Author's Note- Hoped you guys are excited to see what happens now after that cliffhanger, This chapter was written by me, hopefully with Katze and I alternating writing chapters for this story will come out more frequently. LazyKatze edited this chapter and I always appreciate the great job she does. Leave a review and tell us what you think of the story or if you see any mistakes that I or Katze missed, we try our hardest but we don't always catch everything. As a note to people who read my other stories like Tale of Two Hearts, I will still be writing for them but the updates will slow down as I work on this collab with Katze. Now go and see what happens to Yang in this chapter and remember Read, Review, Favorite, Follow, and most importantly Enjoy!
The third floor apartment languished in darkness despite the bright afternoon sun outside. The thick shades covering the windows in an attempt to keep the apartment cool saw to that. The apartment was perfectly silent and still nothing and no one moved. The apartment had been like this for hours. Yang Xiao Long was the only tenant on the third floor of the apartment building owned by Ms. Goodwitch, and because of her training and fighting schedule she was away for hours at a time, sometimes leaving in the morning and not returning until late at night. On this day in the midst of the sweltering heat Yang returned home early with some time to kill before she went to the practice scheduled by her manager. Kicking open her door the blonde haired woman hurried to the AC unit she had to make the apartment bearable in the heat of the summer.
Once this was accomplished she sighed in joy as she felt the immediate effects of the AC as the temperature dropped several degrees. Even though she was only wearing a sports bra and loose cargo shorts she still had several beads of sweat running down her face. Yang turned from her AC to look at the small living room of her apartment, the room was actually tidy for once with her gym clothes actually piled into her laundry basket instead of scattered everywhere.
Taking long strides Yang entered her modest kitchen and opened the fridge, eyeing the meager contents inside before quickly grabbing a cold bottle of water. Twisting the cap off and taking a swig of the refreshing liquid Yang walked to her room with the intention of changing before her training Yang looked slightly puzzled as she looked at her closed door. "I don't remember closing my door this morning," the blonde thought, trying to recall her morning before she had left. deciding it was nothing Yang shrugged it off. "Must have just forgot," she decided as she opened the door and searched for the light switch to illuminate the pitch black room.
"What the fuck!" Yang shouted once she found the switch and turned the light on, falling to the ground in the process. Her room was a small bedroom with a closet, dresser, overhead light, and an attached bathroom. The cause of Yang's alarm was a figure standing by Yang's bed, a person dressed in a stylish black suit and pants. Judging by the fit and fine silk the suit was clearly hand tailored for this person. The only splash of color on the suit was a deep crimson silk tie. Yang could not tell the gender or age of the unknown figure because they were wearing a black mask made of silk that covered their entire head. The only visible thing on their face were their bright golden eyes. Yang never knew that eyes could be such a brilliant shade of gold, but she decided that they looked amazing.
"What are you doing in my apartment?" Yang questioned from her position on the floor. The person in her room did not respond, the only sign that the person was alive was a narrowing of those golden eyes as they scanned Yang from head to toe, lingering on the sitting blonde's face for an extra second. The intruder then took a single step towards Yang and in that moment Yang noticed something. The mysterious stranger in her home had pulled out a long, curved knife from a sheath hidden behind the suit jacket. The blade gleamed cruelly in the light, looking like it hungered for blood.
"Holy fuck, that is a big knife!" Yang yelled as she backpedalled away from the mysterious knife wielder. The black clad assailant walked briskly to Yang, the knife in their hand positioned so that the razor-sharp blade was facing her. "That knife means business," Yang thought with worry as her back hit the wall.
"What the fuck do you want!" Yang shouted, hoping to reason with the silent intruder. She didn't get a response. The mask wearing attacker swung the long knife directly at Yang's throat.
Yang dove to the side, out of the way of the blade, banging her shoulder against the television stand. Without thinking twice, Yang stood up and got into a fighting stance. Standing up, she could tell that the attacker was about the same height as her, but with a slimmer build, more lean wiry muscle than the sheer bulk that Yang had. The room that Yang was standing in wasn't ideal for fighting, considering the small cramped nature of her apartment, but she didn't have a choice.
"I don't know why you're here, but you're going to have to do better than that!" Yang taunted, hoping to anger the assailant. "If I can make them angry they'll get sloppy, and I'll have a better chance of surviving this."
The attacker looked slightly surprised, if the widening of their eyes was any indication, before they regained their composure and turned to face Yang, readying the knife for another attack. Unphased by Yang's insult, the attacker took a calculated swing of the knife. Yang backed up to avoid said swing. She ducked under the next swing and popped up inside the person's reach, making the long blade ineffective. Throwing a jab aimed at their throat, the stranger used their off hand to block the strike with her forearm, before hitting Yang in the side of the head with the hilt of the knife.
Yang stumbled back as her vision swam from the hit she just took. Falling to the floor, she looked up at the looming attacker. As the blade was raised, Yang made a snap decision and swung her left leg, sweeping out her opponent's legs and sending them tumbling to the ground next to her. Seizing her moment, Yang scrambled on top of her dazed enemy, straddling her waist and pinning her hands by her head. Yang looked down into her pinned enemy's eyes. They stared blankly back at her lilac ones, merely assessing the situation.
