White Sheep

Chapter 17 - The Heart of the Herd

Chapter 17

Hey guys, there's a bit of an important note at the bottom, but I'll tl;dr it here as well.

I kind of need to take a one week holiday from writing, partly for health reasons, partly for quality reasons. Therefore, the next chapter of this won't come out until two weeks – the 18th May. After that, things will go back to normal, but there's just going to be a week where I'm missing.

As said, there will be notes at the bottom to fully explain. I've made this a slightly larger chapter, however, in order to balance it out.

Note: I'm aware alerts are not being sent out. It's a site error and has been happening all week.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 17 - The Heart of the Herd

Weiss raised an eyebrow as she watched Ruby get down on her knees and hold her hands up towards them.

"Please," she begged, "I'm just asking for a couple of hours, guys. Don't leave me to do this alone, we're a team!"

"I've already told you I have a call to make today, Ruby," Weiss said. She smirked towards Pyrrha. "As for your partner, well... it's important to follow tradition, right?" Pyrrha's cheeks flushed.

"R-Right," she said.

Ruby wilted, like a rose whose stem had been cruelly severed. She flopped forwards, face onto Weiss' sheets as she clung to them as though determined to never let go. Weiss didn't think that would stop Jaune, however. Her partner could be wonderfully stubborn at times, and it was clear he was looking forward to this. She could already hear the shower turning off and his humming as he got ready.

"You could make it an order," Ruby said. "If you said we had to do team exercises, he would understand."

"I could," she said, "but I already decided to try and become a better leader a few weeks back, remember? A good leader gives her team time to rest and relax." Weiss tried to hide her amusement as she placed a gentle hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Have a day off, Ruby. You've earned it for all your hard work."

Ruby looked like she'd been shot.

"I'm almost done!" Jaune slammed open the shower door, then winced at the noise and closed it behind him. "Are you ready to go, Ruby?" There was no answer. "Ruby?"

"You might want to put a shirt on," Weiss sighed.

"Yeah, I went in without one. Sorry about that." He tossed his black Beowolf onesie on the bed and rummaged around in his cupboard. Weiss raised an eyebrow at his broad shoulders and back, then looked over to the other members of her team. They seemed awfully engrossed in the way the muscles on his back moved when he searched for something to wear. She could admit to a little admiration herself, of course, but at least she didn't feel the need to stare.

Hey, she was a young woman too, even if she had a reputation for being a little colder than most.

"Ah, here we go." He pulled on a plain white shirt and buttoned it up. When he turned around, it was only Weiss who met his eyes. The other two were conducting a thorough investigation of the roof and their fingernails respectively. "Are you ready to go, Ruby?"

"She's ready," Weiss answered with a small grin. She ignored Ruby's mumbled 'so not ready for this' and adopted a lecturing tone. "Make sure to have her back before it gets dark, and don't do anything irresponsible."