32

Chapter 32:

Oh crap! thought Yang, her entire body going rigid at the realization that, in trying to avoid their father encountering Ruby at Beacon, she had inadvertently led him right to Ruby instead. Now, she felt as though she were standing in the vicinity of a container of volatile Dust, primed to go off at the slightest disturbance.

Everything froze. While the rest of the students milled about them, either filing onto the transport or dispersing into Beacon's grounds, time for the five of them seemed to stand still, no one daring to make a move.

Ruby wasn't sure what her feelings were, laying eyes on Taiyang Xiao Long for the first time in six years. There was plenty of anger to be sure, a simmering rage as she was bombarded by memories of what he had done, how he had treated her, how he'd tried to lock her away from the world. Yet that anger wasn't nearly as strong as it had been before. Reconnecting with Yang had mellowed Ruby's feeling somewhat, leaving her feeling open to the possibility that maybe...just maybe...the same was possible between her and her father; that she could get him to accept she belonged at Beacon and, in turn, she could find it in herself to forgive him for what he'd done and what he'd tried to do.

What truly surprised her was the sense of melancholy that filled in over the anger as she stared at her father, taking in all the myriad ways the years had changed him. There was nothing as dramatic as the changes Yang had gone through in the space between the ages of eleven and seventeen, but he had changed all the same. His blonde hair was slightly grayer than she remembered, his hairline having receded a little. The stubble on his chin was a little thicker too. Seeing those changes struck Ruby with a sense of loss, of time missed, never to be reclaimed. She'd felt something similar when she'd seen Yang for the first time...but that had been overshadowed by Ruby's anger at the time. Now, Ruby's anger was overshadowed by that sense of loss instead.

"Ruby..." said Taiyang, his voice soft. "You're alive."

"Yeah," said Ruby, her tone neutral as she could keep it, though a slight quaver in her voice betrayed her unease, all the emotions she was desperately trying to keep bottled up, "I am."

Taiyang's expression transformed into one of relief and exultation. "I can't believe it!" he said breathlessly. "You're alive! You're here! You've come home!"

"I wouldn't say that," said Ruby, her tone turning sour.

Taiyang started towards her, arms outstretched, clearly hoping to hug her. Ruby took a step back from him, her brow furrowing. She was assailed by the sense that, if she allowed those arms to close around her, she wouldn't be able to escape them.

If he was daunted by her retreat in the face of his advance, Taiyang didn't register it, already taking another step forward. What halted him instead was the sight of what hung at the small of Ruby's back. He froze in place, his arms lowering and curling slightly, muscles bulging into stark relief as his fingers curled inwards, hands becoming fists. Relief and exultation faded from his face, anger and suspicion replacing them as his eyes narrowed.

"What is that?" he growled, his gaze going pointedly to Ruby's sword, the nature of the question so obvious that Ruby didn't need any gesture to tell what he was asking about.

Within Ruby, her anger bubbled to the surface once more, displacing her melancholy. Biting back a sarcastic rejoinder, knowing that Sasame would rebuke her for not at least trying to keep from burning her bridges, Ruby decided bluntness was better. "It's my sword," she said.

"Why do you have a sword?" asked Taiyang harshly. "What use could you possibly have for a weapon, when you-?" He cut himself off, looking around as Ruby found herself fuming silently in front of him. "Come to think of it...what are you even doing here?"

"I'm at Beacon, Dad," said Ruby, unable to keep her sarcasm at bay any longer. "What do you think I'm here for?"

"That's impossible," said Taiyang with a an almost ridiculous degree of certainty. "Even if you could become a student here, you're two years too early."

Beside him, Yang winced visibly, having, nearly word for word, said the same thing to Ruby when they'd first spoke on the day of the initiation.

"You don't get to talk about what's possible or not anymore," said Ruby, turning away from him. "Let's go," she said to Weiss and Sasame.

"Ruby, wait! Where do you think you're going?" demanded Taiyang.

"Back to my dorm," said Ruby.

"You can't be serious," protested Taiyang. "You're really staying here? How?"

"She was accepted and completed the Initiation," said Weiss, looking over her shoulder at the man, barely able to contain her distaste. While Taiyang didn't seem to be as bad as her own father, she could tell that the man seemed to be living in a delusion of his own creation.

"Shut up!" snapped Taiyang, startling Weiss with the level of ferocity in his voice. "I'm talking with my daughter. Don't stick your nose in."

"You shut up!" Ruby snapped, turning to face Taiyang, her anger causing him to falter. "You don't get to talk to my teammate like that and you don't have any right to question me."

"Ruby-chan," said Sasame, resting a hand lightly on her arm. "Calm down. Try explaining the situation plainly."

"Why should I?" demanded Ruby. "He's obviously not going to listen."

"Because, like it or not, he is your father," said Sasame. "I wouldn't say you have an obligation to try and make him understand. But let's not burn your bridges so preemptively...however poor his attitude may be at the moment."

"Fine," huffed Ruby, turning to face Taiyang. "Like my teammate said, I passed the Initiation."