"So care to tell me your name? It's not like you're doing anything else," Yang asked smugly. Instead of replying, the person bucked their surprisingly strong hips. The movement didn't knock Yang off from her straddled position, years of MMA ground work had made her good at pins, but it unbalanced her long enough for the masked individual to free their off hand and use it to punch Yang in the ribs, knocking her off. They both quickly got to their feet, squaring off against each other. The fight had barely gone on for five minutes, but it had already cleared an area in Yang's apartment from the fighting, knocking the few pieces of furniture away from the center of the apartment.
"You know this would be a lot more fun if you talked," Yang commented as she cracked her neck from side to side, getting ready for more.
The ever silent enemy just dashed forward with a wide swing at Yang's face, coming in from the right. Yang stepped forward and using her long reach to block the knife by putting her forearm in the path of her assailant's wrist, stopping the swing in the middle of its arc. Yang took the opportunity and brought her knee up into her opponent's stomach, doubling them over as the air left their lungs. Yang was going to bring her elbow down onto their back when they shot up faster than she would have thought possible and headbutted Yang, sending her falling back. As she fell, Yang searched for something with her hand to stop her descent and felt her fingers brush against soft silk. Without thinking, she gripped as hard as she could. Her fall stopped for a moment before resuming.
When she hit the floor Yang glanced at her hand and saw she was holding the black mask the intruder had been wearing. Looking up, Yang felt her breath taken away. Her opponent was shaking her head, and that was what surprised Yang so much. Her opponent was a women with flawless white skin. Her face was framed by long silky black hair, the same color as ebony, free to fall around her face now that it was free from the confines of the mask. Atop her head were a pair of black cat ears, the fur a slightly lighter shade of black than the surrounding hair.
"You are gorgeous!" Yang exclaimed without thinking, merely saying the first thing that had come to her tongue. The woman she was fighting clearly was not expecting this reaction as her golden eyes widened in surprise. Her mouth hung, open unsure of how to respond. Yang took the moment of respite to get to her feet and brush herself off, the mask left on the floor forgotten.
"Hold up a minute, I just need to tell you that you are seriously beautiful," Yang said with a wide smile, throwing off the woman off even more. "Can we just put this entire fight behind us. I'll totally forgive you as long as I can take you out on a date!" Yang kept talking, ever the smooth talker. "My name Yang Xiao Long. You are?" Yang asked as she held her hand out, her posture relaxed slightly at the disarming beauty of the woman in her apartment.
The woman looked from Yang's sincere amethyst purple eyes down to her out stretched arm and hand before smiling.
"My name is Blake," she answered, her voice a low seductive rumble that Yang immediately loved the sound of. Blake reached out her hand that didn't hold the long knife, but just before her hand made contact with Yang's she quickly flashed the knife forward in a surprise attack. Yang noticed the movement of the knife hand a fraction of a second before it was speeding at her, and lunged to the right just in time to avoid having her throat cut, but the blade still left a long mark across her left shoulder. Searing pain filled Yang's mind as the wound turned red from blood welling to the surface. The adrenaline coursing through her body stopped it from bleeding badly as it diverted her blood to her muscles. Adrenaline spiking even more, Yang pivoted on the ball of her foot and swung a kick at Blake's ribs.
Blake didn't have time to block the kick and took the brunt of it, getting knocked back from the force. Yang pressed her advantage and kept pushing, swinging another kick at Blake while she was on the floor. Blake rolled out of the way and got up. She looked from around the room. This had not gone the way she wanted. "I need to get out, plan out a new attack." Her eyes settled on the window behind her target. Yang was about to go for a jab aimed at again at Blake's throat when suddenly she saw Blake pull her arm back to throw the knife, ducking as the blade went airborne. It sliced above her head, just barely missing it, and thankfully it also missed her mane of hair that she had spent years growing out and maintaining. The knife embedded in the wall next to the window. Before Yang could react, Blake ran by and grabbed her mask from the floor where it had laid forgotten, pulled the knife out of the wall, and jumped out the window
"Are you fucking crazy jumping from this high!?" Yang called out, as she ran to the window. Looking out, she saw Blake land perfectly on her feet as she rolled to absorb the impact before looking over her shoulder back at an astonished Yang.
"Until next time Yang" she called out as she started silently running away from the apartment building.
"Wait, I need to ask you something!" Yang shouted stopping Blake in her tracks as she looked back curiously, wondering what the woman high above could want to know. "You never gave me your answer about that date!" Yang yelled out, making Blake open her mouth in bewilderment before she shook her head and kept running.
Yang turned back at her apartment as she came down from her adrenaline rush. Her apartment was trashed from the fight. Yang walked over to the love seat and slumped in it, the slash on her shoulder beginning to bleed freely as Yang picked up her cell phone. Going to her contacts she selected the first name she recognized while in her dazed state. As she listened to the ring she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened, grabbing the first shirt she could reach Yang applied pressure to the cut on her shoulder.
