First off, holy shit we broke 100 follows. You guys are awesome.

Second, I apologize for the delayed update. Long story short: heat, sickness, writer's block and binge-watching One Piece. (The last one is not a good reason, I know).

Review Response:

Rasner: Main difference is that Jaune's weapon is not as ridiculous as Guts'.

Guest: There's a bit of Yang POV in this chapter and maybe some later in the story.

And thank you to Gravenimage, campione278, SuperHappySpider, GeneralAllenWalker and StormatronXLIV for their reviews.

Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.

The breath left Jaune's lungs as his back slammed into the forest floor and Yang fell heavily on top of him. His single azure eye met her pair of lilac and before he was able to react, she quickly leaned down and pressed her lips to his. Within a second, she had pulled back and hurried to her feet before all but running out of the clearing altogether.

Jaune gave a wistful sigh, replaying the memory of what happened not two hours ago in his head yet again. He was very confused as to why a girl like Yang, extraordinarily beautiful, popular and a badass fighter would ever have feelings like that for an average guy like him. He wasn't super handsome or an incredibly skilled fighter or even overly popular. He concluded that trying to figure out Yang's motives for kissing him weren't going to get him anywhere. The only person who could answer that question was Yang herself but Jaune knew that walking into her room right now was a bad idea. She had seemed almost as surprised as he was that she had kissed him and she had quickly fled the clearing. She had proceeded to shut herself in her room and while he could go talk to her, doing so without sorting out his own thoughts was asking for trouble. The blonde knight figured that the best course of action was to figure out his feelings for not only Yang, but the rest of team RWBY as well as Pyrrha and Nora.

Nora was the easiest. During their time at Beacon, she had essentially become another sister to him. She was goofy, energetic, loyal and more than a little insane but she was always fun to be around and lifted his spirits. He never looked at her as someone that he would seek any relationship beyond that of a close friend and any love he felt for her was that of a sibling long before he noticed how she and Ren looked at each other when the other wasn't paying attention.

Ruby was just as clear-cut. She was his first friend at Beacon and so similar to his youngest sister in both dress and personality that it was weird and felt a little wrong to look at her in any fashion beyond that of a sibling. Like every girl Jaune knew, she was beautiful in her own way, albeit far more cute and adorable than anyone else at Beacon. This just reinforced his older-brother tendencies and even further removed her from being a potential romantic partner.

Blake was another easy one to figure out. While the two of them weren't all that close and any conversations the two of them had barely went past greeting each other in the hallway, he still considered her a friend and would do anything to help her. However, romance was never a thought that crossed his brain when he was around her. They had no real common ground that a romantic relationship could be founded on. While she was undoubtedly beautiful and had an allure of the unknown around her, he never had and probably never would look at her as someone he would date.

His feelings for Weiss were more complex to sort out. While he had spent a large portion of his time at Beacon flirting with her or fruitlessly asking her out and when he looked back on it, Jaune realized that it was only because she had seemed like some symbol of perfection to him or fulfilled some childish princess-and-the-knight fantasy. He realized now that his feelings for Weiss had been nothing more than a schoolboy crush and he hadn't actually gotten to know her. The dance had opened his eyes to how shallow his affections had seemed and he had pushed Neptune to be with the heiress rather than continue to pursue her. A small sigh passed his lips, knowing that he had made an ass out of himself consistently for several months, embarrassing her several times over in the process, and she had been far more polite in turning him down over and over again than she had reason to be. Jaune owed her one hell of an apology whenever he saw her again.

The complexity of his feelings for Weiss didn't even hold a candle to the absolute mess of emotions that surfaced when he thought of his flame-haired partner. Happiness, support, comfort, and safety all came to mind but so did less pleasant emotions such as guilt, regret, resentment, anger and shame. Despite the wedge that had been driven between them, he still considered Pyrrha to be one of his closest friends. A regretful expression crossed Jaune's face, knowing now the true extent of the spartan's feelings for him.

It's so obvious now, how could I have missed it? Then again, hindsight is 20/20 even if I'm missing an eye.

A part of him wondered if things would've played out differently had he not been so blind to Pyrrha's emotions at Beacon but another part of him knew that it wouldn't have worked out. Much like how Ruby had strongly reminded him of his youngest sister, Pyrrha's caring and supportive nature was so similar to that of his eldest sister that he had long before accepted her as such. A solitary tear trailed down Jaune's cheek as he contemplated the amount of pain he could've unintentionally caused Pyrrha. Could he ever atone for what he had done to his partner?

