Four words. Four simple, short, concise, and demanding words could sum up Ruby's thought day and night during her stay at Beacon. Those words? They must never know, she thought constantly. Truthfully, there really wasn't anything to be ashamed of. Everyone has their own obsession of sorts, and hers could be considered tame compared the multitudes of other, far darker hobbies. For example, she could have been a masochist, or the ever darker sadist.

Thankfully, she wasn't into such things. So, she should have been flaunting her obsession with glee and pride, but she was afraid she would be shunned for it. She feared that no one would understand her or her hobby, which is actually a high possibility. That said, most people would just shrug it off and go about their business.

Sure, they may not be into it, but there still wasn't anything wrong with loving anime, manga, video games, comics, collectables, artwork, and H related material. Then again, that last one was a bit more out there than the rest of it, but come on; everyone has at least one secret, right? Plus, it's not like she only dealt in H material; she much preferred the more gentle content, and only occasionally delved into the more mature material.

Still, Ruby's fear of being rejected for her hobbies and interest forced her to hide it from everyone; not even her older sister, Yang, had known about it. Only Ruby was privy to her own secret; she was a hardcore otaku. No one suspected a thing. Those three day "weapons" conventions she went to on occasion? Completely plausible and mostly uninteresting to the others, and Ruby always completed the cover story by returning Sunday evening with weapon related purchases such as cleaning oil or spare parts. On occasion, she would even return with gifts for the others, but they weren't really from a convention. No, she would just run to her favorite weapon shop and grab things she thought would help hide her secret.

There was a slight issue, however. You know those urges you get to say or do something that, for whatever reason, you have difficulty fighting back? Ruby found her inner otaku to be attempting a revolution to overthrow the secretive and conservative leader of the Ruby Nation that was her mind, and it was getting more and more difficult to resist her geek urges. Most prominently, she found the urges to become stronger when she was near Weiss.

She had easily and readily come to terms with her own feelings, establishing that she had a crush on the heiress, but she hid it for obvious reasons. Aside from the obvious, however, she found her inner geek to be fantasizing about Weiss more often than the normal part of her brain. Daydreams about casual dates and kisses were soon replaced by fantasies of Weiss cosplaying with Ruby. Ruby herself had never cosplayed, for she had nowhere to hide costumes, so she found it slightly odd that she would even imagine such a scenario…but only slightly.

So, it was on this day that she felt those urges once more, and not for a lack of any reason either. It all started when Yang and Blake had left to go grocery shopping for the team, leaving Weiss and Ruby by themselves. Ruby was passing the time reading a superhero comic; she was aware that such things were main stream, so it wouldn't be that odd to see her reading on in public or in view of her teammates. The manga stuffed in her mattress, however, was a separate matter.

Weiss was browsing through hers and Ruby's closet, making scoffing sounds as she slid coat hanger after coat hanger. "I need to update my wardrobe," she observed. She had been here for six months; surely nobody expected her to not change her attire on occasion. An heiress, after all, is entitles to wear whatever she wishes, and right now Weiss desired something newer.

"Hey, Ruby," Weiss said, gaining her leader's attention.

"Hm?" Ruby answered, barely removing her gaze from Batman. "What?"

"I need to go clothes shopping, and I don't trust you to be left alone. You're coming with me."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "I know I'm childish, but it's not like I'm that bad, Weiss. I can be left alone."

"I don't want you eating junk food and lazing about, and I don't trust you to behave after you've had too much junk food."

Ruby wanted to argue, if for no other reason than to see the tsun side of Weiss's tsundere personality. She's so cute when she goes all tsun-tsun, Ruby mentally mused. She didn't fight back, however, because she actually wanted to buy some clothes for herself. She hopped down and donned her casual clothes. She was about to put on her hooded cloak when Weiss objected.

"Have you seen the weather? It's almost summer, Ruby. It's unhealthy to wear such a warm garment on a hot day like today," she pointed out. Ruby shrugged. She didn't like to leave without her hood, but she decided that she would do it for Weiss.

The pair left and boarded the next airship to Vale, ready to begin their clothes shopping experience. Weiss would never outwardly show it, but she was very excited to go shopping with a friend; she was still a teen girl, after all. Ruby, however, didn't attempt to hide her excitement. If she did, then she was failing quite miserably.

In all seriousness, however, there was no humanly possible way for Ruby to not be excited. She was about to go clothes shopping with her best friend, with whom she had a powerful crush on, and said friend would be trying on clothes. With those thoughts in mind, Ruby deeply regretted that she hadn't ever considered buying a discreet camera to hide on her person for such an occasion. Maybe she could buy one built into a pair of sunglasses over the internet later. I wonder what Weiss will try on. I wonder what she'll buy. Will she wear anything cute? Ruby's mind raced at a speed of Warp Nine-Point-Five as she sped across her own mental galaxy.

"Ruby, are you even listening?" Weiss asked, breaking Ruby's concentration.

"O-oh, sorry, were you saying something?" Ruby replied, embarrassed that she let her mind go off on such a lengthy adventure.

"I was saying that we should try to find you some clothes that are a little cooler than you're normal attire," Weiss stated.

Ruby cocked her head sideways. "Did you just use slang?"

"No, you dolt! I meant that you shouldn't wear long sleeves all the time!"

"Says the girl who wears a jacket all the time," Ruby deadpanned.

"Why do you think I'm going shopping?"

"Oh, right."

"Whatever," Weiss said, trying not to lose patience with Ruby. "We've landed, so let's get going."

The partners departed from the airship and began their hunt for clothing stores. Neither of them had actually been to any of the local fashion shops, so it was a learning experience for the both of them. They found a store full of suits and dresses, a store that sold nothing but overpriced and ugly clothing, and several other stores who agreed with their price range, but not their sense of fashion. Finally, after a good thirty minutes of walking around, they found a store that looked agreeable enough. They swiftly entered and began browsing.

Weiss was looking at a light blue skirt with ruffles. "Hmm, this looks good, but I don't think I could wear it properly without some sort of leg wear to accompany the look."

If Ruby had Blake's ears, they would have twitched. She grabbed a white short sleeved button up shirt and a blue tie and handed them to Weiss. "Add these to it and it's almost complete," she mumbled before scouring the store for something else.

"Uh, thanks. They are rather nice…but what are you looking for?"

Ruby didn't answer immediately. Instead, she continued to search, hoping against hope that the store sold what she needed to complete Weiss's look. "Ah ha!" she declared. She returned to Weiss and handed her the object she found; a pair of thigh high white and blue socks. "Try these on to complete the outfit!" she declared gleefully. Inner Otaku Ruby was screaming and cheering for Weiss to agree. Please do it! Please do it! Please wear the thigh high socks!

Weiss looked at the socks. She seemed interested, but hesitant; she'd never worn such a fashion. "I don't know, Ruby. That's not exactly my style," she pointed out.

"Don't be silly! You'll look fantastic!"

Weiss smiled lightly. "Fine, but on one condition. I get to pick out an outfit for you to try on." Ruby nodded in agreement, and Weiss went to the fitting room to test out this experiment of an ensemble. After a few minutes, Weiss could be heard judging herself. "My boots don't agree with this outfit at all. If it were to work, I'd have to buy a pair of shoes. Do these socks even look good on me? I don't know if this works at all…"

"Weiss," Ruby chimed in from the other side of the changing room door. "How is it?"

"I…I don't think it's me," Weiss replied.

"Let me see."

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Please?" Ruby asked pleadingly, adding a sad tone to tug at Weiss's heart strings.

"F-fine. But don't laugh!" Weiss answered just before the door opened and she stepped out.

Inner Otaku Ruby screamed with delight. Weiss's wasn't wearing shoes because, as she stated, her boots clashed with the ensemble, but she was wearing the striped thigh high socks. The skirt looked magnificent on her, and the button up was tucked into the skirt, with the tie decorating Weiss's neck. It was a somewhat more casual and much more eye pleasing version of school girl Weiss. Ruby tried not to stare too long at the gap between the skirt and socks. But that absolute territory, though, Ruby thought. To make the outfit even cuter for Ruby, Weiss was blushing profusely, clearly embarrassed to have altered her style so drastically. "Well? It's silly, isn't it?"

Ruby shook her head, fighting back the insanely strong urge to glomp Weiss and nibble at her ear. Hmm, that's an oddly specific desire, she reflected. "I think it looks cute on you!"

Weiss scoffed. "Me? Cute? Unlike you, I'm not a child.

"No, I'm serious. It's very cute. I think you should get it."

