Yang was mad.

"Stupid, pig headed...UGH!"

This had been going on for the last five minutes.

She had been pacing the dorm since they returned from the cafeteria, all fire and brimstone. Her path could be traced from the black scorch marks lining the rug, left behind by her heavy boots. That was the second rug this month. Blake and Weiss watched on from their respective bunks.

"Yang..."

Blake's attempts to calm the blonde up to this point had been halfhearted. Honestly, she couldn't blame her partner.

Cardin was just so infuriating.

The team CRDL captain had taken to teasing Yang about her, well, more endowed assets for the past week. Anything from asking her if her back hurt to the more lewd remarks about a boat motor, and Yang had, to her credit, successfully ignored him all week. That was until Cardin had said some choice words involving a certain cat faunus and milk.

Yang had hit him. Hard. Ozpin had given her three weeks detention, stating that, while warranted, violence against another student was frowned upon. Blake was almost certain that the disciplinary action had nothing to do with the blonde's anger.

"He's lucky I didn't use my semblance. I would have knocked him in to next week."

Blake hummed in response, watching as Yang's pace slowed till she came to a complete stop, shoulder's sagging slightly.

Crimson met amber.

"Do you ever just get so angry that colors seem to dull? Like... like the world has been over exposed?"

Blake raised a brow in amusement, the left side of her mouth pulling up in a faint smirk.

"Is that a trick question?"

Yang turned to face Blake fully.

"What?"

Blake's smirk fell as she analyzed her partner. Yang's confusion was apparent. Red bled back into lilac, all traces of anger gone. Her blonde brows furrowed, creating one lone crease across her forehead, and her lips curved down just slightly. Blake didn't know what to make of it. She thought back to what Yang had just said. Dull? Over exposed? Was that how the world looked to Yang when her semblance took over? Blake spoke her inquiry.

"Is that what happens? How everything looks to you?"

If possible, Yang's confusion grew.

"Not everything. Like I said, when I get angry. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's never happened to you."

"Wait... what?"

It was then that Weiss reminded them of her presence. She looked just as confused as Yang. Actually, if Blake were to bet on it, she could only assume all three wore equal expressions of bewilderment. She cleared her throat, hoping for clarification.

"That's how everything looks when you get angry? When you're angry... AND when you are using your semblance?"

Yang's eyes widened, her gaze shifting between Blake and Weiss.

"Yeah. But how did you know that?"

Weiss gave an incredulous huff, eyes narrowing at the blonde, her tone exasperated.

"You mean to tell me you don't know? How could you not know? How is that even... how could you not..." Her head whipped around to face Blake. "How can she not know?!"

Blake regarded the heiress before turning back to Yang again. Her partner's confusion, while still evident, did nothing to hide her growing insecurity. Her right arm wasn't visible, disappearing instead behind her back to play with the ends of her hair no doubt. It was a nervous habit, to twirl the tips of her unruly locks between her fingers; Weiss would bite her lip, Ruby would play with her hands, and Yang would twirl her hair. Blake could recount several occasions where she had to help the blonde untangle the mess after a particularly stressful day.

She could just make out Weiss mumbling something along the lines of "impossible". Ignoring her, Blake addressed Yang.

"Yang, you are aware that..."

She was cut short by the door slamming open, and an exuberant brunette trotting in to the room, arms straight in the air.

"Hello faithful members of team RWBY!"

Weiss spun on Ruby, clearly determined to get answers. Her voice was bordering on shrill.

"Ruby! Would you please explain to your team mates why YOUR sister seems to be unaware of the physical aspects of her semblance?"

Ruby's arms dropped to her sides.

"What now?"

Disgruntled by the lack of progress within the conversation, Blake chose to take the reigns and addressed their leader.

"Ruby, have you and Yang never discussed her eye change? Has no one ever mentioned it to her?"

Silver eyes shifted to the ceiling as Ruby clasped her chin in thought.

"Hmm, you know, now that I think about it..."

Okay, this was getting ridiculous.

