"-and next thing I knew, I landed on a dumpster." Yin picked another piece of fruit peelings off her fur (this time it appeared to be apple) and flung it into the bucket by the edge of the couch with the rest of the trash she had fallen on. "Which, okay, yeah, it was better than actually landing on the floor, but I got covered in trash! And then there was this awful pain on my foot, and-"

"-And before we knew it, Yuck had already gotten away!" Her ears lowered from her brother's yelling, glaring at the blue rabbit next to her. Not that Yang noticed; he was waving his fists in Master Yo's direction instead, punching at empty air while their master inspected the bruising forming around her ankle. "Coward. We never even found out what he had stolen back downtown; the whole chase was a waste of time!"

Master Yo only grunted in agreement, gently turning Yin's foot- and stopping when she let out a sharp hiss. When he was met with the same reaction when he tried turning it to the other side, he finally let it rest on the pillow and reached for the first aid kit. "I see…" He muttered while he pulled out the gauze and a pair of scissors, cutting off a long piece while raising an eyebrow at Yang; "And what were YOU doing that whole time, Yang?"

"I was-"

"Laughing. At me." Yin interrupted acidly, glaring daggers at her brother before he could finish. Her lip twitched just slightly as the gauze was wrapped firmly around her ankle, a brief yet sharp jolt of pain shooting up her leg, but thankfully it was the worst of it. "I fell off a roof, and he nearly peed himself watching me fall, Master Yo!"

"Wait, no! NO!" Yang's eyes widened in indignation as he got up on the couch to point at his sister, looking frantically between Yin's accusing glare and Master Yo's beginning of a disappointed stare. "That was before I knew you broke your foot! And I wasn't about to pee myself, shut up!"

"Oh, so it was just me falling into the garbage that you thought was funny. Really reassuring, bro." A couch cushion was thrown Yin's way, but she just shoved it away before throwing one of her own at him.

Yang huffed, turning around so she wasn't in his field of vision anymore- which only annoyed her further. "Why are you acting like this is my fault, anyways? It was Yuck who pushed you!"

"Uh, no- YOU threw your Yang-a-rang at the back of his head while we were fighting, and the momentum nearly pushed us both off!"

"That still counts as him pushing you off! Who cares how it happened!?" And then Yang froze, turning to stare at Yin with narrowed eyes that made her tense; "Why are you defending him anyways? He's a bad guy, remember?"

That stare didn't last long; Yang found himself with a face full of cushion as Yin kept whaling on him over and over barely having time to scramble for another pillow to defend himself with; "I'm not defending him! I'm just telling what actually happened, and what happened is that you're too stupid to use your own weapon properly!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"AM NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Both cushions started glowing teal, and before either twin could stop them they were both bonked in the head by their own weapons. After the assault was over, both rabbits pouted at their irritated master; "No more yelling, no more pinning the blame on each other, and no more throwing the cushions around!"

Yin and Yang glared at each other before crossing their arms and looking away.

Sighing, Master Yo lowered the floating cushions back into their place and finished wrapping Yin's bandages; "Kids, as the Ancient Woo Foo Scrolls say: you win some and you lose some. And the most important thing is that today no one got seriously hurt and Yin didn't break her foot."

"I didn't?"

"Nah, you just twisted your ankle, that's all." Finishing his work, the panda let Yin's foot down carefully before patting his student's head reassuringly. "You just need to take it easy and not put too much weight on it, but give it a couple of days and you'll be perfectly fine."

And Yin was relieved- for a full five seconds, before relief became annoyance when Yang nearly pushed her off the couch to get closer to their master. "HA! That means I'm not in trouble, right?"

"It does not." Yang's smile deflated, and Yin took her as her cue to push him back to his spot; Master Yo's face had turned stern again as he crossed his arms. "Your sister needs to strain her foot as little as possible, so you're going to be a good brother and help her with anything she needs."

"HA! You hear that, Yang? That means you have to do everything I ask for until I get better!"

"It does not!"

"Does too!"

"DOES NOT!"

"DOES TOO!"

"What did I just say about shouting!?" Snapping the first aid kit shut once everything was stashed back inside with a loud CLACK!, Master Yo shoved it into Yang's hands and jabbed his thumb behind him, towards the kitchen. "You know where that goes; go put it away before you kids give me a migraine."

