Bab 23: Snipers
POV Ruby Rose
"What's that guy doing approaching Team NDGO" Brawnz Ni, the leader of Team BRNZ, blurted with a tone dripping with jealousy, drawing Ruby's attention first towards Brawnz, then into the direstion he was looking, and there she spotted Death approaching Shade's all-female huntress Team, Team NDGO, led by Nebula Violette.
"Hello Gwen." Death greeted the black-haired, brown-eyed member of the team and smiled warmly.
Brawnz was suddenly even more flustered, Ruby guessed because Death had addressed his crush by name or something. Ruby thought that was silly.
Nebula Violette, the leader of Team NDGO, was visibly surprised when Death greeted her teammate "Gwen, do you know him?"
Gwen looked at Death, seemingly confused "You remember my name from introductions on Monday?" she guessed.
Death chuckled and shook his head "Before then. Though that was an interesting coincidence that we met again here." Death insisted to her "Nine years ago, I took a job in Vacuo with my Uncle Qrow, to deal with a particularly nasty bandit tribe. You were among the prisoners that we rescued, and you were really excited to meet real huntsmen. Even though I was officially in training at that time, Uncle Qrow was an officially licensed huntsmen, so you asked him a lot of questions. It was pretty adorable." he reminded her.
Gwen's eyes grew large with surprise "That was....a chapter in my life I did my best to forget about." she confessed.
Brawnz face-planted into his table, hearing that Death had apparently rescued Gwen that long ago. Ruby's expression, however, became quite cheerful, finding a reunion like this to be like something like out a fairy tale, and she loved it!
Dew Gahl and Octavia Ember both put a hand on Gwen Darcy's shoulders to comfort her.
"In that case, on behalf of Team NDGO, I thank you for saving our teammate. I am Nebula Violette." the team leader expressed her gratitude.
"I apologize for not remembering you. I do recall the situation, but all the faces and names are a bit of a blur by this point." Gwen Darcy apologized to him.
"It's fine Gwen." Death reassured her, before looking at Nebula "It's fine. I was just doing my job at the time, after all. And, I'm glad to see that you seem to have grown into a fine huntress-in-training" he declared cheerfully before facing Gwen again "Well, I have plans tonight, so I should go, but when I saw you I couldn't resist greeting you properly. I am proud that my intuition about you becoming someone special in the future was correct, since I made sure to remember you because of it."
"And I am surprised that you remember me so well and that you thought so highly of that weak little girl from nine years ago." Gwen chuckled in amusement "Whatever you are planning, have a good day."
Death nodded once more to Gwen before taking off out of the class.
"He forgot to tell us his name" Gwen chuckled nervously, her cheeks becoming a bit flushed.
Ruby took that as her que to approach Team NDGO "Sorry about eavesdropping, but I can help with that. His name is Death Rose."
Gwen looked at Ruby and nodded "Thank you." she was genuinely relieved to know his name, otherwise it would keep bugging her. Now that he was gone she was a bit ashamed about not remembering him, and she was also surprised that he remembered her. She did not believe that she was that memorable as a kid., though his words were flattering to her ears.
But little did she know that Death had watched through enough of the episodes of RWBY to have seen her future self in animated form well before he actually met her nine years ago, and had found her full name through his system, so when a little girl with the same name appeared before him, it was natural that he would remember her. For the same reason, when he met Flynt Coal, Neon Katt, and May Zedong, those meetings became memorable to him, though Ruby and Gwen had no way of knowing these details..
"Oh, it's fine." Ruby chuckled in amusement "I'm Ruby Rose." she introduced herself.
"Ruby Rose...Death Rose...?" Gwen asked, clearly making the connection between the two names, and seeming confused by it, presumably since Ruby was clearly a human and Death was clearly not one.
Ruby chortled "Yeah, Death had no family and no last name, before my mom and Uncle brought him to stay with us. Mom had him take our last name even though his official Guardian ended up being Uncle Qrow." she explained to Gwen "There is obviously no blood connection between us. That would be awkward, considering he is so amazing., right?" she asked Gwen.
"I don't know. I hardly know him" Gwen insisted to Ruby, becoming even more embarrassed.
"Excuse me." a girl said as she approached Ruby from behind.
Ruby turned and faced the girl with short dusty rose hair and gray-blue eyes, who was wearing a uniform from Shade Academy. She was none other then the lone girl of Team BRNZ, May Zedong.
Roy and Nolan had left her behind, following their frustrated leader, after witnessing the exchange between Death and Team NDGO, while May had stayed behind to approach Ruby
"My name is May." the new arrival introduced herself "I hear that you are a sniper, right? Want to see whose better some time, since I am a sniper as well?"
"A friendly competition sounds fun, so sure." Ruby agreed with May's request "It's a pleasure to meet you. Like I said before, my name is Ruby Rose. I am not sure you heard it, so it's best I say it again.."
