"Take someone with you," her uncle slurred his words.
"But..." Yang was about to argue.
"I told you, no one is going anywhere by themselves, we still don't know what caused these peoples deaths.", Yang huffed, folding her arms to her chest.
I'll go with you", Blake shot up volunteering before anyone else could. " I need to work on a few things anyway", Blake knew this would be the perfect time to talk to the blonde.
"Fine, ", the blonde said with little to no interest in the Faunus, avoiding eye contact.
OUTSIDE
Even without the storm, the cold was still nipping at their skins. Blake watched Yang as she continued her stretching. "How about a spar?", the blonde turned her head in the direction of the brunette. "For old times sake", Blake slowly nodded not missing the fact that Yang's voice didn't show any sign of emotions. "Don't go easy on me." it sounded like a warning but not a playful one. Blake was torn, how could Yang expect her to fight her at full strength, it wouldn't be fair on the blonde.
Blake didn't have time to blink when Yang leapt forward swinging her fist at the Faunus face. Blake barely managed to dodge Yang, flipping backwards she landed on her feet but had to roll to the side when another fist came to her face. "What the hell Yang?". Back in Beacon when the two used to spar, their sparring matches were legendary. But this felt different, back then, Yang would have at least give Blake a second to readjust herself. But right now it just felt like the brawler was purposely trying to hurt her.
Before Blake could have a chance to use her semblance after dodging another barrage of punches, she felt the wind getting knocked out of her. the power in the hit forced Blake backwards, she clutched her stomach. "I told you, not to go easy on me", Yang shouted at the brunette, her eyes flickering to red back to lilac. Though that was the original plan Blake had to admit she never had the chance to put the plan into action, dodging the blonde bombshell was harder than she thought it would be.
Without her weapon, Blake's hand to hand combat skills were average at best, compared to the blonde's. But finding she had no choice, Blake launched herself at Yang who dodge the girl's kick to the head, then blocked the Faunus fist that was aimed for her face.
Yang punched the girl but immediately she disappeared. Blake, who was coming up from behind noticed this didn't seem to faze the blonde. When they used to Spar, Yang would have let out a fury of curses, because this tended to be where she would take the most damage during their fights. But right now Yang was calm as if Blake was fighting a totally different person than what she remembers. Blake was finally at Yang's back making sure she made as little noise as possible, before throwing another attack.
Yang grabbed the girl's fist, bending it backwards and behind her back. The Faunus grabbed her shoulder trying to yank her arm free. Blake's breath hitched in her throat, `was Yang really going to hurt her.` The blonde threw the Faunus on the ground, the brunette sank into the snow, panting.
She heard the snow crunch under Yang's heavy footsteps, looking up, the blonde was towering over her. Her bionic arm raised showing the concealed gun that was built inside pointed at the Faunus. For the first time, since she had met the brawler Blake feared her, her face was serious she wasn't kidding around. "Yang...please don't", Blake felt the tears well up in her eyes as she closed them, waiting for the finishing blow. was this what she deserved for leaving her partner.
"How are you going to protect me when you can't even protect yourself from me?." Yang's voice was full of anger as she shouted at the girl on the ground. Blake opened her eyes to see the blonde had lowered her weapon. Blake's hands were shaking, jumping up onto her feet, pushing the blonde who barely moved from her spot.
"Do you think that's funny?", Blake grabbed Yang by the collar of her jacket. "That's just messed up, Yang", her voice was shaking. "I know you hate me and you blame me because of Adam, but you could just tell me, you didn't need to bring me out here to teach me a lesson." Yang slapped Blake's hands off of her.
"You still don't get it", Her voice stayed strong. "I don't hate you, I don't hate you for this", raising her arm. "And definitely don't hate you for what Adam has done to me." She let out a shaky breath. "But what I can't forgive is the way you're treating me as if I can't fight or defend myself or even do simplest of tasks. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have a teammate think you're a liability? actually not just a teammate, a friend. " she raised her right arm in Blake's face. " I've got this for the rest of my life and I will constantly have people questioning my abilities but I don't need someone I care about doing the same. I swear I can still be a good huntress." Yang's voice was shaking, she turned to walk away she didn't want Blake to see the tears streaming down her face.
Blake grabbed her prosthetic arm, "Yang." causing her to stop. " I'm sorry, I didn't realise, I just thought..." Blake couldn't hold back the tears. " I just thought, that night I almost lost you because of my past, I just can't allow that to happen again, you have no idea how many times I have replayed that night back in my head. Because of me, you got hurt, I know I shouldn't expect everything to go back to normal but it hurts me, seeing you like this. You're not even acting like your usual self and it's all my fault", Blake didn't bother hiding the tears. The Faunus stiffened up when she felt arms wrap around her.
"I know Blake, but if I'm honest I'm not okay. I might never be okay. This person right here, this might be the new me whether you like it or not. But you, trying to constantly protect me and act like I'm a hindrance, isn't making me feel any better.", Blake pulled Yang into a tighter hug. " I don't regret what I did, your safe because of it. I just hate this is the way you act towards me, it hurts, can't you just let me get on with my life? if I need help I'll let you know." Blake nodded her head as she pulled back, avoiding Yang's eyes
"Come on", Yang said softer "let's head back inside it's cold out here." Yang whipped away a falling tear from Blake's cheek with her right hand