Power Struggle

"Thank you for coming today, Team CFVY. Now, who wants to go first? The second years have agreed to give you some advanced practice today so please, speak up," Glynda spoke to the class.

"OK guys! This is our chance to shine!" Yang grinned, pulling their team in for a huddle. "Kick their butts and show everyone what we've got!"

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded.

"So obviously we send our best in, right?"

"Of course!" Weiss agreed.

Both Yang and Weiss immediately stood up.

"Ah, volunteers already," Glynda said. "Well, only one per team please. Let's give as many teams as possible a chance to participate."

"That's fine." Yang spoke through clenched teeth and side-eyed Weiss. "What are you doing!?" she whispered harshly.

"You said best. That's me!" Weiss hissed back.

"Hilarious. Good joke. You can sit down, now, princess." Yang was trying to keep her voice down, but her annoyance was quickly getting the best of her.

"These are experienced second years, you can't punch your way through every problem you face! Sit down and watch!" Weiss "whispered," but her aggravation added a shrill, hard to miss tone to her voice.

"Girls. Any day now." Glynda tapped her foot impatiently.

"J-just a second!" Yang forced a smile.

"Well I nominate Pyrrha! Let's get this party started!" Nora called out. It seemed they had the same idea... with no question about who was number one on their team.

"Excellent! Yang, Weiss, please feel free to make your decision in the meantime." Glynda was all too happy to kick that can down the road.

"Ugh!" Yang and Weiss huffed in unison and sat down.

"Fine, Ruby! You're leader, you decide!" Yang turned it on her sister.

"What!?" Ruby went instant deer-in-headlights mode as her sister and Weiss stared her down. She looked to her sister first, earning a quick thumbs up, but shivered as she caught Weiss then glowering at her. The glare turned to a smirk as she then looked at Weiss, only to get an exaggerated pout from her sister. "Uh, uh, uh, uh... B-Blake!"

"Huh!?" Blake mirrored Ruby's earlier shocked expression.

"Y-yeah, I choose Blake! I believe in you, Blake! You can do it!" Ruby nodded enthusiastically. "I know you won't let me down!"

"Um, s-sure." Blake swallowed hard. Meanwhile, both Weiss and Yang looked like their souls had fled their bodies...

. . .

"Ow... ow... ow... e-easy!" Blake whimpered as Ruby dabbed at her eye with a packet of ice. She had ended up fighting Yatsuhashi and had a nasty black eye to show for it.

Meanwhile Yang and Weiss sat across the room looking like naughty children, avoiding the eyes of their teammates.

For ninety-percent of the fight Blake had been totally outmatched, having been hit so hard that, despite her aura, she'd gotten a bruised eye-socket, but she'd insisted on finishing the fight... and had actually turned it around and won. They were pretty sure Yatsuhashi was still back in combat class sitting on the ground trying to figure out what had happened.

To be fair, Yang had been there. Blake really was like a ninja when she put her mind to it. A semblance clone here, a blade on a rope there, and next thing you knew you were being shot in the back of the head even though Blake was still in front of you. Or was she? It was impressive... and annoying.

"Sorry. But you did it, Blake! That was awesome!" Ruby praised her.

"Well... you said you could count on me. Can't be making you a liar now can I?" Blake chuckled. It was true. When Glynda asked her if she wanted to forfeit, she'd recalled Ruby's words and figured she should just give it a shot and keep trying. She was glad she had.

"Hey, let's go to the cafeteria! I'll get you whatever you want as a reward, Blake!" Ruby offered. "I bet I can get them to make you a cupcake, o-or a whole cake even!"

"Tuna?" Blake perked up.

"A... tuna cake?" Ruby grimaced in disgust.

"N-no... I mean... unless... do they make those?" Blake's eyes shone.

"I... don't know... and I don't want to." Ruby's face went pale. "A-anyway, let's go! Team RWBY champion celebration!" Ruby shot to her feet and pulled Blake after her.

"Yeah, we'll catch up in a minute," Yang told them.

"We will?" Weiss looked at her quizzically.

"Yeah..." Yang nodded and when the other two had left, she sighed. "We messed up, huh?"

"We did?" Weiss was still lost.

"You heard her. Ruby believed in her and we were busy feeling sorry for ourselves. We shoulda been cheering her on too..." Yang found herself staring sadly at the floor. "And we might've saved her a black eye if we coulda made up our minds."

"I guess..." Weiss crossed her arms. "But she won. What? You still think it should have been you out there?"