Weiss was caught off guard. If Ruby said it twice, then it must be true. "Well, alright I guess." She gained her composure again before changing back into her regular clothes. "Now it's your turn, Ruby. Wait right here." Weiss marched off and began sifting through the store's selection. Finally, she picked an ensemble and returned to hand the chosen garments to her partner. "Try these on."

Ruby nodded and disappeared behind the door. Before she set about to the task of trying on the clothes, she decided to release some of her pent up otaku by allowing herself to openly fangirl over Weiss's outfit. Silently, she placed both hands on her cheeks and smiled widely, her body swaying back and forth with excitement. I got to see Weiss dress like the Tsundere she really is! She calmed down. Now that that's out of my system.

She donned the clothes, and couldn't help but smile. She opened the door to show Weiss. "What do you think?" She was wearing a pair of black short shorts, a red tank top with a black button up sitting unbuttoned overtop, and a pair of red and black striped thigh high socks that reached just to the inner point of the shorts. "I think it's cute!" Ruby declared.

"Humble much?" Weiss deadpanned before smiling. "You're right, it is cute. I think we found each other an outfit." They agreed to leave each other to pick any other clothes they were to buy, making it a surprise for each other.

This newfound solitude for Ruby was slightly welcomed. Weiss was on the other side of the room looking at shirts while Ruby was in the underwear section. Really, she was just looking to maybe buy a new bra. Contrary to popular belief, she was still growing. Her quest was interrupted when her eyes passed over a legendary treasure that was revered by otaku, male and female, all over the world. Before her was a pair of panties. Not just any pair of panties, however. No, these were the panties. Ruby's face expressed total surprise and excitement at the same time. "Sh-shimapan!" she mumbled to herself.

That's right; striped panties. While they apparently sold many variations of the striped undies, the pair Ruby found herself ogling at were the classic shimapan; white and blue. Not only did they coincide with Wess's general color scheme, but they were striped. Of the many fantasies Ruby had about Weiss, this one was new and was now her favorite, for she now pictured the heiress in nothing but her undergarments, with her nether regions covered by this holy symbol. Ruby was actually considering buying them to give to Weiss as a present, and she sincerely didn't care what Weiss thought about that.

That's when Weiss decided to break Ruby's concentration again. "What's over here?" she asked.

"Ah, buh, uh…" Ruby stuttered. "You, uh, startled me, Weiss."

Weiss approached more closely and saw what was in the section. "Hm, I could use some new underwear," she mumbled, almost not paying any mind to Ruby's outburst. She turned and smirked at Ruby. "That just proves you're a child if you get embarrassed from buying underwear."

Ruby wanted to counter it with the truth, but Inner Otaku screamed for her to not say a word about what was really going through her mind. She must never know! "Yeah…silly me, huh?" Ruby answered.

Weiss looked at Ruby's hand. "Honestly. Stripes?" Ruby looked; she hadn't realized that she had grabbed a pair of the white and blue shimapan. "Well, I guess they aren't too bad. Plus no one is supposed to see them, so I guess it doesn't matter. However, if you want my advice, you should get the red and black ones; that's more your style." Without batting an eye, Weiss grabbed two pairs of the white and blue panties and turned to look for a bra.

Ruby stood there, dumbfounded. Did…did she just decide to buy shimapan? It was at that moment if Ruby's mind that the USS Ruby was okayed for lift off, and she felt as though she was soaring to the moon on the world's most powerful rocket. She came back to her senses and decided to do as Weiss said and grabbed a pair of the black and red panties.

Later that night, after Ruby and Weiss had returned some hours ago, the heiress decided to go get a shower. She instructed Ruby to clean up her dirty laundry as she left the room with towel in hand. Yang was working out at the gym at this time, and Blake was most likely in the library doing her book thing.

Ruby groaned, but complied. Now should be the time to mention that each member of team RWBY has their own laundry basket so as to avoid mix-ups in each other's clothing; not that they would have much trouble, considering their color coordination. Seriously, they're almost as easy to differentiate as a Super Sentai team. Having said that, partners keep their baskets next to each other, so Ruby's and Weiss's were side by side. Ruby approached her own basket, dropping her clothes into it, when she spotted something out of her peripheral vision.