Yang stammered, opening and closing his mouth while trying to come up with an argument, but nothing came out. As he dragged his feet towards the kitchen, Yin watched him go smugly and - while still mindful of her foot - looked over the couch's back with a smug grin on her face. "And while you're there, can you be a good brother and bring me a soda? And some Skittles? And a donut?"

"But there's only one donut left! And I-"

"And you wouldn't deny it to your poor, injured sister, would you?" Yin batted her eyelashes innocently, biting her lip to avoid bursting into laughter at the sight of her brother's disgusted face. "And make sure to pick out all the yellow Skittles, they're my least favorite! Thaaaaanks~!"

Cackling, she dodged behind the couch just as a bag of Skittles hit the back of it, multicolored candies flying everywhere. Next to her, she saw Master Yo getting halfway up from his seat to yell at him before sighing and sitting back down, looking tiredly at her from the corner of his eyes; "Yin, please don't use this temporary authority over your brother for evil."

"No promises!"

"...Well, can't say I didn't try."

But as soon as he said that, he suddenly became very deep in thought as he leaned back on his recliner; enough to snap Yin out of her giggling fit as she sat up straight, wiping tears from her eyes. "Master Yo? What's wrong?"

"It's just...based on what you told me, Yuck's behavior seems a little odd." The old panda scratched his beard, pondering at the ceiling. "His plans are always so over the top, so petty theft seems out of character. And you twisting your ankle was the perfect opportunity to defeat you, so why did he run off instead?"

"Uh…I don't know about the theft thing, but..." Yin looked away while rubbing the back of her head; spotting the bag of Skittles Yang had thrown at her by the edge of the couch, she focused on using her Magic to clean up the mess instead (while setting the yellow Skittles apart from the rest). "Yang's Yang-a-rang hit him pretty hard; maybe he didn't want to risk fighting us with an injury?"

"Mmm." While sorting the candy, Yin kept an eye on Master Yo; he kept running his fingers through his beard, eyes narrowed towards the horizon...before he shrugged and reached out for the remote. "Yeah, I'm probably overthinking it. I guess it doesn't matter now."

With that, Master Yo went back to watching his soap operas, while Yang kept messing around in the kitchen, getting all the things Yin asked him for and complaining all the time about it. As far as they knew, today's incident with Yuck was done and over with.

Which is why neither of them noticed Yin's relief.

The rest of the evening was uneventful; they spent leisure time together (or at least Yin bossing Yang more than usual was leisure for her), had dinner and eventually left off to their respectives rooms to clock out for the night. Master Yo checked up on Yin's injury one last time before wishing both of them goodnight, and a couple hours later both rabbits drifted into deep sleep.

...Or at least, Yang did. Which he gave away thanks to his deafening snoring.

Yin took that as her cue.

It was a pitch black night, with two new moons and the third one a waning crescent, but Yin couldn't afford to turn on the lights if she wanted to sneak out. Yet she also couldn't afford to walk blindly through the darkness, much less with a twisted ankle, so a miniature Foo Orb came to life over her open palm- its pale blue light lighting up the room just enough for her to find the door.

It was almost routine for her at this point- mastering the perfect way to open and closing the dojo's sliding doors without a sound, picking out the smallest sounds to avoid any unwelcome surprises (like Master Yo's snoring from his own room to confirm he wouldn't be a problem) and making her way across the dojo as quietly as a shadow; the latter proved to be more time-consuming with her injured ankle, but she still found her way out into the yard completely undetected.

Somehow, it seemed even darker out in the open, so Yin let her Foo Orb grow slightly bigger and brighter and allowed it to float beside her to keep both hands free. She carefully limped her way down the stairs and out the gate, staring anxiously into the darkness of the empty streets outside the dojo.

It was a chilly night, and as Yin shivered and rubbed her arms, she cursed herself for not bringing anything with her for warmth. But she couldn't go back and risk waking Yang and Master Yo up, so she had no choice but to stay there and wait for-

"What do you think you're doing?"

Yin gasped, leaning on the gate wall behind her when her bad ankle nearly gave out on her as she turned around. Up by the roof of the building across the street, someone was staring down at her; their features were obscured by the dark of the night, but the pale silver light of the one waning moon outlined their wild mess of fur and long ears.

But most strikingly, Yin would recognize those blazing orange eyes anywhere. "Yuck!?"

At the sound of his name, Yuck jumped off the building's roof and landed on one knee before Yin. She could only stare as he got to his feet, his fiery glare never leaving her as he made his way across the street towards her. As the soft light of her Foo Orb reached him once he was close enough, it painted his unruly hair and sharp teeth a silvery blue- yet the sunset hue of his eyes only seemed to shine more intensely instead.

Yin's eyes widened, holding her breath as Yuck came closer and closer...

...before releasing it in a sigh of relief, her face lighting up and her eyes sparkling with joy. "I was worried you wouldn't show up!"

And before her mind could catch up, her body went ahead with arms outstretched towards him- having completely forgotten about her injured ankle. The sudden movement caused her foot to give out again, and this time she had nothing to hold on to; her excitement morphed into panic as she waved her arms, bracing herself to hit the floor-

Right before a pair of arms caught her, lifting her up until she was nose to nose with those orange eyes that sent a shock through her system. She could swear there was fear and then relief in those eyes for a split second before they were both gone and replaced with exasperation in the blink of an eye.

"This is exactly what I mean." Yuck muttered, helping Yin get to her feet-yet his hands lingered on her shoulders while his eyes lingered on the bandages around her ankle. "So it was that bad when you fell. What were you thinking, going out at this hour with your foot like that!?"

"Where else? To meet up with you, dummy; like we do every night!" Despite Yuck's darker mood, Yin still seemed to be in high spirits; her ankle was starting to complain about all the sudden movement though, so she resorted to sitting down by the edge of the sidewalk where she gave Yuck a teasing smile; "Besides, if you're here, then you knew I was coming anyways, didn't you?"

Yuck looked to the side, but it was too late; Yin had already spotted the dark flush that spread over his cheeks- which she found absolutely adorable. "O-only cuz I wanted to check up on you! I didn't think you'd actually come out if you had broken something!"

"Then it's a good thing I didn't break anything!"

His head whipped around, eyes wide as he looked between her and her bandaged ankle. "...You didn't?"

"Nope! Just a twisted ankle." Unconsciously, her hand reached out to rub the bandages; the muscles underneath stung, but nothing she couldn't power through for the moment. "Master Yo said I still need to take it easy the next couple of days, but after that I'll be good as new; which means you don't have to worry so much about me."

She was convinced that would do it, but Yuck still looked agitated about something; his hands clenched and unclenched as he looked around the place, searching for something in the dark.

Yin's smile dropped. She had learned that when he did that, it was because he itched to break something.

And when he wanted to break something, it usually meant he had something to let out of his system.

"Yuck?"

"It's my fault." Yuck growled, eyes closed as deep lines twisted his face with rage. "I should've been more careful! If I had paid more attention, I would've seen Yang's stupid boomerang, and I wouldn't have pushed you off the stupid roof!"

"That was an accident!" Yin was back on her feet in a second- and her injury took notice, sending a stronger sting of pain up her leg. Enough to earn a whimper out of her, but she bit her tongue before Yuck could hear her. "Y-you didn't mean to..."

Her hand reached out to grab his, but he turned away and began pacing up and down the street before she could make it. "Then I shouldn't have gotten on the roof to begin with!" He snarled, waving his arms angrily at the sky, "Or picked another day to steal those dumb baby wipes! Or maybe I shouldn't have bothered with them at all, because they were NOT worth this-"

"Baby wipes?"

Yuck stopped mid-rant; staring at her like he had just remembered she was there. To her further confusion, he stopped to look at his hands and then at her in sudden realization.

"Oh." Sheepishly (which suddenly reminded her that she also found adorable), he rubbed the back of his neck. "I...I guess you can't tell when it's this dark out, huh?"

"What do you…" While could make out Yuck's eyes and the overall shape of his body, most of the details were lost in the dark; with only the light of her Foo Orb and the pale moonlight providing light, most colors were desaturated into silvers and greys, too. But now that he had brought it to her attention, she strained her eyes to take a better look at him and discovered-

"Your fur!" Yin's eyes went wide, the tips of her fingers pressed against her lips. "It's...it's clean!"

