy drink.

"There, you have your hot chocolate," Ruby's father said, "Do you promise not to tell Yang about what happened?"

Ruby could only nod her head as the beverage had already made it past her lips, steaming or not. Weiss took a slower approach and blew on the top of the mug before sipping it. Her tastes buds exploded at the sweet flavor and she forced down the grin that was about to appear along with the tears that threatened her eyes. This was the first time that she had ever been able to taste hot chocolate before. She had heard about it before, but due to her money troubles, she never had the chance to try it before and it was only due to the kindness of a girl she had just met that allowed her to taste such a wonderful thing and she was planning to steal from her. That thought wiped all traces of her smile off her face.

"Thank you uncle Qrow!" Ruby said brightly as she finished off her mug and was taking large bites out of the sugary treat that topped it off. Not noticing her companions look.

"What about me?" Her father asked, "I helped,"

"Yes you did," Qrow said mockingly with a smile, "You were quite the fancy stove. The 'on' button was the best part,"

The man began to sulk as Qrow moved over to sit across the girls. He noticed that the white haired faunus was slowly drinking her hot chocolate and for some reason had misty eyes when she looked at the drink. "Now can you tell me about your new friend?"

"This is Weiss," Ruby said jubilantly, "I met her in the forest a couple of miles back and we traveled together from there. She said that there were several grimm in the area and that it was safer to stay together than to wander apart,"

Qrow was silent for a moment as he observed the girl that had not moved from her spot since the conversation began. "Aye, that is true," Qrow said, his eye homing in on the relatively fresh scar that marked the girl's face, "There is a pack of beowolves that have been rather elusive over the last couple of months. I was planning on going out and taking them down, but I have not had the time recently. Looks like I'll have to do it soon then," He directed his next statement to the quiet girl, "Thank you for watching out for my niece. I know that she can take care of herself, but it is always nice to have someone with her, you know, just in case,"

Weiss could only nod her head at the man as she silently raged at herself. How could she plan to rob such a kind girl and equally kind, if not, weird family? They had done nothing, but be nice to her the entire time and the guilt was starting hurt. She had never felt this way when she had to steal to survive in the city or any of the other random travelers that she had accosted over the years. The feeling that beat on her chest confused her more than anything else in her life.

They had stayed in the house for a bit longer, but not much. The men wanted to get back to inventing some stuff and could not wait to play around with all of their new ideas, while Ruby wanted to get home before it got too late in the night when the grimm would be more active. Before they left, Ruby grabbed a spare cloak from her uncle and draped it around Weiss' shoulders as she donned her regular red one. The blue one was much warmer with the fur that lined the side of it and Weiss could not help, but rub her hands down it in shock.

"Don't worry," Ruby whispered conspiratorially, "Uncle has like fifty of them because he keeps ripping all of his during training. He won't miss one,"

Weiss was stunned yet again by her companion and wrapped her in a hug before she knew what she was doing. Ruby's body fit perfectly against her own and the soft strawberry scent that she caught from Ruby was delightful. Then she realized what she was doing and the two of them separated with blushes on their faces as they headed out the door. Ruby calling out a farewell to her relatives.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Ruby's father had been watching the entire thing unfold and smiled warmly at the two of them. He was happy that his little girl had finally found someone her own age to hang out with. She was too wrapped up in her training and weaponry to come out of her shell and branch out beyond her sister. He did not mind that it was with a faunus one bit, he was not one of those racist pricks that he had to deal with almost every day. It made him proud that his little girl had ignored all the prejudice and befriended such a nice girl.

Outside, the air was still as freezing as it was on the way there, especially so after they had gotten out of the cold and snow in Qrow's cabin. The two of them bunched up with each other to share some of their heat, blushes still adorning their faces as they both thought about the hug and the close proximity with each other.

The snow had piled up as they had stayed in Qrow's cabin and they could barely see the trail anymore. However, they could still see their previous footprints in the snow, but that may not last forever. As long as they were not sidetracked though, they would be fine.

Just as Weiss thought that, both of them heard something crunching in the snow behind them. They turned and the wolf faunus froze in terror. Behind them was a beowolf. Its massive form, rippling with muscles, loomed over the two of them as a growl echoed from behind the bone mask that covered its face. This was not just any beowolf though, Weiss recognized that it was the one that had given her the scar across her eye. The only reason that she knew that was because she was the one that had taken out its right eye and left a void of darkness where it used to be.

It seemed to have recognized her as well and was staring straight at her with its one remaining eye. The beowolf slowly made its way forwards with both of the girls moving equally as fast back.

"Weiss," Ruby said slowly, "I want you to back away,"

However Weiss could barely hear her beyond the sound of her blood pulsing in her ears. Even if she was able to hear the young girl, she couldn't do anything about it, she couldn't move.

The beowolf crouched low to the ground and without warning leapt at the two them, specifically her. Weiss covered her face from the oncoming beast, but a strong force hit her side and sent her out of the way. A soft squeak and the sound of liquid hitting snow filled the air along with the growls of the beowolf.

Weiss looked up from where she was thrown and saw that Ruby was standing where she had been with her weapon pointed straight between the grimm's eyes, but she was not unscathed. A claw had slashed her side and she was starting to bleed from it. Not enough to kill her, but enough that she would need to have it bandaged soon.

Ruby looked the grimm in the eye and her eyes hardened into pools of lead. An echoing bang resounded throughout the forest as the back of the grimm's head flew off, leaving the rest of the body to slump lifelessly to the ground, its black ichor already beginning to stain the snow.

The sound of liquid dripping made Weiss' attention return to her savior and she gasped when she saw how much blood was pooling around the girl's fingers.

"Ruby!" She gasped as she leapt to her feet and stopped in front of the girl. She gently pried her fingers away from the wound and assessed the damage. While she was no medic, she had picked up a few things from the faunus around the city. When it was safer to go to a back alley faunus doctor than a hospital, it was imperative to learn some first aid.

A brief thought crossed her mind and it was just that, brief. For a second she thought of how easy it would have been to just grab anything off the girl and run, but she dismissed it. Ruby had nothing of value on her, she conveniently forgot about the necklace that was hanging in plain view, right in front her face. That's right, she did not have anything that she could take so the thought vacated her mind without any action being done.

That being said, she tore the bottom half of her oversized t-shirt and bit it into strips. Making the girl sit down and hold still was an issue, but she eventually managed to accomplish it. Taking some of the snow that was sitting around, she pressed it to the wound. Her heart tugging at the quiet whimpers that her friend was making, but it was all to make her feel better. The ice helped reduce circulation to the area, thus slowing down blood flow, it also had the added benefit of washing the wound. Tears blocked her vision as she worked on Ruby's side, Pressing a small compress to the wound and holding it there as she wrapped her makeshift gauze around the wound.

It was all her fault that the person that had done so much had injured. That was the only thing that went through her mind as she tended to the young girl. Fortunately the wound did not require stitches and she quickly finished cleaning the wound.

"I'm sorry," She said under her breath over and over, "I'm sorry, Ruby, I'm sorry," She could feel her ears droop, but paid them no mind as she stared at the red soaking through the bandages. Those were all that she could make at the moment because any more and she would be without a shirt and there was only so much that the cloak could cover in the dead of winter.

"I'm sorry," She repeated again before she felt slender, but strong arms wrap around her body. Weiss responded in kind and pressed her face against the crook of her neck.

Ruby quietly tried to calm the girl down. It was obvious that she was distressed at what had happened. What she could not understand was why Weiss was acting the way that she was. It was not like she blamed her for what happened. Anyone would freeze up in the face of such a large grimm, even she did when she first came across one. So why was she apologizing for what happened?

They sat there like that for a while, but her bum was starting to get cold sitting in the snow so she prodded her friend up to her feet, the girl slowly letting go of her. "I'm sorry," She repeated yet again, tears dripping down her face.

"It's not your fault," Ruby said firmly, if there was one thing she was not going to stand, it was the sight of tears marring that beauty and sadness tainting such a melodious voice. "Things like that happen, I froze when I fought grimms the first couple times too, it is nothing to be apologizing for,"

"But if it wasn't for me, then you wouldn't have been hurt," Weiss said.

"Maybe," Ruby said, causing Weiss' ears to droop even more, "Maybe not, who knows? My wounds will heal quickly, it comes with being a huntress. What I care about is that you are safe. Now come on, let's get to my house before you freeze out here. I have several first aid kits that we can use, I want to get that scratch on your side checked out,"

Weiss was surprised as she looked down and saw that a nasty scratch ran down her side. She was too busy tending to Ruby to notice that it was there. However, now that she had noticed it, all the adrenaline had fled her veins and the pain surged through her side. She managed to suppress the groan that threatened her, after all, if Ruby could take her wound with nary a sound, then so could she.

"Let's go before more come," Ruby said as she forced herself up to her feet, "They normally travel in packs and that was obviously the scout. I could fight them, but getting you warm is more important,"

Once to her feet, Ruby swayed dangerously, teetering between collapsing and slumping over where she stood. Weiss swung one of the slender girl's arms over her shoulder and kept her from falling. The smile that she sent her way had her look away, her thoughts turning to the first thing on her mind when she came across her while helpless. What kind of person was she if the first thing she thought about when a friend was injured was to steal from them?

"My house is just past the forest," Ruby said after several minutes of labored walking, Weiss almost sighed in relief, she was worried that she would have to go through town and there was no telling what the townspeople would do to her if they saw her helping Ruby home. They would probably think the worse and try to arrest her.

Ruby noticed the girl tensing and did not understand why. It was not like she said anything that would warrant that reaction.

It was at least twenty minutes until the two girls had reached the quaint little house. The slowed pace due to their wounds had made the journey much longer than it would have been otherwise. Ruby smiled when the small house came into view. It was not much, only a three bedroom house. Qrow had bought it for her father after he had his mental breakdown over the death of her mother. It helped him to get over her death somewhat. Her dad was no longer having bout of depression and mania and would no longer wake up in the middle of the night, waking the households with his screams so it had helped, at least a little bit.

The shingles were coated with a dusting of powdered snow and the red bricks were dark, almost black in the cloudy night. Ruby fumbled with her keys, hands slippery with some of the blood that had yet to dry on her hand. Weiss wanted to help, but she was too busy trying to keep Ruby standing to attempt to open the door.

Eventually, the ravenette was able to get the door open and they stumbled into the house together. Ruby dragged Weiss through the house until they reached the kitchen where they both collapsed into chairs. Weiss' side flared up in pain as the sudden jolt irritated her cuts.

"Hold on," Ruby said as she got up, "I'll get some bandages,"

Weiss was too tired to try and argue so she just sat at the kitchen table and laid her head down on the cool surface. The house was pleasantly warm as the fire that blazed in the living room flickered light and warmth across the house.

The sounds of crashes and a things falling to the floor came from behind her and when she was about to get up to investigate, Ruby bounced into the room with much more energy than she ought to have had after such an eventful journey. It must have been a huntress thing.

"Lay down on the table," Ruby stated as she placed the large first aid kit on the corner. When Weiss was slow to comply, she got behind her and lifted her up and on the table. Weiss squeak at the sudden intrusion of personal space and blushed bright red as she was set on top of the table.

"There," Ruby stated with a smile, "Now hold still while I return the favor and clean you up,"

Ruby thoughtlessly tugged up on the oversized shirt to reveal more of the wound then squeaked in surprise and tugged the shirt right back down. "Sorry," Ruby said, "I thought that you were wearing a bra!"

Weiss felt the need to retort at the young girl for not even asking, but upon seeing her flushed face, caused her mouth to go dry and the words died on her lips. She was just so innocent looking that she could not even be mad at her.

Once she had settled down, she went to work on patching up the faunus. Her delicate fingers danced around Weiss' side, leaving trails of goose bumps and raised hairs in their wakes. Her warm fingers poked and prodded around the wound, before they left her skin, leaving Weiss slightly breathless.

The taller of the two obviously could not tell what she was doing to the one on the table or else she was sure to stop in embarrassment. So Weiss was forced to endure Ruby's gentle ministrations in silence. It was almost too much when Weiss noticed that she stuck her tongue out in concentration and hummed while working, it was the most adorable thing that she had ever seen in her life.

Then like no time had passed at all, her wounds were covered and what remained of her shirt was brought back down. At least what was left of it. Half of the shirt had gone into makeshift bandages and the rest was soaked in a mix of her's and Ruby's blood. Her bubbly companion noticed this and once again took off into her house without a word.

While she was gone to god knows where, Weiss looked around and found the place was literally littered with gun parts and dust. So much so that should she take even a little bit of it, she would be able to eat a full meal a day for at least a week.

She came back to herself when she saw that her hand was already out reached to grab one of the random parts laying around. She was about to go through with it before the image of Ruby's smiling face flashed across her vision and the memory of her risking her life to save her from the grimm attack.

Quickly Weiss folded her hands into her lap and took a seat in the chair, not a single thing out of place.

Ruby came back shortly after with a tank top and a bodice in one hand, this one was not black, but rather blue with white laces on the front. With a smile gracing her face, Ruby tossed the appeal at her.

"Here you go!" Ruby beamed at her, "It took a while, but I found it,"

Weiss was confused about what to do and raised an eyebrow at the girl and tilted her head in confusion, her wolf ears drooping slightly.

The curious gesture tugged on all of her heartstrings and Ruby had to fight the urge to run up to the girl and hug the stuffing out of her, luckily she was able to rein in her impulses at the last moment. "Well, aren't you going to put it on?" Ruby asked with a grin.

Weiss eyes widened in recognition before she suddenly thrust the clothes right back at Ruby. "I can't take this!" She replied, "You have already done enough for me,"

"The only thing that I have done is get you hurt," Ruby said as she pushed the clothing back, "So the least that I can do is give you a shirt to replace the one that was ripped. Remember what I said, there is no such thing as charity between friends. I am giving this to you because I want you to have it and you need it,"

"But," Weiss began.

"No buts," Ruby said firmly, "You need a shirt and I have one that is perfect for you,"

"Can I at least go to the bathroom to change?" Weiss sighed at her meekness, but if the last couple of hours had proven anything, it was that Ruby was stubborn and would not take no for an answer.

"Oh," The ravenette replied, "Sure, it's down the hall and to the left,"

Weiss quickly left the room, leaving Ruby standing in the middle of the kitchen. The young girl shrugged and removed her the bodice and threw it onto one of the chairs. She had a red tank top underneath so she was not too worried about modesty.

Deciding that the least she could do for the wolf faunus after all the trouble that she had caused her, was make dinner, she turned on the stove and set a pot of water to boil. Ruby would be the first to admit that her cooking was not the best with Yang in a close second, but she knew enough to keep herself fed and alive on her own. As soon as the water boiled, she dumped in some noodles and waited for her friend to come out.

While giving Weiss the shirt was just a decent thing to do, Ruby's motives were not completely pure. She really wanted to see her beautiful companion out of that ragged shirt and into something more form fitting. It did not hurt to have the shirt that was the antithesis to what she normally wore being put to good use.

Just as the pasta finished cooking and she had stirred the spaghetti sauce in, Ruby noticed that Weiss was standing in the doorway and she almost knocked over the pot in surprise. It was not that the faunus scared her, rather the opposite. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Weiss was one of the most beautiful women that she had ever met, but she just did not know how much the oversized shirt covered.

Her clothes seemed to be about a size too big for the girl, but with the tightening of the strings, one could not even tell from the ways that it hugged each and every curve. Ruby could not help, but stare and Weiss apparently was in no position to stop her because her gaze was solely placed on the food sitting in the pot.

Weiss' stomach loudly growled at the scent of fresh food, all the hours of eating the bare minimum to survive seemed to catch up with her all at once. The loud sound snapped Ruby from her staring and she quickly busied herself by grabbing a pair of bowls to cover up her blush.

Ruby swept some gun parts off of the table and placed the bowl in front of the faunus and went to sit down with the other one. When she looked up as she took her first bite, she was surprised to see Weiss scarfing down the food like she had not eaten in days.

"Whoa, slow down there," Ruby said in shock, "The food is not going anywhere. If I knew that you were that hungry I would have made more,"

Weiss did not reply in any form, but she did slow down the frantic pace to a more acceptable one. Ruby noticed that her bowl was almost empty already and she did not look to be stopping soon, so she slid her own over to the girl.