May had a satisfied expression on her face as she nodded "Is now a good time?"
------
POV May Zedong
May Zedong, who was pretty much a tomboy, had pondered all week the best way to approach Death Rose, and had finally settled on trying to get close to Ruby. It was a bit manipulative, and she was disgusted with herself for doing it, but she didn't know how else to do it, since she hadn't really spoken to boys she was romantically interested in before, since she hadn't really been interested in any other boys, so she had no idea where to even begin.
Talking to boys was simple most of the time, but talking to that particular boy was not! All because thinking about being near him made her feel, she assumed, like an ordinary girl, which was not something she was accustomed too.
Back in Vacuo, when she was just thirteen, around five years ago, she had met Death, his Uncle Qrow and his Aunt Summer after they had recently completed a job, taking down a swarm of Apathy Grimm that had started nesting dangerously close to Vacuo.
After the initial cleansing, Death came back to Vacuo proper and reported the success while his aunt and uncle continued hunting any stragglers that initially escaped from the first purge, which took them a few days. During the time that Death was in Vacuo, away from them, May had met him.
At the time, Death was about a year younger then her, though he already looked older then her, and when she heard about him participating in the hunt of the Apathy Grimm, she was probably annoying, since she had what must have been hundreds of questions for him, but Death had taken it in stride, and not only did answer all of her questions, but the whole time he treated her like a lady, even calling her 'cute'.
Since she was a tomboy and never dressed like a normal girl would, she was not used to being treated like a girl, and she certainly wasn't used to having someone think she was 'cute'. At the time, she did not understand what was happening to her, but her heart had been all fluttery while she had been with him. She was older and wiser now, and better understood what she had been feeling back then, which made it necessary for her to try to get near him again. hoping that he would remember her the way that he had apparently remembered meeting Gwen four years before he'd met her.
Of course, in May's opinion Gwen was much prettier then she was, so she felt it was entirely possible that Death had forgotten her and remembered Gwen do to her attractiveness. Even if May feared that was the case, she knew she had to find out for certain, and that meant putting herself in front of him and seeing how he would act,
------
POV Death Rose
The next morning, after staying out well into the morning spending time getting to know the Fall Maiden, He travelled via a gate from his room to Team RWBY's room, intended to stealthily deliver breakfast for the girls like he usually did, made using his 'Foodie' Semblance.
Surprisingly, though, the girls were already up, earlier then usual, and were in their bra's and panties going through their clothes "Well, this is a nice surprise" Death chuckled.
Ruby blushed and instinctively started trying to cover up, but Weiss, Blake and Yang were not bothered at all, considering that he'd seen each of them completely naked before. "You're awake earlier then usual" Death noted while walking over to Ruby, who was looking so adorable while embarrassed "You know, Ruby, I have seen you wearing even less then this, so you needn't be so embarrassed." he placed a kiss on her cheek.
"Ruby was challenged by a girl named May Zedong to a marksmanship competition." Weiss explained to Death "We were going to go with Ruby early and show our support."
"May Zedong, from Team BRNZ." Death recalled "I met her five years ago in Vacuo on a job I did with Uncle Qrow, and Aunt Summer actually joined in on that one."
"What, did you rescue her like you did Gwen?" Ruby asked excitedly.
Death chuckled and shook his head "Nah. We took down some Apathy Grimm, though, and while Uncle Qrow and Aunt Summer were hunting for any stragglers that we may have missed in out initial raid, I spent a couple days in Vacuo. May was excited to hear about real huntsman, so she approached me and asked a lot of questions. Unlike Gwen, she didn't need to be rescued from anything."
"I see. I wonder if she remembers you." Ruby considered as she finally relaxed and resumed looking for a change of clothes.
"I don't know. I haven't asked her about it yet." Death admitted to Ruby before lightly pinching her bottom.
Death noticed that Blake had already finished dressing and Yang and Weiss had already selected clothes and were already starting to get dressed, so he moved to the desk and started creating/conjuring foods tailored to each of the girls' preferences.
While Death was setting out the food, he noticed Ruby kept watching him out of the corner of her eye, which he guessed was to make sure that he didn't pinch her bottom again. He found that quite amusing and adorkable.
As the girls finished dressing, they came over to Death to dig into the food, meaning Blake came over to him first and waited for him to finish setting out the food, still amazed when she saw things appearing out of nowhere.
As soon as Death finished, though, he turned and grabbed Blake around her waist and passionately kissed her.
Blake was not even surprised and just returned the embrace and the kiss until their lips finally parted "Can I eat now?" she asked him playfully.
Death chuckled and nodded before releasing her. He then repeated the morning kisses with Yang, Weiss, and finally Ruby when they came over to eat. None of them complained, and Ruby even asserted herself and kissed him a second time after he had initially kissed her.