"Well, you know, I could've done it too. We all know I can take a hit better."

"No, you just think you're better. Period." Weiss scowled. Yang hadn't learned her lesson at all.

"Pfft, the only reason you're getting offended right now is because you think you're better than me!" Yang scoffed at her. How dare she get on her high horse?

"No one wants to see a pair of brutes pound on each other, Yang. Blake proved that finesse was the answer! Who has more finesse than me?" Weiss countered.

"Oh, so I'm a brute now?" Yang rolled her eyes. "And you just admitted you think you're better than Blake too!"

"Too? Pot calling the kettle black much?"

"You just can't handle the thought of being inferior to anyone, Princess Schnee!"

"I am not a princess!" Weiss was officially shouting at this point.

"You must be so sad about that one, huh?!" Yang was happy to fire right back at full volume.

"Fine! Fine! You want to settle this?!" Weiss stomped her feet.

"Oh I've wanted this since day one, Princess!"

. . .

Most of the ensuing fight in the sparring room was Weiss giving Yang the runaround using glyphs to trip the girl up or speed herself away if she actually got close. The only danger she felt was Yang's explosive shells which were dodged or blocked easily enough most of the time.

Finally she cornered Yang, putting a glyph below her feet to hold her still and then trying to encase her legs in ice.

"GRR! THAT'S IT!" Just as the ice began to form Yang threw her fist at the floor. The following explosion hid the results from Weiss's view, but she was pretty sure she hadn't trapped Yang. Well, the cloud of dust worked both ways!

Weiss began firing icicles blindly in Yang's direction, but the girl flew from the cloud of dust, blasting all the ice out of the air with her shotguns. Once she was clear she blasted herself forward. Weiss threw up a wall of ice, but Yang vaulted over it almost casually. At this point Weiss could tell that Yang's eyes had turned red.

Oh no.

But she would not be intimidated! At least... not too much.

Yang's feet hit the ground and Weiss coiled herself up, both girls taking aim at the other for a close-ranged engagement.

"YANG XIAO-LONG!" The doors to the training room burst open and Ruby's voice echoed loudly over the sounds of battle.

"H-huh!?" Yang stumbled and turned her head.

"NO NO NO!" Weiss couldn't stop-

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Ruby's own shriek joined Yang's, "OH MY GOSH, YANG!"

. . .

Once more Team RWBY sat in their room with one of them nursing an injured eye. Weiss's rapier had ended up in an unfortunate location. Thankfully Yang's aura had taken the worst of it and would proceed to heal what damage had been done and there shouldn't have been any lasting damage...

"So... do we have to separate you two, or...?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"S-sorry..." Yang bit her lip and had her hands on her knees. "You know, it's just... I mean Weiss has her scar and Blake has her black-eye now. I was feeling left out."

Ruby clenched a fist and looked down, "So... should I... you know? Pow?" She feigned punching herself in the eye.

"No!" The other three cried in unison.

"OK, but seriously! I thought you were the big sister Yang! But you two were being totally immature! We were supposed to be celebrating!" Ruby scolded the two.

"I... I... am sorry... as well." Weiss forced herself to swallow her pride. "But, um, actually can we have a minute alone?"

"Yeah right! Last time we left you-" Ruby began to protest but Blake began pulling her toward the door.

"Come on, Ruby. They need to sort this out on their own for now." Blake figured they could hold off on intervening so long as they weren't trying to fight each other again.

"B-but... team..." Ruby pouted as the door shut behind them.

Thus, silence reigned. Weiss knew what she wanted to say, but now that she was actually alone with Yang...

"So, uhh... I guess we never really fought before, huh?" Yang broke the silence. "I mean, I... I guess I knew you were good, but seeing it first hand. You really take this trying to be the best stuff seriously."

"I've always been under a lot of pressure," Weiss admitted.

"Well I think it's cool! The important thing is that you're not all talk, you know!" Yang grinned. "I coulda done without you poking my eye out, but I'm actually kinda glad this happened." It was like a wall had suddenly come down and she could really respect Weiss as a valuable teammate. Before, it had felt like Weiss had been Ruby's partner first and then Yang's teammate second.