It only took another minute for all the food to disappear and it was only then that Weiss stopped eating. "I know that I am not that good of a cook, so it couldn't have been that good,"Ruby stated as she collected both of the bowls and brought them to the sink. "You act like you have not eaten in days,"

Weiss muttered something under her breath, but Ruby's aura enhanced hearing was able to pick it out as clear as if she had yelled it. "I haven't," She had said.

Ruby disappeared in a burst of petals and appeared right next to Weiss with hardened grey eyes. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Weiss said, leaning away from the girl.

"No, I distinctly heard you say something," Ruby pressed on, "Why have you not been eating?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Weiss retorted as she got up so that Ruby was not right next to her, "I have to go,"

Ruby disappeared and reappeared in front of her before she could barge out of the house, "Not before you tell me what you mean," She repeated insistently. If her friend was in trouble then she would do everything in her power to help, but first she needed to know what that trouble was in the first place.

"I said I don't want to talk about it Ruby," Weiss repeated firmly and sidestepped the girl. It was starting to get hot in the house and she knew that she needed to leave. "Now get out of the way,"

"Not until you tell me," Ruby replied insistently. Weiss tried to sidestep the red cloaked girl, but to no avail.

Eventually she just snapped. "Fine! You want to know why I have not eaten a full meal for over two weeks?" She yelled at Ruby, "It is because of these!" She viciously yanked at the wolf ears that adorned her head. "It is because humans are racist and refuse to sell me any food and I have to steal everything I come across just to get enough to eat. It is because my mother is dead and my father is a deadbeat bastard that could not even take care of his own flesh and blood! It is because I do not even have a home! Hell, this was the first time that I have ever had chocolate and warm clothing and it was because I wanted to steal whatever was in that basket from you! So there! Are you happy now that I told you?" Weiss glared back with glacier eyes, before they widened when she realized what she had just said. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, as if that would have retracted the torrent of words born of frustration.

She looked at Ruby and her stomach lurched when she saw the hurt that radiated in her eyes. However, she pushed her feelings aside and bolted out of the door, taking advantage of Ruby's shocked state to keep her from being stopped. She sprinted down the path as fast as she could, trying to get to the forest and away from the look on Ruby's face. She felt sick knowing that she was the one to cause that much pain for someone that had done nothing, but be kind and charitable for her.

Eventually she did what she did every time she needed comfort and her hand went into the pockets of her cargo pants, seeking the warm of her locket. When she came up empty, she jammed her hands into the rest of the pockets, slowly getting more and more frantic as she searched for her most precious belonging and the only reminder of her family that she had left.

When nothing showed up, she spun around in the darkness and looked around to see if she had just dropped it on the way over. When she could not see it, she started to search for it as fast as she could, but also careful in case it was just under some snow.

The longer the search went on, the more frantic her movements were, hands that dug only snow would strike against the unforgiving earth in an attempt to look even faster for the locket. It was all for naught however and she knew that she had lost her locket. It could be anywhere in the forest, from when she was confronted the grimm miles away to Ruby's house.

She fell back at the realization that she may never get the locket back and drew her legs up in despair, the freezing temperature forgotten in the face of such a loss. It was not until Weiss heard someone clear their throat that she looked up.

Ruby had never felt so betrayed before in her life. Had she really been tricked so much into think that the girl was actually her friend only to have her admit to trying to rob her. She seemed so nice, more aloof than most others, but she was never mean or said anything hurtful like everyone else she met. However that could have just been a lie to make her feel more trusting and let her get close enough to steal her stuff.

That thought was rivalled by others though. Weiss had plenty of chances to try and steal things, especially when she had turned her back on her so many times. She even bandaged her wounds by tearing her own shirt apart, probably the only shirt that she had. Those definitely were not the actions of a thief that only wanted what she had.

Just to be safe, she checked to see if everything was in place, only to find that indeed it was all fine. In fact, she seemed to have gained something by the look of the small piece of jewelry left behind. It was a dull well-worn silver locket. From how dull it was, it seemed like someone must have held it almost as much as she did her rose necklace. It was probably something that the faunus had nicked off of someone else and opened it up to see if she knew the person. After all, it could have been someone in town that got robbed.