"Hey Yang, what's up?" Ruby's chipper voice broke Yang from her thoughts as the younger girl answered the phone.
"Hey Ruby, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, anything for my big sis!" Ruby chirped happily.
"Can you tell Uncle Qrow to meet me at the Emergency Room?" Yang asked.
"What?! Why? I just saw you less than an hour ago! What happened? Did you get in an accident?" Ruby asked, her voice suddenly filled with worry and concern as she started rambling on, not giving her older sister an opening to answer.
"Ruby, Ruby, calm down. I didn't get in an accident. I just got attacked by an incredibly hot girl with a long ass knife who was waiting in my apartment. She hit me good and got my shoulder with the knife," Yang said going over the injuries. Checking the cut Yang could see that the bleeding had begun to slow "This shirt is ruined though" she thought looking at the blood covered shirt.
"Oh my god!" Ruby yelled.
"It's alright, little sis. Can you also call your girlfriend and let her know I may be a little late to practice?" Yang unable to not tease her sister despite the situation.
"Of course I can," Ruby responded, ignoring the joke in light of the seriousness of this event, "and Yang, have you called 911 yet?"
"No… I actually haven't. More concerned with getting to the ER to make sure I can still compete. Plus I don't want this getting out to the media, especially since I'm in the middle of a competition. Weiss would kill me if the media found out, once she was sure I was alright." Yang replied slowly, realizing she should probably do that. "I'll deal with that once I know I can compete" Yang finished
"Yang you should really call them first" Ruby pleaded
"Don't worry sis, I just need to make sure I'm alright to fight, then I'll call the police, I'll talk to you when I see you at the hospital" Yang responded before hanging up the phone, heaving herself out of her chair, grabbing her keys, and leaving her apartment. As she walked down the stairs, the bleeding from her arm hadn't completely stopped but it was nowhere as bad as it had been. Yang tied the shirt around the wound as a makeshift bandage. "She may have been trying to kill me, but that Blake girl was really hot," Yang thought as she walked out of her apartment and over to her motorcycle, popping on her helmet and straddling the seat. "I kinda want to see her again—without the fighting, of course," Yang quickly amended the sentiment in her head as she revved up the bike and pulled out, heading towards Vale General Hospital.
Blake sat in the driver's seat of her sports car, a sleek model painted all black with tinted windows. The air conditioning blasted coldly, cooling down the frustrated Faunus as she sat slumped in her seat.
"Stupid!" she shouted, pounding her fist against the steering wheel, "Stupid Belladonna! How could you mess up a simple assassination!" she yelled, reprimanding herself. She replayed the entire thing over in her head. She had staked out her target's house and when she was sure she was gone had snuck in, waited for her to return, and taken her by surprise. She had been thrown off by how beautiful her target was, hard muscle had flowed smoothly into soft and feminine curves that were on display because of the blonde's revealing clothing. Blake had tried to end it quick, but the woman had fought back, surprising Blake who was a trained assassin with her hand to hand combat skills.
"What kind of person asks an assassin out on a date! AS THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL THEM!" Blake yelled in frustration and confusion, as she thought about when Yang had removed her mask. Frustrated at how much it had thrown her off and confused at how the idea of going on a date with the blonde hadn't seemed like a bad idea.
"What are you doing, Blake?" she questioned as she became painfully aware of the intricate tattoo on her back. A stylized Belladonna flower, more commonly known as Nightshade, an incredibly poisonous plant that could easily kill a full grown person. Each petal on the flower and every berry on the branches of the tattoo marked a successful kill. Since her first kill that had been tattooed as the stem and bud of the flower Blake had never missed a kill. Every contract that she was given in her mind marking a new addition to her tattoo. This had been the first missed kill she had.
Yang had been incredibly strong and exceptionally well trained in hand to hand combat, easily standing her own against Blake. "I need to plan out a new plan of attack. Now that I know how well she can fight I can plan for that," Blake decided as she turned the keys that had sat in the ignition untouched since she had turned the battery on. The rumble of the engine served to ease Blake's nerves, and she slowly pulled out of the back alley that she had left her car, smoothly pulling onto the main road and driving towards the hotel she was staying at for the duration of the contract. She had only booked the hotel for one night, not anticipating the difficulty she would have with this job, but she wasn't worried. A flash of money and a veiled threat would get her as many nights as she would need at the five star hotel. The influence of the White Fang was felt far and wide.
"Next time, you won't be so lucky, Yang Xiao Long," Blake thought as her car glided down the street not so much of a speck of rust on the car. Blake kept everything she owned maintained in perfect condition from her car to her kukri knife. The car was nearly silent except for the low rumble of the specially made engine, "And in recognition of your achievement of surviving an encounter with me, once you die you will be the most ornate addition to my tattoo. A new flower right alongside the one that marks my first kill." Blake decided as she kept driving. This blonde would be a target to remember.