------
POV May Zedong
The previous evening, she had spent a couple hours with Ruby at the shooting range. Though they had went there originally intending to compete, neither of them kept score and they had just had fun. They had ended up postponing the 'competition' until this morning when they planned to meet again.
That, however, was just an excuse for May to spend more time with Ruby. While initially she had approached Ruby to try to get closer to Death, after spending a couple hours with the girl May found her to be genuinely likable.
May had never had a female friend before, so this was new territory for her, but she now felt like Ruby was someone that she could see as a friend in the future.
Even though the competition was just an excuse, May still arrived at the shooting range early and was taking practice shots as Team RWBY and Death came into the range and approached her.
"Good morning May." Ruby greeted cheerfully, after the group had waited patiently around 30 seconds until May needed to reload.
"Good morning Ruby" May answered, leaving her rifle on the counter she had been shooting off of and turned to greet Ruby, only to find that she had not come alone.
The arrival of Ruby's teammates, and more specifically Death, left May in a state of internal panic, with her heart fluttering again. She desperately tried not to be obvious about it, though.
"Hello May." Death greeted her next, a smile on his face "I'm not sure if you remember me or not, but we met about five years ago."
"The Apathy Grimm." May blurted "Yes, I re....remember." she felt like her heart wanted to burst out of her chest 'HE REMEMBERS ME!' she inwardly screamed with excitement.
"Jeez, looks like another girl may have fallen to your charm, lady killer. Or should I call you harem master now?." Yang said to Death playfully.
May's cheeks became bright red from embarrassment, since Yang had seen through her inner thoughts so easily.
"Go easy on her Yang" Death suggested to the blond beauty, then he turned his attention back to May "We're planning to train in about an hour and a half. Ruby seems to like you, so you are welcome to join us if you want too." he offered to her.
May shyly nodded "You....remembered me? I....thought you wouldn't....I'm.... not like Gwen."
Death looked at May, seemingly with quite a bit of surprise from reading his expression "You dress in loose-fitting and thick clothes, you don't show off your body or put it on display like many girls who follow cultural norms in style do, but I'm not blind. Under the disguise of your individual style is a very beautiful girl. If you wanted to put in the effort, no one would say that you are less attractive then Gwen Darcy, or any of her teammates on Team NDGO." Death placed a hand on top of May's beanie "I'm not saying that you should put in the effort, though. Not caring about what people think of how you look and act is part of your individual charm. It's why I said you were cute five-years ago, and it's why I stand by those words even now.."
May's knees were starting to feel a bit weak and wobbly, and her eyes started watering, but not from pain. Rather, his words had made her feel happy to the point where she started shedding tears. This was another new experience for May, though she definitely liked it "Thank you" she said to him.
Death nodded to May "It's seriously no problem. Anyone that cannot see how beautiful you are just because you don't flaunt it isn't worthy of your time, May."
May sprung and hugged Death, burying her face in his chest.
Death looked a bit surprised when May did that, she was acting very much like an ordinary girl, which was normally not her style, but with Death, she felt like she could act in such an unfamiliar manner and be akin to an ordinary girl, just a little bit. Death did wrap his arms around her, though, and gently patted her back, making May feel very happy and secure,
After composing herself a bit, they let go of each other and May stepped back from Death, and met his eyes with her own "Would you like to go out on a date with me?" May asked Death. She knew normal girls would not normally be the ones to ask for a date, but she was not 'normal' and didn't want to be 'normal'. After all, he had said her differences were part of her charm. Hearing that emboldened her to take the initiative and ask him out.
Death chuckled, genuinely amused "Sure. As long as you can get along with my other girlfriends." he gestured towards Team RWBY.
"Eeeeehhhh?" May was genuinely surprised "Wait, you are dating all of them?"
Death nodded to May "I am also dating an upperclassmen, a rabbit faunus named Velvet, and a pair or twins named Melanie and Miltia. I try to treat all the girls I date very well, you can just ask Team RWBY how I spoil them." he chuckled.
"And now there is me, and possibly Gwen?" May asked him.
"Reese Chloris from Mistral and Neon Katt from Atlas have also been pretty interested." Ruby pointed out "Also he went out with a girl named Amber last night.
"He's been spending time with that Ultear girl as well." Yang noted to the others.
"I've been working with Ultear." Death insisted to Yang "As for the others, I hadn't mentioned them since there's nothing official there yet, and if it gets to that point I'll ask that they try to get along with everyone I am already officially dating. I don't want any drama between the girls I develop feelings for."
May nodded in acceptance. She had not expected him to be quite that popular, but she'd resolved herself to push forward "I accept your terms."
"So, ready to shoot?" Ruby asked May, readying crescent rose to be fired as a sniper rifle.
May giggled and nodded "Yes Ruby. I'm ready." now that she'd gotten to do what she felt had to be done, shooting some targets would go far to help calm down her fast-beating heart.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone