Two fighters were walking down opposite hallways, leaving the locker rooms that they had been preparing in. Each step took them closer to each other, closer to the upcoming sparing match that would pit two friends against each other. At one end, long, flowing blonde hair and violet eyes emerged from the access hallway into the sparing arena. At the other end, long red hair, tied up in a ponytail, and green eyes emerged from the other access hallway. Both combatants regarded each other with respect, they were good friends. They were the strongest fighters of their respective teams.
Yang Xiao Long flicked her wrists, activating her Ember Celica, the plates shifting around and moving to expand the weapons into their gauntlet forms; taking up her brawler stance.
Pyrrha Nikos grabbed her Milo and Akouo, her sword/spear/rifle and shield from her back, extending Milo into its spear form, taking up her ready stance with her shield in front and spear poking out over.
"This match is between Yang Xiao Long of team RWBY and Pyrrha Nikos of team JNPR," Professor Goodwitch called out from the sideline, announcing to the student audience who had fallen into a hushed silence. Even Professor Ozpin was here to bear witness to the match. Professors Port and Oobleck were also in attendance.
"Good luck Pyrrha," Yang called out to her friend and opponent.
"Good luck to you too Yang," Pyrrha responded with a smile. Truth be told, Pyrrha was looking forward to this match; she had fought team CRDL as revenge for them picking on Jaune, but this match would prove to be an interesting one.
"Let the match begin!" Glynda called out, stepping back while checking her Scroll to double check the readout was correctly displaying the aura levels of the two combatants.
With the call sounded, Yang charged forward, drawing her fist back to slam into Pyrrha's shield, driving the girl back a few feet. Pyrrha responded by shoving her shield forward, knocking the fist away trying to get inside Yang's guard. The redhead followed the move up with a swipe of her spear, only to be blocked by the blonde's left arm, the clash of their weapons ringing throughout the arena.
Aiming her right arm at the ground, Yang fired a blast at their feet, sending both of them backwards. Pyrrha recovered quickly, switching Milo to its rifle form, firing off a few quick shots while her opponent was still recovering.
Yang easily blocked each shot, deflecting the rounds with her gauntlets before returning the favor with her own blasts. Pyrrha blocked the first blast, leaping to dodge the second, and rolling out of the way of the third and fourth, choosing this opportunity to rush the blonde brawler. With her weapon now in its sword form, she quickly and repeatedly slashed at the shorter girl, pushing her on the defensive.
Yang did the unexpected, she caught Pyrrha's sword in her hand, sending her foot up towards the taller girl's head. The redhead's shield came up to block the kick, surprised when there was no power behind it. Suddenly Yang pulled on Milo, yanking Pyrrha off balance before releasing the weapon, and aiming her own at the redhead's stomach. The blow connected, sending Pyrrha flying backwards across the arena as the shot from Ember Celica sounded off. Dropping her foot back to the ground, Yang reassumed her stance while Pyrrha collected herself and readied herself again.
Both combatants shared a confidant smile, silently congratulating each other before the fight resumed.
After the brief halt in the match, both girls charged at each other again, fists flying and sword swinging, the clash of metal ringing over and over as neither fighter gained much ground for very long.
As Pyrrha advanced, blocking a punch with Akouo and a kick with Milo, she struck Yang in the stomach with the butt of her spear, causing the blonde to double over before smacking her in the face with a cross-slash, knocking her down to the ground.
Yang got back up, feeling the surge of power from her semblance, the cut across her cheek healed instantly. Smirking back at Pyrrha, her opponent saw that her eyes had changed; they were no longer violet, but red. Her hair seemed to be on fire as she charged forward, faster than before, dodging Pyrrha's gun fire with ease. As Yang aimed a powerful right hook at Pyrrha's head, the redhead activated her own semblance, adjusting the aim of the metal clad fist just enough to miss its mark. Feeling the shift in motion, Yang chose to follow it, aiming her left arm into a spinning backhand also aimed at the redhead's face, fiering her left gauntlet for added rotational speed.
Again Pyrrha brought her shield up just in time to block, but recoiled from the force of the blow, her feet skidding several feet before she stopped. At this point Pyrrha knew that she would tire long before Yang would, the girl just had too much stamina; so she had to be more overt with her semblance; she had to control the fight more directly. She knew Yang wouldn't forgive her if she didn't give the fight everything she had.
