Boxing

AN: Not something I do often, but I'd definitely like to suggest a song to listen to while reading this chapter since I personally feel it adds to the "experience"; The Finisher from the Hajime no Ippo OST or, alternatively, You Say Run from the My Hero Academia OST. Enjoy the action!

Jaune Arc was not now, nor would he ever be Pyrrha Nikos. It was something Pyrrha herself reminded him of time and time again whenever he felt that he wasn't making enough progress in his training to become a huntsman and something he'd come to terms with, even if it took a bit longer than it should have. He didn't have her skills, her upbringing, her semblance, and, probably most important of all, he didn't have her weapons or fighting style. As such, comparing himself to her in terms of lethality was, in most cases, pointless.

Jaune couldn't fight like Pyrrha did and as they spent longer training together, he stopped trying to emulate her and instead, still under her tutelage, began developing his own way of using his skills in battle, his focus switching from that of an agile fighter to becoming a stubborn wall before his foes; 'attrition' being his new favorite word. Rather than his sword, it was his shield that became his 'main' weapon and his training started focusing more and more on blocking, parrying, guard-breaking, and how to take advantage of his opponents' own strength or speed rather than flashy swordplay. While a rather significant change of pace, utilizing his large aura reserves and shield felt a lot more natural than he could ever have predicted or even hoped; finally, he'd begun to feel as if he was making genuine progress.

Jaune kept these thoughts in the back of his mind as he moved his right arm up to guard against yet another of Yang's quick strikes, his eyes locked with hers as he settled back into his stance. He made sure to keep his breaths slow and steady, letting the dull aches of his body melt away in the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Standing on the other side of the ring was Yang; her eyebrows knitted together as she scanned him for any kind of an opening. She was becoming more and more frustrated with every punch that she landed thanks to the fact that practically none of them so far had had any kind of satisfying impact. They were hits, yes, and they were landing, but she could feel that they weren't doing the damage that she wanted them to do. From the very start of their sparring session, Jaune had either blocked her punches or made sure to weave out of the way enough that they only brushed against him. She'd been downright excited at the prospect of seeing what kind of results Pyrrha's training had born when he first suggested they should spar, but with how annoying it was to not feel that satisfying thud when her taped fist hit something, her attitude had changed drastically.

Not only that, but he was barely fighting back against her, only throwing out the odd jab when she'd committed to a swing and couldn't block it properly. Only attacking when he was guaranteed to land the hit. She'd started to figure out how to dodge them by now, but the hits he'd managed to land still stung.

Gritting her teeth, Yang let her aggravation get the better of her for a moment, mindlessly punching away at Jaune's defenses for a moment before…

'There!'

With eyes flickering between violet and crimson, Yang spotted the opening she'd been looking for. It wasn't big; just a small exposing of his left side as he moved into a new position, but it was enough for her to work with. Restraining the urge to let out a victorious shout, she pulled back her arm and rushed forward, putting as much weight as she could into her swing—there was no way he'd be able to block it in time. Her aim was squarely on Jaune's kidney and as time seemed to slow down, she knew that this hit was going to hurt. Big tim-

WHAM

Yang wasn't allowed to finish her thought as Jaune's fist collided squarely with her jaw and her surefire swing grazed harmlessly off his midsection. For a moment, she was too dazed to figure out what had just happened, stumbling for a few steps as her world spun around, but her senses quickly returned and she reflexively withdrew from the short exchange.

Jaune had played her like a fiddle; she'd been baited and summarily punished for rushing so gleefully to take said bait and now her ears rang as she collected her bearings. It wasn't enough to bring her down, but it still hurt a hell of a lot more than anything Jaune had thrown at her before. She'd overextended and instead of trying to mitigate the damage he would have received by throwing up a quick but poor guard, he'd used her own momentum against her when she'd been at her most vulnerable, diverting her blow and damaging her at the same time.

Despite her ever mounting frustration, Yang couldn't deny that it was a damn good punch as well as smart move. She couldn't exactly explain it, but she found it strangely satisfying to see Jaune's growth into a rather competent fighter, especially considering where he'd started from. That being said, it wasn't enough to override her desire to kick his ass thoroughly. Not even close.

She could feel beads of sweat rolling down her face as she started to circle her prey and it was impossible for her to ignore the way her lungs had begun to burn. Even if it was just the first signs of it, fatigue was slowly but surely starting to take its toll on her body. At this point, she'd expended too much energy and not gotten nearly enough results in return, and just a quick glance at Jaune's chest was enough to tell her that his breathing was nowhere near as close to being classed as labored as her was.

