Blake

As Pyrrha headed to the middle of the room to prepare for battle, I found myself staring. The redhead carried herself with elegance rarely seen in anyone else besides Weiss, yet she lacked the arrogant demeanour the heiress always put out. Her long red hair flowed behind her, tied up in the usual ponytail. Her bronze strapless top hugged her curves, accentuating the girl's exquisitely toned form, while the light brown V-neck beneath displayed some of her ample cleavage.

"All right, Miss Nikos, let's find you an opponent," Professor Goodwitch told her. Piercing eyes scanned the room from behind oval-shaped glasses, searching for an ideal candidate. "Miss Schnee? You haven't participated in a sparring match in this class for quite some time. Would you care to challenge Miss Nikos?"

I looked to the side and saw Weiss, stiff-backed as ever, watching Goodwitch with rapt attention. She was quick to oblige the professor's request, and headed down to join Pyrrha, walking as elegantly as the redhead had. I didn't find the heiress' journey nearly as interesting as Pyrrha's though.

The two fighters took up their stances as the lights around the room dimmed and spotlights came on above them. A buzzer sounded, and the two began to circle each other warily. After several seconds, Pyrrha's vibrant emerald eyes narrowed and she charged forward, Miló at the ready. Before she attacked, however, Weiss brought Myrtenaster forward in a jabbing motion and Pyrrha was forced to block with Akoúo or get skewered.

The shield absorbed the impact as Miló became a javelin and was swept at Weiss' feet. She gracefully did a backflip to avoid the attack and distance herself from Pyrrha before launching an ice-based attack of her own. The redhead rolled to the side and switched Miló to its rifle mode, opening fire on the heiress. The white-haired girl raised a shield glyph in response, which deflected every bullet. I noted a small smirk on Weiss' face, but my gaze soon drifted back to Pyrrha. Even for such a talented fighter, this match could prove challenging. Weiss' glyphs, combined with her Dust attacks and simple rapier techniques, made for a very diverse style. Of course, Pyrrha's abilities were far from limited, so I somewhat doubted Weiss would win, despite having multiple advantages.

As these thoughts ran through my head, the two girls in the arena began to fight again, with Weiss going on the offensive. She launched some fire at Pyrrha, who had to roll yet again to avoid being incinerated. In the split second it took her to perform this manoeuvre, Weiss used a glyph to launch herself up and was now preparing for an aerial attack on the redhead. Pyrrha noticed with enough time to raise her shield and block Myrtenaster's sharp tip, and didn't seem fazed by the impact. Weiss, meanwhile, bounced off Akoúo and wasn't able to recover before Miló, once more in javelin form, was swung at her. The shaft caught her in the stomach, knocking her several feet to the side.

She hit the arena wall, just below the spectator stands, with an audible thud and fell to the floor below, where she lay motionless for several seconds. I noticed Pyrrha's immediate panic as she thought she'd caused serious injury to the heiress. She ran over, and I took great interest in how her rear looked in her miniskirt.

I suddenly became aware of someone poking my arm, diverting my attention from the redhead I had been observing. "Blake?" Yang asked as I reluctantly turned to face her. Her lilac eyes were filled with concern as she inquired, "are you okay? You seemed zoned out."

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, turning back to look at Pyrrha. She appeared to be talking to Weiss, who was now sitting up against the arena wall, looking dazed.

"Must've hurt," Yang commented beside me.

"Yeah..." I agreed, not really paying attention.

"You sure you're okay? You're really out of it."

"Yes, Yang. I'm fine," I snapped irritably.

"Okay," the brawler shrugged. Immediately, I felt bad. Yang had only been showing concern, and I'd shut her down as easily and carelessly as a certain white-haired girl currently being checked out by the school nurse, who had been present in case anything like this happened. Sparring practice does have its dangers.

"I'm sorry," I told Yang quietly.

"About what?" she asked, cheerful as ever.

"That was rude. I don't know, I'm just in a weird state of mind right now." Truthfully, I really didn't know what was going on inside my head. I'd spent basically that entire match staring at Pyrrha, instead of observing how each fighter reacted to the different situations they out each other in, which would have allowed me to work better with them in the field. I also hadn't been particularly worried about Weiss hitting the wall, choosing instead to focus on Pyrrha's rear end as she ran. And then there was my reaction to Yang being concerned about me. While I'd never cared for attention, I didn't usually lash out like that to simple questions like are you sure you're okay.

"It's fine," Yang told me. "But you know, and I don't mean to pry here, if anything's going on and you want to talk, I'm here."