"How did you even get into the Initiation in the first place?" demanded Taiyang. "There's no way you would have been accepted."

Ruby opened her mouth to shout, then stopped herself, forcing herself to take a deep breath to keep from lashing out, verbally or otherwise. In a sense, Taiyang was right. On the basis of her age, there was no way she would have been accepted into Beacon so soon, not without special circumstances in play. But it was clear that her age wasn't what her father was talking about. She was reminded of Jaune's complaints about his own father, about how the man had apparently refused to believe a word that came out of Jaune's mouth, living with the assurance that Jaune was lying to him.

"Professor Ozpin personally invited me," she answered finally. "I was visiting Vale when I got caught up in a robbery. I stopped it and brought down the perpetrator. That made Professor Ozpin decide that I had what it took to succeed at Beacon."

"That bastard..." growled Taiyang, his hands curling into fists. "He doesn't know a damn thing! What does he think he's doing by bringing you here?"

Ruby didn't say anything, glaring pointedly at her father.

Then Taiyang took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the tension flowing out of his body. Finally, looking more relaxed, he looked at Ruby and spoke with a voice overflowing with fatherly authority. "All right, young lady, enough is enough. I won't put up with this foolishness any longer. We're going home, now."

"No," said Ruby simply, turning away.

"Ruby! Don't turn your back on me!" shouted Taiyang.

Ruby looked to Sasame, who sighed and raised her hands up slightly, shaking her head sadly. "You tried," she said. In this case, there was presently no way to make amends, if Taiyang absolutely refused to acknowledge anything other than his own wants.

Ruby nodded and began heading to the dorms again.

"Dammit, Ruby! Get over here, now!" snapped Taiyang, before beginning to follow her.

"Dad! Stop!" shouted Yang, grabbing his arm.

Taiyang did stop, but shook his arm fiercely, throwing Yang off, before whirling around to glare at her. "You!" he snarled.

"Huh?" Yang backed away, her body quivering beneath the force of her father's outraged glare.

"You knew..." growled Taiyang. "You knew that she was here, that it was dangerous, that it isn't safe for her."

"It's not safe for any of us," protested Yang.

"Ruby belongs at home!" shouted Taiyang. "She doesn't need to fill her head with stupid stories about adventures and heroics of the kind that got her mother killed! But I find her here, with you...and you never said a thing to me! You were just going to let her go out and get killed, weren't you? How dare you…!"

He raised his hand and Yang gasped, falling back, unsure of how to respond. Her combat reflexes screamed at her to put up her guard. But her instincts told her this was her father. This wasn't training. It wasn't a sparring match. He was hitting her in order to punish her. The years of letting what had happened, that day in the forest, weigh on her mind caused Yang's guilt, which had begun to dissipate after reuniting and reconciling with Ruby, to freeze her body.

Fortunately, she didn't need to defend. Instead, a furry, reddish-brown tail looped around Taiyang's arm, locking it in place as Taiyang tugged on it. However, his arm refused to budge.

"Xiao Long-dono, please refrain from doing something you will regret," said Sasame plainly, having turned and come over to where Taiyang and Yang were. "If you do that, then I will do something you will regret."

"Let go of me," snarled Taiyang, pulling futilely against Sasame's tail. "This is none of your business."

"But it is," said Sasame. "After all, Yang-san is Ruby-chan's other sister. As a fellow sister, there is no way I could permit you to harm her out of anger."

"Other sister..." Taiyang's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"Ah, please forgive me for not introducing myself," said Sasame, bowing politely. "I am Mitarai Sasame. I am Ruby-chan's adoptive older sister, and have had the privilege of being her guardian, caretaker, and teacher these past six years. I wish I could say that it is a pleasure to meet you. However, I find your attitude to be most unpleasant, not to mention immature."

"You..." snarled Taiyang. "You took my Ruby from me? You kept her from me for six years?"

"I took nothing from you," said Sasame. "You forced Ruby-chan away yourself. I merely stepped in to help and guide her along the path she chose for herself. It's unfortunate that you refuse to acknowledge the time that has passed, or the changes that she has gone through. I had hoped that she could mend her bridges with you...but it seems that there is no hope for you as you are now. I suggest you stay away from her, until you realize your mistakes."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" roared Taiyang, lunging at Sasame. However, he was wrenched back by the fact that his arm refused to budge from where Sasame's tail held it fast.

"That isn't possible," said Sasame plainly. "More to the point, your attitude is grossly inappropriate. I believe you need a time-out."

With that, she flicked her tail, flinging Taiyang through the air and sending him flying away with an outraged shout. He flew away, disappearing over a nearby stand of trees.

"What are you doing?" gasped Yang, staring after her father.

"Disciplining him," said Sasame. "It grieves me to think that I needed to treat a father of two like an unruly child, but...oh well."

"Will he be all right?" asked Yang.

"He'll be fine," said Sasame. "His Aura is strong enough to handle most of the impact. I laid my healing arts on him preemptively to handle any other damage. That will actually drain more of his Aura, which should help if he immediately attempts to use force again."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Yang.