What was inside proved that it definitely was not stolen. On one side was a picture of a young Weiss with her arms wrapped around a younger girl that shared many of the same features as she did. On the other was a picture of a beautiful woman that looked exactly like Weiss did except with light blue hair. An inscription under the picture read "To my dear sweet Weiss, I love you," Next to it was an etching of a snowflake.

Ruby relaxed slightly when she read that, it was just like her own necklace. Then she tensed when she realized what she held in her hand. Weiss said that her mother was dead, just like hers, which meant that the locket was probably the only thing she had left from her and it was in her hand rather than her's.

As much as she felt that Weiss' actions were despicable, she could not willingly put someone through that much anguish. If she had lost her necklace, than she would have been distraught at the very least, maybe even catatonic.

With her goal firmly in her mind, she raced out of the house, trailing rose petals as her semblance boosted her speed to make up for lost time.

Eventually she heard something from ahead of her. It was the sounds of someone sobbing almost hysterically along with the sounds of snow being tossed around. Weiss must have found that her locket was gone and was searching for it in the snow.

The sound of her search ceased and the sobbing was muffled by something. Ruby got worried for a seconds and raced forward into the clearing to find Weiss. However this was not the confident aloof girl that she had gotten along with. This was the teenager that did not have a home or family to turn to and had lost the only reminder of her mother that she had.

Weiss was in the middle of the clearing with tossed up snow everywhere around her, huddled into a ball with her face hidden behind her knees. Upon closer inspection of the girl, Ruby winced. Her fingers were covered in blood from where they had snagged on the plants or hit the ground during her search.

It took her awhile, but Ruby eventually built up the courage to go over to the crying girl. She stood next to her and cleared her throat to get Weiss' attention. The girl's gaze shot up and allowed Ruby to see just how much of a mess she was. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and from the large clouds of mist coming from her lips, she seemed to be hyperventilating. Tears ran down her face and the moment that she saw Ruby, she ducked her head back down into her arms and tightened her grip around herself as if Ruby was going to hit her.

Ruby cleared her throat again and waited patiently for her to look up again, this time she had the locket in her hand. It took a bit, but Weiss eventually looked up and spotted the locket hanging from Ruby's hand. Her blood covered fingers reached out for it, but Ruby drew it back.

"I will give this back to you on one condition," Ruby said and waited for Weiss' reluctant nod, "I want you to come back to my house and explain yourself. No lies, nothing, just tell me what is going on,"

Ruby gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her up to her feet. Weiss stumbled forward and Ruby caught her before she began to drag her back to her house. Weiss seemed too tired to put up a fight and followed along without a fight.

They made it back to the house just as the snow stopped falling, allowing for the full moon to shine in the sky and light up the snow covered landscape. The moon was already past its apogee and was falling towards the horizon.

Ruby dragged Weiss into her living room and set her down on the couch before leaving and grabbing the first aid kit that she had left on the table. Weiss barely flinched when Ruby went to work on her fingers, she was too preoccupied making sure that her locket was in perfect working order.

"Why are you doing this for me?" Weiss asked quietly, "I tried to steal from you, anyone else would have just called the police and had me arrested. I'm a faunus, the police wouldn't even have to think about arresting me,"

"Because you remind me of myself," Ruby said after a minute of thought, "You just need a friend to make things better. Now can you explain what's the matter so that I can help you?"

Weiss really did not want to say anything, but after some prodding from Ruby, she started slowly, explaining only the barest of the basics of her history. Sticking to general facts like how she was raised in the ghetto of Vale and had moved away when she couldn't stay there. However, the more that she talked, the more that she reveal until she had unveiled her whole story even things that she had been holding in for years and never told a soul. She told about her mother and how wonderful she was, until a mob of racists came to the ghetto and killed several faunus in their drunken rages, her mother being one of them. Her father had taken to the drink and blew all of their money on his habits. Weiss' sister had run away first and had not tried to get back into contact with her ever since and it was not long for the white haired faunus to leave as well. She had been living in one of the caves in the middle of the forest ever since, using a fence to sell all of the things that she had been stealing over the years, but the racism that was so prevalent in their society made it almost impossible to survive on her own.

Once she was done venting, she felt spent and exhausted. She had not talked so much since she was in the city and after the day that they had, she felt like she could happily sleep for the next week. However Ruby still had not said anything and she was afraid to see what the closest thing that she had for a friend thought of her after everything she said.

