Vengeance Is My Name
Chapter Twelve
We Need To Talk
Yang almost felt guilty, laying up on the single bed in the hotel room they'd gotten last night.
Almost, but not quite.
Yang watched Blake strut back and forth in the small hotel room, pacing off her energy as she mumbled non stop to herself.
Okay, maybe Yang felt a little guilty, she thought, as her eyes cavorted once more up Blake's body as the girl paused near the door before spinning on her heel, her tight glutes a tantalizing curve that enticed Yang's gaze.
She shouldn't be enjoying this so damn much, but they were both stressed out, and Yang couldn't think of a better way to release stress than thinking about all of the deliciousness that was Blake.
Yang shifted, crossing her legs and squeezing her thighs together as Blake came to a stop in front of her, turning to face her.
"Yang, we need to talk."
Yang blinked, forcing her eyes to stay on Blake's face. Her body was incredibly distracting, and with the mood Yang was in, a serious talk didn't seem like such a good idea right now.
"Do we have to?" Yang asked.
Blake reached up to gingerly run her fingers through her hair, taking extreme care not to graze her injury.
"It would be prudent to do so."
Yang took a moment to study the extremely serious look upon Blake's face, and she sighed, mentally resigning herself to a boring conversation that she was sure wouldn't amount to much.
Yang much preferred action to inaction, and doing rather than talking.
And damn it all if there wasn't something she'd rather be doing right now...
Giving her head a small shake to clear it of the dirty thoughts plaguing her imagination, she decided to give this conversation her full attention. At the very least, it might pull her out of her mood.
"What do you want to talk about?"
Instead of answering, Blake resumed her pacing, her feet tap-tap-tapping across the floor as she prowled back and forth in front of Yang.
Knowing better than to press Blake for an answer, Yang let her mind drift as her eyes returned to her recently discovered new favourite activity.
It was some time before Blake stopped in front of her once more, and Yang's eyes were half lidded as she found herself slowly drifting off to sleep, lulled into a stupor by the rhythmic tapping of Blake's heels and her vivid imagination casting her deep into a daydream.
"Lots of things." Blake finally answered Yang's question, jerking Yang awake.
Yang looked around the room for a moment, then gently patted the bed beside her, shifting over to make room.
"Stop that pacing for a minute and come sit down and talk."
Blake hesitated, then moved over and dropped onto the bed beside Yang. Taking a deep breath, her hands fidgeted in her lap as she stared at the patterned blanket covering the bed.
"Take your time, relax, collect your thoughts." Yang drawled, in no rush to engage in a conversation any more serious than what they should be eating for dinner.
Blake glanced up at Yang, a dark expression on her face that Yang had never seen before in her short time knowing the girl.
"Yang, I'm scared."
Yang's eyebrows shot up into her hairline, and she inhaled deeply. Apparently they were gonna get right into it.
"What are you scared of?"
Blake raised her hands helplessly before dropping them back into her lap.
"I'm scared of everything. I've gotten myself into a hell of a situation, and even worse, I've dragged you into it. You shouldn't be here."
"Hey," Yang protested softly, "I'm a grown-ass woman and I'll be wherever the hell I want."
Blake raised her head to glare at her.
"I'm serious, Yang! I fucked up, okay?!"
Yang tilted her head questioningly, encouraging Blake to continue.
"This was already difficult from the beginning, but I've just made it so much worse. I was supposed to go to Citadel, steal my girlfriend back, and disappear. That's it. Now I've pissed off the Rose Army and probably put a bounty on the both of us. We're fucked, Yang!"
Blake's voice broke, despair filling her tone as she hung her head.
Yang frowned, her heart aching for the poor girl beside her. Blake was in over her head, overwhelmed, and unsure of what to do.
"We're fucked." Blake repeated, much quieter this time. "Neither of us have any idea what we're doing with a sword, I'm burning through your money like it'll never run out, we're being hunted from every corner of the world. Literally everyone is against us, and... and Weiss... "
Yang chose not to touch on the sensitive topic of Weiss. Rather, she focused on the facts of what she knew.
