Signal Academy, Third Period, Weapon Design and Theory; her second favorite class, right after Combat Basics; Yang was currently revamping the design of the bracers she'd worn on her trip to Konoha two years ago. She wanted to add more functionality, something to either reduce the aura cost of her attacks, or give her another option for power without using aura for every attack. The teacher this year had just finished a lesson on using high caliber dust rounds, and the recoil from them, to propel the user short distances at high speeds. Given that she was a close range fighter, she didn't need distance rounds so much, so she elected for a shotgun type effect; she also wanted them to have a compact form, something kinda stylish, but that could be activated quickly.
With one bracer laying in front of her, she tinkered with the firing mechanism, luckily the textbook she had open went into great detail, and gave her an idea for a trigger system. She had forged the plates that would make up her bracers very carefully, she wanted them to lock in place quickly when activated, but also be able to smoothly slide to and from the activate and passive states. Ammunition was another problem to figure out; she had decided on 12-gauge, burn dust rounds, but she needed to figure out the action; the process of expelling a used round while loading a fresh round and arming the firing mechanism. She had tried several methods in other prototypes, but none worked out as well as she'd hoped. Stumped, she set that part aside and picked up the trigger system she had come up with, it was a palm-squeeze trigger; basically if she squeezed her hand closed fast enough and hard enough, it would discharge the current round. Clenching her hand to activate the trigger… you clench your hand when you punch, and you have to draw your hand back to ready your punch. Aha! That was it; she could use a modified pump-action to expel the old rounds and chamber new ones. She had already decided to have the middle section slide back to allow her to load her ammunition around her wrist; that plate would be heavy enough to act as a pump-action slide. With this thought in mind she went back to her task, quickly making the adjustments while she still had class time left to test out her concept.
That night, she spent a few extra hours at home tinkering with the changes she was making to her weapons; what was she going to call them anyway? 'All good weapons have a name right?' she thought, listening to her favorite song "I Burn" on her headphones, a few different names coming to mind before instantly being rejected. 'Power Glove? No, that sounds stupid; Dragon Fist? Nah.' Because of the music playing in her ears, she didn't hear the sound of footsteps coming up behind her, the light tap on her shoulder being the first notification that she wasn't alone in the workshop. Turning her head she saw a tall, sleepy, girl with long brown hair looking at her. Pulling her headphones off she smiled, eyes closed, and rubbing the back of her head, "Oh, hey Tenten, I didn't wake you up did I?" she asked the brunette.
"Nah, I was on my way to the bathroom and saw the light on in here, and decided to see what you were up to," the older girl responded. Tenten was staying with Yang and her family as a sort of foreign exchange student. She was attending Signal Academy for a year to learn the techniques they used in Vale for making weapons. Since she had been making weapons in Konoha for a while, she was the most logical candidate; the two girls had met during the kunoichi classes they had attended together. She was excited to visit the land unknown to her, and to learn about dust and its many uses.
"I'm just trying to improve my design for my weapons, I have the general concept down but it feels clunky and awkward," she'd been getting frustrated, pouring over her drawings and designs, trying to figure out what to change and improve.
"Mind if I take a look?" Tenten asked, leaning over Yang's shoulder to get a peek at the papers in front of her.
"Sure, any help I can get would be great," Yang said, standing up and moving to let the brunette sit in the chair.
After a few moments of examining the drawings and designs, Tenten grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and a pencil. After about fifteen minutes of drawing and making notes, the brunette stood up, smiling as the blonde came back from pacing around the room. Yang took the seat, and looked over the designs Tenten had made, tilting her head to one side, then the other, finally smiling as she looked up at the other girl. "It's perfect Tenten, thanks a lot!" Yang proclaimed, almost jumping out of the chair to hug the weapons kunoichi.
"You're welcome Yang, now, can you please put me down?" she said, Yang looking sheepish for lifting her half a foot off the ground. Placing Tenten's feet back on the floor, Yang went back to the designs, tracing her fingers over the pieces, running a mental image of how badass they would look.
"Hey, Tenten, what's this part at the top of the page?" Yang asked, finally noticing the scribbled words.
"Oh, that, it's a name I came up with, kind of on the spot, it's Ember Celica. What do you think?" the brunette responded
"Ember Celica… I love it," the blonde replied with a bright smile. "I love it so much I could kiss you," she continued, meaning it as a joke… well kind of, Tenten was cute after all.
"Ok," came the response, as the one year older girl stepped forward, capturing the momentarily stunned girl's lips with her own in a brief kiss. Smirking to herself, Tenten turned and walked away, adding a little sway to her hips, knowing that violet eyes would be following her. She'd heard about the kisses shared between Yang, Ino, and Sakura, seeing some of them herself; they were all in the same kunoichi classes after all. She decided to try it out for herself, and while she would say she still preferred boys, she had liked it.
Yang stood there, trying to process what had just happened, her eyes drawn to the swaying hips of the retreating girl. Shaking her head sharply, she stretched her arms and yawned, it was time for bed; she might not have school in the morning, but she needed her sleep. Turning off the lights in the workshop, she walked the short distance back to her bedroom, crawling under the sheets and drifting off to sleep.
The weekend had been relaxing, Yang and Ruby took Tenten to the beach, for a 'girls day' where the three girls spent time swimming, sunbathing, and talking about things like boys, school, and things in Vale versus things in Konoha. The girls had noticed they had been drawing a fair amount of attention from the boys around them, Yang and Tenten especially, in their bikinis, Yang's a color gradient from bright yellow to burnt orange, with her burning heart symbol on both the left breast and the back of her bottoms; Tenten wore a dark green, brown and black bikini; while Ruby wore a more conservative one piece suit, mostly black with crimson roses on the back.; she was still a little self-conscious about her body. The blonde was certainly enjoying all the attention she was getting, she had grown into a very beautiful young woman; at fifteen years old, she could pass for early twenties, not that she went to bars and clubs mind you. Yang and Tenten were having fun, going back and forth between tormenting Ruby about all the cute boys checking her out, to flirting with, and teasing the boys that were checking them out. Despite all the winks, smiles, and kisses blown, none of the boys could gather the courage to approach the two beauties lying on the beach. One group of boys did approach them, older than the girls by a year or two, "Hey ladies, want to play some volley ball?" the offer came.
Looking at the two sisters, getting nods, Tenten replied, "Sure, sounds like fun." They played three on three, with Ruby up front, her quickness great for getting under the ball, Tenten was in the back, her exceptional aim making her great for setting the ball, and Yang in the middle as the one to spike the ball.
The game was fun, with several good volleys between the two teams, eventually though, the girls won; all of the players had a light layer of sand on their bodies. One of the boys, he was tall, toned, and had black hair, offered to help Yang wash the sand off. Yang replied with a flirtatious, "Is that all you'd help me with?" getting a confidant smile back.
Leaning close to her, he whispered, "I can help you with a lot more, but here might not be the best place," is a suggestive tone, the smirk evident in his voice.
Laughing as she walked off towards the beach showers, she turned to call back to the boy, "Maybe some other time big boy," disappearing from his sight as she entered the shower area.
Tenten had a similar experience with one of the other boys, giving him pretty much the same treatment. Ruby on the other hand, was blushing bright red, not used to boys hitting on her, as she stammered her apology and all but ran after her sister.
When lunch time rolled around, the girls decided to head up to a nearby café, for sandwiches and tea. This area being a beach town, it was common to see girls walking around in bikini tops with a towel or wrap skirt around their waist and sandals on their feet. And that was how they walked into the open-air café, the waiter wearing an open, colorful, button-up shirt, shorts and tennis shoes. Every time he came by, Yang would wink at, and flirt with the guy, earning the girls a free milk shake of their choice. The guy had asked for Yang's phone number when he brought them the check, she had written some random number down, not wanting to give her real number to some guy she didn't know; besides, she was fifteen, he was at least eighteen to twenty, and that was too big of an age gap for her at the moment.
With their meal finished, the three girls set off walking down the boardwalk, looking at stores that they passed, trying on different things like hats and clothes, but not finding anything they liked. While walking between stores, Ruby decided to ask the question that had been on her mind, "Yang, why did you flirt with that guy, just to give him a fake phone number? Isn't that mean?"
Tilting her head to the side in thought for a moment, the older sister replied, "I like to flirt because it's fun. But just because I flirt with a guy doesn't mean I'm going to give him my phone number," she reasoned. "If I gave every guy I've flirted with my phone number, we'd never get any sleep because we'd be answering the phone all day long," she continued, seeing Ruby's eyes widen as the realization hit her. Yang flirts a lot, it's a part of her personality, and that would be a lot of guys calling. Ruby would have to drop out of Signal and be her sister's personal secretary/phone screener/she didn't even want to think about it.
With the sun beginning to set, the trio headed for home, the short walk uneventful, a few boys getting in some final cat calls, trying to get their attention; Yang moving to wrap her arm around Tenten's waist, the brunette matching the motion, giving the appearance of being a couple. This had two effects: reducing the cat calls from boys wanting one girl or the other, but also increasing the cat calls wanting to see something to fuel their fantasies. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who you are, Yang smirked as she turned to Tenten, pulling the older girl in for a kiss. The brunette didn't know what to do at first, deciding to 'just go with it' and returned the kiss, hearing hoots and hollers from their audience before they continued on towards home, Ruby trailing behind them with a deep blush on her face.
The rest of the weekend passed by without further excitement, the girls returned to school on Monday, rested and ready to tackle the week. Yang brought the new designs Tenten had drawn up for her to her Weapon Design and Theory class. She started forging the pieces she would need to put together to create her Ember Celica. The individual pieces were completed in two days' time, the process of assembling them into their completed form, however, took the rest of the week. Once she had one put together completely, she had Tenten look it over to make sure nothing was out of place; the weapons mistress giving it a thorough inspection before calling it a success. With her glorious, and badass, weapons completed, there was only one thing left to do; she stamped her emblem, a burning heart, into piece that acts as the pump-action slide.