What was getting on Yang's nerves the most at this point, however, didn't have anything to do with how the fight was beginning to lean. It had to do with Jaune himself.

Practically every time her eyes wandered over to his face looking for some kind of tell, she'd have to mentally slap herself as she stayed on his expression for just a second longer than she knew she could afford. It hadn't cost her anything yet, but she knew better than anyone how much a split-second slip up like that could cost her.

It was just…

His eyes…

Yang had never seen this side of Jaune up close like this before. She'd grown somewhat used to the more serious air he took on when their teams were out on joint missions together and it was his duty as team leader to guide his team, but she'd never gotten this personal with him while his 'serious-switch', as Ruby had dubbed it, was flicked on. His deep, cobalt eyes were practically gleaming from the attention he was focusing squarely on their fight—taking in and analyzing her body's movements even as she merely jabbed at him and was met with the back of his arms for what felt like the hundredth time, with nothing more than the smallest of smirks on his face, giving away his enjoyment of their spar. Yang had plenty of first hand experience when it came to just how absolutely terrible Jaune was at lying or hiding things (their teams' poker sessions being one of the biggest sources for proof of that), yet now, in the heat of the battle, she couldn't read his thoughts at all.

All of it was so utterly aggravating… especially because of just how smoldering his gaze on her felt. No matter how much she tried to completely wipe the thought from her head, Yang was starting to feel a new kind of heat take root inside her; one that had nothing to do with either her sweat or semblance…

Fighting Jaune Arc like this—seeing his eyes so calculating and focused on her and only her, along with that tiny but still oh so damnable smile—was making Yang Xiao-Long feel turned on. And it was becoming increasingly distracting.

Putting her frustration into her fists, Yang let loose a series of heavy swings against Jaune's defenses, her shoulders protesting when he quickly sidestepped and made her waste even more energy. She could feel her cheek begin to swell along with the distinct taste of blood on the inside of her lip. This wasn't the brawl that she wanted—the kind of fighting that she thrived off of—this was much more drawn out and planned. At times, it almost felt more like a chase than it did an actual battle. And she absolutely hated it.

Jaune, meanwhile, felt a sick sort of satisfaction as he watched Yang's eyes switch from violet to blazing vermilion, her teeth bared in what he couldn't describe as anything but a snarl. Had this been any other moment, he was certain seeing this kind of expression on the fiery blonde's face would have made him have to contain some kind of squeak, especially when it was directed at him, but right now it was something he'd almost been looking forward to.

In a match of sheer strength or speed, Jaune was well aware of the fact that he'd lose 99 out of a 100 times against Yang, and that sole win would only be due to her suffering some kind of sudden, inexplicable aneurysm, causing a walk-over. Even after his months of training under Pyrrha's tutelage, she still had him outclassed by miles in terms of both physical ability as well as turning her foes into red smears with unrelenting attacks.

Which was exactly why he wasn't on fighting her head on and instead took his time. He was making sure this spar of theirs stayed an endurance match; the sole area he felt he might have an edge on Yang.

It was for this reason Jaune considered Yang's anger tactically advantageous. When she got mad, her hits would hurt that much more, but at the same time she'd become more reckless; more prone to taking risks. More exploitable.

If they were to fight for real, with weapons in hand and semblances available, his strategy would need changing, but it'd still revolve around tiring her out rather than feeding her ability to turn the damage he inflicted on her back at him. This wasn't a real fight, however. It was something more limiting, which he was all too keen on taking advantage of. In a sense, he felt Yang, Ruby, and Weiss were almost too reliant on their semblances, making engagements where they weren't allowed or simply couldn't use their powers that much more crippling. Neither he nor anyone else on his team had that problem really, seeing as their own semblances were far less useful in combat scenarios. As such, Jaune felt he was in a much better position than his fellow blonde.

Back in the moment at hand, Yang came at him hard and fast, even more so than before, her leg colliding with his arms with the force of a full grown Ursa it felt like, but Jaune knew he couldn't let himself get pushed back into a corner. He could tell that his arms would be riddled with bruises come tomorrow, but right now the pain only made him more alert.

He was nervous; afraid even, but he refused to let those feelings control him.