Sitting on top of all the other clothes in Weiss's basket was a pair of her panties. Ruby gasped, and certain thoughts raced through her head. C-can I? she asked no one. She stared longingly at the underwear. It's okay, right? I'm alone, and no one will ever know! She found that her hand was reaching for them of its own free will. She slapped her own arm away. No! I'm not a pervert! I'm Weiss's friend, and friends don't do dirty things with their partner's underwear! Her eyes darted between the door and the underwear. But…I really want to! She began reaching for them again.

"What are you doing?" asked a calm and collected voice.

Ruby yelped as she was startled and fell to the ground. She looked up and saw Blake staring at her with mild concern. "B-Blake! Hey, when did you get here, buddy?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Were you about to do what I think you were about to do?" she asked.

"I, uh, don't know what you're talking about," Ruby lied.

"You were seriously about to play with Weiss's underwear weren't you?"

"Ah!" Ruby exclaimed as she rushed and forced her hand over Blake's mouth. "Please, no more words!" she pleaded.

"Mmphf," Blake replied, her expression remaining unchanged.

Ruby leaned into Blake's ear and whispered, "You. Saw. Nothing."

Blake used her own hands to pry Ruby's off of her face. "Fine, I won't say a thing to Weiss or Yang about it. However, if you have that sort of hobby, do try to keep the extremes to a minimum." She was about to turn and sit on her bed to start reading, but she paused and looked at her own laundry basket. "You haven't touched mine, have you?"

"No!" Ruby exclaimed. "This was the first time!"

"Good God, calm down. I'm just making sure."

Thankfully, Blake dropped the subject and let Ruby off the hook. The nigh remained uneventful. That is, until…

Midnight rolled around, and Weiss was having trouble sleeping. She blamed the fact that she liked to stay up late. She actually wanted to sleep earlier tonight, due to the fact that the shopping trip was tiring. It also didn't help that for the last twenty minutes, a light tearing sound could be heard above her from Ruby's bed. Weiss wasn't sure what it was, but she assumed it might have been Ruby's sheet was caught on something, and the younger girl had turned over and ripped the fabric.

So, it came as a surprise when the tearing sound came again, and a sudden weight came down upon the heiress's face. "Oof!" she said, unsure of what just hit her. At the risk of waking her team mates, she turned on her nearby lamp to see what had fallen. On her pillow, where her head had been, were several books. Weiss raised an eyebrow as she followed the assumed trajectory up and found a hole in Ruby's mattress that had been torn. Apparently, they were hidden within the mattress and the weight finally tore the fabric in the bottom.

She wanted to be annoyed that such a thing had happened, but instead she felt curiosity. Why would Ruby hide books? The heiress, not usually one to pry into someone else's privacy, picked up a book and saw that it was a manga. Vaguely familiar with their format, she went to the proper beginning and started flipping through the pages. What she saw made her blush more and more with each page. That dolt reads this stuff? She thought as she turned the pages, taking in the relational activities of each page. She didn't know what was more shocking; that Ruby would read such perverse material, or that the characters were all female.

The next day, Ruby woke up alone. She didn't really know where the others went, and she didn't really care. She had to get her daily dose of manga. She decided that she was in one of her rare H moods, so she slipped her hand in the slot she had cut into the mattress and began feeling for her small collection of manga. To her surprise, she felt nothing. "Where are they?" she asked.

"Looking for these?" Weiss asked as she came out of hiding.

Ruby looked up and saw that the heiress was holding a bag that contained all of her manga in one hand, and her yuri hentai in the other. Her eyes went wide. She knows!

"I think me and you need to have a nice long chat, young lady," Weiss said. Weiss was many things, but right now amused was not one of them.

Author's Note

I have the silliest idea sometimes. How the hell did this come about? Honestly, I'm not sure. Is Ruby out of character? Most likely. But, hey, anime/manga fangirl Ruby was an amusing concept for me, so why the hell not? This SHOULD be a multiparter, but I don't know how many parts, nor do I have any idea on how to continue the story from here. If nothing else, it makes for an amusing one shot with a hell of a cliffhanger. I don't know if you guys have noticed yet, but the cliffhanger is my favorite trope of all time, and I will abuse the hell out it in everything that I write...and I do mean EVERYTHING! Evening the final chapter of something I write will have some sort of tease that may or may not ever be adressed. Does that make me evil? Maybe.

Review if you liked it or have any ideas...honestly, I'm open to them for this one. Till next time!