As giddy as a child on Winter Solstice Morning, Yang spent the better part of the weekend collapsing and expanding her Ember Celica, showing them off to her father, Ruby, their uncle Qrow, Tenten, Jiraiya, and Kakashi. As a student at Signal, she wasn't allowed to carry live ammunition outside of the designated areas of the school, such as the firing range and combat arenas.
With her new weapons, Jiraiya and Kakashi spent time working them into Yang's training routine and fighting style; focusing on blocking both ranged and melee attacks. The added weight threw her off for a little while, but with added weight came added striking power. Her father had given her some "force" dust rounds; rounds that gave the same propulsion as burn dust, but don't produce a projectile. With these she was able to figure out, and incorporate the effect she desired; adding a similar effect as channeling her aura, without draining it. She would have to keep spare ammunition on her, but that wouldn't be a problem; she'd already bought special pouches that could store two reloads each.
The blonde brawler was currently engaged in a sparring match with Kakashi's shadow clones; the goal to test and improve how she dealt with multiple targets, while allowing him insight on ways to improve her technique; fixing blind spots, overextensions, and places where she let her guard down. This also had the effect of increasing her stamina while using her new weapons. So far she had destroyed three dozen clones while only taking a few hits. Her breath was ragged and shallow as she destroyed the last clone of the round, falling into a seated position as Ruby handed her a bottle of water. "Thanks sis," Yang said with a tired smile.
"Ok, I think that's enough for today, good work Yang," Kakashi complimented with his signature eye-smile. The blonde returned the smile, standing up slowly as they began the trek back into the house. As they walked, Yang flicked her wrists, causing her Ember Celica to retract into its passive form, appearing to be two simple, golden bracelets. Even after practicing so much with them, she still had to marvel at Tenten's design, all the pieces rotating into place, smoothly, before securing into one of its two forms.
With the end of the school year coming up, Yang and Tenten were making last minute tweaks on the weapons they'd made, as well as working on the other projects that would determine their grades, but the weapons project was the most important… well to them it was. Tenten had made over a dozen weapons throughout the year, unable to decide on her favorite to submit for the project. She had a pair of short swords that could be locked together; creating a sort of sword staff, in the middle was a chamber for dust that would alter the elemental effect of the weapon. Then there was the long sword that housed a thin, flexible, metal cord along the length of the blade; it could be transformed from a three foot long blade into a nine foot long bladed whip and back again with a snap of the wrist. There several others, but she had to choose one to submit for the class. In the end she went with a pair of tonfa with a rotary dust cylinder to add elemental effects to her strikes. They were fairly simple compared to the others, but she had spent far more time working on the detail, making them look absolutely beautiful, while still packing plenty of power.
Throughout the school year she'd also been giving Ruby advice on how to design and build the weapon that the younger girl had been calling Crescent Rose. It was a massive undertaking, a collapsible scythe with a built-in high-powered sniper rifle that could also use the recoil to propel the user faster, an idea she had grown fond of while watching Yang use her Ember Celica. With the greater focus on her school work, Yang had had less time to travel to Konoha, only being able to make one trip per year during the break between semesters. She had met Tsunade, who had taken over as Hokage. That had been an interesting encounter. Apparently the Third Hokage had left a few details out when describing them to their fellow blonde. Tsunade was skeptical about Yang's choice of dress, all but calling her a tramp when they first met. That conversation had sparked Yang to challenge the older woman to a sparring match, Jiraiya trying to calm the situation down, lest the two destroy half of the village. Needless to say, Jiraiya's luck with blondes was as good as it ever was; both Yang and Tsunade lending a fist to send the old pervert through the wall.
And so they had gone to one of the training grounds further away from the village, collateral damage would be harder to explain, especially when civilians got hurt. The two seemed fairly well matched, Yang was weaker than Tsunade, but that could be chalked up to age and experience; but with that age came slower movement and less flexibility. Those were two areas that Yang exceled in, pushing her advantage to its maximum, twisting and dodging out of the way of blows that could probably kill her; she may have discovered that her semblance gave her strength from taking damage, but still, a punch strong enough to create a crater five hundred feet wide, would probably be lethal to most anyone.
Tsunade had won the fight, but not before growing to actually appreciate and even like Yang for her determination and off-the-cuff battle strategy. In a way, Yang was so much like herself that Tsunade even considered teaching her the super strength she used, at least until the younger girl showed the same kind of technique using aura instead of chakra. She would need some fine tuning, but the girl could be a force of nature if properly trained. Yang was looking forward to having a rematch with the Fifth Hokage, especially now that her Ember Celica were completed. Jiraiya's worst fear had come to be, both beautiful, feisty, and super strong blondes in his life had met, and even worse, they were getting along well.