Ch. 11 First Practice
A blur of yellow and black rushed through the hallways of Beacon Academy.
'Crap, I'm gonna be late.' thought the lilac eyed huntress as she sped to her destination.
After a few more minutes of running, Yang eventually made it to the school's gym. She decided to take a moment to peek in from the windows before heading inside. When the blonde girl did, she instantly noticed her partner already there sitting in some type of meditative stance with a water bottle close to him. The young man wasn't wearing his usual green huntsman attire. Instead, he had on a light gray Beacon academy hoodie that was currently zipped up along with black track pants that had two pink stripes going down each side of it. His shoes were some type of martial art slippers and his palms had white hand wraps on them. Without wasting another moment, Yang opened up a set of double doors and proceeded to make her way toward the statuesque huntsman.
"Hey there, Ren. Sorry about being late." declared the blonde brawler with a smile as she reached her partner. After greeting him, Yang pulled out a water bottle of her own and set it down next to his.
Ren calmly opened up his eyes and looked up to the girl standing in front of him. The first thing he noticed was that Yang's hair was tied up in a ponytail, quite different from the free flowing golden locks he was used to seeing. She was dressed in a faded black pullover hoodie along with a pair of black and yellow yoga shorts that were the same length as her usual shorts in her huntress attire. She also had on knee-high orange socks with white running shoes and her normal fingerless gloves. He responded with a grin before getting up to his feet.
"It's okay. You're only…" began the dark haired huntsman as he looked to the giant digital clock on one of the walls. "Five minutes late. You actually got here earlier than I thought you would."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" retorted Yang.
"Well… it's just that—"
"It's just what exactly?"
"It's just that I've noticed how tardy you've been with some of your classes as of late, especially in the past month or so."
"Uh huh, and how would you know that, Ren?" questioned his new partner suspiciously.
"Because I am in a third of your classes, and because I like being attentive with how my friends perform in school, in case I could lend them some assistance in any way. Also, Blake informed me that you would more than likely be late." answered Ren with a mild smirk on the last part.
The blonde brawler let out a sigh in acceptance. "Fine, you got me there. And yeah, Blake knows all about that. She's had to drag my butt to class a few times more than usual to keep me from missing it."
"May I ask if there is any particular reason why you've been falling behind as you have?"
"Well, I wouldn't say I was falling behind…" replied Yang as she turned her gaze away from Ren's inquiring eyes.
"Right… so what would you call it then?"
"I guess I've just been kinda lazy is all. It's no big deal."
"Do you have any idea why you feel that way?"
"I don't know, guess I'm just bored and want to be done with school already. You know, the usual summer break fever that everyone gets. Why'd you wanna know?"
"Because it causes me concern when my friends are having trouble, and I want to be able to help them if I can."
"Aww, are you worried about me?" teased the blonde brawler as she leaned in closer.
A slight blush began to appear on Ren's face before he quickly hid it away. "Of course I am. You are one of my friends after all. So is there anything I can do to help you?"
"That's nice of you, Ren. But I'll be fine, really. So don't worry about me. 'Kay?" replied Yang with a big bright smile.
Ren gave a contemplative look at first but he eventually smiled back at her. "If you say so, I'll trust you. But I do have a question."
"Oh yeah, what's that?"
"How often should I plan for you being late on me?"
"Just this one time, I promise." answered back Yang as she playfully punched Ren's arm.
"Understood. Well are you ready for us to get started on practice now?"
"Ready whenever you are."
"Glad to hear it. As with any workout, we should always start off with stretches before we do any exercising." stated Ren as he looked away to reach into his pocket for his scroll.
"Way ahead of you." responded the lilac eyed girl as she was in the process of pulling off her hooded sweatshirt.
"So I was thinking we should…" When he returned his attention back to his partner, the magenta eyed huntsman completely forgot what he was about to say as his mind went blank. Ren's loss of concentration happened as soon as his eyes noticed the upper half of Yang's body. She was wearing a black and yellow sports bra that matched with her shorts. The reason it had caused Ren to stop talking was because the way it made her look. The piece of clothing caused the blonde girl's already well-endowed form to be even more captivating. It helped in showing off the proportions and cleavage of Yang's chest. Subconsciously, Ren was staring at it along with the rest of her body. He examined the girl's voluptuous hips through her skintight shorts, enthralled by the way Yang's curves complimented her figure. Ren's eyes then slowly followed from her legs up to her waist. As he looked over Yang's perfectly toned stomach, he couldn't help but think about how taut yet also smooth to the touch it must be. Soon, his mind and eyes were back at the blonde huntress's breasts. Ren thought about how soft and supple they must feel eventually leading him to try to imagine what they looked like by themselves without her bra on. Unknowingly to him, Ren's evocative thoughts about Yang had already begun to affect the lower male part of him.
"You think we should what? Ren? Ren? You still with me, Ren?"
The young huntsman snapped back to reality as he heard Yang calling his name. Entirely forgetting to grab his scroll, Ren took a moment to shake his head to just refocus on what he was saying before his mind wandered off.
"You okay there?"
Ren brought his attention back to Yang, this time making eye contact with her. As he looked at his partner, he noticed that she was apparently still in the process of stretching. It was then the huntsman realized what he had just been doing. He now noticed the tightness in his pants, felt his entire body heat up, and was sure that his face was red with embarrassment. "Yeah, yeah, never better. I'm fine. Completely fine." replied Ren trying to remain calm and sound like his usual self as he turned his body away.
"You sure?" wondered Yang as she finished up a stretch then focused on her partner. "Because one second you were in the middle of talking to me then you just stopped. I thought you were just thinking or something so I kept on stretching. But then you didn't say anything for like a minute so that was starting to weird me out. If you're not feeling okay, we could always do this some other time. You actually look like you're running a fever or something."
After hearing Yang's response, Ren felt the sensation of relief wash over him. This feeling almost instantly caused some of the redness to fade from his complexion. He let out a thankful sigh and tried to fill his mind with boring thoughts to calm the lower half of his body even further. Eventually, Ren's mind went back to what just happened a moment ago. 'Thank goodness Yang didn't catch me staring at her like that. Wait… why was I staring at her like that? I shouldn't have even been doing anything like that in the first place. I don't ever do anything like that. Perhaps, there is something wrong with me.'
Before Ren could continue his train of thought, he felt a pair of hands gently being placed on his shoulders. "Hey Ren, you're spacing out on me again." spoke Yang with a concerned tone in her voice.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just got lost in my thoughts again."
"Yeah, I noticed. Just stay still for a sec."
"Wait, what are you—"
"Sshhh." responded the blonde brawler as she moved her hands from Ren's shoulders to the sides of his head. She began looking intently at his face.
The dark haired young man could feel his face heat up again along with his heartbeat speeding up this time. 'What is she doing?'
The answer to Ren's question was soon made clear as Yang closed her eyes and pressed her forehead up against his. He didn't know how to react and felt his entire body tense up and freeze. The physical contact between them lasted for only a brief moment before the huntress pulled herself away and removed her hands from him. As soon as she was done, Ren could feel his body slowly starting to relax.
"You're a little warm, but I don't think you have a fever. Maybe we should just have you drink plenty of water tonight and do this tomorrow instead." suggested the blonde huntress as she picked up her container of water and offered it to him.
The young huntsman now understood that Yang had just been checking his temperature. Ren couldn't help himself from smiling after seeing the care his partner gave towards him. Taking a slow deep breath, he calmed his mind and pulled his composure back together.
"Thank you for your concern, Yang, and for examining me. But I assure you I'll be fine. It's just… warm in here. I believe I'm just overheating a little because I'm wearing this." stated Ren sounding like his normal self as he motioned to his hoodie. "And because I was already in here for twenty minutes before you arrived. It's my own fault for not anticipating how hot I would get. I'm certain I'll be alright after I get hydrated and turn on the air conditioning."
"Oh, why didn't you just say so? You know, instead of spacing out and making it awkwardly quiet in here." teased Yang as she threw her bottle at him.
With fast reflexes, Ren easily caught the liquid container. "Hmm, perhaps it could have something to do with me getting used to the silence in here because 'someone' showed up late." smirked Ren as he was glad he got Yang to believe him.
"You jerk!" declared the blonde girl in mock anger as she slugged Ren in the arm.
He continued smirking at her. "Slacker."
