"If your father was such the strongman, he wouldn't have gotten killed like a dog!"
Regret. Pantera knew all about regret. She was young but her life was full of them. She made plenty of bad decisions and twice she paid with the loss of a mentor and a friend, their pictures hung on her walls and in her butsudan. Other reminders of regret existed as scars, most of which were physical. But her regrets weren't always because they hurt her. Usually someone else suffered much more for her faults. Pantera made so many mistakes she stopped measuring how big of mistakes they were. In time she referred to her errors as 'blunders' she'd forget about, and mistakes she'd feel a lifetime of regret for. Those mistakes, the ones she felt regret, emotion turmoil for, with physical manifestation of them etched across her back, where the ones that kept her up at night.
But this mistake was hard to categorize. She knew it wasn't a blunder, it was regret. And like all her other regrets, she'd give every lien in the world to buy back the seconds before it happened, to change what she said. But, it was because of what she said that something special happened, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that; other than pain from the scratches on her neck and face.
Truthfully Pantera wanted to rewind to when she made Blake that promise. If she finished school without any incident, she'd give her an exam. If Blake passed the exam, she'd seriously consider allowing her to attend Signal Academy, which in all likelihood Pantera would have allowed. Pantera didn't think Blake could pass her test, let alone get through school but Blake had high hopes. It took every bit of will power on the Faunus child's part to resist the urges to fight or run away, but after the initial week of hell she'd p up with since returning to school, she became another nameless Faunus that was occasionally bullied and stuck it through. The first week of summer vacation soon came, and true to her word Pantera was giving Blake her test.
Blake figured her exam would be some written paper exam testing her on all the things she learned in school and whatever Pantera taught her, just to make sure was paying attention in school. If it was a competence examination then it would be easy. But instead, it was combat assessment. They were going to have a mock duel. Well, not her and her guardian; Pantera enlisted the help of an older boy Blake never seen before. Blake was told the boy was visiting for a while and would be staying with them for a few weeks. He was an awkward child to Blake, brown short hair with red eyes and bull horns, he didn't talk much. He just carried around red blade. Blake was quite jealous he had a sword; a ninjatō no less.
Pantera told her she would thoroughly examine Blake's resolve. There was no criteria such as 'land a hit on him', 'survive for this long', 'or learn these set of complex movements'. At least none Pantera told Blake about. Instead Pantera told Blake that she was going to have a spar with this boy and probably get beat up, and that she had to fight back. Pantera was not going to let the boy hurt her any more than she knew what Blake could take, but she was going to lose this mock duel, she could not get mad, and if she had the resolve she could not give up. Otherwise, her hopes of going to a combat school were out of reach.
The duel was, less than promising. Blake was handed a handicap…or two. The boy fought with his bare hands and only defensively while Blake was given a bokken and allowed to be as offensive as she wanted. But that didn't seem to matter much for Blake. Her opponent, whoever he was, was much stronger than her. She didn't have any technique or strategy other than trying to get in close and land some blows. Short quick hits were the idea, to wear him down. But she was really bad at it and was finding she wore herself out more.
It was amusing to watch nonetheless. Blake would go in with a straight punch the boy dodged before pushing Blake to the ground. Body kicks were no good either, the older kid would block then grab her leg or sweep her feet, forcing her down her butt. At one point the boy flipped Blake on her back and Pantera became worried her sparring partner had overdid it. Blake just scrambled to her feet and shook her head. And then there was the wooden sword Pantera gave her; completely useless. The boy unarmed her plenty of times and in a desperate attempt to breach his defense Blake threw it but missed. Reminded Pantera of her own test when she was Blake's age learning combat; she was making all the mistakes she made, even throwing the bokken. Except her opponent was a grown man, her old and lazy mentor.
Pantera hopped that Blake would show willingness to continue to duel despite the very terrible score she was putting up; alas Blake was caving quickly. No matter how much she pushed the boy held firm and Blake's self-confidence was eroding. The end came when Pantera gave her sparring partner the go ahead to get a little offensive, to get her angry enough to fight back. So the boy went on the attack, slapping the girl in the head or on her back without being provoked, sweeping her feet whenever her feet like, even going so far as to laugh at her misery a little.
Easily broken, Blake gave one last charge. Throwing down her useless wooden sword she ran at full stream with the intentions of head butting him down. The boy just tripped her, and after she gained her balance the kid punched her in the arms. She dropped right in the middle of the room, digging her knees into her chest and holding her hands above her head, content to let the boy get whatever blows he wanted. Blake was now refusing to fight. Pantera stopped the spar and excused the boy from the room.
Blake guessed her test went bad, but was hoping her last act of cowardice didn't mean she failed. But it did; Pantera looked her in the eyes and shook her head. That's when the pleading protest began. Yeah she failed but what could you expect, she was 8. If she went to combat school, she'd do much better the next spar with that older boy. Pantera disagreed; this was the way she was tested and this was how she tested Blake.
She admitted perhaps Blake was too young for her to decide then, and upon further reflection, admitted that testing her same as her mentor was cruel; the assessment seemed hardly fair then. But it didn't matter how badly Blake performed, as long a she learned from her mistakes in battle and continued to push. She failed at both, giving up far too easy and hardly trying new way of confronting her enemy; except from throwing her weapon and the head-butt. Even if Blake was to go, Pantera would have to prepare her for the journey. Combat school was not a walk in the park, even the lower tier schools, and Pantera wasn't sure Blake had the "talent" for it.
Pleading soon gave way to arguments and Pantera had considered this being one of her lowest moments, actually entertaining a heated argument with an 8 year old and Blake wouldn't spare any feelings. She fused and whined about everything, the fight, school, Pantera, even the food she ate. She bellowed over and over again about how she wanted one thing and Pantera was taking it from her. If her parents were still alive, they let her do it. They'd send her to whatever combat academy she wanted to go to, Signal, Sanctum, wherever. As long as it meant she was happy.
Truthfully Blake didn't mean most of what he said about Pantera, but she wasn't above using guilt on her, until Pantera uttered those ugly words. She shouldn't have compared Blake's father to a mutt. When she said it, she was so very angry with Blake, that she was ready to serve her a painful punishment. What she didn't expect, was for Black to snap.
Pantera turned her back to the girl, but before she could register a dark blob moving in front her, something had smacked her hard in the face. Standing before her was Blake, eyes stark and wide, fire dancing in her pupils, holding the wooden sword in her hands. Pantera lunged forward to grab Blake but all she caught was another slap in the face and Blake's...shadow?
Blake wasn't in front of her anymore and when she turned around to what sounded like a roaring lion cub, Pantera instinctively lifted her arms to defend her face from the third strike in a rising block. The strike, it was strong; much stronger than Blake's previous attempts at hitting the boy. And again she saw it, the distance between the two of them widen as Pantera's eyes caught an after image of the young Faunus slowing disappearing. No sooner had Blake widen the gap; however, had she closed it to strike her side.
She was fast, faster than what Pantera registered before too, but Pantera could see the movement clearly this time and jumped to her right to avoid getting hit again. As soon as she landed on her feet Blake was on her again, roaring and jumping from her feet aiming for her head.
Quickly Pantera dropped into a deep shoulder width side stance, feet firmly planted parallel on the floor and knees pointed out. Her right hand took the force of Blake's swing and grabbed the wooden sword to pull from her grip. Her left hand pushed out like a jab, palm open into Blake's stomach to knock her down. She watched the child tumble to the ground then quickly spring up as if she hadn't felt a thing, shifting to Pantera's right in the form of another after image, then forward to attack, launching as if she was jumping from a spring. Tossing the bokken aside and shifting her stance with her left foot forward Pantera pushed her left hand out again, hitting her in the chest.