"That redhead knew who we were, and what we were doing." Yang said quietly. "How?"
Blake shrugged. "Someone is tracking us. That's all I can think of. I have no idea who, or why, or how, but someone is. Someone is following us, and passing along information to the Rose Army. Who are aligned with the Winchesters. My enemy has an entire army at their disposal."
Yang nodded slowly. There was no point denying that, that much was certain.
"What's our next move, then?" Yang asked.
Blake threw her hands up once more, slapping her legs as she let them fall.
"I don't know." She said quietly. "I don't know. Maybe I should just give up."
Yang regarded Blake quietly for a moment.
"Is that really what you want to do?"
Blake shook her head. "Of course not. But what other choice do I have? Me, against the Rose Army, the Winchesters, and probably Weiss' family, who no doubt approve of the marriage, admit it Yang, it's prolonged suicide."
Yang shook her head.
"As much as I want to, I won't be the one to convince you out of it."
Blake raised her head, looking at Yang in confusion.
"You want to?"
Yang shrugged, looking away.
"I worry about you, that's all." Yang said slowly. "While I agree that giving up would probably be best for your physical health, I know that's not who you are. I would never encourage you to do something that I know you'd be unhappy with. If Weiss means as much to you as you say she does, then I'll do what I can to support you in that endeavour."
Blake was silent, staring unblinkingly at Yang.
Feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny, Yang felt compelled to speak again, to explain away her previous statement.
"I won't convince you to give up. It's not who you are."
Blake nodded slowly, eyes darting side to side as Yang imagined a thousand thoughts were filling her mind.
Yang studied Blake's face, taking in every minute, beautiful detail.
"Remember that I'm here, Blake. For better or for worse, I'm here. Use me, lean on me, and let me help you. For better, or for worse. And so far, I like to think my company has been for the better."
"You might've saved my life once or twice." Blake slowly admitted, the barest hints of a grin tugging on her lips as she suppressed a rueful smile.
Yang briefly considered her next action, she really did. She really briefly did. Before she could stop herself, she reached out and gently placed two fingers underneath Blake's chin. Tenderly tilting Blake's head toward her own, Yang smiled disarmingly as Blake's eyes widened in alarm.
"I'll be here for you as long as you need me Blake, and even when you think you don't." Yang spoke earnestly, holding Blake's nervous, wide-eyed gaze with her own strong, assured one.
Blake said nothing, but Yang could hear her breath quicken. From the corner of her eye she could see Blake's chest rise and fall in short, rapid breaths. A dusting of pink tinged her tanned cheeks, barely noticeable yet caught by Yang's attention to every Blakey detail.
Blake parted her lips as if to speak, but no words came forth. Yang glanced down at those inviting lips, a heated fantasy pushing itself to the front of her mind. She teased the thought of entertaining that particular fantasy, but she knew she wouldn't. She wasn't that kind of person, she knew, and Blake surely wasn't.
Yang smiled innocently, her thumb gently caressing Blake's cheek before she dropped her hand back to her lap. Her skin burned where they made contact with Blake, an itch that she knew would only be satisfied by more touching. It was like a drug, the feeling of Blake in her hands, a drug she knew she would have precious little taste of.
Blake didn't look away, and Yang didn't mind. Any opportunity to stare into Blake's eyes was eagerly welcomed, and Yang could lose herself for hours in those twin pools of opulence.
Blake opened her mouth once more, and this time she spoke.
"Why?" She whispered the solitary word, Yang leaning in a bit closer to hear her. The bed shifted underneath her weight, sinking down between them. Blake dipped a bit closer as the soft mattress caved, and Yang had to dig her nails into her leg to phsyically restrain herself from closing the scant inches between them and placing her lips on Blake's. Remembering that Blake had asked her a question, she forced herself to focus on that instead.
"I... can't really answer that. Not right now. I don't have an answer that you would find satisfactory."
Blake stared at her questioningly, either unaware or unmindful of the small distance that tested Yang's morality.
Yang slowly pulled away, unwilling to subject herself to any more torture.
"There's an answer, " Yang tried again, willing to try anything to distract herself, "But when I try to put it into words, it doesn't make sense. You know?"
Blake looked away, brows furrowing lightly in thought.
"I'm not sure what answer you're looking for." Yang continued on, voice quieting until it was barely audible.
"You're my friend now, and that isn't just something I say to pay lip service. It means something to me, you mean something to me, and if I don't do right by that, then I won't mean anything to me... if that makes any sense." Yang chuckled nervously, suddenly feeling quite awkward. She forced herself to shut up now, as awkward silence had to be better than whatever would come out of her mouth if she continued talking.
Blake smirked, the corners of her mouth lifting ever so slightly.
"Well, I'm grateful for it, Yang. I really am." She lifted her head and turned to look at Yang, a genuine smile gracing her features for the first time in awhile and making Yang's pulse jump.
Before Yang could reply, Blake slid off the bed and stood.
"I'm going to go have a bath and think about some things." Blake said. "Thank you for calming me down long enough to think rationally. I'm lucky to have you as a friend. I'd like to talk to you more later tonight, if you're awake."
Blake reached up and tucked her raven waterfall of hair behind her human ear before leaning down and kissing Yang on the cheek. The kiss lasted only a second before Blake was moving away, one last glance over her shoulder at Yang before disappearing into the bathroom.
Yang waited for the door to close before she fell backward onto the bed, reaching up to cover her blushing face as she groaned audibly.
"Blake is gonna kill me with cuteness one day." Yang murmured softly.
It took a second to register what she had spoken aloud before she froze up.
Blake's demon ears!
Yang cursed quietly as she realized that Blake could probably hear every sound she was making. Rolling onto her stomach and burying her face in the pillow to muffle any further sounds, she squeezed her eyes closed as a tornado of thoughts whirled throughout her head.
Blake was gorgeous, there was no denying that. Yang knew it, Blake knew it, anyone who spent more than ten seconds glancing in her general direction knew it.
That had never bothered her. Blake was pretty, so what?
Blake also had a girlfriend.
Yang had never had a girlfriend before, as she had never thought of herself that way before.
However, at some point during their adventure, Yang had found herself smitten by Blake. As difficult as it was to admit, Yang realized she had started liking Blake.
Really liking Blake, in fact.
Blake was...
Blake was a lot of things, Yang realized. Blake was extremely driven, with a rock solid determination that until tonight, Yang had thought was unshakeable. Yang understood, however. Anyone would feel discouraged by the situation that Blake was in.
She was talented, with a resourcefulness strong enough to make her a credible force to be reckoned with in such a short amount of time.
Yang had come to learn that Blake was extremely passionate, and unbending in her desire to stand by her morals and ideals. She would bow to no one, and she would never stop fighting for what she believed in.
It was incredibly admirable, the way Blake carried herself throughout these difficult times. Blake was doing the best she could with as little help from anyone else as possible to do what she considered right.
There was a beauty to Blake that no one would ever be able to replicate, not even the tiniest bit. She was an immovable mountain in the midst of a hurricane, a quiet resilience that no force of nature could weather.
She was gorgeous in every sense of the word, and Yang was in awe of every move she made.
And Yang really liked her.
It was a difficult realization to overcome, for a wide variety of reasons.
Yang sighed, reaching up to bury her fists in her hair. Her mind was a confusing, jumbled mess of thoughts that made no sense. She wanted to help Blake get her girlfriend back. She really did. She wanted Blake to be happy, and it seemed like Weiss was the key to making that happen.
She wanted a lot of things. Some things, she couldn't even identify, except that when she looked at Blake, she knew she was feeling things she'd never felt before.