When she heard a sniffle, she looked up and was surprised. The ravenette's face streamed tears as she fruitlessly wiped her eyes of tears. Their eyes met and Weiss was wrapped up in a tight hug with a crying girl in her arms.

"Why are you the one crying?"

"B-b-b-because it is so sad," Ruby stammered out, "I lost my mom, but I had daddy, Yang, and uncle, you did not even have that. I know what I can do, you can stay here with me. That is… if you feel like it," She said suddenly bashful.

"What?" Weiss said shocked, "What are you talking about?"

"You can stay here," Ruby stated, "No matter how it started or why, you are my friend, one of my only ones. Even though you lied, you told the truth in the end and I trust you. I do not want you to have to sleep in that cave any longer than you have already so you can come stay here. Besides, it is too cold to be out there now, you might get frostbite,"

"I don't think that is a good idea," Weiss replied. No matter how much she wanted to take her up on her offer, she knew that it would cause more problem that it would fix.

"Nonsense," She retorted, "Yang is off looking for something again while dad will be on his inventor kick for at least a week or two before he gets home. Then he will probably get called away to fight some grimm again,"

Weiss was going to press on, but Ruby seemed to really want her to stay and had pulled out her trump card already. Her eyes sparkled as she gave her a pleading stare and try as she might, she crumbled as easily as Qrow and her father did and agreed. If only for a couple of days.

It had been several weeks since they had first met in the forest. Weiss had decided to stay for the next couple of days and it was the best few days the either girls had in a long finally had a safe place to live and it allowed her to come out of her shell and get closer to Ruby than she had ever gotten to anyone. Ruby was just happy to have someone around to talk to besides the dog, the fact that it was with Weiss was just a bonus. As much as she hid it, she was lonely when the house was empty.

It was not long until Ruby's father found out about his new housemate. Though he did not seem to care that there was another mouth to feed and had quickly adopted her as one of his own. Yang was a bit harder to convince, but after a lot of begging and some bribing, she came around to her side. Qrow was suspicious, but that was just the way the paranoid man was.

A bright and sunny day for the two of them sprawled out in the forest where they had met, a picnic basket empty off to one side.

"I guess that I finally got the basket," Weiss joked, inciting a laugh from her companion, "It was just as good as I thought it would be,"

"Yeah, but I hope that you saved room for the real treat," Ruby rolled over towards her friend and hovered over her.

"And what is that," Weiss said lazily, the sun lolling her to sleep.

"This," The cloaked girl said and leaned down to steal a kiss. The previously closed eyes of the wolf faunus shot open as Ruby pulled away. While they had admitted their feelings for each other several days ago, she was still surprised at how bold Ruby was with their relationship.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Weiss threw herself over Ruby and completely turned the tides. She knew that with her immense strength, Ruby could have gotten free just as easily as if she had not even been holding her, but that would have taken away all of the fun.

"My, what big lips you have," Ruby said devilishly up at her girlfriend, her lips twisted into a seductive smile that somehow looked completely at home on the normally innocent visage.

"All the better to kiss you with…" Weiss purred back as she leaned in and gently pressed her lips against Ruby's soft, pouty ones. They deepened the kiss with a hug as Ruby twisted the two of them over, leaving her lying on top of Weiss. Eventually they pulled away from each other and Weiss was able to finish her sentence. "… My dear,"

(A/N: And that is a wrap for my first RWBY one-shot… really my first one-shot in general. If you can't tell, I am not that good at writing a romance story. I try to learn from some other stories that I have read, but I don't think I did this any justice.

I had gotten this idea when I looked at Chill-Chinchilla's lyric post for the song "Little Red Riding Hood" by Amanda Seyfried on Tumblr. If you get the chance, I would recommend you look it up. The one slide of a wolf faunus Weiss wrapped around Ruby was just too cute to pass up and I just had to write the story using the "Little Red Riding Hood"-esque theme from the post.

At first I was not going to make this, but the story would not leave my head all day so I put my Destiny fanfic on pause so that I could work on this. Six hours of contemplating and writing later, this came into existence. I wanted to post something for Christmas anyway and this was perfect for it.

That being said, Happy Holidays everyone! I will see you next time.)