Pyrrha saw Yang charge her again, intent on winning the fight. Raising her hand, a black glow emanating; suddenly Yang found herself unable to move, her arms straight out at her sides. With a pushing motion, Pyrrha sent the blonde flying backwards into the wall, holding her there, watching as she struggled against the magnetic power of her semblance, her head hanging down in exhaustion
Looking down at her Scroll, Professor Goodwitch saw that Pyrrha was low on aura, but still had the advantage, but Yang was almost on empty. "And with that, Ms Nikos is…"
"Not yet…" Yang interrupted the Professor. Lifting her head up, Pyrrha noticed another change in the blonde's eyes; she had small, vertical slits for pupils. "I'm not done!" she cried out as red and blue energy swirled around her. Glynda looked down at her Scroll, irritated at being interrupted. She was shocked to find Yang's aura full again, 'That's not possible, her aura couldn't have regenerated that fast.'
With a grunt, Yang ripped her arms from the wall, looking Pyrrha straight in the eye as the redhead struggled to maintain control of the blonde's arms. The swirling energies surged again as Yang, with great effort, pulled her arms inward, aiming her fists at each other, slamming them together, dispelling Pyrrha's aura from them completely.
With her hold on Yang's weapons broken, Pyrrha was thrown off balance, looking up just in time to see the blonde move. The force of Yang's movement from the wall created a small crater in the wall as she rushed forward. Pyrrha could just barely raise her shield in time as Yang's fist came crashing into it, sending the redhead flying back against the far wall. With the last of her energy drained, Pyrrha fell to her knee, breathing heavily from the fight.
"Well then, with that upset, Yang Xiao Long is the winner," Professor Goodwitch called out, ending the match.
Panting heavily at the exertion, Yang walked over to Pyrrha, extending her hand down to the taller girl.
Looking up into the blonde's, once again, violet eyes, Pyrrha returned her smile and accepted the hand as Yang pulled her to her feet. "Good fight," they both said together, laughing softly as they both walked back to the locker rooms.
***Break***
After both combatants were looked over, and cleared, by the medical staff, they were allowed to rejoin their teammates.
"Yang! That was AWESOME!" Ruby called out, zooming down the hallway to her sister. Yang turned just in time to catch the blurred mass of black and red, stumbling slightly. Further up the hallway, Weiss and Blake were walking to meet up with her, both had proud smiles on their faces.
"Heh, thanks Sis," Yang replied, hugging her younger sister before setting her back down on the ground.
"Nice job Yang," Weiss started. "How did you manage to break free of her polarity?" she asked, so far as she knew, there was no way to break free of such a powerful control type semblance.
"Well, as you know, I'm originally from the Elemental Nations, from the village of Konoha," Yang began her explanation, as team JNPR came up to congratulate her. "When I was adopted by our Father," she continued, wrapping her arm around Ruby. "My Godfather had promised to come visit when he could, to help train me. Some of that training involved chakra manipulation," she said, pausing to let the information sink in.
"What's chakra?" Jaune asked.
"It's like aura, but where aura is the energy of the soul, chakra is the energy of the body," the blonde explained. "Apparently I can use my chakra to refill my aura when I need to, but I can also increase my strength with it," she finished.
Pyrrha looked like she had a question, but figured it was too personal for the group; she would ask it later, when she could get Yang alone.
***Break***
"Hey guys, I think I'm gonna take a short nap, I'll catch up later," Yang said, yawning as she stretched; her match with Pyrrha had been exhausting.
"Ok Yang, we'll see you later then," Ruby said while heading for the door, Weiss following suit. "Blake, are you coming?" their leader called back to the faunus girl.
"Actually, I think I'm going to hang out a read, I promise I won't interrupt Yang's nap," she answered; she had also noticed the change in Yang's eyes during the match, she had questions to ask her partner.
"Ok then, we're going shopping for supplies," Ruby said as the door to their room shut.
Yang had removed her jacket, hanging it up in her closet; her weapons were stored in her locker, as all students had to. Next she pulled off her scarf, tossing the sweat soaked cloth into her hamper along with her gloves. She pulled her boots off, placing them at the end of the bed, removing her socks as well and putting them in the hamper, enjoying the cool air on her feet. As she was pulling her half skirt off, there was a knock at the door. Blake, who had been watching her partner, quietly, the whole time, moved over to the door and opened it, only to find Pyrrha Nikos on the other side.
"Oh, hey Pyrrha, come on in," Yang said invitingly, far more comfortable now that she was wearing less.
Pyrrha entered the room, noticing Blake nod to her as she passed. Their brief eye contact let the redhead know that Blake had the same question to ask as she herself did. Pyrrha had dressed down into a more casual outfit, consisting of shorts and a loose fitting shirt.
"So, I take it you both want to know, don't you?" Yang asked, looking from Blake to Pyrrha, both seemed somewhat shocked that the blonde had figured it out so quickly. Both girls nodded as Yang sat down on Blake's bed, Pyrrha and Blake sitting on Weiss's bed.
With a heavy sigh, Yang leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "The day I was born, was the day I lost my parents," she began, noticing the shocked looks on their faces. "The day I was born… a monster attacked; the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, the Kyubi attacked Konoha. My father, was the leader of the village, he was the strongest. My mother, his wife, was the previous 'container' or Jinchuriki, of the Kyubi. While giving birth to me, the Kyubi broke free from the seal placed on my mother. My parents both fought together, and gave everything they had, to defeat the Kyubi, and seal it again… inside me," she said, having looked down while she remembered, looking up again to see their reactions. "The Kyubi is a creature made of chakra, and the seal my father designed, and used to contain it within me, syphons the Kyubi's chakra into my own chakra reserves. The seal also seems to convert my chakra into aura, boosting my reserves, or filling them up once depleted," the blonde continued, not seeing any judgement from her current companions. "For the first eight years of my life, I was alone, unloved, unwanted, and hated. That is, until I met Taiyang, Summer, and Ruby. They brought me into their family, and loved me, despite knowing of the monster inside me," she decided if she was going to tell them, she might as well tell them everything. "That day… they saved me, more than just adopting a lonely child. I don't know what I might have done, if I'd had to spend another night, alone on the streets, running from the angry people who hated me for something I didn't know about," she hung her head, admitting that, at such a young age, she'd considered killing herself to end the hateful stares and words. Looking back, she was ashamed of what she'd thought about doing. But then there was that family, the one from far away, the one that wanted to be her family, to take her away from all the hate, and the hurt, and the loneliness.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered the darkest point in her life, her hands clutched tightly in her lap. Suddenly, the bed shifted as both Blake, and Pyrrha sat beside her, both girls wrapping their arms around her; neither one judging her, neither one caring about the Kyubi. She told them about when she first met Ino and Sakura, how they were her first friends. She told them about Inu, her silent, hidden guardian who was, for a long time, the only one who seemed to care about her. She told them about the Kunoichi lessons she attended, after she had been adopted, while visiting Konoha.
"Wait, so they teach young girls how to seduce men?" Pyrrha asked, she couldn't believe that anyone would expect a girl that young to know about that sort of thing.
"It's a part of their culture," Yang started. "It's a place where you are considered an adult when you graduate from the shinobi academy; for most, that's at about twelve to thirteen years old," she continued, earning shocked looks from her friends. "Most people who take up the shinobi life style don't live much past twenty, if they even live that long," she finished sadly; she'd heard stories of people as young as thirteen giving their lives for their village. Even her parents were only in their early twenties when they sacrificed themselves.
"Wow…" even Blake could hardly believe it. It made her life as a faunus seem almost like a luxury in comparison.
"Y'know Blake, if you want, I could ask Kakashi if he could help you with your semblance," Yang offered, her tears dried, and her smile returned to her face.
"How?" the brunette asked, how could someone from such a different culture help her with something that was supposed to be unique to her?
"Kakashi knows a jutsu that looks pretty similar to your semblance," the blonde answered simply. "He's due out here for another visit soon. He should be here in a couple days," she finished, excited to see the scarecrow shinobi again. "Oh yeah, you two could also talk about your 'similar interest' in reading material," Yang said, with a suggestive tone to her voice; she'd found Blake's small collection of "Ninja's of Love" books that she tried to keep hidden. She also knew that Kakashi loved his "Icha Icha" books that Jiraiya wrote. Noticing the light blush on Blake's face at the mention of her 'reading preferences,' Yang laughed while Pyrrha raised her eyebrow in confusion.
"Both Blake and Kakashi like to read perverted love stories," Yang said to Pyrrha, earning a slap on the shoulder from her teammate.
As she mentioned Kakashi's name, the trio of girls heard a loud sneeze from outside the window. A moment later Yang poked her head outside to see the copycat shinobi standing against the wall reading his "Icha Icha" book. "Oh, hi Yang," the man said, smiling at the blonde girl. Soon Blake and Pyrrha poked their heads out as well, seeing the grey haired man standing comfortably on a ledge no wider than three inches; the same ledge Neptune had been almost cowering on about a month ago. "And hello to you two as well," Kakashi added, closing his book and slipping it into his pouch. "May I come inside?" he asked, seeing the girls back away from the window. With the path unobstructed, he easily slipped inside the room.
"So, I take it these are friends of yours Yang?" Kakashi asked, referring to the brunette and redhead standing next to her
"Yes, this is Blake Belladonna, and this is Pyrrha Nikos," the blonde responded, pointing to her teammate and her friend. "Blake, Pyrrha, this is Kakashi Hatake,"
"It's a pleasure to meet both of you," he said to the two girls, performing his signature eye-smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Pyrrha replied, bowing slightly.
Blake eyed him consciously before repeating the sentiment.
"So, Kakashi, what brings you to Beacon this time?" Yang asked, as she walked to the closet to find a less revealing outfit to wear.
"Well, Professor Ozpin made a request to Tsunade-sama to send someone to act as a sort of 'exchage teacher'," he explained earning some questioning looks from the girls.
"Exchange teacher?" Blake and Pyrrha asked together.
"Basically it's someone to come to Beacon to teach the shinobi side of things, like the history of the elemental nations, basic chakra control, and to help out on missions," Yang explained, her father had told her of the idea last time she and Ruby were visiting him on Patch. "I just didn't really peg you to be the teacher type," the blonde stated as she walked back to the group wearing a pair of sweat pants.
"Well, I taught you a lot," Kakashi responded.
"You spent the time reading your perverted books while I fought your shadow clones," she said, accusingly.
"Perverted books? They are works of art," Kakashi defended.
"Yeah, the art of sex," Yang argued; Blake and Pyrrha, still sitting on the bed, looking back and forth at the two.
"Well, that's beside the point, due to how well I know both you and Ruby, I have been assigned to help your team on your next mission," Kakashi said, trying to redirect the conversation.
"Really!?" Yang asked, excited at getting to work alongside one of the strongest shinobi and fighters she knew.
"Yeah," he responded, smiling at the excitement on the girl's face.
"Wait, so you're taking Doctor Oobleck's place?" Blake said, speaking up for the first time in a while.
"Who?" Kakashi asked, turning to the faunus girl.
"He's our history teacher, he was also assigned to our team for our first mission," Pyrrha answered simply. "He's a little weird, but he's a good guy," she finished her explanation.
"Ah, not really taking his place, just coming along for the ride," Kakashi replied, turning back to Yang. "So, where's the rest of your team?" he asked.
"Ruby and Weiss went off to do some shopping for supplies," Yang said.
"Well, I should probably get back to my team, see you guys later," Pyrrha said, excusing herself with a wave as she left the room.
As the door clicked shut, Kakashi turned to look at the two remaining girls in the room. "So… who wants to get some training in while we have the time?"
Yang jumped up, excited at getting to train with Kakashi again.
"Shouldn't we wait for Ruby and Weiss to get back, so we can train as a team?" Blake asked, not wanting to leave the other two out.
"I have a shadow clone out looking for them right now actually," Kakashi said with a smile. "And when he finds them, he'll take him to the training area."
Yang had reentered her closet, coming out dressed in a lighter version of her normal outfit she used for work outs and training, Ember Celica once again adorning her wrists.
"YOSH! Your youth is burning brightly!" came a loud yell from across the hallway.
"What the fuck was that?" Yang asked as she looked at a sheepishly smiling Kakashi.
"Heh, I may have forgotten to mention that I wasn't the only one chosen for this job," he started. "It seems that your friends of team JNPR were assigned to Might Guy," he finished, rubbing the back of his head.
"You mean Bushy Brows Sr. is here?" Yang asked, receiving a weird look from Blake.
"Yep," the man answered.
"Screw this, I'm going out the window," Yang said, jumping from the room towards the tree outside.
Blake looked at Kakashi for a moment before following her partner, Kakashi joining them when he heard something about the 'Springtime of Youth' and declarations of physical prowess and what things they would be doing for their training.
***Break***
The sun was setting as team RWBY was panting heavily. Their training session with Kakashi was more than what most of the team had expected. Blake and Weiss didn't think much of the man who seemed uninterested and lazy about the training, only to find that, despite his appearance, he was very aware to his surroundings and much more capable than they gave him credit for. Ruby had been excited to see him, even more so when she heard the news about him joining their next mission.
Kakashi had decided to go with the 'Bell Test', attaching three small bells to his belt, and telling the girls that they needed to get one from him, and whoever got one would be allowed to eat. The one without a bell at the end had to forgo dinner.
Ruby, as confidant as ever, had tried to snatch one quickly with her speed semblance, only for Kakashi to grab her reaching hand, and spin her off in another direction.
Weiss had tried to use her glyphs to speed herself up, act as platforms to jump off of, even her gravity glyph to try and restrict his movements; none of them worked.
Blake tried a frontal assault, using her clones to try to distract the man while she snuck up from behind to get a bell; her attempt ended as well as Ruby's.
Yang was the last to try, and she was standing there with her arms crossed, and a smirk on her face, her eyes not breaking contact with Kakashi's.
"So, what do we do now?" Weiss asked, stepping up next to Yang, along with Blake and Ruby.
"We keep trying," Ruby said, about to dash off again, but stopped when Yang grabbed her hood. "Yang! What'd you do that?" she asked.
Keeping her voice low, she responded, "We need to work together. Ladybug, go right; Weiss, fire on left; I'll go center and draw his attention. Fight to kill. Give me five seconds then move," Yang said, taking charge, unfolding her arms as she walked towards Kakashi.
"Well, if you're going to start taking this seriously," he began, reaching his hand up to his headband. "I guess I will too," he finished, lifting the band up to reveal his sharingan eye, wondering why the blonde in front of him was smirking so confidently.
"Just what I was," Yang said, building her aura and chakra up quickly. "Waiting for!" she cried out as her form exploded with energy, appearing like a miniature sun to his sharingan. The ground under her feet cratered as she launched herself towards the momentarily stunned shinobi, throwing punches and kicks at him, trying to keep him on his toes.
A gunshot alerted him to the speeding red blur coming up on his left side, streaks of fire flying at him from his right. Kakashi substituted out with a log that moments later laid on the ground, charred and split in half. As he landed, Blake was on him, slashing repeatedly, blocked by the pair of kunai he had drawn. Kakashi had to vanish again as Ruby came back through, slicing through Blake's shadow clone and the spot he had been in just moments before.
Weiss cried out as she felt a hand grab her foot, in turn Yang punched the ground driving the shinobi out to avoid being crushed. As he fled, Yang jumped over to the Schnee heiress and carried her away from the fractured ground. In return, the white haired girl used her haste glyph to give the blond a boost in speed, before she shot off again to rejoin the fight.
Again, Yang clashed with Kakashi, punching and kicking enough to keep him on the defensive, noticing he kept his sharingan eye closed when he looked at her. "What's the matter Kakashi? Too bright for you?" she asked teasingly.
"I guess your beauty is just too radiant for me to handle," he answered, not missing a beat as he parried each blow from the younger girl. What he had missed was Ruby and Blake coming in for a cross cut. Even though he vanished at the last second, when he reappeared, he heard the sound of bells jingling as Yang released the aura and chakra she'd been maintaining this whole fight.
Collapsing to the ground, she smiled brightly at her teammates as Ruby and Blake held up the three bells, tossing one to Weiss. Ruby tried to give hers to Yang, but the blonde refused. Blake walked over, taking the seated girl's hand, and placed it on her bell, so all four were holding them.
Kakashi smiled, proud that they had passed the test; pulling his headband back down over his left eye, "Good job girls." All four members of team RWBY looked up with bright, but tired, smiles on their faces.
***Break***
As a reward, Kakashi had taken the four girls out to dinner, his treat. He spent the meal talking with Weiss about dust, and its different applications and effects; and Blake about her fighting style, her semblance, and her being a faunus. The fact that he'd picked up on it so quickly surprised the girl, but even more was that he didn't care about it; all he showed was a mild interest in the genetic 'side-effects' such as better vision at night, and heightened senses of smell and sound. It was understandable though, before her, he'd never really met a faunus, they simply didn't exist in the elemental nations. He did know that Tsunade would probably be interested in studying the faunus from a scientific standpoint. He also listened to Ruby's stories about Signal and Beacon; about how she got moved ahead two years and was able to go to school with her sister. The light and joy in her eyes as she told these stories brought a smile to the older man's face.
The good time couldn't last forever though; Team RWBY had a mission to prepare for.