"For now, let's just return," said Sasame, taking Yang's hand. "We could all do with a good meal, now that that's over."

Hearing a sniff prompted Sasame to look up. She saw Yang's face glistening with tears. Reaching up, Sasame cupped Yang's cheek. "You did the right thing, Yang-san," she said. "Your father is behaving foolishly, and passing the blame for his own mistakes onto you. Please don't let it get to you."

"Thanks," said Yang, leaning her face against the palm of Sasame's hand.

Sasame led Yang back to the others and they proceeded towards the dining hall. On the way, Yang told them what had happened. Ruby accepted Yang's explanation gladly, but admitted she would have appreciated a heads-up that her father was on campus.

"I really should have," said Yang. "But I didn't want to risk trying to text you and have Dad notice you were my contact." She frowned. "I didn't think to ask Nora or Ren to do it either."

"I guess they didn't think of it on their own," said Ruby dourly.

"Well, I wouldn't hold that against them," said Sasame. "I doubt it occurred to them that you would chance upon one another like this."

"Yeah, that was a really bad stroke of luck, Sis," said Yang.

"Well, thanks for at least trying," said Ruby. "This still turned out for the worst."

"We'll see," said Sasame. "I hold out hope that your father will be able to see past his preconceptions."

"In the meantime, what is that?" asked Yang, gesturing to the bagged boxes Ruby had carried all throughout the confrontation.

"Cakes," said Ruby, filling Yang in on her and Ashley's trip to the bakery and the treats she picked up for them.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Yang, making the others groan. She laughed sheepishly. "No pun intended."

"We'll have to contact everyone and let them know what you got," said Weiss, already pulling out her scroll.

Ruby nodded, then looked in the direction Sasame had thrown Taiyang.

"Don't worry about it for now," said Sasame. "If your father tries to remove you by force, he will not get far. For now, just enjoy the evening with your friends. You do have class tomorrow, after all."

"Right," said Ruby, managing a smile.

Ozpin looked up from his desk as the elevator to his office opened with its usual tone. His eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of the man striding out, his blue eyes glaring intently at the Professor as he stormed out of the elevator and across the empty expanse of the office to stop at the edge of the desk.

"Mr. Xiao Long, I'm surprised to see you here," said Ozpin calmly, setting the papers he'd been working on aside. "What brings you here, this evening?"

"Cut the crap, Ozpin!" snarled Taiyang. "I want my daughter, and I want her now! I'm taking her home."

"And why would you wish to withdraw Ms. Xiao Long from Beacon?" asked Ozpin. "As far as I know, she's been performing well, though Glynda has informed me that her academics could use some work-"

"I'm not talking about Yang!" snapped Taiyang, baring his teeth. "At this point, I'm not sure I want her back home, ever. I'm talking about Ruby. I'm taking her with me."

"I'm afraid I cannot help you," said Ozpin simply. "Ms. Rose entered Beacon without listing a guardian with the authority to withdraw her."

"She's my daughter, and you know it!" shouted Taiyang. "Using her mother's name instead of mine doesn't change that!"

"Be that as it may, Ms. Rose will not be going anywhere, if she does not wish to do so," said Ozpin. "At present, she is a student of excellent standing. Her academic scores, thus far, have been excellent. Granted, there was a little difficulty at first, which is understandable, considering her unique experiences, and the fact that she is two years younger than the average first-year student. However, she has made the adjustment and is now performing very well, near the top of her class, in fact. Her combat rating is nothing short of exceptional. Glynda has informed me that it's a tossup as to whether it is her or Ms. Nikos who will take the top spot in the rankings."

"Bullshit!" snapped Taiyang. "Do you really expect me to believe that crap!?"

"We have the recordings of her combat sessions and a record of her scores on her assignments and assessments," said Ozpin. "It is all quite real."

"That doesn't change the fact that Ruby is my daughter," snapped Taiyang. "I'm taking her with me. She doesn't belong here. She belongs at home."

"That is not for you to decide," said Ozpin, tapping a command into the interface of his desk. A holographic image appeared, hovering over the desk's surface, the image of a paper form, with Ruby's signature. "Are you familiar with this?" he asked.

"That's Beacon's liability contract," said Taiyang.

The liability contract was a standard component of application to any of the four Huntsmen Academies. For students who were applying to enter a school that prepared them for a life-threatening occupation, the form acknowledged their awareness and acceptance of the risks that accompanied their training...and the possible injures, or even deaths, that might result. It was standard fare for institutions like this.

"As you can see, Ms. Rose has signed the specialized free-decision form, which is for students entering without a parent or legal guardian to consent for them," explained Ozpin. "Legally, it has been determined that she was capable of making her own decision in this matter. As such, we now hold legal responsibility for her wellbeing."

"You can't be serious!" shouted Taiyang. "I'll go straight to the Council! I am Ruby's father! I can prove it!"