"What a mess." Yang murmured into the pillow, the fabric muffling her words. A small part of her hoped that this was just a flirtacious crush that would pass quickly with time.
Yet, there was a much larger part of her that hoped wasn't just a crush, and that scared her. It meant she was only going to end up hurt, and it was only a matter of time before it happened.
Yang's hellacious torture didn't end as she had thought it would when Blake left to bathe, for when the girl emerged, she came to sit beside Yang on the suddenly too-small single bed in the centre of the room.
Blake had come to trust Yang by now, a sentiment she had vocalized not too long ago.
The problem was, Yang noted as she shifted slightly in mild discomfort, was that Blake had the habit of expressing her trust and comfort in Yang by wearing the smallest amount of clothing necessary when the two were alone.
Coming to trust Yang with her half-demon lineage - not that her head and ear injury had really left her with a choice in the matter - Yang surmised that she was privy to a side of Blake that few people knew about. If Yang had to guess, it couldn't be very comfortable wearing a bandana or a cloak all day to conceal her ears, moreso now that one of them was injured and in need of air to heal properly.
This meant that Blake took any opportunity presented to strip nearly naked and parade around in front of Yang without a care in the world.
Not that Yang would really complain - after all, it would impossible to voice any complaints if she were passed out from lack of blood to her brain.
But it was hard. It was extremely difficult to reconcile Blake's innocent actions and her own devious desires.
Now, Blake sat beside her on the bed, their shoulders touching. Her lower body was naked save for a pair of scandalously thin panties, and a loose, sleeveless shirt covered her upper body.
Her hair was damp and messily pulled over one shoulder, baring her throat and the back of her neck to Yang's gaze.
Never before had Yang experienced such raw, powerful, animalistic desires, yet here she was, willing herself to not push Blake down and ravage her with tongue and teeth.
It was a bit frightening, Yang had to admit, being this infatuated with someone. With such clouded, distracted thoughts, it was difficult to keep her mind on task and focused on the important things.
Blake glanced up at Yang, and smiled contentedly at her.
"You can bathe now, if you want."
Contrary to the words she spoke, however, she tilted her head down until she was resting on Yang's shoulder.
The blonde stared straight ahead, knowing that if she looked down at Blake, she'd be able to look down her open shirt.
This was another peculiar thing about Blake that Yang had noticed.
Normally, the distant, aloof girl abstained from any and all contact with anyone else, a look of disdain gracing her features at the mere thought of it.
However, when Blake was tired, she didn't seem to mind the physical contact so much. On the occasion of injury, she sought out physical comfort, unwilling to part from Yang until Yang had to peel herself away.
Of course, when Blake was tired, it was extremely easy to irritate her, something Yang accomplished more often than not. When Blake was pissed off, she was standoffish and aloof, unwilling to even look at Yang, much less share personal space with her.
Yang had swiftly learned what did and did not set off the haughty half-demon, and as much fun as it was to tease the girl, moments like this were far more rewarding.
"What are we going to do about our stalker?" Blake murmured softly, nuzzling her cheek against Yang's shoulder.
Yang took a moment to consider whether or not she should bow out and disappear to the shower.
"Uhh... I'm not sure."
Blake snickered. "Very helpful."
Yang shrugged lightly, mindful of Blake on her shoulder.
"I vote we sleep on it, and compare ideas in the morning."
Blake was quiet for a long moment.
Closing her eyes, Yang tuned into the gentle sound of Blake's soft, measured breathing.
'This is nice.' Yang thought. Despite all the adversity they were facing, moments like this were nice.
"Did you fall asleep?" Yang whispered, unwilling to open her eyes to check.
Blake made a negative sound in the back of her throat.
"No, but if I was, asking me a question would wake me up."
Yang paused for a moment.
"Do you want to go to bed?"
"Are you going to shower?" Blake answered Yang's question with one of her own.
"I will in the morning."