"Y-you-!" Weiss's cheeks puffed up. All talk? Is that what Yang had thought of her? She couldn't bring herself to say much though, indeed, she just felt guilt when looking at Yang's eye. Distraction or not, she should have had more control than that. "The best" wouldn't have made a mistake like that. "I really am sorry..." Weiss walked over to where Yang sat. "They did say you'd be OK, right?" Weiss carefully lifted her hand to touch Yang's face.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. It'll take more than this to leave a mark. Man, I'm not even gonna have a sweet scar like you!" Yang bobbed her one visible eyebrow. A moment passed with Weiss just standing there. "You know... all that hard work and you still have really soft girly hands, Weiss. All that money must buy some killer moisturizer."

Weiss's eyes snapped open as a burning blush lit up her face. She jerked her hand away, but Yang caught it.

"Come on, Princess. I said don't worry about it! Goes both ways, don't it? You saw how badass I am first hand, right?" Yang stood up, keeping a firm grip on Weiss's hand.

"Y-y-you... were sloppy and brutish! J-just like I thought you'd be!" Weiss stammered insistently. "But... I suppose... you have a certain determination. I can't be certain I'd have won if Ruby hadn't interrupted us." The sight of Yang blasting her way forward through all of Weiss's defenses was still fresh in her mind. Those intense, red eyes focused on her would be burned into her memory for some time. "So yes, I suppose it's no surprise you'll shrug even this off without a mark on you," she spoke with her eyes averted.

Yang chose to let the sloppy comment slide, "See! No problem! Hug it out!" Yang tugged Weiss forward and wrapped her arms around the girl.

"Wh-wh-wh-" Weiss's brain halted for a moment. However, soon Yang's warmth hit her. Honestly she couldn't remember the last time she'd hugged someone. Were people normally this warm or was Yang special? Well... it was... nice. Nice enough that she gave in and slowly managed to command her arms to hug back.

"U-umm... have we... hugged it all out yet?" Weiss swallowed hard. She couldn't honestly say she wasn't enjoying it, but it was starting to feel weird. She wasn't used to this level, or any level, of affection.

"Sorry, sorry!" Yang pulled back but she was smiling. "Ha, you're even cuter now!"

"Cuter?! Th-than what?!" Weiss threw an arm up to hide her face.

"Ah, well when I grabbed your hand earlier you got all red! It was adorable! This is even better!" Yang cackled. "I didn't know you had it in you!"

"You're just making fun of me now!" Weiss quickly turned away, trying to hide her face entirely.

"Aww, don't be like that!" Yang tried to step around in front of Weiss again, but the girl was officially giving her the cold shoulder. "H-hey! Come on!" Yang tried to move faster, but Weiss wouldn't have it. "WEISS!" Yang grabbed her shoulder and forcibly spun her around.

She found Weiss red-faced, pouting, her eyes glistening just a little. Yang's voice suddenly caught in her throat at the sight.

"Y-you're teasing me... you just did all that to mess with me..."

"What? No!" Yang gripped her shoulders. She finally felt like she might actually have started forming some sort of bond with the girl. "I-I meant it! Really!"

"You promise?" Weiss narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!"

"Huh?" Prove it? Well... if she insisted. Yang began to lean forward.

"W-w-wait, what are-" Weiss froze when Yang pressed her lips against her forehead.

"There! See? You're making that cute face again too!" Yang chuckled, a small blush of her own adorning her face now.

"That's not what I had in mind!" Weiss buried her face in her hands. Her heart was absolutely hammering away now. None of this was what she had in mind. She'd just wanted to square things away, but now it felt like she was meeting Yang for the first time all over again. Everything she'd thought about their relationship had been flipped and scrambled into something she barely recognized.

"Sorry. Won't happen again! Guess I got a bit carried away." Yang rubbed the back of her neck nervously. She wasn't sure exactly why that of all things was what she'd chosen to do. She also wasn't sure why she was now associating Weiss with the word "cute" so much. Well, aside from the fact that it was true, but still.

Weiss's hands slip down enough to reveal her eyes, "I... wouldn't go that far..."

"Eh?" Yang's eyes shot back to Weiss in surprise.

"I mean..." Weiss's heart almost stopped just at the thought of the words that popped into her head, let alone saying them. "Your aim was a bit off, though. You really are sloppy."

Yang's jaw dropped and her stomach fell down a 1,000 foot well or so it felt. What was even happening anymore? This had escalated quickly. She paused a moment longer to think about it and realized she... wasn't necessarily upset about this development.

"Well..." Yang cleared her throat, trying to collect herself. At least one of them needed to try and be suave here she figured. "I suppose I can work on my aim if you promise to keep making those faces." Yang reached out to gently pull Weiss's hands away from her face.