"Irrelevant, I'm afraid," said Ozpin with a disappointed sigh. "Unless Ms. Rose chooses to officially acknowledge you as her father, which, at this point, would require more paperwork, you have no authority over her admission into Beacon. Even if she did, so long as she remains a student in good standing, you lack the authority to remove her without her consent."

"What the hell are you getting at here?" demanded Taiyang. "What do you want Ruby for?"

"At this point, I merely acknowledged her potential," said Ozpin. "She proved herself more than capable after fighting, and successfully subduing, an infamous criminal who has repeatedly escaped arrest. Since then, she has done nothing but demonstrate that she is more than capable of excelling here. If anything, inviting her in two years early was to her benefit. If we had waited for two more years, her skills would likely have exceeded those of other first-year students to such a degree that it might have been nigh impossible for her to function on a team that was appropriately balanced."

Taiyang clenched his hands into fists, growling wordlessly and looking down.

"Mr. Xiao Long, at this point, you have no recourse to impose your will on Ms. Rose's presence here," said Ozpin frankly. "If you truly wish to have even the slightest hope of ever assuming your place as her father once more, you will first need to accept her choice of direction in life, and do your best to support her. That is the only way she could ever come to accept you as such."

"Never," snarled Taiyang. "I lost her once already. I won't lose her again. And I definitely won't lose her to your scheming. Ruby will be coming home with me, one way or another."

"Do not attempt to use force," said Ozpin firmly. "If you do so, the faculty will stop you and I will have you barred from campus for the remainder of your daughters' time here as students."

"I'll do what it takes," growled Taiyang.

"Before you go and do something foolish, might I suggest and alternative?" proposed Ozpin.

"What?" growled Taiyang.

"Why not observe for a day or two," said Ozpin, "discreetly, of course. So long as you do not do anything disruptive, and keep your distance, I will permit you to sit in on Ms. Rose's classes, and see for yourself how she performs. I believe Tuesday's Combat Class will prove to be quite informative."

"And if I'm not satisfied?" asked Taiyang.

"Then that is unfortunate," said Ozpin. "As I have said earlier, you have no say in Ms. Rose's continued attendance here. It is my hope that seeing her in action will convince you to amend your view and accept her decision, which would be the first step in restoring your bond with her as her father. At this point, this is the only option I have to offer you. Otherwise, I will just have to ask you to leave and, should you refuse, I will have you escorted off-campus, and you will lose all visitation rights for the foreseeable future."

A low growl rumbled up from Taiyang's throat. "Fine," he growled.

"Very well then," said Ozpin. "I need to inform Ms. Rose, and ask her permission for you to observe."

"You shouldn't need her permission," said Taiyang.

"This is an institution for education, Mr. Xiao Long," said Ozpin, already pulling out his scroll. "Ensuring that our students have an environment conducive for such is our highest priority. It could well be that Ms. Rose will find your presence alone sufficiently disruptive to not want you in the classroom with her. If that is the case, then I'm afraid that you will simply have to accept it." He smiled in the face of Taiyang's scowl. "Fortunately, I think she will be more amenable to the idea than you might think."

"Wow! Your dad found out you were here," said Nora, gulping. "That's...not good...I'm guessing."

"Yep," deadpanned Ruby, giving Nora a flat look.

"I apologize," said Ren softly. "We should have sent you a warning. It didn't even occur to me that Yang wasn't in a position to do so."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," said Blake, looking up from her book long enough to carve off a dainty bite of her slice of cake with her fork and eat it, humming pleasantly.

At Weiss' suggestion, the two teams met in the dining hall, getting their dinner, before helping themselves to the cakes Ruby had bought as dessert. Unfortunately, Velvet hadn't been able to join them, having gone into Vale for dinner with her team. Of course, that just meant more cake for Ruby and the rest.

"Yeah, I just wish it hadn't happened in a way that didn't get me in a heap of trouble," groaned Yang, sagging down, nearly dragging her hair through the frosting on her slice of the cake.

"At this point, there's probably no way that wouldn't have happened," Jaune pointed out. "Your dad was bound to be pissed, no matter which way he found out, because you kept it from him for so long."

"I guess so," said Yang, sighing. "I can't believe he was about to hit me like that."

"Uncle Qrow said he was warped," said Ruby despondently. "I'm sorry, Yang. I had no idea he was like that."

"He's not, normally," said Yang, staring at her little sister. "After the first few months, when he gave up on finding you out there, he sorta just stopped talking about you altogether. If you ever came up in conversation, he got angry and clammed up. But, most of the time, with me at least, it was like normal. He laughed and joked and did all the things he was supposed to do."

Yang paused, deciding to not bring up a few of the more disturbing aspects of her father's behavior. Ruby and Yang had had their own rooms, back in the house on Patch. But, originally, they had shared a room, one plenty large enough for the both of them. Yang still remembered how it used to be; her bed on one side, Ruby's on the other, yellow sheets and red sheets, each of them having decorations that suited them on their side of the room.