He regained his composure, turned his thoughts to Yang and an absolute torrent of images, emotions and memories washed over him. Jaune did his best to focus on the memories that pertained to Yang as a person. At first glance, most would've taken the blonde brawler to be a stereotypical party-girl: vivacious, loud, beautiful, shallow and none too bright. While Yang certainly matched some of those criteria, she had constantly proved others false. A perfect example of that would be the dance: rather than spend the night partying it up like many assumed she would, she had spent the majority of the celebration on the balcony which overlooked the dance hall and simply enjoyed the happiness of others. While perhaps not as intelligent as Weiss, Blake or Ren, Yang was certainly no slouch when it came to classes and was terrifyingly cunning in battle. She cared deeply for all of her friends, at times seeming to mother them even though they were all the same age and now that Jaune knew more of her life growing up it made perfect sense. After Summer had passed, Yang had taken on the mantle of mother to Ruby and was forced to grow up quickly in order to care for her sister. She had demonstrated on several occasions the lengths she was willing to go for a friend and while extraordinarily supportive, she was not above knocking some sense into them.

As he sifted through more and more memories, Jaune found that he was no closer to making sense of his emotions. Instead of focusing further, he relaxed his mental hold and let anything and everything come to the forefront of his thoughts. Smaller things came to mind: the scent of lavender in her hair and the way it shone like spun gold when the light hit it just right, how beautiful her eyes were either lilac or blood-red, the importance she placed on family, the way her cheeks dimpled slightly when she smiled, her passion for life, her laugh. A warm sensation built up in his chest as he thought more and more about what made Yang, well, Yang. She was someone that Jaune could relate to far more than anyone else he knew and his lips formed a peaceful smile as the realization struck him. Did he love Yang? Maybe, he wasn't 100% sure. Did he like Yang, or as Nora would've put it like-like?

Definitely.

Yang was worried and feeling more than a little panic as she stared out the window at the stars above. While worry was an emotion that she was quite familiar with, being an older sister meant she worried over Ruby all the time. Panic, however, was not an emotion she felt often. She had always been confident in the decisions she made and did her best to live life without regrets. However, her kissing Jaune earlier that day had been the exact opposite.

At first, she hadn't thought all that highly of the scrawny, blonde boy. He was easily the worst fighter in their year, was physically unimpressive and more than a little foolish. But over the course of their time at Beacon, her opinion of him had changed drastically. His determination had been what first impressed her, not only to improve himself but to stick any situation out to the bitter end. His selflessness was another. She had heard from Weiss that Jaune had gone out of his way to get Neptune to go talk to her, regardless of what Jaune's feelings were. The blonde knight was also extremely respectful, looking only for friendship among a large group of girls rather than something more. He had even stopped flirting with Weiss shortly after the dance. Plus, he was Ruby's first friend at Beacon which counted for something in Yang's book. Before the Fall of Beacon, Yang could easily have said that Jaune was her friend.

It was after the Fall that things got complicated. Much like her, he had fought an opponent far beyond their caliber and had paid the price. She had lost an arm to that White Fang bastard and Jaune had lost an eye fighting someone in the ruins of Beacon Tower. They had also both lost their partners, albeit in different fashions. Blake had abandoned her during the Fall whereas a rift had opened up between Jaune and Pyrrha. Both had been left behind by those closest to them when Ruby and the rest of team JNPR had left for Haven, leaving the two of them with only each other to look to. Once again, Jaune had shown how selfless he was. Yang knew that he was in as much pain, both mental and physical, to her but he had constantly pushed it aside in order to comfort her. They knew how horrible it was to feel weak and alone. Family was as important to him as it was to her, the joy and sorrow in Jaune's voice whenever he talked about them made it clearly evident. More than that, Jaune was one of two people that Yang had told about Raven and for entirely different reasons than why she had told Blake.

Yang couldn't place when she had started to fall for Jaune but she had realized the truth of her feelings a week ago, shortly after she had left his room. They had honestly scared her as Jaune had become her closest friend and she didn't want to ruin that. Even though he had stopped flirting with Weiss after the dance, the brawler was unsure of whether or not he still had feelings for the heiress. Not to mention the crush that Pyrrha had on him that was plain as day to everyone but the blonde knight. Hell, even Ruby had picked up on the spartan's feelings and Ruby was as socially awkward as they came. Yang feared that if she confessed her feelings to Jaune and he rejected her that it would not only ruin their friendship but leave her alone once again, a feeling she had not felt since her mom had died and the thought of being alone once again terrified her.