The Foo Orb came to a stop between her and Yuck; under the much brighter light, Yin could now see that Yuck's fur was its natural sea green color instead of the usual, grimy sage green. And while still unbrushed, the longer strands of fur were soft and curly instead of stiffly pointing outwards, like ocean waves.

"I told you I can't stand water, but then I remembered you mentioning something about baby wipes and I thought…" Yuck was still rubbing the back of his neck, looking at the floor in embarrassment. "I mean, you've put up with my dirt this whole time, but I can always tell you hate it, so I wanted to surprise you…"

"So that's what you stole in that huge bag? That was all baby wipes?"

"...Yeah."

"Yuck, you stole baby wipes so you could clean up for our meeting? For me?"

His lips pursed, the blush growing darker and almost covering his whole face. "Ugh, it really does sound stupid when you say it out loud-"

The words died in his mouth the moment Yin hugged him tight, resting her chin on his shoulder and pressing her nose against his cheek.

He smelled like oranges.

"It does sound kind of silly," she smiled against his fur, "but it's also so, so sweet...I just wish you didn't have to steal, though."

He didn't reply; from the corner of her vision, she had to stifle her giggling the moment she saw Yuck's blush had made its way to the very tip of his ears. Then she felt his arms wrapping around her waist, gently pulling her closer as he buried his face on her shoulder.

"I'm still sorry about hurting you." He mumbled, and Yin's ears drooped at how quiet and dismayed he suddenly sounded. "I'm sorry hurting you is all I keep doing."

Just a few months ago, Yin would've never imagined Yuck - the Yuck she knew back then - to act this way or do the things he did. A few months ago, she believed him to be a cruel, selfish jerk with not a single kind bone in his body who only cared about himself. The very idea of them being together, of sneaking at night to see each other, of him cleaning himself up despite hating it and showing concern and being so shy when it came to affection, all for her...it was just impossible.

A few months ago, she would've never thought him capable of being...soft.

But she had learned a lot about him since then.

"Hey! No! Stop that!" Squirming out of his embrace, Yin took a step back and pressed both of her hands against Yuck's cheeks, firmly holding him in place so he had no choice but to look directly at her. "What did we say about self-deprecating by bringing up past mistakes?"

Yuck lay still in her hands for a while, processing the new pose he found himself in, before he pursed his lips into a pout; "...Not to do it."

"That's right! You're trying, okay? That's what matters the most." A sigh, and Yin leaned her own head closer until she and Yuck were pressing their foreheads together. Even though it was chilly out and he was no better off than her in terms of bundling up, he still ran warm against her. "We're both trying and I know keeping it a secret doesn't make it easier, but please stop dragging yourself down. It doesn't do either of us any good."

Close as they were, all Yin could see were Yuck's eyes- and her heart did a flip when he looked squarely at her. In the past, they had been so dull with rage and hatred, but right there they seemed to have a glow of their own, filled with admiration and warmth like the suns.

They only looked like that when he looked at her.

"...Okay."

They remained like that for a few minutes, just standing in silence in the middle of the street. Yin let her cheek rest against his, cherishing the feeling of his fluffy, warm fur and the soft smell of oranges. Suddenly, she felt the ground disappear under her feet- but instead of falling, she found herself being held in Yuck's arms, a cheeky grin on his face as he looked down at her.

"Yuck! What're you doing?"

"If we're really going through with date night tonight, you really think I'm gonna let my girlfriend walk around like this?" He felt his fingers snap against her back- and a small Foo Orb tinted orange like his eyes materialized next to her own blue one. "No way. How can I call myself the strongest Woo Foo Knight if I can't do this for my girl?"

"But…"

Yet she couldn't find it in her to argue; she wasn't exactly opposed to being held by him either- specially not when he grinned at her like that. Or when he called her 'his girl'.

Laughing, Yin held on to her partner as he braced himself for a jump, hopping from roof to roof as they left the dojo further and further behind. The night grew darker and darker around them, but their magic lit up the way, blue and orange lights guiding them like fireflies.

The dark would continue to keep it all a secret once again. But for now, they would be okay.