Blake stumbled back but quickly got her bearings and charged forward, murderous intent still burning in her face. Pantera saw Blake in front of her, and then, another after image as the child threw forward a punch for her right side. Shifting in stance once again her palm connected a hard force into Blake's abdomen to knock the wind out of her.
Struggling to breathe and move Blake was quickly scoped into Pantera's arms in an obvious attempt to subdue her. Refusing to submit Blake gathered her strength to head-butt Pantera, causing her to fall to the ground, taking the child with her still clutched in her embrace. Punching, scratching, kicking and biting whatever skin she could find Blake screamed her frustrated feeling, "I hate you!" and "Let me go!" ringing throughout the apartment, before the child eventually settled into crying into Pantera's chest.
Nursing the black eye Blake inflicted with her head-butt with a bag of frozen corn, Pantera sat in a chair near her kitchen table inspecting her face and neck for her injuries with a small mirror, Blake having been patched up and sleeping in bed. She was pretty sure her nose was broken, Blake having whacked her twice in the same spot with the bokken. No broken teeth, Blake still too week to do anything with her fist, but a small scar ran down her left cheek. Kitty sure had claws. And then there was her neck. Pantera winced at the bite mark; she would be playing that off as a hickey for a long time, ever though her associates knew she was hardly dating these days.
A very interesting turn of events this was, a few words Pantera in her better judgment would have never said had released Blake's aura and semblance. Shadow clones; few people had this ability, including her. But there it was; 4 times she had seen it, Blake using her speed and her furious drive to create temporary clone to throw her off and attack, her broken nose and love bite as evidences.
Pantera chuckled at her own little joke, but inside was conflicted. Excited Blake had these gifts, she desperately wanted to nurture them the way her own mentor had done for her. Yet, it was but a week ago Pantera was dead set on Blake pursuing a different life path and now she was doing a complete 180. If she had never discovered her semblance she could have pushed the child in a different course. Still, her semblance and aura meant she could turn Blake into a warrior, just as the child requested. She could go on to combat school and maybe more doors would open for the child. But making her an assassin would surely increase Blake's violent tendencies.
Pantera grimaced at the slight pain in her wrist, the punishment of a decision to disarm girl in a fancy fashion. She'd do that never again. Pantera sighed and tossed the mirror aside, leaning back in her chair and the bag of corn fell to the floor. Decisions are hard to make when you have no idea what you are doing.
Blake hadn't spoken to Pantera for a week, choosing to remain inside her room, eat the very minimal, and interact with her book. In the week Blake pretended her home was 4 walls and a bookcase or novels and mangas her anger ultimately subsided, first by allowing the young boy, who was her sparring partner, Adam as he was called, to hang around in her room then with small obligatory greetings to Pantera when she left her nest for food.
By the beginning of the following week, Blake had returned to normal, the mellow child who would on occasions get excited about a new book she could read and cartoons. She hadn't forgot what Pantera said, but knew her caregiver didn't mean it, just as much as Blake never meant what she said to the panther. Still, the tension was there and Blake was having a hard time dealing with the uncomfortable silence and loneliness she felt.
Blake had given up on the idea of combat school, finally understanding that it wasn't just something to do; it was like a career choice. And it wasn't just any career choice; it was self-sacrifice for the greater good. Besides, Blake needed not worry about it now, she still had 2 more years before she would come of age, and 3 more after that before it was a lost cause. So for the following week, Blake was content to watch young Adam train with Pantera while being unable to join herself. Until in the middle of training session late in the week Pantera instructed Blake to clean the 'dojo' while Adam took a break.
Blake wasn't keen on cleaning the place and even complained about it. Adam laughed with an all knowing crackle as he handed Blake a clean dusting rag and bucket of water.
"This isn't cleaning, this is hard training, starting today", Adam replied with a wink, hand gesturing to the Faunus behind him burying her face in her hand.
Before Pantera could take it back Blake had clung to her neck in an excited thank you hug. Ruffling her hair and scratching base of her ear Pantera could only think that maybe the love bite was worth it.