Blake rolled her eyes before once again shifting to regard Yang, the latter looking as confused as ever. The faunus decided to broach the subject as gently as possible. She started again.

"Yang, sweetie, were you aware that, at times, your eyes change color? More specifically, they become red?"

Head down, Yang stumbled towards one of the desk chairs before plopping down. Her eyes shifted everywhere, between the carpet, the ceiling, Weiss, Ruby, before finally settling on Blake.

"Red? You mean like bloodshot?"

Three pairs of eyes were set on the blonde. Ruby had joined Weiss on the heiresses bed. Neither seemed keen on joining in on the discussion.

Blake couldn't believe she was having this conversation.

"No Yang, like your irises? I think it has something to do with your semblance. When you get emotional the color changes to red."

Yang looked to her sister.

"Ruby?"

Ruby had taken to playing with her fingers and regarded Yang guiltily.

"Sorry Yang, I guess we always just thought you knew."

Weiss didn't look convinced, eyes shifting through all occupants of the room.

"I don't get it. How is this even possible?" She turned on Yang. "You mean to tell me you didn't know? That this whole time you never once saw yourself in the mirror? No one else ever thought to mention it?"

The blonde shrugged.

"Like I said, everything looks sort of washed out when it happens."

"Well," the heiress huffed.

The room grew silent as the tension grew thick.

It was such an odd thought, really. How Yang could, in all her years, not have known that her semblance changed her eyes from purple to red. Blake tried to imagine what it must feel like for her partner, creating scenarios where she learned of her faunus heritage much later in life. She couldn't even imagine a proper reaction, it was just so absurd.

The blonde abruptly stood, effectively breaking Blake from her thoughts, and headed for the door.

"Yang!" Ruby called out to her sister, who replied without turning around.

"It's fine Rubes. I'm just a little shocked. Think I'm gonna go work it out in the gym."

And with that, Yang left, thus ending the conversation and triggering the domino effect that would be the rest of that week.

First came the sunglasses.

Not that it was unusual to see Yang sporting a pair of dark aviators; the blonde often wore them when walking about Vale during the girls' free weekends. But wearing them outdoors during daylight was one thing.

This was the cafeteria.

Blake had still been showering when Ruby and Yang had headed down for breakfast. Now, as she approached their usual table, she noticed her partner's added accessory. She addressed it immediately.

"Sensitive eyes?"

Yang looked up from her porridge.

"What's that?"

Ruby, who was currently seated next to her sister and across from Blake, piped up before the faunus could repeat herself.

"I already asked."

Blake regarded Ruby with a cocked brow.

"And?"

"And she refuses to answer. Personally, I think she's hungover."

This came from Weiss, who had just joined the group, sliding into the seat next to Blake. Yang was quick to defend herself.

"Hey! I'm not hungover! And for your information princess, I don't even drink."

Weiss was quick to respond.

"Then why the glasses hmm? What are you hiding?"

The blonde was clearly becoming exasperated.

"I'm not hiding anything!"

The volume of Yang's voice had grown. Blake glanced down, noting the now bent spoon clutched in her partner's fist. Ruby, apparently having noticed too, covered her sister's fist in her own hand and gently pried the spoon from her grasp. At this Yang glanced down, then to Ruby. Silver eyes bore into reflective plastic in silent communication before the blonde promptly stood up and left the table, grumbling about needing a new spoon.

No one said anything upon Yang's return, nor throughout the rest of breakfast. The tension however, remained.

As did Yang's glasses the rest of the day. And the three days after that, before they were finally confiscated by Professor Goodwitch.

After the glasses came the meditating.

Returning from a quick trip to the library, Blake returned to the dorm only to find her partner absent. She looked to Ruby and Weiss, both perched on their respective beds.

"Where's Yang?"

Weiss gave an amused "humph" before replying, not even bothering to look up from her copy of "The Grim Truth About Grimm".

"Yang is... meditating with Ren."

Blake's eyebrows shot up.

"Is that a euphemism?"

Ruby snorted and looked up from her sketch of what Blake could only assume to be a new modification for Crescent Rose.

