Surprise! A double feature tonight! We'll call this a 4th of July present. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, and review!
Disclaimer: I still don't own rwby.
During their time at Beacon, Yang and Blake had made a habit of sparring with each other on a regular basis. They had called them their "wrestling" matches, but they were far from real wrestling. No weapons or semblance use was allowed, but the two girls would go all out after each other regardless. The first one to pin the other won the match and all the glory that came with it.
Most of their matches ended up drawing quite a crowd at the Beacon auditorium. It would become quite a lively event, with wagers being placed on who would win or how long the match would last. With Blake's speed and agility, she was able to lithely escape many of Yang's attacks and strangleholds. However, Yang's strength and endurance were almost never-ending, resulting in a clash that was both evenly matched and entertaining.
They had mostly split their matches evenly, but Yang thought that she had had the slight edge before Blake had disappeared on her. Of course, this match would be quite different with her injured arm and Blake's lack of practice, but she was still confident that she would be able to beat the girl. After all, she had picked up a few new skills in the past few years.
She focused on the Faunus girl crouching slightly a few paces in front of her, arms held up in preparation, ears completely at attention. Blake's amber eyes were focused intently on her own, waiting for her to make the first move. Yang felt the corners of her mouth twitch upward at the familiar sight; oh how she had missed this feeling.
She called upon her aura, but not to use in the fight (that had officially been ruled as 'cheating' some time ago). She watched as her long blonde hair start to take on a life of its own, flickering and flitting like real flames. She'd always liked to add this little flare to their matchups.
Wasting no time, Yang took off, hoping to take Blake off guard by rushing straight towards her. One, two, three strides and she was already upon the Faunus girl, leveling a left hook straight towards her chest. Blake reacted too slowly to completely dodge the attack; her only option was to throw both of her arms in an "x" to block the force of the blow. Yang grinned as her knuckles connected with the girl's wrists and the power of her blow caused Blake to slide backwards several feet.
She straightened her posture and flipped her golden mane back over her shoulder; she could practically feel the swagger dripping off of her as she gave the girl a couple of seconds to recover. There was no need to take complete advantage of Blake's rustiness, after all. She smirked as Blake shook her arms lightly, trying to shake the sting out of them.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Yang couldn't keep the smirk from growing on her face as Blake returned her gaze with a glare.
"I'm just trying to boost your ego a little bit," Blake retorted as she settled back into a ready stance, shaking her arms one last time.
Yang rolled her eyes before taking off in another dash. This time, she veered left, then right, and finally threw in a slight stutter step before trying to land another blow with her left hand. Blake was much more prepared for her this time and easily jumped backwards to dodge the blow. Yang felt herself fly past the girl, having expected her punch to reach more resistance than the air her fist had found.
She quickly put on the brakes, whipping her head around in an attempt to locate the Faunus girl. She briefly saw a flash of black cloth disappear behind her before she felt two boots slam into the small of her back. As she was propelled forward off of her feet, she corrected into a tumble as she hit the ground. Pulling up, she hastily scanned the room for Blake again.
When she didn't see the girl after a half second, she instinctively spun around just in time to block another blow from directly behind her. Yang countered with another left hook followed immediately by a relatively meager (by her standards) right jab, feeling the slight twinge of protest from her still healing injury. Blake blocked both attacks and threw back a few of her own as the two girls traded blows in a ferocious hand to hand battle.
Yang could feel herself rapidly wearing down from the over exertion of her right arm, the slight twinge quickly becoming a more and more searing pain. But with the speed of Blake's attacks, she couldn't rely as heavily on her good arm as she would have liked to. Not if she wanted to win, anyway.
Yang continued to block Blake's incoming blows, stepping backwards with each one, drawing Blake along with her as she tried to come up with a plan to end the fight as soon as possible.
Finally, she feigned like she was going to block the next incoming blow, but at the last second raised her hands up to catch the girl's fist. Using Blake's forward momentum against her, Yang twisted around and carried Blake's arm over her right shoulder. She winced as she felt the girl's weight slam into the back of her injured shoulder, but was able to flip the Faunus girl completely over her back and onto the ground in front of her. Blake let out an "oomph" as she hit the ground.
Yang kept her hands locked around Blake's wrist as she quickly twisted and jumped onto the fallen girl. She sat down straddling the girl's waist and managed to grab ahold of her other arm as Blake swing it up at her, pinning both of Blake's arms firmly to the girl's chest. She leaned forward carefully, using her weight to apply enough pressure to keep Blake from ripping her arms free, but not far enough so that the girl could dislodge her.
"Hah!" she exclaimed, panting heavily from exhaustion. "Got ya."
After struggling for a few more futile seconds, Blake finally realized that she wasn't able to move from her position on the ground. She looked up at Yang with a glare.
"Congratulations," the beaten girl said sulkily.
Yang could feel her happiness bubbling up inside her, along with a little bit of relief. Blake had really had her on the ropes for a few seconds there, not that she would ever admit that. She had beaten the girl fair and square, and with an injury to boot! She couldn't wait to tell Ruby about this.
"Thank you!" she responded to Blake, flipping her hair over her shoulder again while keeping the Faunus girl pinned firmly to the ground. "And what will be my prize for this monumental victory?"
Blake let out a small snort of amusement at that question as she arched an eyebrow at Yang.
"Well, we didn't wager anything, so…pride? Glory? Bragging rights?"
Yang pulled out her best fake pout at that answer. "Aww…you're no fun! Who would want those prizes when they have a beautiful girl pinned under…"
She froze as she heard the words come out of her mouth and saw Blake's eyes widen slightly. Suddenly, Yang found herself back in the gym at Beacon, looking down at a much more irritated Faunus as their fellow students cheered or groaned around them, depending on which partner they had put their money on. It didn't matter the time or the day, Yang had always suggested the same prize when she won:
'Who would want those prizes when they have a beautiful girl pinned underneath them? I think a kiss would be much more appropriate."
Blake had always scoffed at her, saying that the crowd would certainly enjoy that show. Yang had taken that reply as a "no," but certainly would not have hesitated in making a spectacle out of the two of them if Blake had ever agreed.
Looking down at Blake now, Yang watched the blush grow on her cheeks as the girl averted her eyes from Yang. She could feel her heart begin to beat more rapidly as she was flooded with emotions. Suddenly, she felt like she was way too close to her Faunus partner. She could feel Blake's skin far too vividly through the palms of her hands; she could see the silky black hair fanned out beneath her far too clearly; she could imagine those beautiful amber eyes even though they were being directed away from her.
Quickly releasing the girl's arms, Yang scrambled to her feet. Not two seconds later, she was walking rapidly towards the door when she heard the soft, "Yang…" from behind her. Turning slowly around, she found that Blake had also gotten up and was standing uncomfortably where they had just been. The poor Faunus girl's ears were twitching slightly as she looked anywhere but at Yang, her hands fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt.
After waiting several seconds and watching Blake open and shut her mouth several times, Yang concluded that the girl was at a loss for what to say. She decided that she would help them both out of this predicament, if only so that she could put some distance in between them that much faster.
"Bragging rights actually sound pretty good. They'll be telling this tale for years to come!"
She was continuously surprised at how her voice could sound so upbeat when inside she was filled with turmoil.
Blake opened and closed her mouth one more time, glancing quickly at Yang before looking away again. Yang sighed before continuing, "You should get some rest, you know. Tomorrow could be just as eventful as today."
At this response, Blake's ears drooped and Yang felt her heart drop right along with them. The sight had always broken her heart a little bit, and apparently that hadn't changed in all these years. She felt the strong urge to walk over and pull the girl into a firm hug, to make her feel better in any way that she possibly could. She used every ounce of her remaining willpower to turn away from the sight instead, leaving the Faunus girl standing alone in her wake.
With every step she put in between them, she felt a hand tightening around her heart, squeezing more tightly with every breath. As soon as she had passed through the large door to the simulation room and heard it shut behind her, she broke into a sprint, passing quickly through the kitchen and foyer before ripping open the front door. Bursting into the cold night air, she ran from the mansion as fast as her legs would allow her. The rough pavement grinding into the bottoms of her bare feet provided a welcome pain to go along with her internal chaos. She could feel her throat constricting as her eyes burned with the tears that were streaming down her face. She didn't bother to wipe them away as she kept running, wondering how much distance she would need to cover before she could feel her heart beating normally again.