"I'm not sure I have any control over that anyway... so you're probably in luck." Weiss bit her lip, unable to meet Yang's eyes. She was afraid her heart would actually stop this time if she did.

Unfortunately for Weiss in this fragile state she found herself in... the door burst open a second later. If her nerves hadn't already sealed her throat half shut, she might have screamed.

"Hey guys, you done talking yet?" Ruby burst into the room. Weiss and Yang both did an instant heel-turn to face away from each other. Unfortunately for Weiss this meant she was facing Ruby and Blake with her scarlet, blushing cheeks. "Eh? Guys?"

"Oh..." Was all Blake had to say. "Uhh, maybe we should give them another minute."

"Huh? What's going on?" Poor, naive Ruby was lost.

"N-n-nothing! B-Blake! Did you ever get that cake?" Weiss let out an uncharacteristic, panicked laugh.

"Uhhh, no, now that you mention it..." Blake told them.

"Oh yeah! Now we can all celebrate Champion RWBY together!" Ruby beamed.

"Please don't call me that in front of people..." Blake frowned.

"No promises!" Ruby said as she began marching back toward the cafeteria.

Yang took a deep breath to try and calm down and made to follow them as well, but Weiss caught her by the hand before she could leave.

"Ummm... I'm... happy this all happened too, I guess." This time she forced herself to meet Yang's eyes.

Yang's heart skipped a beat, but she collected her thoughts and threw on a grin, "Oh, you'll be way happier about what happens next." She also winked for good measure.

Yeah, that face. Yang was going to enjoy this. Weiss would too – just for different reasons.

Bonus:

"You sure this is a good idea, Yang?" Blake asked the girl.

"Is what a good idea?" Yang tilted her head.

"You know, Weiss. We're a team. I mean, if we can't work together..."

"You think it's all gonna blow up in my face, huh?" Yang scowled. "No faith."

"No... not necessarily. But if it does... yeah, the team could fall apart."

"Fine, fine, you're right. It's risky, but the bigger tragedy would be to let it slip by!" Yang felt how she felt.

"Oh. Well... good."

"Good?" Then why bring it up?

"I just wanted to know how you felt."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Blake nodded. "So... say I felt something like that."

"I'm not sharing Weiss." Yang narrowed her eyes.

"Not Weiss."

"Blake... wow... crap I didn't know. I'm sorry, I mean, I-"

"N-no, not you either!" Blake was starting to get flustered now.

"Oh, phew. Good! Girl talk then! Who is it?"

The ensuing silence was palpable.

Yang's grin that had just formed slowly faded, "Wait..."

"I've made a terrible mistake..." Blake swallowed hard.

When the door burst open Blake got a solid taste of what Weiss must have felt earlier.

"Wow, again? I'm starting to think you're keeping something from me, Yang!" Ruby frowned.

"What is going on in here!" Weiss stared accusingly at them.

"Nothing!" Blake insisted.

"That is a very guilty sounding nothing!" Weiss snapped.

"I don't like Yang, relax!" Blake insisted.

"Huh?!" Ruby looked horrified.

"Don't worry about it." Weiss swatted her away. "So what's going on then, Blake?"

"Oh, it's much worse." Yang crossed her arms.

"Worse?! What does that mean! You don't like Yang? So then what is it?"

"I-I-I-... Ruby! I like Ruby!" Blake screwed her eyes shut.

". . . Cool! I like you too, Blake! Anyway, this is a lot of noise before bed! I dunno what's going on with you and Yang, but I'm sure we can settle it in the morning!" Ruby smiled with an absolutely stunning level of naivety and optimism.

Everyone stared in shock as she hopped up into her bed and pulled the covers up. They then stared at Blake who was deflating like an old birthday balloon.

The seconds proceeded to tick away... until Ruby shot back up in bed, "WAIT, WHAT THE F-"

To be continued...

Sorry, gotta cut it there. Ruby's not allowed to swear. You understand.

Now if I had to pick one Team RWBY pairing to make cannon, it'd be White Rose, but these days when it comes to writing, Yang and Weiss are what I love the most. It's so fun. I also find it charming to throw a little Ladybug in there too. Mind you Blake seems to suck the life out of any romance story I try to write featuring her, but... Ladybug is the one Blake pairing that I'm not totally apathetic towards. I don't hate the other ones, I just don't find any significant joy in them either.

What can I say, Yang and Weiss are my favorites so playing them off each other is a blast.

Note: It will be "continued" in the Ladybug collection, of course with a much different focus.

Til' next time!