'Ew. No, they are actually meditating."

Brow relaxing in relief, Blake moved towards her own bunk.

"Since when does Yang meditate?"

Truthfully, the faunus was beginning to worry about her partner. First the sunglasses and now... meditating?

Yang was acting extremely strange.

Over the past few days the blonde had seemed to almost be avoiding Blake. Anytime she entered the room, Yang would force her gaze down. She only spoke when totally necessary and her jokes, what little she made anymore, were lacking in their usual enthusiasm. It was as if Yang was merely going through the motions.

Even Weiss' attempts to rile her up were all for not.

Just as Blake began to settle into bed with her new book, a loud bang erupted from somewhere across the hall. Muffled yells in a distinctly familiar, female voice could be heard through the door. Three pairs of eyes shifted between each other and the door until a very angry blonde burst through.

Yang was cursing under her breath and moved to close the door behind her before looking up and noticing Blake.

Amber met deep crimson.

And with that, Yang spun 180 degrees and promptly left the way she came, the force of the door strong enough to rattle Weiss' framed picture of the Forever Fall forest.

Ruby and Weiss sat gobsmacked as Blake got up and followed after her partner.

She found her on the roof.

The blonde was seated, cross legged near the edge, palms resting on her knees and her back facing Blake. She could tell by the movement of Yang's shoulders that she seemed to be taking deep, exaggerated breaths. The faunus approached quietly before taking a seat next to her partner. If Yang heard her she made no acknowledgment of the fact, and so Blake took this opportunity to study Yang's face. Her eyes were screwed shut, mouth wide, gulping down air. The constant twitch of her brows suggested Yang was trying to relax with little success.

Blake cleared her throat.

Eyelids sprung open to reveal crimson and Yang's head snapped to Blake. Upon seeing just who her intruder was, she promptly shut her eyes and faced forward once again.

Blake was sure of it now; Yang was avoiding her.

"Yang..." Blake sighed, eyes never leaving her partner. Yang, however, remained blind to the world.

"Blake."

Yang took a deep breath through her mouth, before releasing it through her nose.

"Yang, are you..." Blake couldn't contain the laughter in her voice. "Are you meditating?"

Ruby had mentioned Ren and Yang's session, but seeing it was a completely different thing.

"Seeing really is believing."

That got the blondes attention, as her eyes popped open and she looked to Blake, brows knit in confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing." Blake waved her off and pressed on. "What's going on with you? The Yang I know does not meditate, and I like to think I know her pretty well. She IS my partner."

Yang's eyes had since shifted back to their brilliant lilac, but her brows had taken to curving up in apprehension. Her lips were tight, as if she was physically trying to keep herself from speaking. It was an odd sight, really. A quiet Yang was a seldom occurrence in itself, but for the blonde to be actively restraining herself...

Blake changed tactics.

"Are you avoiding me Yang? Because when you made me promise to talk to you about my problems, I assumed it was a mutual arrangement."

She was guilt-ing her. Blake knew it was her partner's one weakness, and it was one of the few things that could pull Yang from her otherwise jovial demeanor. Yang's quickness to succumb to the emotion had always left the faunus with the sense that her partner still harbored some accountability over an obviously unresolved issue. As if one past mistake left the blonde guilty of any and all transgressions there after.

Blake was now using this to her advantage. It was a dirty tactic, and she knew it. Yang instantly shifted to face her, palms held open in caution and eyes wide with panic.

"No! Blake, I... I'm not avoiding you."

A black eyebrow raised in disbelief and had the blonde backtracking.

"Okay well maybe I was sort of avoiding you. Kinda. Actually, it's more like... like I was avoiding me... for you?" She was avoiding eye contact by this point and had taken to twisting a chunk of hair between her the fingers of both hands. Blake shook her head, eyes narrowed.

"I'm not quite following."

Yang took a deep breath before her shoulders collapsed in resolve. She stopped fidgeting, but her gaze remained downward.

"Growing up everyone just sort of saw me as this hot head. I would get angry, get into fights, get into trouble. Honestly I was just looking out for Rubes. But then they told my Dad I had anger issues..."

Blake wasn't sure where exactly this was going, but she took the blondes hands in her own, hoping to both calm the other girl as well as get her attention.

"Yang..."

Lilac met amber, Yang's voice nothing more than a whisper.

"I didn't know they turned red."

It was then that it clicked. The sunglasses. The lack of eye contact. She didn't know why she didn't see it sooner. The faunus thought back to all the instances of the previous week.

"Yang, have you been acting funny all this week because you didn't want me to see your red eyes?"

The sheepish look Yang wore more than confirmed Blake's assumptions. The faunus laughed.

"We've been partners for three years Yang, I think any attempt at hiding it now is moot."

Blake continued to laugh, but as her partner's expression slowly became more and more off put, she tried to reign it in, and coughed to clear the amusement from her throat.

"So you were embarrassed." The blonde nodded. "Why were you embarrassed?"

"I worked so hard, ya know?" She stared down at their joined hands. "To get people to see me differently. To not see a hot head. And I thought it had worked. This whole time I thought I had it under control just to find out my own semblance had betrayed me."

Yang had begun subconsciously rubbing circles into the back of Blake's hands with her thumbs. It felt nice.

"And you're just so cool!"

The faunus had taken to observing their joined hands before shooting back up upon Yang's outburst.

"You're all mysterious, and I can never tell what you are thinking! I wanted to be that cool. But... but my stupid eyes. I didn't want you to see them. To see that I didn't have control. To see me as just this, hot headed brute."

Yang's voice had slowly lost volume so that by the time she had finished, it was nothing more than a whisper, and Blake had to strain her faunus ears beneath her bow to hear her. The blonde's frustration was evident as the tell tale crimson bled back into her irises, overtaking the usual lilac. Blake studied the change, taking the time to contemplate what she could possibly say to her partner. Instead, she decided to show her.

Blake moved her hands from Yang's grasp to the bow atop her head and with nimble fingers made quick work of untying the material. Red eyes watched with rapt attention. Free of their confines, two velvety cat ears twitched in the night air.

Yang couldn't tear her gaze from the oddity. Not to say that the ears alone were some spectacle, but the faunus very rarely shed her bow, and Yang had learned to cherish any and every chance she got to see them.

"Yang, do you remember what you said to me the first time you saw my ears."

The blonde replied without missing a beat.

"Can I touch them?"

Blake laughed.

"No Yang, the other thing you said."

"Is catnip a thing?"

"Yang..."

Yang finally pulled her gaze down to meet amber eyes, her usual smirk in place. Blake missed that smirk.

"You're gonna have to be more specific there partner."

Blake responded with an eye roll in turn.

"You told me how much you liked them. How they were a part of me and that's what made them special, not the other way around."

Blake reached up, grabbing Yang's head in her hands and pulling the blonde down so that they were eye to eye, faces inches apart.

"Your eyes are a part of you Yang. You are the most passionate person I have ever met and it's incredible to see reflected in such a physical way."

One hand still cradling Yang's head, Blake moved the other down, palm flat against the center of the blondes chest.

"To be able to see that, that fire that I know burns inside of you constantly. I've never seen so much life. I've never felt so alive. Your eyes are a part of you, and that's what makes them special, not the other way around."

Lilac had long since returned as Yang's face remained expressionless. With the moment passed, their embrace slowly turned to something awkward. Breaking apart, both girls turned away, facing ahead and viewing the star filled night sky once again.

"So," Yang cleared her throat, regarding Blake from the corner of her eye. "You really like them? My red eyes I mean."

Blake hummed the affirmative before glancing back to the blonde and gasping.

"Oh no Yang! It's spreading! It's not just your eyes that are red anymore!"

The blonde whipped around in panic.

"What?!"

The faunus covered her mouth with her hand.

"Your cheeks! They turn red when you're flustered!"

Blake could no longer contain her laughter at Yang's grumbled response.

for Monty