Yang was totally surprised at the way Ren was joking back with her. Of all people, she didn't think Ren had it in him to sound the least bit sarcastic, but Yang now realized she was mistaken. That for some reason made her grin. "Just go turn on the AC and drink some water before you pass out on me." replied the blonde brawler as she playfully pushed her partner away.
Ren smiled once more at Yang before taking a quick drink from her water bottle. After he was done, the huntsman tossed it back to her then headed over to the nearby panel that controlled the temperature for their section of the building. He pressed some buttons on the digital display and soon cool air began to vent through the gym.
"Ah, much better." exclaimed the huntress as she felt her body enjoying the cooling breeze from the air conditioning.
Once the magenta eyed young man finished turning on the AC, he soon made his way back to his partner.
"Took you long enough." joked Yang when Ren got back to her. She gave a teasing wink to him before taking a drink of water then threw the bottle over to where her sweatshirt was after she was done.
Ren merely shook his head in response to his friend before doing the same as her and also drinking some water, this time from his own bottle. After taking another drink, he set his bottle down, removed his hoodie, and then tossed both of them off to the side near where Yang's belongings were. Next, the dark haired young man began doing some stretches. The huntress had been taking note of her partner the moment he took off his piece of clothing.
'Oh… wow.' thought Yang to herself as she watched Ren.
He was wearing a dark forest green sleeveless compression shirt, but that wasn't what interested the blonde girl. Rather, it was the way he looked in it. With how close-fitting the shirt was on Ren, she could see all the well-defined muscles of his body. The huntress decided to take this time to look closely at her partner, soon realizing just how in shape Ren kept himself in. Her curious gaze began at his bare upper arms. They were larger than she expected them to be, but then again aside from seeing him in his sleepwear the other night, Yang had really only seen Ren in either his huntsman attire or his school uniform. She also didn't notice how incredibly toned his arms were until now. As Yang continued to observe Ren, her eyes focused next on his chest. She took a moment to admire how firm his pecs appeared through his tight clothing before slowly moving onto his abs. The blonde brawler could make out the finely sculpted muscles of his stomach and simply marveled the way they moved as he did his stretches.
'Have I never checked Ren out before? Has he always looked that good? I wonder what he looks like without that shirt on, and maybe without anything else on either… bad Yang, he's your friend and your partner… but I can't help it that he looks really hot right now.'
Surely enough, Yang's mind was now beginning to wonder what his body felt like. This eventually led to the blonde girl imagining herself using her hands to feel up on a shirtless Ren. Starting at his arms, the huntress began tracing her hands across him. She slowly moved from his biceps to his shoulders. From there, she worked her way down pausing at his chest for a moment to feel the warmth of his body. Yang continued on carefully working her fingers over the curves of his lower torso, enjoying the smooth firmness of his stomach muscles against her skin. She didn't want to stop there though and let her hands wander down even further. Without realizing it, Yang had sensually bit her lower lip as she carried on with her vivid imagination.
"Yang."
"That's right, baby. Say my name."
"Wait what?"
"Huh?" questioned the blonde brawler as she felt her eyes snap open. In her vision, Yang saw a confused Ren staring back at her. 'Oh, must've said that out loud… crap.'
"Yang, I'm not sure what's going on." spoke a still baffled Ren. "But are you alright?"
"Oh yeah, I'm great. I was just… daydreaming. That's all it was. I guess more like nightdreaming now, am I right?" responded the blushing huntress trying to lighten the mood as she rubbed the back of her head. 'Just a sexy nightdream… about the guy right in front of me.'
"Okay… I think it would probably be best for me to not even ask."
"I wouldn't tell you about it if you did. Well maybe, but I think we would both have to be drunk for that. And you would also have to forget it after I told you."
"I understand, I think." answered back Ren honestly. At this point, the dark haired huntsman thought it best to just stay focused and actually try starting their fighting practice for the night. 'This has definitely been the most distracting and confusing training session I've ever been a part of, and we haven't even started yet.'
"Anyways, you were trying to tell me something?" asked Yang in her usual tone with her complexion back to normal.
"Yes. As I was going to say earlier, before both of us were about to stretch and then got entirely sidetracked—"
"Same goes for me."
"Indeed." said Ren with a small grin. "I was thinking we should have regularly scheduled practices every night this coming week at this same time. The practices would need to be only an hour or two depending on what we worked on and I believe that would provide more than enough training for us to be adequately prepared for the exam on Friday."
"Wow, Ren. Sounds like you put a lot of thought into this." spoke Yang impressed.
"I guess you could say that. All I did really was read through all the information that Professor Goodwitch sent us then prepared a simplified set of guidelines for us to follow from it. I also considered some basic points of combat we should probably work on, but I won't be able to plan out anything further until after we've finished sparring a few times or so."
"When did you find the time to do all that?" questioned his blonde partner in disbelief.
"After we had finished our picnic from earlier, I began studying and preparing for the exam as soon as I got back to the dorms. It was nothing too in-depth, it was mostly just to get a general idea on what we needed to do to be ready."
"That sounds like it took a lot of work. Probably way too much for me."
"It wasn't as bad as you think."
"Sure, for you maybe. I didn't even want to try reading any of the stuff Goodwitch gave us. My plan was to just wing it, that's usually my plan for most things."
"I'm sure you could do just as well if you tried. After all, Yang, you are an exceptionally skilled and talented huntress." stated the huntsman with a supportive smile.
"Aww thanks, Ren. You're not too bad yourself." complimented back Yang with a blush. "But how about we just let you do all the planning for our workouts and I'll stick to doing the working out part."
"Fair enough." agreed Ren after realizing he wasn't going to change Yang's mind.
"See, we already got our teamwork down." spoke the blonde brawler with a thumbs-up.
"I think we need to do a little more than just agreeing on something to say we're done with teamwork." casually said the huntsman in response.
"True, but the rest will be easy from here."
"Oh, and what makes you say that?"
"Because you have me as your partner." declared Yang while pointing to herself. "And when it comes to fighting and needing someone to hit things, I'm the best there is at it."
"I actually don't doubt you on that. However, we are a team, Yang, so you don't need to be doing any of that alone. You can depend on me the same way you would with Blake. I'll be there for you if you need me and I hope you're willing do the same for me."
"Of course, Ren. And I'm glad to hear you say that." spoke the blonde huntress with a gentle smile.
"I'm glad as well." replied Ren as he smiled back. "Furthermore, we should probably get started on practice now. If you're still up for it, that is."
"We are already here and I think we got whatever was going on with us out of our systems now, so I say we might as well do it."
"My thoughts exactly. Just let me look at some of my notes for a moment before we continue." replied Ren as he reached into his pocket and brought out his scroll. After waking it up, the huntsman began reading some of the info aloud to his partner. "Let's see, I wanted us to start off by talking and discussing with each other any issues we might be having personally or in school. I believe we covered that right at the beginning."
"Wait a sec." interjected Yang. "You wrote down that we needed to talk things out?"
"Yes. It's important to know the mental condition of your partner and to help them in any way you can. It's to ensure they have a clear and focused mindset so they can perform to the best of their abilities. This is part of the team bonding process if I'm not mistaken."
"Ren, not to sound mean or anything, but it's really weird you did that."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's just that no one really ever plans on talking out their problems. It just happens, you know. You can't plan for everything, something unexpected can happen any second and you won't always be ready for it when it does. So you just deal with it whenever it happens and you try to make things turn out for the best. You just gotta take it nice and easy sometimes, and let yourself go with the flow."
"I never thought about it like that before." responded the dark haired young man. "That was incredibly insightful. You are wiser than you know, Yang."
"I don't know if you're right about that, but that's just how I approach and handle things in my life I guess. Like how you and I became partners for this exam. It was unexpected, but it feels like we're doing pretty good so far. And the main thing I was trying to say is that if you want to get to know me, just hang out with me. Don't plan it out like it's homework for school. We're friends, Ren, and we can go do things together anytime like we would with any of our other friends. But instead, it'll just be you and me."
'Hold on, did I just make that sound like Ren and I were going on a date? Doesn't matter right now, I was in the middle of saying things.'
"So if you want to go do stuff that isn't boring and has nothing to do with school then just tell me, and we'll go do fun stuff together. Got it?"
"Yes, Yang, I understand what you're saying." answered back Ren with a smile.
"Good. So was there anything else on your scroll that involves us hitting each other instead of talking out our feelings?"
"Actually, yes. I really only had three points for us to cover tonight. We did the first one, the second one is us sparring, and the third one is for us to review how our sparring went. Since we started later than I thought we would, we're running a little more behind than expected but that shouldn't be a problem. We have plenty of time still and I'm sure we can make up for it. I just didn't intend on keeping you out much later than what I planned for. Are you fine staying out with me?"
"It's totally fine, Ren. Also there you go again." spoke Yang as she teasingly poked her partner in the chest.
"I'm sorry."
"You couldn't have known that we'd start this late so you don't need to apologize. If it happens, it happens. This is our first time teaming up and neither one of us knew what to expect. But what I know for sure now is that we're both really bad at getting distracted when it's just us. Like so bad that we could've been surrounded by a herd of Grimm in this room and we wouldn't have noticed, or even cared."
Ren chuckled at the blonde brawler's comment. "You're right, and that's a valid point."
"Also, Ren, could you just try to sound a little less like an adult?"
"I'm not sure what you mean." he said with a sudden look of confusion.
"What I'm saying is that you act really mature for your age, probably way more mature than you should. That's not a bad thing, but you also gotta remember that you're still not an adult yet either. I mean look you're the same age as me, so you don't have to act that responsible all the time. Just try to let loose when you can and enjoy yourself for now. You can always worry about having to deal with all that other stuff when you're older."
"Hmm, I guess that's just how I've always been. I'm sorry if I come off that way, I'm not meaning to."
"It's okay, just let yourself lighten up a bit and you'll feel better. I promise." assured Yang with a smile.
"I'll try my best to do that then." said Ren with a smile back.
"Good, because when you talk like that all the time it makes you sound like a teacher."
"Do I now?"
"Yeah it does. And now that I think about it, you probably wouldn't do too bad as a teacher. I can already imagine it, you at Beacon teaching the new huntsmen and huntresses. Just don't do that around me, Professor Lie Ren." said the lilac eyed huntress playfully.
"Oh, and what makes you think you'll be able to skip out on my class, Miss Xiao Long?" responded the dark haired young man in a mock tone of authority.
"Really? You're gonna say my name like that."
"As your teacher, I cannot tolerate this type of behavior. You require discipline."
'Two can play at this game.' thought Yang.
"Do I? I mean, I guess I do." spoke the huntress slowly in a seductive tone. "After all, I've been such a bad student. How would you like to discipline me, professor?" Putting on an innocent face, the blonde girl brought her hand up and shyly bit her thumb.
'Oh no… this was a mistake.' realized Ren as he felt the entirety of his body react. The huntsman could feel the heat rushing to his head and was sure his face was red again. If he didn't know any better, Ren considered the possibility of him getting a nosebleed. He also noticed the tightness now present in his pants and his heart was racing once more. His mind had slowed down trying to come up with something to say.
"I would like…"
"Uh huh." added in Yang as she stepped in closer.
"To have you…"
"Have me what?" asked the blonde girl who was only inches away from her partner.
'I'm trapped.' thought Ren to himself nervously. 'But I can't let her know that. I don't know what to say or do… wait, what was it that Yang told me earlier? To just go with the flow. Hmm, what would she do in this situation? This gives me an idea, let's see if it works.'
Instead of backing away, the dark haired young man moved himself closer in to Yang. Ren's face was now only a breath away from his partner's. This caught the huntress off guard and caused a blush to appear on her complexion. He waited for a moment of time to pass by while keeping his gaze locked on her. The blonde girl didn't even notice her body freeze up.
He then showed off a cocky smirk to her. "Be let off with a warning for today." Ren gave a quick wink before turning away and taking a couple steps back from her.
A look of utter surprise was plastered on Yang's face after the huntsman walked away. 'Did he really just do that? Did he just outdo me? He just outdid me! That's exactly what I was gonna do to him! I'm so gonna get Ren back for that. Although, I gotta give it to the guy for how smooth he did that. I sure didn't see that coming.'
"Why thank you, professor." replied Yang sensually as she started moving herself closer to Ren. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
The blonde huntress began reaching a hand out toward him but was stopped by Ren gently brushing it away. He turned back to face her, a grin breaking through his composure.
"Please keep your hands to yourself, Miss Xiao Long." stated the huntsman still in his fake authoritative voice. "We wouldn't want the other students and faculty to the get the wrong idea about us. After all, I am your teacher."
At this point, Yang could tell that Ren was trying to keep himself from laughing. Yang wanted to start laughing too, but she decided to keep going with it. In fact, Ren's response gave her an idea to make it more fun. Keeping some of the sensuality in her voice, the huntress added in a dash of dramatic soap opera. "But professor, you're the only one here who understands me. I don't care what anyone else thinks! I want you and only you."
'Ahahaha.' Ren was laughing in his head but decided to not break just yet and continued to go along with Yang's change in mood. The huntsman put on his best dramatic actor voice. "It is forbidden. We cannot be together, a teacher and his student. It's obscene, it's unethical, it's just… wrong." declared Ren as he turned his head away.
"I don't care that's it wrong." responded Yang as she used her hand to turn him back to face her. "To me, it feels… so right."
"No, I can't. I would be taking advantage of you."
"There's nothing to take advantage of. I want this."
"Yang, we—"
"Sshhh." whispered the lilac eyed huntress as she placed a finger on her partner's lips. "Don't fight your feelings, Ren. Just let them pour out of you. It's okay if you want to cry, because I'm already crying on the inside for you. My lonely heart is crying with such an overwhelming love for you that I can barely contain it. I—"
"Ahahahaha. Okay, stop. Just stop, you got me. I can't take it anymore." stated the dark haired huntsman as he began to bellow with laughter.
Seeing her partner unable to contain himself caused Yang to laugh uncontrollably along with him. The two friends spent a good amount of time just laughing between them before they finally calmed back down.
"Hey, I didn't even get to the best part."
"Seriously? Where does it even go from there?"
"It would've gone something like my love being a raging fire that only your soothing rain could calm down, or something close to that. I've heard way worse."
"How do you know that?"
"My dad used to watch a lot of soap operas."
"Ah, I see. Well you gave an excellent performance, bravo." said Ren while applauding.
"Why thank you, my fellow actor." responded Yang with a bow. "You did pretty great yourself, which makes me wonder… why do you know how to do that too?"
"Jaune likes watching them, and because the cafeteria staff likes having soap operas playing all the time when I'm working with them in the kitchen."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Both of them gave an understanding look to each other and shared another short laugh between them.
"Ahem, we seriously got way off track again." noted Ren as he glanced at the clock.
"No kidding. I don't even remember what we were talking about before that happened."
"I think we were in the middle of talking about us sparring."
"Oh yeah, that's right. And it's why we're still here now."
"Indeed, but despite all our distractions and silliness, I've thoroughly enjoyed my night with you so far." spoke the huntsman with a smile. "Have you?"
"Of course I have." answered back Yang with a huge grin. "If I'd known it'd be this awesome hanging out with you, Ren, I would've done it way sooner and more often."
"I'm glad you feel that way. Although, I don't think I would have been able to keep up with all the excitement you would want us to go do."
"That's what makes it so fun. I get to have you try new things you normally wouldn't do. Plus, we got nearly a whole week that we need to spend more time together anyways. So guess what? You get to learn what it's like being with me."
"I'm not entirely sure how I should feel about that." replied Ren while still smiling.
"Well guessing from the look on your face, I think you're gonna enjoy it."
"You just might be right."
"See, like I said before, all we have to do is trust each other and agree on things then the rest will be easy. And hey, I get to learn more about you too."
"I guess I can't disagree with you on that, and I'm sure it will only get more interesting from here on out."
"Good, so do you want to start hitting each other now?" asked the blonde huntress as she pounded her fists together.
"I was wondering when you were going to say that." said Ren lightheartedly as he walked a good distance away from Yang. Once in position, he turned back to face her and readied into a martial arts stance. 'I think she's starting to rub off on me.'
"Finally, we get to the action." declared Yang excitedly as she rolled her neck to loosen it up then popped her knuckles. The blonde huntress soon made her way over to her side of the room directly opposite Ren. They were only about twenty yards apart from each other.
"Just come at me whenever you're ready."
"You better be ready to show me what you got, Teach." joked Yang referencing their banter from earlier.
"Bring it on then, Slacker." responded Ren in a similar manner to his partner.
When she charged, Yang couldn't help herself from smiling as she clashed with Ren.