A knock from the doorway caused her to look over her shoulder. The person in the doorway was obviously male with blonde hair and blue eyes however her lilac eyes widened, her blood turned to ice and her gut clenched as she realized that there was only one blue orb staring back at her. It wasn't her father silhouetted in the doorway but rather the blonde boy she had kissed a couple of hours ago. Yang was unable to move from where she sat, the moment of truth had arrived.

A seed of doubt planted itself in Jaune's mind when he saw the shocked and somewhat fearful expression on Yang's face. What if the kiss had been an accident? What if she didn't have any feelings past those of a friend? What if-. Jaune firmly stopped the train of 'what if's. Asking those right now would get him no where and would only serve to undermine his resolve. The only way he would get the truth was for him to gather his courage and ask Yang directly.

"May I come in, Yang?"

The blonde brawler remained silent for several seconds before slowly nodding.

"Y-yea."

The knight made his way into the room and took a seat next to the girl. Yang was trembling next to him but she remained resolute and didn't turn away from him. Jaune took a couple deep breaths, gathered as much courage and resolve as he could and turned to face Yang.

"Yang, about earlier. I was wondering-."

"Jaune, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kiss you, it was an accident. I know you probably still have feelings for Weiss and that Pyrrha has a huge crush on you. Please don't be angry with me, I messed up and made a mistake. However I feel doesn't matter. Even if you don't have feelings, can we still be friends? I don't want to mess up the only close friend I have right now and I don't want to be alone. Pl-"

Yang's rambling was cut off by Jaune cupping her cheeks in his hands and softly pressing his lips to hers. He broke the kiss after a couple of seconds, leaving Yang stunned. While it would have been highly inappropriate, he kind of wanted to take a picture of the absolute confusion that was expressed on Yang's face right now. He gave the bewildered brawler a gentle smile.

"All I wanted to ask you was if you felt the same way I do."

Yang's eyes widened to almost comic proportions and she sharply inhaled. He wasn't serious, was he? She didn't even hold a candle to Pyrrha so why would he have feelings for her? Not to mention he had spent months trying to get with Weiss. She wanted to say yes but her worries and fears made it into words first.

"B-but, what about Weiss? Or Pyrrha? Why me?"

The hands that cupped her face shifted to the back of her head and the middle of her back, pulling her into a hug.

"I realized a while ago that my crush on Weiss was just that, a crush. Nothing more. As for Pyrrha, I see know how blind I was to her feelings but she's like an older sister to me, much like how Ruby is like a younger sister. I could never properly return her feelings. Not only that but there's not much we have in common."

The knight paused for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing.

"But it's different with you, Yang. I'm not good with words but I'll do my best. With you, I can relate to so much: the frustration of feeling weak, the importance of family, the pain of feeling alone. Whenever you're near me, it feels like a weight's been taken off my shoulders. You're the person I can trust the most and when I was at my lowest, instead of giving me pity you helped pull me out of my self-blame and despair. You mean more to me than anyone else, Yang."

Jaune's words shocked Yang to her core. She lifted her head and was taken aback by the conviction and pure honesty in his gaze. She was unable to find the words to properly express how she felt, so she responded by wrapping both arms around his neck and capturing his lips in a passionate kiss. Yang did her best to convey everything she felt towards the blonde knight through the kiss. He eagerly returned the kiss and it wasn't until they both needed oxygen that they broke the kiss. Jaune gave her a goofy grin.

"I take it that means you feel the same way?"

Lilac eyes rolled in their sockets. "Well, duh, Vomit Boy."

He gave a low chuckle and tightened his grip around her before falling backwards. Yang gave a short yelp before relaxing and resting her head on Jaune's chest, the sound of his heartbeat soothing her. However, as relaxed and happy as Yang was, an important question was unanswered.

"What does this make us, Jaune?"

He was quiet for several moments before perking up and giving Yang a smile.

"Well, Yang. Would you be my girlfriend?"

She leaned up and quickly pressed her lips to his for a few seconds before giving him a massive smile.

"Yes."

The ship has sailed! :P

As an aside, I honestly didn't expect to finish up this chapter only a day late. I had maybe a quarter of the chapter completed by Friday but I guess that's what music and inspiration will do.

As always, please leave a review or PM me if you have any questions, thoughts to share or just want to chat.

Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed.

Next chapter:

Jaune's weapon is finished.

"Can't have a Huntsman without a weapon, can we?"

And named.

"Hmmmm."

And an important decision is made.

"So where do we go from here?"

See you next chapter.