Title: Of Dead Animals, Blond Beastmen, and Pride
Fandom: Gurren Lagann
Pairing: Yoko/Kamina
Prompt: o8. Trial by Fire
Word Count: 622
Genre: Humor with a dash of romance
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It was meant to be just a hunting trip, and maybe a chance to show off her marksmanship skills; instead, Yoko got a lesson in common sense and pride, courtesy of the one and only blue haired idiot.
Warnings: Some language
Author's Notes: This is the second installment of my 16_candles fanfiction challenge. This is told from the first person perspective, Yoko's to be exact. Please enjoy and review, even if it's just a little one.

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One characteristic that Kamina and I seem to share is how stubborn he is. Although when I think about it, he's more stubborn then I am about a lot of things. Take, for instance, an animal we were hunting. If I shot something, and then it turns out so did this big scary blond Beastman who could totally kick my ass, then I'd let him have it. I'm a good shot, I can catch something else.

But oh no, not Kamina. Instead, he has to start a fight with said scary Beastman and then, since fighting man to man isn't enough, they have to take it to the giant robots. Good lord. All I wanted to do was get dinner, maybe show off a little, but instead, it ends up being all about Kamina's manly pride and not giving up his catch.

I think Simon agrees with me. He looked as exasperated as I felt about the whole situation. I can't help but feel sorry for him; he has to put up with Kamina way more then I do. Not to mention the fact that he had to live with Kamina all the time before now. Why am I trying to impress this Neanderthal, again? Because of his good looks? Well, there's a high chance in that, considering he doesn't wear a shirt, and that's aesthetically pleasing and reason enough as is (even if his sunglasses are ridiculous). Because of his strength? That couldn't be it, because blondie beast boy doing a real number on him.

Kamina was getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter by this guy, really. But no matter how many times blondie beast guy struck him down, he got back up again and kept fighting. At first, I just wanted to scream at him to just stay down unless he wanted to get seriously hurt. But after a while, I found myself actually cheering for him. He was going against the odds, and although it was stupid, I couldn't help but find it admirable that he refused to back down. Eventually, when it looked like he was seriously going to get himself killed, Simon came to bail him out. Poor kid. I wonder how long he'll have to bail Kamina out of trouble.

I was a combination of pissed and worried and just general hormonal women, so instead of being rational I storm down to give Kamina a piece of my mind, but he just looks so damned pleased with himself, even though he's a bit battered and bruised, I don't really feel like yelling at him. I guess I can be stubborn about some things that Kamina would think were stupid, too. Like how I wouldn't like it if there were lots of other girls fawning over him all the time, or how I don't want to be viewed as "just a girl" by him because that's not all that defines me as a person.

But I guess that's one of the things I'll never admit that I love about him. All his ramblings on about believing in yourself and staying true to your ideals is something I should pay more attention to. As someone claiming to be a rebel, I can lose sight of what's really important in the long run. It's easy to get caught up in the logistics and strategies and forget what it is you're fighting so hard for.

So, begrudgingly, I have to admit that I learned something from Kamina today. To always keep my eye on the prize, and not to pick a fight with a blondie beast boy named Venus or Virus or whatever unless I have a giant robot I can pull out of my ass.