However, after the incident, that had changed. They'd gotten their own rooms, but it wasn't necessarily a good thing. Yang found herself moved into what had once been the guest room, while Ruby got to keep their once-shared room entirely to herself. The guest room wasn't uncomfortable, but it was smaller, and practically a closet, compared to the room that she and Ruby had once shared. At the time, and ever since, Yang had considered it her due for endangering Ruby.

When Ruby had run away, and after the search had been, more or less, given up on, one might have expected that Yang would have been allowed to move back into the larger room. But that hadn't been the case. Yang had been too nervous to bring the idea up, given how Taiyang had initially blamed her for Ruby's disappearance. And her father certainly hadn't seemed inclined to make any changes. If anything, he had cleaned and maintained Ruby's room meticulously, in the years she'd been gone, treating it almost more like a shrine than the room of a daughter, almost as though he believed with the fervency of a religious zealot that she would someday to return to use it, and want it exactly as she'd left it.

Yeah...no need to creep her out any more than she already is, thought Yang.

"Well, at this point, there's little to do," said Sasame, having already cleaned her own plate with startling speed. "Now that Xiao Long-san knows that Ruby-chan is here, it remains to be seen whether or not he will press the issue. All we can do is wait and handle things as they happen."

Ruby nodded.

"In the meantime," said Sasame, "tell us about where you got these lovely delights. I assume this is the consequence of your time spent with your new friend."

"Uh huh," said Ruby, her smile returning as she nodded proudly. "Ashley showed me this great bakery in the Faunus Quarter..."

Weiss and Sasame had heard most of this before, but it was new information to the rest. Nora was excited by the prospect of visiting a place like that and practically begged Ren to take her there the next day off they had. Ren didn't need much badgering to give in, much to the amusement of the rest of the group. Blake also expressed an interest in going, after hearing about the tea that Ruby had been served there, which led to Yang eagerly declaring that Team RYNB would visit the bakery next Sunday, not wanting to be left out of the fun.

"I'd love to go there myself," declared Pyrrha.

"Me too," said Jaune.

Weiss looked at the rest of her team, then sighed. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass," she said, sounding disappointed.

"Weiss, what's wrong?" asked Ruby.

"As wonderful as this place sounds, if it's that deep in the Faunus Quarter, me going there will likely cause trouble," said Weiss. "There's no way anyone there would serve a Schnee, after all."

"That's not true," protested Ruby. "I'm sure the owner would understand, once he meets you. He's really nice."

"Maybe," said Weiss. "But even nice people can get angry when there's someone who's the focus of so much of it." She groaned. "Thanks to my father, the Schnee name is practically a cuss-word for faunus all over the world. Even if I'm not him, to most faunus, I'm just another Schnee."

Ruby bit the inside of her lip, not sure of how to respond.

"It can't be that bad," said Jaune, trying to be optimistic. "I'm sure that they'll warm up to you, once they get to know you."

"That's assuming they're willing to get to know me," said Weiss sourly. "Seeing as just brushing through the fringes of the Faunus Quarter with Sasame was enough to draw out a small mob, I don't want to think about what happened if I went into the heart of it."

"Wait!" exclaimed Ruby, looking at Sasame in surprise. "What's this about a mob?"

"Some impulsive fools, nothing more," said Sasame with a shrug. "They were dealt with easily enough."

"But you didn't tell me?" asked Ruby.

"At the time, I didn't think it was that much of an issue," said Sasame, with a pensive frown. "However, I can see that it might cause problems in the future." Then her smile returned. "That being said, I think it might still be worth your while to go, Weiss-chan."

"Huh?" grunted Weiss, taken aback by Sasame's observation.

"You've expressed a desire to do things differently than your father," said Sasame. "You wish to take your family's company in a new direction and restore its integrity. Perhaps the place to start is here."

"How?" asked Weiss.

"For starters, by doing things you know your father would never willingly do," said Sasame. "Do you believe that he would ever think to willingly enter a faunus community and engage with its residents on any level."

"Never," said Weiss, shaking her head vigorously.

"By going out and engaging with faunus yourself, you'd already be showing yourself as someone cut from a different cloth than your father," said Sasame. "Build relationships with them, even if they, personally, have no involvement in your family's company. Doing so could have an effect that will ripple outwards, which might lead to potential goodwill when you do claim your inheritance."

"But still..." Weiss looked down. "I'd probably touch off a riot just by showing up there."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Sasame. "There are ways to smooth things over." She smiled slyly. "Perhaps if you were to show up in the company of another faunus..."

Ruby noticed Blake wince, but didn't comment on it, particularly because Sasame made no gesture that suggested that Blake was the particular faunus she was thinking about.

"You mean you?" asked Weiss.

"Probably not," said Sasame. "By the next time you get a chance to go, I will likely have left. However...Ruby-chan..."

"Y-yes?" Ruby was startled by Sasame's sudden shift to her.

"Perhaps, the next time you meet up with Ashley-san, you should offer to introduce your team to her," suggested Sasame.

"Oh!" Ruby's eyes widened. "Uh...It's worth a try, I guess."

"I'm not sure," said Weiss. "My being there might make her uncomfortable."

"But I'd want her to meet all of you anyway, at some point" Ruby pointed out. "I'm not ashamed to say you're my friend, Weiss. And I think Ashley could accept you if she got to know you."

"I-I'm still not sure about this," stammered Weiss, looking down and blushing. "God! This feels weird."

"Huh?" Ruby canted her head in confusion, while Sasame and Blake covered smiles. The other humans were just as perplexed by Weiss' statement as Ruby was.

To Weiss, it felt as though reality had inverted itself. The idea that someone might not want to admit that they were friends with her...or go so far as to make a point of saying they weren't ashamed to be her friend...was a complete reversal of the normal course of things for her.

After all, she was Weiss Schnee, the future heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the single most powerful corporate entity in all of Remnant. Most of her life, people had aspired to be her friend, to associate with her and the privilege her family name carried. In the social circles where Weiss had originally moved, she would have had to think very hard and tread very carefully, if she were to admit that she had befriended a faunus. To be in this position, to fear that her own friends might be reluctant to admit she was their friend in order to avoid backlash from a faunus community, it made Weiss begin to wonder. Is this what it's like for faunus who interact with humans? Do they go through something like this?

After all, in the past, Weiss had been all too happy to paint the majority of the faunus with the same brush. The White Fang had attacked her family's company relentlessly, causing thousands, if not millions of lien in damages with each move they made. Considering what the White Fang claimed to fight for, Weiss hadn't found it much of a reach to think that many faunus, even if they weren't in the White Fang themselves, were complicit on some level, secretly supporting the terrorist organization out of a desire to see her and the SDC taken down a peg or three. But now, here she was, realizing that her position was very similar, in its own way, as she ran the risk of being seen by faunus and lumped in with the likes of her father. It was...illuminating.

"I...I'll do it," said Weiss, looking up at Ruby.

"Okay," said Ruby. "I'm not sure when Ashley will be free, though. She had to ask to get off work early today to hang out with me. She won't want to do that too often and we only really have Sundays free."

"We'll think of something," said Pyrrha, patting Ruby's shoulder. "Truth be told, if it's only once in a while, I think there's nothing wrong with taking some time out of the rest of our week to meet your friend."

"True," agreed Sasame. "Doing that wouldn't disrupt your training overly much."

"Okay," said Ruby.

They chatted a little longer as they finished off the cakes. A few minutes later, Ruby's scroll rung. Picking it up, she was surprised to see that Ozpin was calling her.

"Hold on a second," said Ruby, answering her scroll. "Yes, Professor...?"

"Ah, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin over the line, "I hope I'm not calling at an inopportune time."

"No, of course not," said Ruby. "We were just finishing dinner."

"I see," said Ozpin. "Please don't get too upset, but I am presently being visited by your father."

"Somehow...I'm not surprised," said Ruby with a tired sigh, her face falling. "Is he doing what I think he's doing?"

"I'm afraid so," said Ozpin, his tone apologetic. "I have informed him that he has no legal authority to remove you from Beacon. If he attempts to use force, he will be stopped...and removed from the school, you have my word."

"Thanks, I guess," said Ruby. Her eyes narrowed. "But I think you're not calling me just to let me know about this. Am I right?"

"You are correct," said Ozpin. "I made an offer to Mr. Xiao Long, one that, hopefully, might convince him to accept your decisions and, at the very least, cease to be a bother to you."

"Not likely," grumbled Ruby. "What did you have in mind, Professor?"

"I've offered to allow Mr. Xiao Long to observe your classes for the next two days," said Ozpin.

"What?!" exclaimed Ruby, shooting to her feet and startling your friends.

"It is my hope that seeing your performance in class will convince your father that you are more than able to excel here," said Ozpin.

"I...I'm not sure," said Ruby warily. She had a feeling of just how this would go, having to suffer through every class with the sensation of her father's eyes boring into her the entire time, watching her constantly. It would be even worse than dealing with Yang had been, back before the sisters had reconciled, when Yang just wouldn't stop looking Ruby's way.

"I understand your reluctance, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin. "This is merely a suggestion. If you believe your father's presence will be an unacceptable distraction during class, then you do not have to accept this. I will ask Mr. Xiao Long to leave, in that case. However, I believe that this may represent an opportunity for you."

"I..." Ruby paused, feeling the touch of Sasame's hand on her arm. Looking over, Ruby saw Sasame looking at her encouragingly. She wondered just how much the others had heard of the conversation, seeing as she wasn't using her scroll in speaker-mode. But, then again, it wasn't wise to doubt Sasame's hearing. Her powers of observation, regardless of which sense she was using to observe, were something to behold.

She definitely caught the meaning in Sasame's gaze.

Not knowing about Sasame, Ozpin pressed on. "Please understand that, even if your father is not convinced, it will not affect your standing here. Your position as a student is under no threat."

Ruby took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "All right," she said. "But I want him as far away from me as possible."

"I was thinking that in any case," said Ozpin. "I will do all I can to ensure that your father's presence is as un-intrusive as possible."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"Have a good evening, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin. "For the next two days, just do as you've always done."

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, hanging up.

"What was that all about?" asked Jaune, the others looking at her curiously.

Ruby sighed and explained what Ozpin had just arranged for her. She figured it was going to be a long two days.

Monday, it turned out, wasn't so bad. Logistics was a bit of a struggle, as always. But Ruby pressed ahead, able to tune out the sensation of her father's gaze by focusing on her work, putting all her effort into focusing on the professor's lecture and taking notes that Weiss would have been proud of. It helped that the past weeks she'd spent in the class had allowed her plenty of opportunity to work on it and calculating the needs presented by the various scenarios presented by the professor was now just a matter of plugging away. She wasn't as quick as Weiss or Pyrrha at solving the problems, but she still managed to find the correct answers within the time limit.

Continuing the trend, Geography was, as usual, so engaging that Ruby was easily able to absorb herself in learning about the land features of various biomes, particularly in areas she hadn't been to yet, and how they impacted missions to such places and settlements that might be built there. After that, Survival Skills was even easier. It helped that Professor Peach frequently turned to Ruby as almost a sort of assistant instructor in some aspects of the class, drawing on Ruby's experiences during her training sojourns to supplement the lessons.

Throughout each class, Taiyang sat quietly in the back, occupying the corner furthest from where Ruby and her friends sat. Ruby wished that Sasame was there, feeling that her adoptive sister's presence might serve as something of a buffer to her father's. However, after observing Ruby's classes for the first two days, Sasame had opted out and only continued to observe during Combat Class, where she might critique the fighting styles of Ruby and her friends, if she saw the opportunity to do so.

What her father thought of Ruby's academic performance wasn't readily apparent. Ruby made it a point to not acknowledge Taiyang's presence, trying not to give the impression she was seeking his approval. She would do what she did as a student, and he would simply have to accept it. He remained silent, following them through the halls like a shadow. Ruby was both relieved and unnerved. She'd half-expected Taiyang to continue to pressure her to come home in between classes. So it was nice that he didn't intrude during that time. However, the defiance of those expectations was troubling in its own way.

During their free periods, Ruby and Pyrrha continued to work on Jaune's technique training, though they were still at a bit of a loss as to how to help him proceed further. Ruby noticed that her father watched her through that too.

After their classes were over for the day, Ruby and her friends retired to the library to get their homework done before dinner. It was the first time she sensed any emotion from her father, as Taiyang seemed surprised that they were doing this, particularly that Ruby was not just an active participant, but the one who had originally instigated this practice.

All told, it wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. Her father hadn't proved as much of a distraction as she'd initially feared.

After dinner, she and her friends assembled on the roof to practice their Aura-control techniques. Sasame, standing by and assessing the progress of team RYNB, determined that it wouldn't be long before they were ready to begin practicing Suppression. Throughout their training, Ruby knew that Taiyang was standing just inside the doorway, watching her intently.

After they finished and everyone began to proceed inside, Pyrrha stopped Ruby with a hand on her arm, the pause leaving them the only remaining two people on the rooftop.

"What's up, Pyrrha?" asked Ruby, looking at her teammate expectantly.

"Ruby, do you remember what's happening in Combat Class, tomorrow?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Professor Goodwitch is letting students volunteer and challenge each other."

"I want to fight you," said Pyrrha. "Is that all right?"

"Sure," said Ruby, surprised by the intensity and eagerness in Pyrrha's voice. "Um..."

"Sorry," said Pyrrha, looking down bashfully. "It's just...ever since the first time I saw you fight, I've really wanted a match with you. You're the first person who...well..."

Ruby found herself smirking. "You mean the first person who has a chance at beating you?" she teased.

Pyrrha blushed. "Um...right."

"I don't know, Pyrrha," said Ruby, resting her hands on her hips. "I'd say I have more than just a chance at beating you. Are you sure you're up to fighting with me?"

"Ruby!" exclaimed Pyrrha, the slight warble in her voice betraying her amusement...and excitement. After a second, she calmed herself down. "Fine then. Tomorrow, it's you and me in the ring. May the best girl win."

"I intend to," said Ruby.

"I'm sure you do," Pyrrha teased back.

They headed back in, but Ruby was stopped by a firm, calloused hand that clamped around her forearm. She looked over to see that her father had grabbed her, and was holding her back, a determined look on his face.

"Ruby...?" prodded Pyrrha, having noticed.

"It's okay," said Ruby. "Go on ahead. I'll be down in a little."

"If you're sure..." said Pyrrha, eyeing Taiyang warily.

"Yeah. Go on." Ruby nodded at Pyrrha.

"All right," said Pyrrha hesitantly and proceeded down.

Ruby turned to look back at her father. "What?" she asked tersely.

"That girl...you're going to fight her?" asked Taiyang.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "What about it?"

"Ruby, don't you realize how dangerous this is?" he asked.

"Do you think I haven't fought even once before now?" asked Ruby flatly. "I beat Yang, just last week in the ring."