Blake scoffed. "You're so gross."
Yang shook her head, gently pulling away from Blake. Forcing her eyes open, Blake tilted her head up at Yang, confusion clear upon her sleepy features.
"What are you doing?"
Yang made to move off the bed.
"Well, since I'm so gross, I'm gonna go find somewhere else to sleep for the night." She teased.
Yang was stopped when Blake reached out, wrapping both hands around her forearm.
"Don't."
Yang paused. "Sorry?"
Blake glanced away, refusing to look at her.
"Don't leave me." Her voice was pitifully soft.
"I-" Yang faltered, unsure of what to say. Even if she had intended to leave, she was rendered utterly defenseless by this side of Blake.
"Blake, I'm not going to leave you. I was teasing. Let me get undressed and I'll be right back."
Blake nodded, reluctantly releasing Yang's arm.
Yang pulled away and pushed off the bed, heart pounding loudly in her chest. A thousand thoughts burned through her mind, most of them less than decent, some of them downright dark.
There was a part of her that wanted to push this opportunity, to take advantage of Blake's moment of weakness to try to seduce her, to convince Blake that Yang could take Weiss' place in her heart, and in her bed.
It was with trembling hands that Yang pulled off her shirt. Letting it fall to the floor, she made quick work of her pants as well. They soon joined her shirt in a heap on the floor.
There was a solitary lamp burning on the table beside the bed, and Yang reached out to give the adjustment screw a twist. A few seconds later and the flame went out, starved of oil. The room was cast into darkness, and Yang slowly shifted to the side until she nudged up against the bed.
Sliding onto the bed, she found that Blake had already pulled back the blankets. Tucking her feet underneath, she let Blake pull the blankets back up over the both of them.
"What's our plan for tomorrow?" Yang asked, desperate for anything to occupy her wandering, traitorous mind.
"That's a discussion for tomorrow." Blake replied cheekily.
Yang searched her mind for another suitable topic of conversation for a minute, before the thought occurred to her that Blake might not feel like talking. Despite wanting to talk as a way to drown out the bad ideas filling her head, Yang fell silent in favour of listening to Blake's soft, even breaths.
"My ear hurts." Blake whispered, and Yang could hear the pout in her voice.
'Well, didn't take long for me to be proven wrong.' Yang thought wryly.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Yang asked humorously.
"Hold me."
Yang blinked. "Sorry?"
Blake didn't respond.
Not vocally, anyway.
Yang felt the bed shift, and a second later Blake had pushed herself up against Yang's side.
"Turn over and face me." Blake half demanded, half whimpered.
Yang did as she was ordered, turning over onto her right side to face Blake on the bed.
Humming happily, Blake tucked herself under Yang's left arm, pushing herself up against Yang's chest.
"Hold me." Blake whispered once more.
Yang swallowed nervously, her heart hammering a staccato beat in her chest.
"O-okay." Yang gingerly wrapped her arm around Blake's waist, and Blake immediately pressed her body tighter to Yang. Yang clenched her teeth together as Blake tucked her head underneath Yang's chin, Blake's lips unintentionally grazing against Yang's upper chest. Blake returned the embrace, sneaking her arm around Yang's hips, her fingertips tickling Yang's lower back.
"Goodnight, Yang." Blake sighed contentedly, finally relaxing in Yang's arms.
Yang swallowed dryly, willing herself to relax against Blake. She was acutely aware of the way Blake had her head positioned as to minimize pressure on her damaged ear. She just wished that position wasn't one that had Blake's lips inches from her chest.
"Night, Blake." Yang managed.
Blake was silent for a while, and Yang had almost managed to drift off to sleep when she heard Blake whisper soft words against her chest.
"This is nice."
Author's note: Yang is beginning to crush hard on Blake. I cannot wait to see how it plays out. A day early on this upload because I've had this chapter done for a few days now. As always, comments and criticism is appreciated. Thank you for your time.