"Thank you," I replied. She smiled as if to say no problem as the bell rang, signifying the end of the period, and, incidentally, the end of the day. I quickly left the classroom and headed to the library, where I figured the silence and a good book would clear my head. As I always did when I had time to myself to read, I curled up in one of the large armchairs within the library and allowed myself to get lost in the world lovingly crafted by the author of my current novel. I got so wrapped up in the plot, which, I would be somewhat ashamed to admit to anyone else, contained more than a little smut, that I didn't even notice three hours pass. I realised with a slight twinge of regret that I'd missed dinner, but nonetheless decided to go back to my dorm.

As I turned down the hallway containing both Team RWBY and JNPR's dorms, Pyrrha and Jaune exited, both seeming rather excited about something, presumably one of their rooftop training sessions. A strange feeling bubbled in my chest when I saw the redhead laughing, more likely than not at something her dorky companion had said. This feeling only intensified when I saw how at ease they were together, but I couldn't explain what it was.

"Hey, Blake," Jaune greeted as he passed. "You weren't at dinner; you all right?"

"Just… lost track of time," I replied.

"Yang was worried," Pyrrha told me. "You should make sure she knows you're okay." I tried to answer, but for some reason being in the redhead's presence caused my throat to constrict and I could only manage a nod and a forced smile. The pair looked at me dubiously, but said nothing.

"See ya, Blake," Jaune told me as he walked off with Pyrrha. I gave a distracted wave in response.

When the two of them were gone, I shook my head to clear it and entered my room, where I saw Ruby holding an ice pack to the back of Weiss' head. Both girls looked up when they heard the door open, while Yang, who had been pacing, stopped in the middle of the room and turned to face me.

"Hello," I greeted coolly. "Sorry I missed dinner; I got distracted and didn't notice the passage of time."

Thankfully, no one pried. Unfortunately, Yang decided to try to be funny. "Were you reading Ninjas of Love?" she asked, grinning.

"No, Yang. I was not," I replied truthfully. What she didn't know is that I had been reading smut, just not a novel she was aware of.

"What's Ninjas of Love?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Blake's favourite book," Yang teased.

"No it isn't!" I protested, aware of the hot blush burning on my cheeks. Before the blonde could make any more remarks, I decided to change the subject and ask how Weiss was doing.

"I was fine, but the nurse insisted I don't walk back here on my own so Yang decided to carry me bridal style," she responded. At this point, Yang began snickering. "And then she had the audacity to hit my head on the doorframe on the way in!" Despite feeling some pity for the heiress, even I had to suppress a grin upon hearing that. Yang, meanwhile, was now leaning against the wall, shaking in silent hysterics. Weiss glared at the blonde, but her golden mane formed a curtain over her face, obscuring her view of anything in the room.

Soon after, Weiss decided she needed to study while Ruby continued to hold the ice pack. The younger girl seemed slightly irked by having to do this, but didn't complain. Meanwhile, Yang took a chair over to the window and stared out into the night, uncharacteristically quiet. I figured I should just read some more, careful to select a novel that wouldn't be banned in the school library if it ever turned up there. I did not want Yang teasing me about my choice of literature.

After half an hour, it became painfully obvious that I wasn't going to be able to focus. The words were swimming on the page in front of me and I realised I'd read the same sentence seven times, not taking in any of it. My mind kept wandering to the day's events, specifically the ones involving Pyrrha. Why had I been so distracted by the sight of her in combat? Why had I been unable to so much as open my mouth to speak to her? There was no doubt that she was stunning in the physical sense, but so was Yang, and the blonde had never had that effect on me. In fact, no one had. The only trouble I'd ever had talking to people came from my deeply ingrained dislike of social interaction, but that had never stopped me from conversing with anyone on Team JNPR. If anything, it had lessened to the point where I had found myself desiring close relationships with a tight-knit group of people.

Eventually, I decided to go to sleep. I grabbed my yukata and headed to the bathroom to change, after which I crawled under my covers and passed out.

A/N: First chapter. There you go. So, Pussy Magnet. This is a new one for me, but it's my secondary ship with Blake (after Bumblebee) so I thought, "why the hell not?". Anyway, I don't know what other ships (if any) will be in the story. I also don't know how long it'll be or any of that stuff, because screw planning this stuff out. Quick point about the timeframe: this is before the dance. That may or may not be important later (was that a spoiler? Is something gonna happen at the dance? Stay tuned to find out). Anyway, leave a review and follow/favourite if you want. Thanks for reading.