"Do you even think that your sister would fight you seriously?" scoffed Taiyang. "She'd let you win to avoid hurting you."

Ruby bristled, knowing for a fact that Taiyang was wrong and that Yang had taken the fight seriously. Besides... "And all the other times I fought?" she wanted to know. "You think every other opponent I've faced decided that they'd rather take the hit to their combat rating and go easy, because they're afraid of hurting me?"

"Ruby, I just think-" began Taiyang.

"No!" snapped Ruby, yanking her arm out of his grip. "You don't think! You pretend to think, because you just want an excuse to pull me out of here, which you can't actually do. Now, was there a point to this besides trying to pretend that I got where I was because everyone decided to give me a free pass?"

"Yes," said Taiyang. "I'll make a deal with you, Ruby."

"Really? What?" Ruby raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"That girl...If you can beat her, I'll allow you to remain at Beacon," said Taiyang.

"Uh huh..." said Ruby. She had to admit that, deep down, there was a certain appeal to Taiyang's proposition. After all, winning against Pyrrha, something Ruby genuinely believed she could pull off, would apparently convince her father that she could succeed at Beacon. However... "And If I lose?"

"Then you come home," said Taiyang.

"Thought so," grumbled Ruby. "No deal."

She turned around, and walked down the stairs, leaving her father sputtering in her wake.

The next day, her father's presence was much harder to ignore, at least in part because both Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck had gone through Beacon in the same year that Taiyang had. Despite that, both teachers did not address or call attention to Taiyang during the class. The other reason he was harder to ignore was that he was staring more intently than ever at Ruby throughout her classes. The pressure of his gaze was a constant, irritating itch between her shoulder blades.

It was especially annoying during Dust Science, that day's class being a lab class where the students were required to work out the mixture to produce a particular kind of Dust and produce said Dust themselves. Ruby was both surprised and relieved when Weiss graciously offered to be her lab partner, advising Ruby as she went through the process of working out the ratios of different Dust types and helping her with the mixture. Weiss' presence and assistance kept Ruby's mind off her father long enough to get through the class and perform the work without suffering any accidents.

After lunch and their free period training, they assembled in the arena for Glynda's Combat Class. After the students took their seats and the bell rang, Glynda strode out onto the floor.

"As promised," she announced, "I will be accepting volunteers and allowing you to challenge your peers in battle. The challenged student may decline the challenge, if they so wish. The challenger is not permitted to press the issue."

Odds were that it wasn't likely for a person to turn down a challenge. After all, losing was better than being branded a coward for refusing to fight at all. The only likely exception to that was if the person being challenged had fought already, and didn't feel able to fight another round to the best of their ability.

"Are there any questions?" asked Glynda, her gaze surveying the class. "No? Good. In that case, who would like to volunteer for the first match?"

Several hands rose, some reluctantly, others more quickly. Just two seats down from Ruby, Pyrrha's hand shot straight up with such vigor that Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her seat in her eagerness to volunteer. Her excitement didn't go unnoticed by Glynda, who looked up at Pyrrha with a great degree of interest, wondering what had Pyrrha Nikos, of all people, so eager to fight.

"Ms. Nikos..." said Glynda. "...who would you like as your opponent?"

"Ruby," said Pyrrha without the slightest hesitation. "I challenge Ruby Rose."

Glynda's gaze glided over to Ruby. "Ms. Rose, do you accept Ms. Nikos' challenge?"

"I do," said Ruby, getting to her feet.

"Then report to the ring and we will begin," said Glynda.

Excited murmurs filled the air. Pyrrha went to the locker room to collect her weapons, while Ruby waited in the ring. As Ruby waited, she once again felt her father watching her. Glancing up, she saw him standing behind the uppermost row of seats, looking down at her with an expression that almost seemed...satisfied. What is he looking so smug about?

She didn't feel the need to ask, looking back down at waiting until Pyrrha emerged from the locker room with her confident, tournament-champion stride. As she closed the distance, Pyrrha extended her arms, her weapons sliding off her back and down into her waiting hands. In the meantime, the level of noise and excitement in the audience rose, people whispering to each other eagerly. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby swore that some students had pulled out the scrolls and were recording the impending match.

Glynda looked back and forth between Ruby and Pyrrha, before nodding to herself and stepping back, using her scroll to bring up the arena's safety barrier. Reaching behind her, Ruby drew her sword, Akaibara's Aura exploding to almost flood the arena as it emerged from its sheath. Drawing the Aura back in, Ruby opened herself up to her sword's voice, letting it flow through her and fill her up, feeling their two Auras merge, becoming one, the merger between them explosively increasing her power. Afterwards, she assumed her usual stance, angling her sword at Pyrrha in preparation to strike.

Pyrrha responded by striking her own stance, shield raised ahead of her, sword readied behind, a variation of the same basic stance she'd taught Jaune. Her eyes met Ruby's and they both found themselves smiling in anticipation. A tense silence settled over the room as Glynda prepared to give the signal.

"Combatants, ready...Begin!"