He sidestepped once again as Yang's fist came flying towards him in an uppercut and lashed out with a punch of his own. His heart dropped, however, when her head jerked to the side, the punch sailing harmlessly through her billowing hair, and he was suddenly left wide open for a short, yet also painfully long second. More than enough time for her to retaliate.

Acting on pure instinct, Jaune stepped forward, his shoulder bashing into Yang's chest at the same time as her arm pulled back. He paid for attempting to ending their fight quicker when she landed a punch to his kidney, just like she had attempted before, but he still threw her off balance enough to stop any follow up, letting him disentangle the two of them and create some breathing room.

'Getting cocky gets you killed, getting cocky gets you killed...' he started repeating inside his head almost like a mantra, gritting his teeth through the stabs shooting up his now aching side. His body wanted him crumple and curl up to get the almost agonizing pain to go away, but Jaune fought to make sure he remained in control. He refused to let things end just yet.

Yang wasn't about to let him get his head on straight though, and moved to engage him once again. Tightening his guard, Jaune prepared himself for the coming assault, not planning on taking anymore chances.

"Slow and steady, there's no rush..." he muttered almost silently to himself as Yang's first swing came sailing towards him.

The THUD of bandaged knuckles hitting flesh echoed throughout the room as Yang laid into Jaune with a ferocity that would have made blood-frenzied Beowolves blush. Her anger only glowed brighter and brighter with every punch that didn't land like she wanted it to. Weaves and bobs made her fists skid off of Jaune's sweaty arms rather than land with the impact they were supposed to. Her eyes locked on his own fist as his right arm suddenly jerked back and her mind froze for no more than a millisecond as she debated whether she should block, disengage, or try to take advantage of the opening. It was only then that she noticed the jab coming towards her from Jaune's left hand and she didn't even have time to mentally curse herself before his fist collided with the same cheek he'd nailed before.

"Fuck!" Yang hissed as her eyes refocused on Jaune. It wasn't enough to bring her down, but the right side of her face was really starting to sting. She didn't have time to think about the pain, however, when she spotted Jaune circling around her side. Quick as lightning, her hand shot towards him with the intent to destroy. A flash of delight surged through her mind when she caught his eyes widening, as if he wasn't prepared for her to recover and lash out that soon.

One good hit, that was all she needed. It wouldn't take more for her to turn this fight around; for her to be able to dominate. If she could just break his guard, he'd be completely at her mercy…

Yang's fist never connected.

Jaune felt his heartbeat thunder in his head as he kept every muscle in his body rigid and firm like stone. Every single tendon and joint he had had turned into robs of iron within his limbs.

He'd stopped. Completely; Yang's hand just barely grazing by his cheek right in front of him. His legs screamed at him for coming to such a sudden halt, but his plan had worked. Yang was still moving towards him, her full weight having been put into that blow, now totally exposed and with no way to stop.

Exactly like he'd hoped.

Just as suddenly as he'd stopped, Jaune began moving again. It was his turn to attack now. Using his entire weight along with her own momentum, Jaune drove his fist deep into the Yang's solar plexus, feeling her entire body jolt against his knuckles as he forced the breath from her lungs and sent her hurtling backwards, gasping and coughing. He watched as her legs gave out underneath her and she landed in a sitting position on the mat beneath them, clutching her abdomen as saliva flew from her mouth with every shudder that went through her.

In his head, Jaune started to slowly count from 10, intentionally dropping his guard fully for the first time since their match began. He was able to reach number 4 before Yang started to shakily get back onto her feet, breathing heavily.

"H-holy… shit..." Yang managed to get out between breaths, wiping off the spittle around her mouth on the back of her hand. "You're definitely not playing around today, Vomit boy. I really felt that one."

Her cheeks were flush with color as she looked back at him, a smile making its way to her lips despite how wobbly her everything felt. When he responded with a confident smirk of his own, Yang couldn't help but shiver slightly. Seeing something like that from Jaune of all people had way more of an effect on her than she could ever have predicted. And it was in that very moment that she decided she was going to do something really stupid.

"Do you want to keep going?" Jaune asked, some genuine concern slipping into his voice.

"Definitely," Yang replied without hesitation, laughing, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Just like that, they were both at it again; Jaune raising his guard and Yang advancing with a feral grin on her features, a renewed ferocity in her movement. They almost settled into a rhythm together, exchanging punches with neither taking any massive risks anymore. It was clear, however, that one of the blondes had the upper hand. Compared to when they had started, one of them had become almost sluggish; their energy reserves running on low, despite their fighting spirit still burning as brightly as ever.

Both Yang and Jaune knew this, but neither was backing down now. This fight could end one way and one way only; with one of them on their back, beaten.

And currently, Yang suspected that person would turn out to be her. Her arms felt heavy and she could tell Jaune wasn't having as much trouble blocking her as before. One more good hit and she'd be done for, that much she felt sure of. However, she wasn't planning on letting Jaune get another good hit.

'It's all or nothing,' she thought as she dashed forward, smiling wildly. Jaune, seemingly catching on, at least somewhat, to her plan, started backing up rapidly, but Yang still had enough time to get herself into position. Without hesitating for even a moment, she launched herself upward, jumping at Jaune and grabbing hold of both his wrists. As she'd feared, her weight and moment alone wasn't enough to catch him completely off guard, so she pulled out her secret weapon.

Still holding onto his wrists, Yang leaned forward and kissed Jaune squarely on the lips.

Now, Jaune Arc was well aware that Yang Xiao-Long was something of an eccentric and definitely unpredictable, but not in his wildest dreams had he thought she'd use this kind of 'tactic', if you could even call it that. In his shock, his resistance against her grip on his arms melted away and Yang was more than happy to take advantage of it.

Her leg hooked around his own and suddenly Jaune realized he wasn't standing on anything anymore and was instead falling backwards. His back hit the floor with a heavy thud as Yang's weight pressed down on him, pinning both his arms and legs.

The fiery blonde's breaths were hot and heavy as she sat herself atop Jaune's chest, grinning toothily down at him as she reveled in the moment. She could feel her lips still tingling from their shared kiss and she couldn't help but laugh at the expression on her opponent's face. Her stupid plan had been a resounding success, she was proud to say.

"I win," she said teasingly after 10 seconds had passed, not letting go of his wrists just yet.

Jaune didn't respond right away, still shaken from the kiss and subsequent drop, not even struggling against Yang's grip. To call it unexpected would be an understatement so immense that it could practically be considered criminal and processing everything that had happened in the short span of time took most of his brain power.

Eventually, however, Jaune managed to catch up, his cheeks a deep scarlet as he met Yang's heated gaze.

"And I lose," he replied finally.

Satisfied, Yang let go of his wrists, sitting up straighter. "I haven't had a spar that fun in years, so thanks for showing me such a good time, Vomit boy. You put up a damn good fight."

"You too. I've still got a long way to go, that's for sure."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You really got me good a couple of times. I wasn't sure I was going to win there in the end," Yang chuckled. When she saw just how red Jaune had gotten, however, she decided she needed to add something; "And, um, sorry about that. The kiss I mean. I, uh… kinda got a little bit excited and wasn't thinking things through."

If possible, her apology made Jaune even more embarrassed, and she just barely caught his awkward "Don't worry about it".

Despite herself, Yang was unable to not find the display cute, especially when Jaune made such an unmistakable effort to not come off as shaken and simply wave it off. It reminded her of Ruby, in a sense, but… different. A good different, she decided.

Not in any kind of hurry to get off of him, Yang planted her arms on either side of Jaune's face, leaning down so they were face to face; her hair forming a golden curtain around them.

"In that case, you wouldn't mind if I gave you another one, right?" she whispered hotly, smiling mischievously at her now captured prey.

Jaune, not trusting his voice, barely had time to shake his head before Yang's soft lips were planted firmly on his own. Again. And suddenly, his loss didn't feel so bad.

AN: Another Dragonslayer chapter? Yeah, sorry about that. I had planned on finishing another thing and posting this afterwards, but progress on said thing has slowed to an utter fucking crawl and I simply had too much fun writing this chapter to let it sit and collect dust for any longer. I also haven't updated in fucking forever, so I figured I need to put out something for you people to enjoy. Admittedly, I watched a lot of Hajime no Ippo before and during the process of putting this thing together which definitely shows, hence the music suggestion up top.

On a completely different note, I've got something of an announcement to make: I'm going to open up writing commissions. It will be a fairly limited deal and prices will vary heavily depending on the scenario presented and length of the requested story, but I'd like to give it a shot. If things go well, I'll make an actual price sheet and try to make it something more "official". Note that this is not going to be limited to RWBY stories either. If you've got a fandom you want me to write something for, just ask and we'll see how familiar I am with it. If any of you are interested, shoot me a message and we can discuss details.

Until next time.